Before-and-after shot lists for twelve trades

The general rules first

Before the trade-by-trade lists, these five habits apply everywhere:

1. Mark your spot. Note where you stood for the "before": a doorframe, a fence post, a crack in the driveway. Stand there again for the "after".
2. Match the height. Chest height is a good default. Kneeling for one shot and standing for the other changes everything.
3. Turn on the lights, or don't, both times. Mixed light is the most common reason a pair looks wrong.
4. Clean the lens. A thumb-smudged lens on a dusty site makes every photo look foggy.
5. Wait for the clean-up. Take the "after" once drop sheets, tools and offcuts are gone. A tidy site is part of the result you're showing.

Interior trades

Painting (interior)

• Wide: from the main doorway, capturing two walls and the ceiling line.
• Medium: the feature wall or the trim around a window.
• Detail: a crisp cut line where the wall meets the ceiling or the trim.
• Watch for: family photos and artwork. Take them down before the "before" shot, or photograph the room after they've been removed for prep.

Flooring and tile

• Wide: from a corner, low, roughly knee height, so the floor fills the frame.
• Medium: a transition, such as a threshold or stair nosing.
• Detail: grout lines or a clean cut around a door casing.
• Watch for: reflections. Glossy floors show everything, including you.

Kitchen and bathroom renovation

• Wide: from the doorway, with a strip of tape on the floor marking your spot for the weeks ahead.
• Medium: the vanity wall, the range wall or the shower corner.
• Detail: fixtures, tile edge, a drawer opening.
• Watch for: toiletries, medication, fridge magnets with names and calendars on the wall. Clear them before both shots.

Basement finishing

• Wide: from the bottom of the stairs, which is the one spot that won't change.
• Medium: the main living area.
• Detail: a finished window well, a bulkhead or a built-in.
• Watch for: storage boxes with names on them, and the furnace room unless that's part of the job.

Exterior trades

Roofing

• Wide: from the ground, across the street or from the far corner of the yard, with the house number out of frame. Drone shots need extra care and the homeowner's agreement.
• Medium: a valley, a chimney or a skylight.
• Detail: new flashing, a ridge cap or a clean drip edge.
• Watch for: neighbours' homes, which also appear in wide shots. For drone and video work specifically, our sister site Roofing.Media goes deeper.

Painting (exterior), siding and eavestroughs

• Wide: the full elevation from the same corner of the property.
• Medium: a gable end or the area around the front door, with the number covered or cropped.
• Detail: a corner trim, a downspout or a soffit.
• Watch for: cars in the driveway. Ask if they can be moved, or frame around them.

Landscaping, hardscaping and sod

• Wide: from the back door or the deck stairs looking out, which is how the homeowner experiences the yard.
• Medium: a planting bed, a retaining wall or the patio edge.
• Detail: joint sand, an edge restraint, fresh mulch.
• Watch for: season. A "before" in March and an "after" in July will always look dramatic, and viewers know it. Say so in the caption.

Fences and decks

• Wide: down the length of the fence or from the corner of the deck.
• Medium: a gate, the stairs or a railing section.
• Detail: hardware, post caps, fastener lines.
• Watch for: the neighbour's yard on the other side, which you have no consent to show.

Pressure washing and exterior cleaning

• Wide: the driveway, patio or siding from the same end.
• Split shot: the classic half-clean, half-dirty frame taken mid-job. It's one of the few cases where a single image beats two.
• Detail: a close-up of the cleaned surface texture.
• Watch for: licence plates and house numbers, which are very often in the frame.

Trades with less visible work

Plumbing

• Before: a corroded valve, a leaking trap, an old water heater with rust staining, or camera inspection footage of a blocked line.
• After: the new fitting, the tidy pipe run, the clean drain on camera.
• Watch for: anything above the sink: windows, mail, family calendars.

Electrical

• Before: the old panel with its cover off, a scorched outlet, a tangle of cords.
• After: the new labelled panel, the replaced device, a finished lighting installation at dusk.
• Watch for: security systems and cameras, which should never appear in a post.

Windows and doors

• Wide: from outside, with the frame filled by the opening so the street isn't visible.
• Inside: from across the room, which shows the light difference.
• Detail: the sill, the trim, the weatherstripping.
• Watch for: reflections of the street in the new glass.

Light and timing

Light matters as much as angle. A few practical rules:

• Overcast days are your friend for exteriors. Harsh noon sun creates dark shadows that hide detail.
• Interiors look best with all lights on and blinds open, but only if you do the same for both shots.
• Avoid shooting straight into a window. The room goes dark and the window turns white.
• For winter work across much of Canada, daylight is short. Plan the "after" for the brightest hour, or accept interior lighting and keep it consistent.

Naming and storing your sets

The photos are only useful if you can find them later. Name each file with the town, job type, stage and date, for example "Brandon – deck stain – after – 2026-08". Keep them in a shared company folder, not on one person's phone. Record the consent level beside each set so nobody uses a "social only" set in an ad.

Turning sets into posts

Each matched set can become several pieces of content:

• a side-by-side image for Facebook and your website gallery
• a two-slide carousel for Instagram (before first, always)
• a three-second slideshow for Reels, Shorts or TikTok
• a seasonal "projects of the month" round-up

If you'd like us to build this system around your trade, see before-and-after content systems. The platform playbooks explain which formats suit which app. Questions? Call, text or email.