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Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series that offers timely tips for photographing award-winning projects. Part 2 in the May PLANET News takes the mystery out of shooting with a digital camera.

The old adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” is critical to the green industry. We paint beautiful pictures every day with the work that we perform, and that is what we sell — beautiful pictures that our customers want to see at their homes, businesses, or any setting that they experience each day. Our need for quality images of our products and services is a must-have to “tell our story” in printed and digital form.

When it comes to pictures, timing is everything. Being there at the right time is the most important action you can take to improve your images. Here’s an example of a typical project workflow for design/build landscape photography that can be applied to all facets of our industry’s work.

1. Identify potential award-winning projects from their design inception. Stay abreast of the status of these projects. As a general rule of thumb, it will be three years (at least two) after the project is completed before you will be able to photograph it for an award entry. However, photos taken right at completion of the work or a few months later are very valuable for building a “follow a project from beginning to end” scenario in a printed or digital presentation in your portfolio.
2. Ask your customers for permission to photograph their property. This is extremely important if you are going to enter the photographs in award contests or use their project images in any public manner. Many upscale commercial properties (and some homeowners) may not allow you to photograph their projects; you must ask and get permission. In some cases, you can mitigate the usage issue by agreeing not to use their name in any public manner. Don’t ever disclose the name or location of a project without the owner’s permission.
3. Take “before” photos of the raw site during your site-analysis visit.
4. Take a photo of the landscape plan and other presentation documents. Once that colored rendering leaves your hands, it’s hard to get it back.
5. Take in-progress photos while the project is being installed. Be sure to take photos of the same scene both with and without your employees present. The photos showing employees can be used to build your training and specification manuals. For award entries, you can’t show anything within the photo that might identify your company.
6. Finished photos must be of the highest image quality, both from an aesthetic and technical standpoint. Choose your opportunities carefully.
7. Shooting rules:
   1. Obviously, go when the landscape looks its best and at the right time to photograph close-up details.
   2. Shoot in golden light. The landscape is most appealing just after dawn or just before sunset when the light is warm and the shadows are soft and elongated.
   3. Avoid the flat light of midday. In high contrast situations (when the difference between the highlights and the shadows in the scene is too wide), you run the risk of losing detail at one end of the light scale. This is likely to happen during midday light or in areas with a tree canopy that shades the woods while bright sun bombards the open areas. Neither digital nor traditional film can handle that much contrast.
   4. If you can include a nice blue sky with fluffy white clouds and you can hold the detail in the clouds, as well as the detail in the shadowed area of the plantings, then go for it.
   5. If you have gray skies, you can shoot all day. The ideal daytime light is a moderately overcast day where the cloud layer is thin and the sun peaks through on occasion, highlighting the absolutely perfect part of your landscape. Don’t count on too many of these perfect days. If the sky is gray, then frame it out or only include a small chunk of sky in the frame.
   6. Tell the story. Match your “after” images to the “before” and “during” photos. Nothing speaks louder than a “before” and “after.”