Real Estate/Interior Photography: Branching Out?

[thenewguy]

I was talking to a professor of photography about interior design and real estate photography and what kind of market there is for this type of work and we got into a discussion about secondary uses for the photos. I am hoping that there may be someone in here who has done this or thought about how it could be done. Say you take photos of an upscale house and in addition to the “typical” photos you would supply to the realtor, you take detailed shots of areas such as the cabinetry, tile floors, windows, doors, handles ect… How or Can you get permission to photograph and use these images? How would you find out the companies who make theses particular pieces? Who would you ask?

We discussed the potential for selling points for many details in a home. Whether it be for advertising, stock photography, magazines or brochures. My question is how would you go about obtaining permissions from either the homeowner or realtor for these photos and is there any legal aspect of this idea that will come into play?

I think this is a great idea if an individual is willing to put forward the effort and build a network of connections to sell them to the appropriate companies.

 

[KmH]

If the homeowner/realtor gave permission for you to be on the property making images you would not need permission to use the images for other purposes.

As far as is there a market for selling images of "cabinetry, tile floors, windows, doors, handles ect...[sic]" I doubt it for all except the cabinetry, if the cabinetry is custom made.
The companies that make those items likely already have more than enough images of them.
If they need additional images, I would bet they would want images made in a studio as part of a building mock up rather than an actual home.