Let me look at this later today... Photobucket is choking right now for some unknown reason, and I can't see all the pics (same thing is happening in my camera thread)

Does the front of the house face roughly NE?

Lighting is one of the most critical pieces of the the "where to place cameras" question.  Backlighting in particular can be a real problem, as can scenes where you are trying to delineate very light AND very dark areas (and even WDR only helps so much)

I would definitely do a garage cam

ETA:  GIMPing a few of your pics... will post them up in a bit

OK.  Let's start with the overhead view.  I think you can get VERY respectable exterior coverage of your home with about five cameras.  (marked as red dots below):






Let's start with the driveway:

I would definitely start with a camera focused right down that driveway... preferably a vari-focal camera with some zoom.  You could mount it right to the 3-4 corner of the house, at the level of the porch, or even a bit higher (to see over a car parked in front of that door).  That gives you a straight shot down the driveway, with the sun behind you (shading the camera, but lighting up anything that approaches it).  You also might be able to get a plate shot if somebody is backing in (you are in TN, which is a one-plate state).  I'd guess that picture was taken 80+ feet or so from the garage?  (hard to judge from a pic). so that Hikvision varifocal bullet-cam I reviewed here would give you about 50 pixels-per-foot at an 80-foot distance (on maximum zoom).  That's enough to easily cover the width of that driveway, and should enable you to read a plate.  






Let's move on to the front porch:

Your initial idea is a decent one:  A camera on that main beam above the door.  The same varifocal bullet I just mentioned above would do a good job of looking out toward the end of your second driveway, and ALSO cover the front walk up to the porch (both choke-points).  How far out along that beam is determined by whether you can see that entire driveway entrance... you definitely want to cover that.  Shock had a good suggestion, which is to put a wide-angle fixed lens (like a 2.8mm) along the right side of that porch, so you can see who is actually standing at your door.  

The upside of that location is that you can see a person standing there (which is very important).  The downside is that a wide-angle cam (unless it's multi-megapixel, and maybe not even then) won't have enough resolution to adequately resolve details on a car pulling into that driveway.  This might be a situation to legitimately "get both." (see the last paragraph for an additional suggestion, which goes along with Shock's thoughts)









So onto the back porch... this one gets interesting.  I assume you have a laundry/utility/garage room on the other side of that wall, and wouldn't mind putting a penetration or two through the brick, yes?  (I'm guessing based on the gas meter, and the presence of that dryer vent).   I see an opportunity to put a camera right on the wall next to those steps.  It would cover that red door (which I assume is a garage door, and would be a popular place for a burglar to make entrance), and a person would literally have to walk RIGHT PAST IT to go up the steps to the deck.  Perfect opportunity for a nice face close-up shot, and you could do it with a fixed-lens (like a 2.8mm) dome.  I wouldn't put a bullet-cam there:  it will stick out too much, and is too easy to vandalize.  A nice low-profile dome wouldn't stick out any more than the meter/dryer-vent already do, and would cover that area AND the steps.







And now the rest of that porch.  

Those french doors are another nice, shielded, quiet place for a guy to pry his way into your house, so you'll want to cover those.  I also see a brick path that looks like it leads around to that second driveway.  A wall-mounted camera to the left of that light should cover that door, much of that porch, and anybody who walks around the house from that second driveway.  You should get good pictures of them (maybe even a face shot) as they round that corner.  





You'll notice there's a fifth dot on that overhead map, right at the front corner (1-4 corner) of your home.  That's the fifth camera, to cover those steps from the driveway to the front porch.  You should already have pictures of an individual coming up those steps from the driveway cam, but it's never a bad idea to get more than one angle.  That camera can be a wide-angle dome, and provide area coverage for the front yard (and also get anybody coming up those steps).   I'd start that camera's FOV right at the edge of what the driveway camera covers.  You can overlap a hair, but any more than that is probably wasting pixels.




Shock has some good suggestions, and I like the way he thinks.  

The 1-2 corner would be another place you could mount the same front-porch-beam vari-focal camera we talked about above, and get much the same view (perhaps a little less optimal on the front walk, but better for the driveway) as the front-porch beam.  However, if you're going to do that, definitely go with Shock's suggestion on the right-side of the front-porch for your front-door cam.  You could also put two runs of cable at that 1-2 corner eave, and put a wide-angle camera there to cover the #2 side of the house (which my five-camera-suggestion misses... but you wouldn't need if there aren't any ground-floor-windows/doors on that side).  Always consolidate cable runs wherever you can... the fewer holes in your walls/eaves/soffits, the better.

Ditto for loose bricks, stone flowerpots, decorative anvils (actually have seen that one), etc.  A bit of shatterproof film on those back doors and windows wouldn't be a bad idea,

Alternatively, you can have those cameras email you when sensors are triggered, etc.  That is one way to get a heads-up that something is happening.  

Most thieves are lazy, and prefer to drive/walk up via paths, driveways, etc, so it's a good idea to watch standard routes of approach.   For instance, an infantry patrol moving from one objective to another may seek to do so undetected, and that is done by avoiding natural routes, or "lines of drift."  These are natural paths of "least resistance" that are created by rivers, hills, or other terrain features.   When we talk about "choke points," we are usually talking about areas where traffic is channelled by obstacles, terrain, or other features (like easy-to-traverse paths... Eg. Driveways and sidewalks).  These are the "lines of drift" on your property.  You're taking advantage of human nature, and the inherent laziness of most thieves.

ETA:  let's face it.  If they were smart, diligent, and hard-working, the thieves would be out earning their own sh*t instead of jacking yours.

I've always had mine professionally done.  You also need to make sure they do the edge-locking adhesive (Dow Corning 995, or similar)... do NOT let them talk you out of that.

2.8's are for area coverage (wide-angle).  8mm, 12mm,  and higher zoom are to focus on choke points... like gates, sidewalks, front-walks, driveways, gaps in hedges, doors, and so forth.  .