The Ultimate Guide to Photo Documentation Best Practices

The benefits of photo documentation in construction

When you’re not on the jobsite, it’s hard to imagine how a project is actually going. Reports and field notes help, but without vivid details, you can still be left wondering. Photo documentation visually captures a project’s progress—that way, you don’t have to fill in the blanks yourself.

Photos help you see:

• Jobsite updates

• Active safety protocols

• High-quality work

Don’t say it—show it

With better insights, you’ll know exactly how to support your crews (and keep projects moving). Photo documentation helps you keep clients informed, too. Sharing photos alongside reports will show them the progress of their projects—and build credibility for your company.

Better photos, better protection

Photos now can save your business later. With historical data, you’ll have solid proof of project events. That makes it easier to back up your work during disputes, especially with time and date stamps. How do you take the best photos? We have a few tips.

How to take good jobsite photos

What makes a good photo?

A good photo tells a story. When you look at it, you can quickly understand what’s happening without too much effort. Sometimes, a photo has extra details to tell a bigger story.
But you don’t need to be a professional to take good photos. All you need is a mobile device (like a phone)—and some tips to keep in mind.

For better jobsites photos, you need:

• Good lighting - Good lighting brings out the subject of your photo.

• Good focus - Good focus helps separate the subject from the background.

• Good composition - Good composition shows how the subject relates to the background.

Highlight more details with photo markup

With photo markup, you can draw directly on jobsite photos. This makes critical info jump out, and helps you tell the full story faster.

Still image doesn’t cut it? Record a video instead.

Videos show a project’s scale. By recording video, you can pan over important details and capture sound. In places with noise restrictions, this is crucial to staying compliant.

Examples of good construction photos

Jobsite updates (and high-quality work)

• Establishing shot of jobsite

• Crew working on project

• Close-up of new installation

Active safety protocols

• PPE

• Hard hats

• Reflective gear

• Harnesses

• Masks

Photo storage and sharing

Store everything on the cloud

Managing different jobsites and crews means a lot of files to track. Cloud storage apps keep all your photos and videos in one secure place. That way, you can find (and share) what you need in a flash.

Benefits of cloud storage

One central place for files

Keep everything organized and where you can easily find them. You can even find the right document with a keyword search.

Access documents anywhere

Cloud storage enables you to access key documents when you need them, regardless of where you are.

Easily share insights

Comment on shared documents and mark up to add thoughts and context to photos.

How does cloud storage work for photos?

It’s a pretty simple process from start to finish.

1. Field crews take photos and videos of the jobsite.

2. Attachments are uploaded to the cloud in real time.

3. Office teams see everything on the web.

4. Office teams send stakeholders reports and updates.

Do even more with field management software.

Field-focused software (like Raken) helps streamline communication between your field and office teams. And it makes cloud storage more effective.

By combining the best field tools, you can reduce manual entry and improve visibility for everyone.

Boost project visibility with Raken

Capture progress in real time

Raken helps you collect, store, and share field data like: 

• Photos (with photo markup) 

• Videos 

• Descriptions/notes

Since you can access everything on the go, project data is always at your fingertips.

Find your focus, faster

With Raken, photos are automatically time and datestamped the moment they’re taken—meaning fewer questions later on.

Need to look something up? Search for photos on the web gallery and project activity dashboards. You can even change file names or add more descriptions.

Keep everyone in the picture

Raken’s professional, branded daily reports come with photos from that day. Easily share downloadable PDFs with stakeholders for better collaboration.

Real-time visibility also helps you make more informed decisions to improve projects.

29 million photos taken with Raken in 2021