Blogue · 26 septembre 2026 · 4 min de lecture
The 10 preparation mistakes that ruin a real estate photo shoot (and cost showings)
The 10 most common preparation mistakes before a real estate photo shoot in Quebec, what they cost the listing, and how to fix them in 20 minutes.
The photographer arrives at 10 a.m. The house is clean; the seller spent the evening tidying. And yet, in the photos, there is a roll of paper towel on the counter, a recycling bin in front of the garage door and a burnt-out bulb in the hallway. Nothing serious. Except those three details will sit on Centris for six weeks, across 40 photos, in front of thousands of buyers.
After hundreds of sessions, here are the ten mistakes that come back most often, ranked by impact on the listing. None takes more than twenty minutes to fix.
1. Cluttered kitchen counters
Mistake number one, by far. Toaster, coffee maker, knife block, dish soap, paper towel, fruit, mail. Every object visually shrinks the counter surface, and counter surface is the first thing a buyer evaluates in a kitchen.
The rule: empty counters, or one decorative object per work surface. Everything else goes in a cupboard for the session.
2. Burnt-out bulbs and mismatched bulbs
One dead bulb out of three in a fixture, or a "warm white" bulb next to a "daylight" one, shows immediately in a photo. The room looks poorly maintained, and the colours become impossible to correct evenly.
The rule: every bulb works, all the same tone in a given room. The photographer will turn everything on.
3. Personal items and family photos
The buyer needs to picture themselves in the house, not in yours. Family photos, kids' drawings on the fridge, diplomas on the wall, toiletries in the bathroom: all of it takes them back to your home.
The rule: the bathroom shows only clean, folded towels. The fridge is bare. Personal frames are turned or removed.
4. Cars in the driveway
A car in the driveway hides the facade, the garage and part of the lot. It also dates the photo, and it makes the property feel occupied, which it is, but the listing does not need to show it.
The rule: empty driveway, cars parked on the street or at a neighbour's. This one is common because nobody thinks of it before the photographer pulls up.
5. Recycling bins, garbage cans and garden hoses
The green bin by the garage, the hose coiled on the wall, the garbage can next to the shed. In an exterior photo, these objects grab the eye because they are colourful and out of place.
The rule: anything plastic and outdoors goes into the garage or the shed.
6. Closed blinds and curtains
A window closed by a blind is a window that shows nothing: no light, no view, no lot. And windows, with counters, are what a buyer looks at first.
The rule: blinds up, curtains open, windows clean. If the view is ugly, close them; otherwise, always open.
7. Unmade beds and wrinkled bedspreads
A bedroom is judged by its bed. An unmade bed, or a wrinkled bedspread, makes the room look messy even if everything else is spotless.
The rule: bed made tight, spread pulled, pillows lined up. A child's room stays a child's room, but a tidy one.
8. Open toilets and bath mats
The detail everyone forgets and everyone notices. A raised toilet seat, a wrinkled bath mat, a visible toilet brush.
The rule: seat down, bath mat removed, shower curtain drawn and clean, no products in sight.
9. Pets, their bowls and their toys
Some buyers are allergic; others simply do not like the idea that a dog lived in the house. The water bowl, the litter box, the crate and the toys are constant reminders.
The rule: everything that belongs to the pet disappears for the session, the pet too if possible.
10. The wrong season and the wrong time of day
Shooting a north-facing facade at 4 p.m. in November means shooting a facade in shadow. Shooting a wooded lot under snow means losing half the perceived value of the land.
The rule: book the session according to the facade's orientation (morning for east, afternoon for west) and, if the listing goes live in winter, shoot the exteriors in the fall. We cover all of it in our article on winter real estate photography.
What the photographer fixes, and what they do not
A professional photographer moves a chair, closes a closet door, straightens a frame. They do not tidy a kitchen, make beds or bring in recycling bins: it is not their role, and above all it is not what the seller is paying for. A session lasts between 45 minutes and two hours; every minute spent tidying is a minute less for photographing.
Object removal in post-production exists ($35 per photo with us), but it is meant to remove a power line or a neighbour's bin, not to rescue a messy room. It is also governed by rules: we explain them in our article on AI photo enhancement.
The full checklist, to send to the seller
These ten mistakes are the most frequent, but the full list we hand our clients has about thirty instructions, room by room. It is public: the Dimension 360 preparation guide. Send it to the seller two days before the session; it is the best time investment of the whole mandate.
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