How to Prepare a Bancroft Property for Real Estate Photography

A photographer can correct exposure, straighten walls and balance a bright window. A photographer cannot remove a laundry basket, mow a lawn or move a truck out of the driveway once the shoot has started. Almost everything that separates a good listing set from a mediocre one happens before anybody arrives.

This checklist is written for properties around Bancroft, Faraday, Hastings Highlands, Maynooth, Lake St. Peter, Coe Hill and Apsley, so it includes the rural and waterfront details a suburban checklist leaves out.

The week before

• Replace every burnt bulb, and use bulbs of the same colour temperature throughout a room. Mixed warm and cool bulbs in one ceiling fixture cannot be fully corrected in editing.
• Mow, trim and rake. On a rural lot, allow a full day for this rather than an evening.
• Wash the windows that face the view. On a waterfront property this is the single highest-return task on the list.
• Book any repair that will show: a missing screen, a broken step, a sagging gutter.
• Confirm the road, driveway and any water access are passable for a vehicle in the current conditions.
• Decide whether you want drone coverage. It has to be booked in advance and it is subject to weather and regulations.

Room by room

Everywhere

• Clear every horizontal surface. Counters, windowsills, side tables, the top of the fridge, the back of the toilet.
• Remove personal photographs, certificates, calendars and anything with a name on it.
• Take down fridge magnets, notes, children's artwork and schedules.
• Hide bins, litter trays, pet bowls, pet beds, cables and chargers.
• Open every blind and curtain fully, and tie them back evenly across the room.
• Turn on every light in the house, including lamps and under-cabinet lighting.
• Turn ceiling fans off. A moving fan blade photographs as a blur.
• Straighten rugs, square up cushions, and hang towels evenly.

Kitchen

• Everything off the counters except one considered object: a bowl of fruit, a board, a kettle.
• Dish soap, sponges, cloths and drying racks out of sight.
• Bar stools pushed in and evenly spaced.
• Sink empty and dry.

Bathrooms

• Everything off the counter. Toothbrushes, razors, bottles, all of it.
• Fresh, matching towels, folded and hung evenly. Used towels out of the room entirely.
• Toilet lids down. Shower curtains open or fully closed, not partly.
• Bath mats straight or removed.

Bedrooms

• Beds made properly, with the bedding pulled square and pillows standing.
• Nothing under the bed that is visible from a low camera angle.
• Wardrobe doors closed. Closets are usually photographed only if they are a selling point.
• Personal items and laundry out of the room.

Living areas

• Remotes, magazines, cables and chargers away.
• Fireplace clean and laid, and let the photographer know if it can be lit.
• Furniture pulled slightly away from walls if it has been pushed back, because rooms photograph larger that way.

Outside, and the parts specific to cottage country

• Move every vehicle well clear of the house, not just to the side of the driveway. Include boats, trailers, ATVs and the snow machine.
• Clear the shoreline: tidy the dock, stow life jackets, coil hoses, and pull weeds from the water's edge if they are in the frame.
• Put watercraft where you want them. A canoe on a dock is a good frame. Three kayaks on the lawn is clutter.
• Stack firewood neatly or move it out of shot.
• Store garbage bins, recycling, compost and any bear-proof container out of sight.
• Clear the deck: cushions on, barbecue cover off or on consistently, glasses and ashtrays away.
• Cover or clean the pool or hot tub, and take the solar blanket off if the water is clear.
• Coil the hose, put away tools, and move the wheelbarrow.
• Unlock the bunkie, sauna, boathouse, workshop and any outbuilding you want photographed, and clear those too.
• Secure pets, ideally off the property. Dogs meeting a stranger with a tripod is a slow start to a shoot.

Season and timing

Cottage country listings are strongly seasonal, and the season shows in every exterior frame.

• Summer and early autumn are the strongest for waterfront. Book earlier than you think, because everybody wants the same three weeks in September.
• Winter listings benefit from being photographed on a bright day soon after snowfall, before the driveway and yard are tracked up.
• Shoulder season exteriors, brown grass and bare trees, are worth supplementing with a few images from a better season if you have them, clearly credited as previous-season photographs.
• Time of day matters for water. A lake reads best with light on it rather than behind it, so tell your photographer which direction the water faces when you book.

The morning of

1. Do a walk through with the checklist, room by room, an hour before the appointment.
2. Turn on every light, including exterior lights if any dusk frames are planned.
3. Open all blinds and curtains.
4. Take one last pass for cables, remotes, bins and shoes at the door.
5. Move the last vehicle, which is usually the one you are standing beside.
6. Plan to be out of the house, or in one room you have already finished, so the photographer can work through without doubling back.

What is included and what is not

Standard editing covers exposure, colour, straightening and window balance. It does not cover virtual staging, decluttering in software, removing a neighbour's shed or seasonal replacement of grass and sky. Those are quoted separately when a listing needs them, and they are always more expensive than tidying up beforehand.

Full packages, add-ons and turnaround times are listed on the Bancroft real estate photography page, and the pricing is explained in real estate photography pricing in Bancroft and cottage country.

To book a property shoot around Bancroft, contact us with the address, the approximate square footage and whether the property is water access.