The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
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Here's a few tips that will make a huge difference in the quality of your before and after photographs.


1) Camera angle

Use a tripod or mark the spot where you are going to take before and afters so you will have the exact same camera angle and cropping. Zoom in close enough so the left and right edge of the roof is tight in the frame, minimizing the amount empty foreground and background space, to make the roof stand out more. Use a step ladder to get up higher to give you a better angle or get on the roof and shoot a few shots up top also. Stay back far enough if there is no obstructions in front of your lens to avoid using too wide of a focal length on your lens. To reduce the appearance of a distorted image, you need to back up and zoom in so you are using a normal focal length or more of a telephoto zoomed in lens.

2) Lighting

Roofs with a lot of shade or tree cover with funky shadows casting on the roof don't look as good. Ideally the most dramatic before and after images are taken when it's overcast for the before pictures (dark and hideous) and bright and sunny (high noon) for the after pictures. Let it rain a few times to rinse off all the mold good to give you the cleanest possible shots prior to taking the after pictures. The time of year is also crucial. Spring or summer make for the best after pictures because the sun is higher in the sky to shine more light on the roof, especially the north side.
Usually the north side of the roof is going to give you the most dramatic photographs which means if the sun is out (not cloudy) it will be in front of the camera, so shading your lens to keep the sun off the lens will prevent camera flare, and give you a better shot.

3) Exposure

When shooting the before picture if it is sunny and well lit, reduce the brightness and increase the contrast a little on the before pictures on photo shop, so you can see the streaks better. Sharpening also helps enable you to see the streaks better. If your before pictures are taken on a cloudy day, crank up the contrast more to enhance the streaks better. Enhancing your images is a fine art. You want to avoid making too much adjustments to avoid the images looking fake or digital altered. Tweaking them just a little so they look better and more professional is the key.

When printing photographs for your portfolio, bigger is better.

When showing customers your work, you want to use at least 8x10's

11x14's are even better to show lots of detail.
I get calls all over the country from guys asking me if they can use my photographs for their websites and advertising. I have to turn them down because I am a former photographer and my photographs are copyrighted. There is a great deal more to taking pictures than just buying a camera, pointing it at something and pressing a button.

Using these tips will help you take your own photographs better and you will also be able to speak about them with the same confidence as I do with mine, because you are the one who actually cleaned the roof and recorded the results.