How to Photograph Documents for Your Lawyer: A Checklist
By Schema LawPublished Updated
To photograph documents for your lawyer, take one picture per page with the whole page in frame, flat, sharp and evenly lit, including backs, envelopes and attachments. Keep the pages in order, do not crop, mark or filter the pictures, and send them at full size through the channel the law firm tells you to use.
This post is written for two readers. If your lawyer has asked you for photos of your papers, it tells you what to do and why. If you work at a firm, it gives you a checklist to send to clients and a way to handle the pictures that come back wrong.
What does a lawyer need from a photo of your document?
A lawyer needs three things from a photo of your document: every page, every word readable, and the picture left as the paper was. A photo set that is complete, legible and unaltered can be read, quoted, searched and relied on. A set that fails any one of the three means a phone call and a retake.
Complete
Your lawyer cannot tell what is missing from a picture they have never seen. A lease with page 7 left out looks, from the firm's side, like a lease that might have an important page 7. Send all of it: the pages you think are boilerplate, the signature page, the schedules at the back. Deciding which pages matter is the job you hired the lawyer for.
Readable
Readable means the smallest print on the page can be read when the picture is enlarged on a screen, not that the page is recognizable. Footnotes, form numbers in the corner, dates stamped in the margin and the fine print on the reverse are the places to check. A photo that shows "it's the letter from the bank" without showing the account number and the date has not done its job.
Unaltered
The picture should show the document the way it sits on your table: full sheet, all four edges, original colors, nothing added. Your lawyer may need to describe the document to someone else, and the closer the image is to the paper, the simpler that is.
And one more thing: keep the paper
Photographing a document does not replace it. Put the originals somewhere safe and flat after you photograph them, and do not write on them, staple new things to them or throw them away. Whether an original will be needed later is a question for your lawyer, so ask before anything is discarded.
A one-page photo checklist a firm can send to clients
A photo checklist for clients works when it fits on one page, uses no jargon and can be followed with a phone and a kitchen table. The version here is written to be copied into an email or a client portal message. Change the last block to match your firm's own instructions.
How to photograph your documents for us
Before you start
- Gather everything we asked for, including envelopes and anything stapled or clipped to it.
- Clear a table near a window. Daylight from the side is best.
- Put a dark, plain surface under the paper, such as a placemat or a towel.
Taking each picture
- One page per picture.
- Lay the page flat. Take out staples only if they come out easily without tearing.
- Turn the flash off.
- Hold the phone directly over the middle of the page, not at an angle.
- Make sure you can see all four corners of the page on the screen.
- Hold still, tap the screen on the text, and take the picture.
- Zoom in on the picture. If you cannot read the smallest print, take it again.
Do not leave anything out
- Photograph the back of every page that has anything on it, even a stamp or a few handwritten words.
- Photograph the envelope, front and back.
- Photograph sticky notes where they are, then lift them and photograph the page underneath.
- Keep the pages in their original order.
Leave the pictures as they are
- Do not crop, rotate, brighten, filter, highlight or draw on the pictures.
- Do not use an app that turns the page black and white.
- Do not delete the pictures from your phone until we confirm we have them.
Sending
- Send the pictures by [the firm's upload link / portal / email address].
- Choose "actual size" or "original" if your phone asks.
- Tell us how many pictures you sent and which documents they are.
- Keep the paper originals safe. Do not write on them.
Notes for the firm on using the checklist
- Fill in the sending block. A checklist that says only "send them to us" leaves the client to pick a route, and that route may be a text to a paralegal's personal phone. Name the one channel you want.
- Say what you asked for. Attach the checklist to a specific list: "your lease, every rent receipt, the two letters from the landlord". A general request for "your documents" leaves the client guessing which ones.
- Ask for the count. "I sent 14 pictures" lets you spot that 12 arrived.
- Offer the alternative. Some clients cannot manage this, because of eyesight, an old phone or shaky hands. Tell them they may bring or post the papers instead, and that nobody will mind.
The checklist keeps technique to seven lines on purpose. The reasons behind each line, and what to do in poor light or with a curling page, are set out in the section on taking a photo that OCR can read.
Which parts of a document do clients leave out of photos?
The parts that go missing are the ones that look unimportant to the person holding the paper: backs of pages, envelopes, attachments, cover sheets and blank or nearly blank pages. Each can carry a date, a term or a signature, and each is invisible to the firm unless it is photographed.
| Left out | What it can carry | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The back of a page | Terms and conditions, an endorsement, a received stamp, a handwritten note | Turn every page over; photograph any back that is not blank |
| The envelope | A postmark, a return address, a delivery sticker | Photograph front and back, and keep it with its letter |
| Attachments and enclosures | Schedules, exhibits, a payment slip, a second notice | Photograph them straight after the page they came with |
| Cover sheets and fax headers | Who sent it, when, how many pages there should be | Include them as the first picture |
| Signature and initial pages | Who signed, when, and whether every party did | Photograph even if the page holds nothing else |
| Blank pages | Proof that nothing is missing where the numbering skips | Photograph one frame so the count matches |
| Sticky notes and clipped slips | Someone's comment or instruction | Photograph in place, then photograph what is underneath |
| Page edges | Page numbers, footers, margin notes, hole-punched text | Keep all four corners in the frame |
How to check your own set
Before you send, do three quick counts.
- Count the paper. Count the sheets, then count the sides with anything on them.
- Count the pictures. The number of pictures should match the number of sides, plus the envelope.
- Follow the page numbers. If the document has printed page numbers, swipe through your pictures and say them aloud: 1, 2, 3. A jump from 4 to 6 means you turned two pages at once.
An example
Tomas Ramos is asked by his lawyer for the notice his landlord sent and the lease it refers to. He photographs the one-page notice and the first eleven pages of the lease. He leaves out the envelope, the back of the notice, where a second paragraph continues in small print, and the two-page addendum stapled behind the lease, because it "was just about parking". The firm receives twelve tidy pictures and has no way to know there should be seventeen. The postmark, the continued paragraph and the addendum are the three things the lawyer asks about on the next call, and Tomas photographs them that evening. A count and a turn of each page would have saved the second round.
Those missing pages of the lease are the ones to photograph the same evening, full frame and readable. The set can serve as documentary evidence of what the landlord sent, so the addendum and the envelope belong in it. Leave each photograph uncropped for authentication, and keep them until the firm confirms the chain of custody includes every page.
Identity documents come up in the same requests and have their own handling questions, including both sides and what else is in the frame. See the post on scanning an ID card with a phone.
Why you should not crop, mark up or filter the pictures
Do not crop, mark up or filter the pictures because each of those changes removes information or adds something that was never on the paper. Your lawyer wants to see what the document looks like, and can crop, enlarge or annotate a copy later. Nobody can put back what an edit took away.
Cropping
A tight crop trims the things that live at the edge: page numbers, footers with a form revision date, a fax header, initials in the margin, the edge of a stamp. It also hides whether the page is whole. A picture that shows all four corners of the sheet on a dark table tells the reader that nothing was cut off.
Marking up
Circling the important sentence in your phone's photo editor feels helpful. It puts your marks on top of the text, sometimes covering a word, and it makes the picture differ from the paper. If you want to point something out, say it in your message: "Page 3, second paragraph, is the part I am worried about." The same goes for the paper itself. Do not highlight, underline or write on an original before photographing it.
Filters and scanning modes
Scanning apps and some camera modes offer to "clean up" a page by raising the contrast or turning it black and white. That can make typed text crisper, and it can also wipe out the faint things: pencil, a light date stamp, a pale signature, the difference between blue ink and a black photocopy. Automatic edge detection can also trim a margin. If your lawyer's office asks you to use a scanning app, use it as they describe. If they have not, send plain photos. What these settings do to an image is covered in the post on scanner app settings.
Other edits that seem harmless
- Rotating. A sideways picture is a small nuisance the firm can fix. Rotating and re-saving in some apps lowers the quality.
- Collages. Do not combine several pages into one image. Each page gets a fraction of the detail.
- Screenshots of photos. A screenshot of a picture is a smaller, weaker copy of it. Send the picture itself.
- Covering things up. Do not blank out account numbers or anything else before sending to your own lawyer unless they told you to. If you are worried about a detail, ask first.
What the picture carries besides the image
A phone photo can record the time it was taken and, depending on your settings, where. Tell your lawyer if that concerns you instead of running the pictures through an app to strip it. The post on what metadata is in a photo explains what is recorded.
How should a client send document photos to a law firm?
Send document photos the way the firm tells you to, at full size, in page order, with a short note saying what they are and how many there are. If the firm has not said how, ask before you send. The channel is the firm's choice, because the firm is responsible for where your documents end up.
Ask these three questions if you were not told
- Where should I send them: a link, a portal, an email address?
- Do you want separate pictures or one PDF?
- Is there a size limit I should know about?
Send the full-size picture
Phones and apps offer to shrink pictures to save data, and some messaging services reduce them without asking. A shrunken picture can look fine on a phone and be unreadable when the small print is enlarged. Where you are offered a choice of size, pick the largest. The options for each route, and how to tell whether a picture arrived intact, are in the post on sending photos without losing quality.
Keep the order and say what is what
- Send the pictures in page order. If you are sending several documents, send each as its own batch or message.
- Write one line per batch: "Lease, 14 pictures, pages 1 to 12 plus two pages of addendum."
- If a page is missing from your paper copy, say so, so that nobody goes looking for a picture that does not exist.
- Do not rename the files unless asked. The firm will name them in its own system.
Think about where else the pictures go
Your camera roll may sync to a shared family album or a tablet that someone else uses. If the documents are sensitive, check that before you start, and raise it with your lawyer if the other side of your dispute could see that album. Once the firm confirms it has everything, ask whether you should keep or delete the copies on your phone.
If the upload will not go through
Large batches can fail on a weak connection or exceed an email size limit. Send in smaller groups and number them ("batch 2 of 4") instead of shrinking the pictures. If it still fails, tell the firm. They may prefer that you bring the papers in.
What the firm does when client photos arrive unusable
When client photos arrive unusable, sort them the day they arrive into usable, usable with care and retake, and send one specific retake request that lists the pages and the fix for each. A vague "these are a bit blurry, could you resend?" gives the client nothing to do differently.
Triage on arrival
Open every picture at full zoom, not as thumbnails, and check:
| Check | Pass | Fail |
|---|---|---|
| Count | Matches what the client said they sent | Fewer pictures than stated, or no count given |
| Page sequence | Printed page numbers run without gaps | A number is skipped or repeated |
| Edges | All four corners of each sheet visible | Text runs off the frame or a corner is cut |
| Smallest print | Readable when enlarged | Smeared, grainy or too small |
| Light | Even across the page | A shadow, a flash spot or glare over text |
| Backs and envelopes | Present, or the client says they are blank | Not mentioned |
| Alteration | Plain photo | Cropped tight, filtered to black and white, drawn on |
Then sort:
- Usable. File it under the matter with the date received and how it arrived.
- Usable with care. Readable by a person but poor for recognition, or missing only a blank back. File it, note the defect, and decide whether a retake is worth asking for.
- Retake. Anything where a word, a number or a page cannot be made out or is absent.
Keep what arrived, even the bad frames. They show what the client sent and when.
The retake request
Make it specific, short and kind. For example:
Thank you for the pictures of the lease. Most are clear. Could you retake four of them?
- Page 3: the bottom third is in shadow. Please move nearer the window and try again.
- Page 7: we did not receive this page.
- Page 9: the right edge is cut off. Please step back so all four corners show.
- The envelope: please photograph the front and the back.
Please send them the same way as before, at full size. If it is easier, you are welcome to drop the papers at our office and we will scan them.
Converting what you keep
Once the set is complete, combine each document's pictures into one PDF in page order so it stays together in the file. If you want the text for searching or quoting, run it through an OCR tool. Schema Law accepts PDF, PNG and JPEG files of up to 20 MB and reads the pages into text and tables you can export in the formats listed on the homepage. Its answers to common questions say recognition is strongest on clean print and that nothing marks a passage as uncertain, so compare names, dates and amounts with the client's picture before you quote from the text.
When the same problem keeps coming back from different clients, fix the checklist, not the clients. If every third set arrives without envelopes, move that line to the top.