Photography for Landscape Contractors: The Secret Ingredient to a Stronger Brand & Better Projects
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The Content Team,
HALSTEAD.
Originally published on December 4, 2014. Updated on July 26, 2022.
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Leading landscape firms—both those with commercial and residential focuses—prioritize professional photo shoots every year. Why? Because they experience firsthand the incredible positive impact it makes on their business—we see this every time.
Studies show that when people hear information, they’re only likely to remember 10% of that information three days later. However, if a relevant image is paired with the same information, people retain 65% of that information three days later. The power of an image can’t be compared, especially when it comes to marketing for landscape professionals. The visual components, or creative as it’s called (both photos and videos), used in marketing will be what sets a business apart from the competition.
A landscape construction project is most often an emotional purchase for a homeowner. Sure, there’s the utilitarian components of a purely functional retaining wall, but most outdoor living spaces are emotional purchases. Landscape contractors—particularly those in sales and marketing roles—must always remember that. No one truly needs a fiberglass pool and an outdoor kitchen. So, the messaging must be a lot more about how the prospective customer’s new outdoor living room will make the customer and their family feel than it is about pavers, stone, or composite decking. It’s about creating that connection between the outdoor living space you can build and the treasured moments they will end up spending in that space—how it will improve their lives.
Today, prospects are interacting with your company on your website and social media channels before you ever see or hear from them. It’s the content on these platforms that can make or break that sale of a new design/build projector that can secure the next contract for commercial maintenance services.
Oftentimes, those very images of your latest project or team and culture in action are the emotional connections needed to spark a new relationship.
The puzzling thing is that most industry pros won’t deny the incredible importance of yearly professional videography and photography. So, why is it then that so often, it just doesn’t happen for many companies? Perhaps it’s the “grayness” of it all. Which photographer is the right one? How can you carve out time to schedule these things without disrupting other functions? How much should it cost end to end? And what about the copyright nightmares we all hear about?
All great questions. After shooting professional video and photo for years in the landscape industry, our team pulled together this 101 to address some of the common concerns we hear from landscape professionals.
Tips for Hiring a Professional Photographer
Professional, high-quality project photography is essential for selling luxury landscape projects in today’s market. While there is a place for both polished and more raw photos and videos, there is simply no substitute for those banner-worthy shots. For sizzle photos that sell services, plain and simple, we recommend working with a professional photographer to get the best results. Here are a few tips to consider when searching for a professional photographer for your landscape projects.
Choose a Specialized Photographer
Just as your customers learn the most about your company online, you will likely do the same when researching photographers. Take a look at their portfolio to determine if their photos meet the style preferences that match yours. Make sure they have photos showcasing their work on similar projects. You want to be able to confidently hire a photographer who will produce the type of photos that you’re looking for and possibly even better.
Equipment, Experience, & Location
Excellent photography equipment can make a big difference in the quality of the photos. Reputable photographers have professional equipment, which is one of the reasons you are hiring them—it takes high-quality to get high-quality results. It’s easy to think that just anyone can take stunning photos with a smartphone, but in order to put landscape projects in the best light possible, leading companies hire a professional to make their photography top-notch.
It’s a good idea to speak with potential photographers about their experience to confirm they are a good fit for the job. Ask for a list of references and then contact them to see how satisfied they were with the photographer’s work and communication. Pay special attention to the clients who have similar projects to yours.
Photographers with experience taking photos of landscape projects are not your run-of-the-mill photographers who take portraits and family sessions. Because of this, you may need to hire someone who isn’t local to you. When it comes down to it, it’s best to go with a photographer with relevant industry experience—no matter where they’re located. This will require planning ahead and scheduling far in advance to account for the photographer needing to travel to your area.
Photography Is an Ongoing Investment
Many companies omit professional photo shoots to allow for more immediate items such as paid ads in the budget, but the same attention should be given to investing in high-quality photos of your work. Just as your customers rely on your expertise to complete their outdoor projects, leading companies rely on professional photographers to take care of their photography needs. Some things are just better left to the experts.
It’s important to think of regular photo and video shoots as an investment. For a full-day shoot with a reputable photographer, it can cost anywhere from about $2,500 on the low end and upwards. A $4M company should budget for a $10K spend annually for professional photography and videography. This investment is one that can result in countless sales in the future. When you compare a professional photo of your projects with one that you’ve snapped on your smartphone, you’ll truly see the value. These costs are simply a part of doing business for anyone who wants to remain competitive—it’s not optional.
Coordinating the Shoot
When coordinating a shoot, there are a lot of factors to consider—first and foremost weather. Begin monitoring the weather a few days in advance of the shoot and make a decision on whether to reschedule a shoot the day before the scheduled date. Seems like last-minute planning? It is—intentionally. Weather is unpredictable, and doing anything before the last few days ends in poor decisions. We cannot risk any amount of rain on the day of the shoot—it affects lighting, look of materials, the mood and vibe of interviews, and equipment.
The logistics also have to be figured out.. It can be a complicated process of coordinating numerous people (your customer, photographer, team members, etc.) and one that you likely don’t want to have to worry about! At HALSTEAD, we shoot all video in-house but work with a partner for photography. For both video and photography, we work out all of the scheduling, taking into account the best times of day for shoots, setting schedules, and planning content. We have it down to the approximate amount of time it will take to complete a shoot for various project types—for example, a shoot of only a driveway vs. a shoot of a complex backyard project with specific features like an outdoor kitchen, outdoor fireplace, pergola, and infinity pool.
The site must look their best before the start of the shoot. We make it easy by providing a checklist of what needs to be done to prepare a site, such as cleanup and maintenance, and when it should be done (usually the day before the shoot, with a final touch-up the day of.).
It’s also essential to determine the goals of the shoot. Each company/photographer does things a little different, so be sure to work these details out in advance. For example, at HALSTEAD we understand that each full-day shoot often carries multiple purposes. It’s a real-world approach to maximizing client budget by getting content for multiple important business initiatives. Maybe we need to shoot content for recruiting purposes, along with content for the campaigns targeting each audience segment—think commercial vs. residential, lawn care vs. design build. These focuses then dictate preparation. If the goal is to support recruiting and employer branding initiatives, we need to capture employees working on site, interacting with teammates and enjoying their work life.
Keep Content Fresh: Annual or Biannual Professional Shoots
To keep your content fresh, we recommend conducting photo shoots at least once a year. As new projects are completed and new accounts managed, you can continue to showcase the beautiful work your company is doing and keep your print and digital assets up to date.
The Winning Combination
The value of hiring a professional photographer for your banner and sizzle shots is confirmed, but it’s likely that you will still need to snap photos while on a job site, and you want it to look the best it can. These photos should be ongoing and taken in everyday moments. They could include candid shots of your team working on building a retaining wall or of an account with a perfectly manicured lawn that showcases the value your team delivers for commercial properties. Many companies share in-progress landscape projects, which helps to tell the story of their brand and the project—including the team workers involved, the materials chosen, and the overall process.
It’s a great idea to create a shared drive where team members can upload the photos they’ve captured—you’ll get a wide variety of shots that will serve as great content. The winning combination is to include both types of photos in your repertoire for use in different applications—both professional and everyday photos. No doubt, you want these photos to look good even though they’re not professionally taken, which is why we are now going to dive into how to capture real-world, down and dirty content—the lifeblood of any successful marketing strategy today.
Tips for Taking Better Photos of Your Landscape Projects, Maintenance Accounts, & Your Team
Many companies take on-the-spot photos during the course of a project for the purposes of keeping an up-to-date Instagram or LinkedIn account. These “daily diary” type photos are important for social media and building a brand presence online. Even though they’re not professional photos, there are some tips that you can follow to ensure the photos you take are the best they can be.
Invest in a Good Camera: Your iPhone or a DSLR?
The latest smartphones can take some pretty amazing photos, especially if the person taking the photograph knows what they’re looking at from a landscape design standpoint.. Remember, these photos are not to take the place of pro shoots, but rather to complement them. But what is the camera you and your team should be using on a daily basis for this content generation? DSLR or iPhones? This is where being realistic comes into play. Let’s think about it. Which one is more likely to get used? Which one—the phone with the absolutely amazing camera built-in or a brand-new DSLR that most people have never used with complicated settings—is more likely to actually generate the photos and videos you need for marketing? That’s right, in our experience, it’s the iPhone in your pocket already. The camera is designed to take great quality shots without a bunch of confusion. Most companies are not nearly leveraging these phones to their potential.
Photo shot with an iPhone. Credit: Magic Landscaping
Here’s a shot taken by a client of ours on his iPhone while visiting a site. He was there anyway, he already had his phone, and he took 10 extra minutes to capture the beauty he saw. He was able to capture this photo not because of some fancy DSLR camera, but rather because of his knowledge of what he was looking at and optimal timing. As a designer, he understands how to “see” the project from the right angles. Camera equipment that isn’t used properly brings no more value than a mini excavator with an unskilled operator. In fact this shot would have never happened if the company was trying to use a DSLR in our opinion. Because the battery would have been dead, it would have been in another truck, or the 20 settings would have been in the incorrect positions. The iPhone made it possible. This type of photo can bring a ton of brand value when used properly—social posts, Instagram stories, Facebook Ads, email marketing, blog post images, you name it. This photo is good enough for all those ongoing efforts. Website homepage banner image? Nope—that’s where the pro photos shine.
Use a Tripod
A simple tripod can really increase the quality of your smartphone photos. With a tripod, you don’t have to worry about your hands shaking and causing the image to turn out blurry. These are relatively inexpensive and can be purchased for $25-$50. Pick one up at your local big box store or from Amazon. Aside from camera stabilization, the tripod also forces you to slow down and “see” the property. It’s as much mechanical as it is mental.
Do Pre-Photography Prep
Just as with professional photo shoot logistics, preparation is key. When it comes to photography, less is more. The scene should be free of clutter or anything that takes away from the serenity of the setting. For example, make sure plant beds are weeded and that dead leaves are raked away. Take the covers off of fire pits and grills. Pick up any toys lying on the lawn. Remove garden hoses or temporary tree irrigation bags. Make sure your equipment and materials are not in the scene (unless those actions shots are the purpose, of course).
It’s important to think about the best angle for the photograph. Is the neighboring house an eyesore? Make sure to angle the photo so that the neighboring house isn’t in the photo. If there are any plantings that aren’t looking their best, angle the camera so that those aren’t included. Take 10 minutes to prepare the elements that will be caught in your iPhone’s view. Don’t overthink it—a few shots is all you need to make an impact.
You may need to do a quick cleaning using a leaf blower or broom. Take time to ensure all plantings are pruned and looking their best. A good rule of thumb is to imagine the photo you are taking will be featured in a prominent magazine. Would the editor accept your photograph? If not, make changes so that the photo would be acceptable for a magazine cover.
Set the Scene
It may go without saying that the photographs used in a portfolio should feature completed projects only. Although there is a good use for before and after shots. Look to national and regional home design magazines for inspiration and guidance for pulling off great project pictures. In these magazines, you’ll notice that the photography depicts properties that look lived in—as if you could walk in and start living your life. Including wine, glasses, food, candles, and pillows will make your prospects connect on a deeper level with your work.
There’s a striking difference between an empty pool patio and one that has been staged with patio furniture. Make sure the scene looks welcoming so that prospects can imagine spending time in the space.
The level of staging for professional photo shoots will depend on budget allocation and goals. Some shoots will involve extras—usually in the form of the customers, their friends and family, your team members, etc. For candid, everyday iPhone shots, thinking of the site in the same way but with a quicker execution can really make things pop.
Create Emotion & Drama
For design/build firms, your outdoor living portfolio is, in fact, a piece of art. It’s a collection of you and your team’s work, and it has the power to sell you millions of dollars in future revenue if it’s done right. Any artist will tell you that the proper use of light is key to a great work of art. Your project images are no different.
Shadows and light in photos add drama and emotion to your landscape work, just as strategically placed outdoor lighting adds character to the outdoor spaces that you create. Capture that character and drama by utilizing the light and the shadows in the photograph.
Wait for Ideal Conditions
Timing is everything—in a few ways. Choosing the right timing for shooting photos of your design/build projects makes or breaks the effort. This means going back long after the project is completed in most cases, to capture the maturity of the softscapes, the lushness of the turf.
But also timing of the year and the day matters. For your pro shoots, the photographer will be working this all out throughout the shoot. Coming out super early to capture the stillness, and capturing the Magic Hours, as they are called. Many photographers also prefer taking landscape photos when the sky is overcast. When it comes to your daily casual shots, you will learn these nuances over time. You know the sites well—better than anyone. So you will understand quickly when you see a moment you need to capture—just like Drew Shepherd at Magic Landscaping did with the stunning fire pit shot above.
Take a Mixture of Shot Orientations
The most impressive project portfolios feature a good mix of both vertical, horizontal, wide, and detailed photographs. This change in format is appealing to the eye and more engaging to the viewer. This method essentially gives the viewer a true look into the outdoor space from farther away, close up, and from various angles.
Edit the Photos
You don’t have to be a graphic designer to do a pretty good photo editing job, but if you have one on your team—let them do the work. It can be extremely time-consuming and you’ll want to avoid it as much as possible. Another benefit of having a professional photographer is that post-editing is covered in their fees and you don’t have to worry about any of it.
There are some basic photo editing apps out there that make this process easy but can completely change the look and feel of a photo. Tools like PicMonkey do the job.
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CROP TO CREATE IMPACTFUL PHOTOS
Cropping is often the best tool to make more impactful photos. Here are a few tips that will help you with cropping:
The rule of thirds: Imagine a 3x3 grid dividing your photo into nine equal sections. The focal point of your photo should be at one-third of one or two of the photo’s edges. This rule helps create a good balance and composition.
Crop in close: Essentially, this is cropping the photo to zero in on a certain aspect or feature that you want to draw attention to. For example, crop a photo to zero in on a beautiful bloom on a plant rather than showing the entire backyard.
Keep an eye on quality: The more you crop, the more pixels you will lose, which can result in blurry images. Be careful not to cut too much. Plus, always take photos in high resolution and crop them at full size.
Adobe offers a Smart Crop feature that will automatically detect and crop the focal point in any image, allowing the photo to keep its focus point no matter what size it is. This is useful for keeping your photos impactful no matter where they’re posted since the image size will change depending on the platform.
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ENHANCE THE IMAGE
A simple way to make a photo really pop is to apply a filter to your photo. Oftentimes, companies use the same filter for every image to create continuity on their Instagram or Facebook posts. But if you’re ready to go a little further than a preset filter, you can adjust a few of the settings.
For example, you can increase the intensity of the colors in the photo, increase vibrancy, and add saturation. Just be careful not to add too much intensity. It is also helpful to control the tone by making changes to exposure, contrast, shadows, and highlights to change the brightness and darkness of a photo.
Once the photo is edited, you’ll be ready to share. Your edited photos should show homeowners what they could have once your company has worked its design magic. They should show clients that you value professionalism and that your team will deliver high-quality results. Approach photography like a marketing company would, and get ready to start making sales.
Putting the Photos to Use in Your Marketing
Using both professional photos and more casually taken photos/videos strategically can help extend their return on investment (ROI). Some applications are more fitting for professional photos, while others are more fitting for the photos you’ve taken on your smartphone.
Where to Use Professional Photos
You’ll definitely want to hire a professional photographer for photos used on your website and marketing materials—both print and digital, such as your online portfolio and high-quality printed sales brochures. These photos will be used for direct mail purposes, email marketing banners and headers, social hiring efforts, and any brand-forward social media posts.
Where to Use Casual Smartphone Photos
Typically, the photos you snap on your smartphone are the ones casually posted to your social media channels, such as in your Instagram Stories and posts or on Facebook. You can include recruiting-oriented photos and commercial-focused photos on your LinkedIn feed, where professionals will be viewing your content. The best of these photos can also be used carefully in email marketing, hiring efforts, etc.
A Note for Smaller Companies
For smaller companies, say sub $1M, maybe the budget for professional photo shoots just isn’t there … yet. If that’s the case, put extra effort into following the tips and maximize what you can do on your own. Smartphone photos can propel your marketing forward exponentially until you are ready to budget accordingly to hire a professional. Work with what you’ve got until you’ve got more, and then work with that!
For Legality’s Sake
While legal stuff isn’t anyone’s favorite topic, we should still address it because it’s important. When working with photography, it’s essential to have the customer sign a release form that allows you to use the photos of their property.
Purchase the Photo Rights
Photographers hold exclusive rights to the photos that they take. So, if you want to avoid any costly copyright infringements, it’s best to ensure the rights are included in the photographer’s pricing so that you can use them however you see fit.
Without purchasing the rights, some contracts require you to pay a fee each time you decide to use one of the photographer’s photos. While many photographers who specialize in the landscape industry include the rights in their prices, make sure to demand it’s included as a bundle if it isn’t already.