Listing Photo Shot List
Shoot the photos a real-estate photographer would. The staging pass first, then the angle for each room, then the test for picking the cover shot guests see first.
Guests decide in the first three photos, and it's the framing that fails, not the camera
Guests decide in the first three photos. Most self-shot listings fail because of what is in the frame and what got skipped. Your phone is fine.
This shot list walks the property the way a real-estate photographer would: staging passes before you shoot, the exact angles per room, the detail shots that sell the experience, and a simple test for choosing your cover photo.
Written by Eric, who founded a vacation rental company in 2004 and spent close to a decade deep cleaning rentals somebody else had already called clean.
What is inside: all 5 parts
This is the complete contents list, not a highlights reel. Every line below is a part of the file that is already written and already laid out. Print-ready as it stands. Print it, laminate it, or send the file to whoever does the work.
- 40-shot room-by-room list with recommended angles and heights
- Pre-shoot staging checklist (the 20-minute pass that changes everything)
- Detail & lifestyle shot ideas that justify a higher nightly rate
- Lighting cheat sheet: time of day, lamps on/off, when to use HDR
- Cover photo selection test + photo ordering guide for OTA listings
What it replaces
the work it removes- A blank document and every decision inside it. Somebody has to work out what belongs in each of those 5 parts, write the wording, and lay it out, 5 times over. That is the part already done.
- A generic small-business template with the word "property" pasted over it. It was written against one problem: Guests decide in the first three photos, and it's the framing that fails, not the camera.
- Version chasing. If the file gets revised, the new one is a free re-download, not a second purchase.
- A subscription. It is a PDF file you keep. Nothing logs in, nothing syncs, and nothing stops working when a card expires.
When this one is not for you
said plainly- If what you want is software that runs itself, this isn't it and never claimed to be. It's a PDF file you print, post, and own. No app, nothing to log into.
- Already have a version of this written down, with a team that follows it? Keep it. Swapping a working system for a stranger's is a downgrade.
- The writing is done. Filling in your codes, your local numbers and your house rules is still on you.
- Judge it on this file. It is one of the 9 free ones for exactly that reason. If the writing is not good, do not spend anything on the other 26.
Free, and complete. There is no locked half of this file.
What it does not do is cover the rest of the job. The other 26 toolkits are the paid half of the library. That is $49 USD once, for all of them, nothing renewing. Read this one first: if it is not worth your time, none of the rest will be either. All 9 free files · what's in the pass.
Three more that sit next to this one
Same category first, meaning Marketing & Listing, then the library's featured picks if the shelf runs short. Free ones download without an account; Pro ones come with the $49 USD All-Access Pass.
PDF ProListing Optimization Workbook
Audit your listing the way Airbnb and Vrbo rank it: title, photos, description, and the amenity boxes that act as search filters. Then fix the weakest part first.
PDF ProDirect Booking Launch Kit
Take your first bookings direct, paid to you rather than through Airbnb or Vrbo. Do it in the order that works: past guests first, a simple booking page second.
PDFFreeTurnover Cleaning Checklist
A room-by-room list your cleaner works from on a turnover, plus what to restock. When they're done they send you 10 photos.