Guide
The shoot-to-delivery workflow, stage by stage.
Photography is about a fifth of the job. This is the other four fifths — and the handoffs between stages where most of a working week quietly disappears.
Overview
Six stages, one property record.
- Step 01
Booking
Address, package, access details and payment captured in one action.
- Step 02
Pre-shoot brief
Property prep notes to the agent, and your own shot list for the property type.
- Step 03
Capture
Bracketed interiors on a tripod, exteriors in the best available light.
- Step 04
Ingest & cull
Upload the set, drop the duplicates, mark the hero frames.
- Step 05
Production
Editing runs against the project; alterations flagged where needed.
- Step 06
QC & delivery
Full-screen check, then a gallery the agent can download from.
Stage 1-2
Booking and brief decide how the shoot goes.
Almost every difficult shoot was set up badly, not shot badly.
- Capture the full address, access instructions and contact at booking, not by text at 8am
- Take payment or raise the invoice when the slot is confirmed
- Send property prep notes to the agent — beds made, counters clear, bins hidden, lights on
- Confirm what is included: photo count, twilight, video, floor plan
- Know the property type before you arrive so you have a shot list, not an improvisation
- Block travel time in the calendar, not just the shoot window
Stage 3
Capture for the edit that follows.
Every choice on site either saves or costs production time later.
- Tripod for interiors, always — alignment and verticals depend on it
- Bracket until the darkest frame genuinely holds the window
- Shoot each room from the corner that shows the most floor
- Lock white balance per room so the set grades consistently
- Get the hero exterior twice: once as shot, once as a twilight candidate
- Photograph the features the listing copy will lead with
Stage 4-5
Where the workflow usually breaks.
The classic stack looks like this: cards to laptop, files renamed by hand, a zip uploaded to a transfer service, an email to the editor describing what you want, a download of the finals a day later, a re-upload into a gallery tool, and an invoice raised somewhere else entirely. Six systems, none of which know what the others did.
Each handoff is a place where the count is wrong, the wrong version goes out, or an hour vanishes. Collapsing them into one project record is the single highest-leverage change most photography businesses can make — it is worth more than any gear purchase.
| Stage | Fragmented stack | Single workflow |
|---|---|---|
| Booking & payment admin | 15-20 min | Handled at booking |
| Ingest, rename, upload | 20-40 min | One upload into the project |
| Editor briefing & retrieval | 15-30 min | Assignment inside the project |
| Gallery build & delivery | 10-20 min | Delivery from the same record |
| Invoicing & chasing | 10-15 min | Billed against the job |
Figures are illustrative of a typical fragmented stack, not measured benchmarks — time your own process for a week and compare.
Stage 6
QC before the agent sees it.
- View every frame full screen, not as thumbnails
- Check verticals and horizons across the whole set
- Confirm colour consistency room to room
- Look at removals and staging at 100% for artefacts
- Verify the count matches the package the client bought
- Confirm you are delivering the right property to the right client
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What turnaround should I promise?
Next business day is the standard agents expect for stills in most markets. Promise what you can hit on your worst week, not your best one — a missed delivery costs more goodwill than a slower promise ever does.
Where do photographers actually lose the most time?
Between the stages, not inside them. Copying cards, renaming files, uploading to a transfer service, briefing an editor by email, downloading finals, re-uploading to a gallery, then invoicing separately. None of it is photography and all of it is billable time you never bill for.
How many photos should I deliver?
Whatever the package band says, chosen for coverage rather than volume. Twenty-five strong images beat forty where six are near-duplicates of the same living room.
Should I cull before or after editing?
Before, always. Editing frames you were never going to deliver is paid production spent on nothing.
What does a good QC pass look like?
Verticals straight, colour consistent across the set, windows holding their view, no leftover artefacts from removals, correct count, correct property. Five minutes at full screen catches almost everything a client would have emailed you about.
Collapse the handoffs.
Run one listing end to end in RELMX and count the steps you did not have to do.