How to take better photos of your work on your phone

Every trade website I build lives or dies on the photos. I spent years taking quick snaps at the end of jobs, so I know how easy it is to get home and find the best kitchen you’ve ever fitted looks dark and wonky on your phone. A few habits fix most of it.

Why your photos matter most

Customers can’t judge your skill from a list of services. They judge it from your photos. A good photo of a tidy, finished job does more to win the next one than anything you can write. That’s why “how good is your work?” is the question most jobs are won on.

It’s also why I’d always use your own photos over stock images. Customers can spot stock photos, and they want to see your work, not someone else’s.

Before you take the photo

• Clear the shot. Tools, offcuts, dust sheets, ladders, mugs and the van keys. It takes two minutes and makes the biggest difference of all.
• Wipe the lens. Phones live in pockets with dust and fingerprints. A smeared lens makes everything look hazy.
• Finish it properly first. If the silicone is still wet or the snagging isn’t done, come back for the photo.

Light

• Daylight is best. Open the blinds and curtains. Mid-morning or afternoon usually works well indoors.
• Turn the room lights on as well, especially in kitchens and bathrooms. Under-cabinet lights and spotlights show off the finish.
• Keep the window behind you, not behind the thing you’re photographing, or it’ll come out as a dark shape against a bright window.
• Skip the flash. It makes harsh reflections on tiles, worktops and gloss paint.
• Outdoors, a bright cloudy day is often better than strong sun, which throws hard shadows across patios, brickwork and roofs.

Angles and framing

• Hold the phone level. Turn on the grid in your camera settings and line the vertical lines up with door frames and walls. Leaning walls make good work look wonky.
• Shoot from chest height, not above your head or down by your knees.
• Stand in a corner or doorway to fit more of a room in. The wide lens (0.5×) can help in small rooms, but don’t stand too close or it stretches the edges.
• Take both landscape and portrait. Websites use landscape a lot, social media likes portrait.
• Take lots, use a few. Take ten of each angle and keep the best one.

The shots to get on every job

1. The wide shot. The whole finished job in one picture, so people can see what it is.
2. The detail. A close-up of the bit that shows your skill: a mitred joint, a clean tile line, crisp cutting-in, neat pointing, tidy wiring in the consumer unit.
3. The in-progress shot. Steelwork going in, first fix, the membrane before the slates. It shows how you work, and what’s hidden once the job’s done.
4. You or your team at work, if you’re happy to. People hire people, and a photo of you on the job builds trust.

Make a note of the type of job and the town as you go. “Loft conversion, Halifax” is a ready-made caption, and it helps Google know where you work.

Before and afters

Nothing shows what you do like a before and after. To make them work:

• Take the before from a spot you can find again, like the doorway or a corner, and take the after from exactly the same place.
• Keep the phone at the same height and zoom both times.
• Take the before photo before anything is moved. Once the strip-out starts it’s too late.

A matched pair can go on your site as a slider people can drag across, like the one on my bathroom fitter demo.

Customers’ homes and privacy

• Ask first. Most customers are happy for you to photograph the work, especially if you ask at the start of the job.
• Leave out personal things: family photos, post, children’s names on bedroom doors, anything with an address on.
• Watch house numbers and car number plates in outdoor shots.
• Use the town, not the street, in your captions.

Sending them without losing quality

A normal WhatsApp or Messenger photo gets squashed to save data, and a sharp photo can arrive soft and blotchy. To keep the full quality:

• On WhatsApp, send them as a document rather than as a photo, or use the HD option.
• For lots of photos, share an album or folder link from Google Photos, iCloud or Google Drive.
• Or email them in batches at full size.

Don’t worry about editing or resizing. If you send me the originals, I’ll crop, straighten and size them properly for your site, so they look sharp and still load quickly on a phone.

Every site I build is built around your own photos. If you’ve got a phone full of jobs, that’s usually all I need. Websites for trades start from £295, and you only pay once you’re happy with it. See pricing.