Unexpectedly jumping into real estate photography - seeking advice!

[DaveAndHolly219]

I would like to preface this post by saying that I am not a professional photographer. I am a hobbyist.

With that said, a coworker of mine who has seen my work gave my name and contact info to a friend of hers who owns and rents homes and apartments locally. He contacted me requesting my services to take photos of the properties as they become available for rent. I informed him I am not a full-time pro photographer and while I’m sure I can take acceptable photos for him, I am by no means an experienced real estate photographer. He said he’s ok with that and is more than willing to work with me as long as I provide quality work (which I’m confident I can do). It would be a long-term ongoing assignment as units become available for rent. He wants interior shots of all of the rooms in each unit, and for houses, exterior shots as well.

Here are my questions.

1. I shoot a Nikon D7000. I will definitely need to get a wide angle lens for the interior shots, as my widest lens I currently own is a 17-50mm. Recommendations for a wide lens? I’ll start by renting one and purchase one soon with funds obtained from these jobs.
   
   
2. Pricing. I have no idea how I would go about presenting pricing for this. Charge per apartment/unit? Per room? Per day? I’m at a loss here and I don’t want to over or under price myself for this.
   
   
3. Lighting for interior shots. I’m leaning toward natural light and long exposures if necessary, since I will absolutely be shooting on a tripod anyway for this type of work. I do have speedlights and umbrellas as well if needed, though.
   
   
4. Any other tips you may be able to offer for someone jumping into real estate photography for the first time?
   

Thanks in advance for any and all input!

 

[Designer]

1. (no recommendation)

2. Work out a step payment schedule with your variables listed. I think your client would want to know how much per unit. i.e.; So much for one unit, and a percentage of that for additional units on the same trip/day. So much for each house, with an additional charge for large houses (more rooms).

3. Absolutely you need to learn/use flash for all interiors and any exterior shots in the shade. Look at how the professional photographers use light. Copy that.

4. Make this a business. Get some cards and maybe some brochures printed up. Leave a card in each house, just like the Realtors do. Figure out a way to get shots from high enough to show the property to good advantage. Any Realtor can step out of his car and snap a photo from the curb, but you want to produce a better product. Learn to really see what it is in a property that buyers are enticed by, and learn how to compose your photos to showcase the property, not simply record it. Study the photos of professional photographers and figure out how they do what they do. Copy them.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Before you start handing out business cards... get the business stuff together. Try American Society of Media Photographers - Homepage or PPA for resources, webinars, etc.

You'll probably at some point start working on developing a portfolio. If you haven't done this (real estate photography) before get some practice! lots of practice! even if you just do your home or a friend's/relative's house/apartment just to learn.

If you consider using any website (related to an online portfolio or your real estate photography) check it out first - look at the Terms & Conditions, etc. to make sure they don't allow third party usage, that they have a street address to make sure it's legit, etc.

There should be info. on licensing usage of your photos, copyright, contracts, etc. etc. on the ASMP and PPA websites. There's a book/CD with sample forms by Tad Crawford (I think) that I got thru ASMP (mine is an older edition and now it may be available online/an app).

 

[vintagesnaps]

Sometimes too I think friends and family think photos are great, and maybe they are good, but that's coming from people who are being supportive and encouraging. It may not be the same doing photography for a client, for pay. Probably it would be good to get informed before you get too far into this so expectations are realistic and pay is at least within range of the going rate.

 

[tirediron]

You can do an okay job of this with HDR and ambient light, but that's as good as it will be... okay. Ish.

To do this properly, you will need lots of light, ideally lots off small ones. The last one I did involved 7 or eight speedlights on a couple of occasions. You will also need to master the concept of colour balance so that your flash is the same temperature as the indoor ambient. You also need be very good at balancing ambient and strobed light. Using a flash is like a woman putting on make-up; a LOT of time, effort and experience goes into making it look like nothing was used at all.

As for a UWA, the ONLY one I would recommend is the Nikon 14-24mm and that's not exactly chump-change. I would shoot longer focal lengths and create vertical and horizontal panoramas in order to keep the verticals vertical and the straight lines straight.

 

[Overread]

Check if there are any legal stipulations for real-estate photography. I've a hazy recollection that there are some in the UK market at the very least; which aim to avoid people using super-wide angle lenses (for example) to make rooms appear bigger than they are. Along with restrictions at the legal end you'll want to look into best-practice and common practice from others in the same market - these might also give you guidelines that will affect your method and equipment choice.

 

[table1349]

Real Estate Photography - a Guide to Getting Started

 

[Don Kondra]

As for a UWA, the ONLY one I would recommend is the Nikon 14-24mm and that's not exactly chump-change. I would shoot longer focal lengths and create vertical and horizontal panoramas in order to keep the verticals vertical and the straight lines straight.

D7000/10-24mm

Cheers, Don

 

[jeffW]

work with me as long as I provide quality work (which I’m confident I can do)...
...Charge per apartment/unit? Per room? Per day? I’m at a loss here and I don’t want to over or under price myself for this.

Why do care if you over price the job? It sounds like it'll be a moonlighting gig that is going to require more investment in gear, time, business liability insurance, post processing Time etc.. The reason a business charges what it charges is because it has costs not because it charges what it feels might be right because it is starting out. And my suspicions once you see how much it cost you in time to reward you are not going to want and switch careers.

Oh yea some crappy apartment pictures no budget for styling or taking the time to light it well, yeah you're really going to want to put those in your portfolio, sorry being sarcastic because I hate when people ask you to shovel poo thinking they are giving the opportunity of a lifetime.

How much does a realtor in your area get if a house sells? In the DMV a realtor is going to make at an absolute minimum $6,500 and most likely twice to three or four times that. And guess what, online photos do so much more in selling a house than any realtor, Period. Because they allow the buyer to shop off hours at all times of the day. My realtor, I used four of them, not one of them found my house, kept taking me to houses they wanted to sell. Same with basically every person I've talked to in general conversation on the topic of finding a house or condo to buy/rent.

You photos have Value! And guess what so does your time charging five hundred dollars to spend your day off paying some realtor (if your costs are more than you're charging - Yes you are paying them to work) Do you have the mind set to ask for $2,500 a day? If that condo sits empty for a single month how much money do they not make in that month? Give up a weekend, spend the next couple of nights doing hdr just so someone else can make the bulk of the money involved in selling a house?

 

[tirediron]

As for a UWA, the ONLY one I would recommend is the Nikon 14-24mm and that's not exactly chump-change. I would shoot longer focal lengths and create vertical and horizontal panoramas in order to keep the verticals vertical and the straight lines straight.

D7000/10-24mm

Cheers, Don

Too much distortion.

 

[DaveAndHolly219]

work with me as long as I provide quality work (which I’m confident I can do)...
...Charge per apartment/unit? Per room? Per day? I’m at a loss here and I don’t want to over or under price myself for this.

Why do care if you over price the job? It sounds like it'll be a moonlighting gig that is going to require more investment in gear, time, business liability insurance, post processing Time etc.. The reason a business charges what it charges is because it has costs not because it charges what it feels might be right because it is starting out. And my suspicions once you see how much it cost you in time to reward you are not going to want and switch careers.

Oh yea some crappy apartment pictures no budget for styling or taking the time to light it well, yeah you're really going to want to put those in your portfolio, sorry being sarcastic because I hate when people ask you to shovel poo thinking they are giving the opportunity of a lifetime.

How much does a realtor in your area get if a house sells? In the DMV a realtor is going to make at an absolute minimum $6,500 and most likely twice to three or four times that. And guess what, online photos do so much more in selling a house than any realtor, Period. Because they allow the buyer to shop off hours at all times of the day. My realtor, I used four of them, not one of them found my house, kept taking me to houses they wanted to sell. Same with basically every person I've talked to in general conversation on the topic of finding a house or condo to buy/rent.

You photos have Value! And guess what so does your time charging five hundred dollars to spend your day off paying some realtor (if your costs are more than you're charging - Yes you are paying them to work) Do you have the mind set to ask for $2,500 a day? If that condo sits empty for a single month how much money do they not make in that month? Give up a weekend, spend the next couple of nights doing hdr just so someone else can make the bulk of the money involved in selling a house?

These are rental units, but your point still stands and is duly noted!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Don Kondra]

As for a UWA, the ONLY one I would recommend is the Nikon 14-24mm and that's not exactly chump-change. I would shoot longer focal lengths and create vertical and horizontal panoramas in order to keep the verticals vertical and the straight lines straight.

D7000/10-24mm

Cheers, Don

Too much distortion.

The 14-24mm on a D7000 isn't very wide ?

I've shot the D7200/10-24mm @ 10mm and the D800/14-24mm @ 14mm and didn't find either to be better than the other at distortion...

Although a little more work, shooting two or three vertical images at a longer focal length does help with distortion

Cheers, Don

 

[Derrel]

Aren't the older 12-24 DX and the 10-24 much less-costly than the 14-24 f/2.8?

 

[Don Kondra]

Aren't the older 12-24 DX and the 10-24 much less-costly than the 14-24 f/2.8?

Roughly half the weight and half the price

Cheers, Don

 

[tirediron]

The 14-24mm on a D7000 isn't very wide ?

I've shot the D7200/10-24mm @ 10mm and the D800/14-24mm @ 14mm and didn't find either to be better than the other at distortion...

Although a little more work, shooting two or three vertical images at a longer focal length does help with distortion

Cheers, Don

Nope.. it's not, BUT... it's as wide as you can get and be almost distortion-free..