How to Prepare Your Home for Real Estate Photos: A Las Vegas Photographer's Checklist
After photographing hundreds of Las Vegas listings — from Summerlin family homes to estates in MacDonald Highlands — we can tell within thirty seconds of walking in whether a shoot will be one smooth pass or a struggle. The difference is never the house. It's the prep the night before.
Here's the exact checklist we send our own clients, plus the Vegas-specific details that out-of-state guides always miss.
Start Outside: Curb Appeal Is the First Photo
The exterior shot is the first image every buyer sees. Manicure the lawn, trim bushes, and pull anything dead — in the desert, one brown plant reads as neglect. Power wash the driveway, walkways, and pool deck. Remove trash cans, hoses, and anything with wheels. Park every vehicle in the garage or down the street — cars in photos date the listing and block the house.
Vegas-specific: dust. Our desert coats everything, and it shows on glass. Wipe down exterior windows, patio glass, and pool tile the day before. If your listing has a pool — most of our shoots do — skim it and run the cleaner the night before, not the morning of.
Light Every Room
Turn on every interior light and replace burnt-out bulbs ahead of time — mismatched or dead bulbs are the most common thing sellers forget. Match bulb color temperature within each room if you can; one blue-white bulb in a warm room makes the photo feel off even when buyers can't say why.
If your shoot includes twilight photography, turn on exterior and landscape lighting too. In Las Vegas, twilight is where listings win — a lit pool and patio against a Red Rock or Strip backdrop is the hero shot that stops the scroll.
Kitchen and Dining
Clear the counters completely — tuck away small appliances, papers, and anything magnetic on the refrigerator. Wipe the cabinets, polish the fixtures, clean the sink. Clear the dining table, or set it lightly if staging. Kitchens sell homes; empty counters photograph twice as large as cluttered ones.
Bedrooms and Bathrooms
Beds made with clean linens, floors clear, closet doors closed. In bathrooms: fresh towels, toilet seats down, and hide everything personal — hygiene products, medications, toothbrushes, razors, plungers, floor mats. Bathroom clutter is the fastest way to make a luxury listing feel ordinary.
Living Areas
Vacuum, fluff the pillows, dust the screens, and hide the remotes, cords, and kids' and pet items. Buyers should see the room, not the life happening in it.
What Your Photographer Won't Do
Worth knowing before shoot day: professional real estate photographers do light staging — angling a chair, straightening a throw — but we don't clean homes or move personal items. Everything above needs to happen the night before. When it does, the shoot runs one clean pass and your photos deliver on schedule; our standard turnaround is 24–48 hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a real estate photo shoot take? A prepared home under 3,000 sq ft typically takes about an hour; large luxury properties with video and drone can take several.
Should the seller be home during the shoot? Ideally no — empty rooms shoot faster and sellers relax more. If they stay, one room ahead of the photographer is the polite dance.
What about pets? Off-site or crated, with bowls, beds, and toys hidden. Buyers with allergies notice.
Does this checklist apply to twilight shoots? Yes, plus one addition: every exterior and landscape light on and working before golden hour. We only get about twenty minutes of that light in the desert.
Ready to put your listing in front of buyers looking their best? See our [pricing] or [book a shoot] — we photograph listings across the Las Vegas valley, usually within 48 hours of booking.