A guide to jobsite and plant photography
A construction company can get marketing-grade photographs from the jobsite and the plant with a phone and a standing shot list, as long as one named person shoots the list on each job. Plan each shot around a milestone and good light. Hire a professional for the finished project that will carry your marketing for years.
Why it matters
Why jobsite photos end up unusable
Jobsite photos are usually taken as documentation. The camera comes out to record a punch list item, a damaged panel, rebar spacing before a pour or a trench before backfill. Those photos do their job and have no other use. A year later someone asks for project photos for the website or a proposal, and the folder holds hundreds of pictures of mud and conduit, shot at noon under a gray sky.
Construction has strong subject matter. A crane pick against a morning sky or a crew setting a forty-foot panel is on site most weeks, and the only record of it sits in a documentation folder.
A usable photo is planned before it is taken. Someone knew the pick was set for nine and where the sun would be. That person walked the loose gear and trash out of the frame and stood in the right spot with a clean lens. None of that takes special equipment. A phone at the right moment produces a better photo than an expensive camera at the wrong one, and a professional photographer at substantial completion produces the best of all.
The fix is a habit. Keep a standing shot list that stays the same from project to project, and tie it to milestones so the schedule does the reminding. Assign the list to one person by name on each job, because a task that belongs to the whole crew gets skipped.
Shot list
The standing shot list
Print this list and give it to whoever is on site. Ten minutes at the right moment can supply a project's marketing photos for the year.
On the jobsite
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1
The crane pick at its highest point
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2
Crews working with faces visible and PPE worn correctly
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3
A wide shot with a person in the frame for scale
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4
A before and an after from the same standing spot
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5
A detail that shows craft, such as a connection or a finish
In the plant
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6
The pour
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7
The form with rebar or strand in place before concrete
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8
Product staged in rows in the yard
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9
The lift or the load-out
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10
Hands doing finish work
Rules that save the shot
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11
Clear trash and loose gear out of the frame first
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12
Shoot in morning or late afternoon light when you can
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13
Hold the phone level and walk closer to fill the frame
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14
Take ten frames of each shot and keep the best one
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15
Keep other companies' names on trucks and vests out of the frame
Hiring a professional
When to hire a professional photographer
Hire a professional for the projects that will carry your marketing for years. Three kinds of shoot justify the cost.
Substantial completion of a signature project
This is the clearest case. Photographs of the finished building or parking structure end up on the homepage and the proposal cover, and sometimes on a trade show wall. They have to stay sharp at large sizes, in light a phone handles poorly.
An aerial day
A drone pilot certificated under FAA Part 107 gets angles that are impossible from the ground, and the pilot handles the airspace authorizations.
A recruiting shoot
Photographs of your own people doing their work serve recruiting better than staged ones. A good photographer gets them without stopping production.
What to give the photographer
Give the photographer the shot list from this page and anything specific to the project. Say where the images will be used, whether that is the website, proposals, trade show graphics or recruiting pages. A photographer who knows the end use frames for it, leaving room for a headline on one shot and shooting vertical for another.
Schedule the shoot for the right phase. A building photographs best once the finishes are in, before the lot fills with other companies' trucks. Book the photographer when you schedule the milestone.
One professional day at completion, added to a season of milestone phone photos from the standing list, is enough for a manufacturer's or a contractor's website and proposals. A photographer on retainer is more than that work requires.
Questions and answers
Questions about jobsite photography
What makes a good construction photo?
A good construction photo shows a specific moment, such as a pick or a pour, with a person in the frame and clean light. The person gives the work scale and shows that a crew did it, and PPE worn correctly makes the photo publishable. Shoot in morning or late afternoon light and clear trash and loose gear out of the frame first. Get close enough that the subject fills the shot.
Can we use phone photos?
Yes, for the website, social posts, proposals and recruiting. A current phone in good light, held level and framed cleanly, is enough for those. A phone falls short for large-format printing, trade show graphics, dim plant interiors and full-width homepage images. Use the phone for the running record of each project and hire a professional for the few images that carry the most weight.
When should we photograph a project?
Photograph a project during construction at four milestones: mobilization, first pick, topping out and enclosure. Photograph it again after occupancy, once the fence is gone and people are using the building. The milestone shots show that you did the work. The finished shot shows owners and developers the kind of building they are buying.
Who owns the photos a photographer takes?
The photographer generally holds the copyright unless your agreement says otherwise, so settle usage before the shoot. Ask for written rights that cover your uses, such as the website, proposals, social media, trade show graphics and recruiting. Some photographers license images by use, and others transfer broad rights for a higher fee. Both arrangements are normal.
Old Plank Group shoots jobsite and plant photography.
Print the shot list and tape it up in the truck and the plant office. When a signature project needs a professional, photography is part of our marketing work for manufacturers and contractors. Send a note and we answer within one business day.