Originally Posted by
Thom Walker
I believe there are arguments on both sides of that issue.
There are ALWAYS arguments for both sides of an issue, but on this one, Jerry Mc.'s side wins.
There are very distinct disadvantages to cropping of photos to show just what you want to show ... that being ... you are discarding what you do not *want* to show, meaning you could be taken as 'hiding' what you cropped off.
I recommend carefully taking your photos (thinking about what you are looking at), then even more carefully reviewing your photos for what they contain, adding to your report as you review your photos and insert them into your report.
Instead of limiting the photos I took or arbitrarily limiting the number of photos I inserted into my reports, I took tons of photos and used them all. Then, I went through and added a caption under each photo with what was shown/seen in that photo. That took extra time, and made my reports larger, but I felt I produced a more thorough report on my inspections that way - making my inspections and reports more valuable to my clients, and I was able to charge more for that value.
More valuable to my clients ... while being more troublesome to the sellers and/or builders as it was all right there 'in your face' in the report.
Yes, I would still occasionally be called for a 'what do you mean about this?', I directed them to the report, read it over with them, then directed them to the photo and read that over with them, then it was my turn to ask 'what do you mean 'what do you mean' ?'. They got it. It was all right there.