How We Work
At The Listing
I will typically spend approximately two hours at the site taking photos. It really depends on the property itself. If it has a great landscaped yard, we'll spend extra time and get lots of photos. I always look to photograph what will attract a potential buyer to the house, and try to tell a story using photos.
I will tour the house, noting areas of special interest like a newly remodeled kitchen, a great master suite, a screened in porch, etc. I then work my way through the house taking photos with a wide angle lens using multiple exposures and multiple points of view in bigger rooms. Rooms always look bigger and more spacious when photographed with a wide angle lens. I take a LOT of photos at the site, using the Flambient technique. (See the sidebar)
The realtor can help the process of shooting the photos by working with the owner to make sure the house is ready. The yard should be free of debris, the house cleaned and organized, beds made, bathrooms clean, etc.
Flambient vs HDR Photography
HDR and Flambient are two techniques used in real estate photography. HDR photography is relatively easy and can produce "ok' quality. Flambient photography combines natural and artificially lit photos to get realistic images with accurate white balance. It is the "gold standard" in real estate photography for high-end properties. Flambient is generally recommended for higher-end homes, but it increases the duration of shoots significantly and takes a bit longer to edit.
We use the flambient technique
Post Production
Once the shoot at the site is complete, all photos are edited using a combination of software programs. We combine multiple exposures where required, adjust white balance, adjust contrast, fix lens distortion, correct vertical lines, etc. - lots of photo techie stuff. We'll do some minor 'clean-up' stuff like eliminating the bottle of detergent left on the kitchen sink that we missed while taking the photos. What we won't do is modify the photos to make the property look different/better than it really is, such as making the lawn look perfectly green and beautiful. There is nothing worse than looking at property photos and having your expectations set, only to visit the property and find out it actually looks completely different.
We select the best photos to tell the story about the property, resize them so that they can easily be uploaded to the MLS system, and upload the finished photos to a secure Google site where they can be accessed at the convenience of the Realtor. The number of photos really depends on the property, but we usually end up with 35 to 40 photos for the typical home.
If any of the photos are needed in higher resolution for printing, we can email them or even put the files on a thumb drive.
our pricing philosophy
Every Project is Priced Separately
While we will follow some general guidelines in pricing photoshoot, every home is different and will require a different amount of effort for us to deliver results to meet the expectations of both the seller and the listing agent.
The variables we use to price the project include:
Size of the home
Number of rooms
Location (distance to travel)
Need for aerial shots
Estimated photos to be delivered
Most homes in the 1,500 to 3,000 square feet range will be priced from $165 to $195.
This includes all aerial shots and neighborhood shots, if applicable.
This size home will usually result in 35 to 40 photos delivered
What We Don't Do
We don't charge strictly by home size or the number of photos delivered.
Many photographers charge strictly by the size of the home. i.e. square footage However, some smaller homes with lots of features and beautiful landscaped yards may require more photos than larger homes. Conversely, some large homes with the same number of rooms as smaller homes are easier to photograph and edit.
The size of the home is certainly a consideration in pricing the project, but setting a price structure based on tiers, such as $150 for up to 2,500 sq feet, $175 for up to 3,000 sq feet, etc. may not be the fairest approach for both the photographer and the client. Both homes may end up needing the same amount of photos!
So why don't we charge by the number of photos? Because we don't want to be restricted by a preset number. We want to deliver the number of photos required to properly present the property. While we can usually estimate how many photos will be need, we usually find that we will deliver more than anticipated
We Do Not Believe in 'Add-ons'
We never charge a mileage fee. As noted above, the distance we need to travel is considered in the quoted price.
We do not charge separately for aerial shots - the drone is just another camera.
We do not charge for enhancement edits such as changing a sky, adding a fire to a fireplace, etc.