29 September 2026 · 6 min read · Oscar Markham
What to photograph in a garden, and when
A garden is the most photogenic thing any trade produces and landscapers are consistently bad at photographing it. The phone is full of pictures taken on the last afternoon, in flat grey light, from wherever the van was parked. Those images will not sell the next job, and in this trade the images are almost the whole sale.
Before is worth as much as after
An after photograph of a good garden is pleasant. The same photograph beside the tired lawn and broken slabs that were there in March is persuasive, because it shows what you changed rather than what exists.
So the discipline is to shoot it on the first visit, before anything moves, from two or three positions you can return to. Nobody regrets having the before shot; everybody regrets not having it.
Same position, same height, both times
A before from the back door and an after from the end of the garden do not compare, and the pair stops working.
Look at the before photograph on your phone before taking the after, and stand where you stood. Fifteen seconds, and it is the difference between a usable pair and two unrelated pictures.
Wait for the planting to settle
The day the job finishes is the worst day to photograph it. Soil is bare, edges are raw, and everything looks newly installed rather than established.
Go back in six or eight weeks when it has knitted together. That is the photograph that sells, and it costs one short visit. Ask the customer when you finish — most are delighted to be asked.
Light decides more than the camera
Harsh midday sun flattens planting and blows out paving. Early morning and late afternoon give depth and texture.
Overcast is genuinely good for foliage and terrible for skies, so frame it tighter. Avoid shooting into the sun with the garden dark in front of it, which is the most common ruined garden photograph.
Shoot the details as well as the whole
A wide shot shows the layout. Close work — a cut edge, a step detail, jointing, a planted corner — shows the standard, and that is what a customer who is comparing quotes is actually looking for.
Four or five images per job is plenty. It is the consistency of getting them every time that builds the asset.
Where they earn their keep
The Google Business Profile, weekly. The website, grouped by project rather than dumped in a gallery. Meta ads, where before-and-after pairs outperform everything else in this trade.
And in quotes. Sending a prospective customer two comparable finished gardens before the visit does more than any amount of reassurance.
Written by Oscar Markham, founder of Dublin Growth Digital. We run lead generation for Irish estate agents and trades, reported every Friday in enquiries and booked work.