Lance Selgo, Author at Tips for Real Estate Photography

Real Estate Photography Tutorial – Prep and Settings

Following some basic steps for every real estate photography shoot will go a long way in helping things run smoothly for both you and your clients. Properly preparing for your shoots and having an understanding of what settings you will be using on your camera will set you on the right foot toward success.

Branding is important. That’s why McDonald’s spends hours at photo shoots with a food stylist and photographer, just for a simple photo of a big mac! Let’s be honest, would you buy the burger pictured at the top of the article? Probably not. Branding is important because your brand is what most Realtors will see when hiring you for a shoot.

When I first started my real estate photography business, one of the ways I started to build my portfolio was by volunteering my time for a local non-profit who “changes lives through design”.

In the real estate industry everything seems to happen rather quickly. Sellers change their mind, agents aren’t always prepared, and weather gets in the way of real estate photography shoots. Having a cancellation and reschedule policy is very important, and it’s best to let clients know from day one how you run your business so there aren’t any surprises.

There are a lot of decisions that you need to make when starting out that will determine how easy your job is. File management and photo storage is a piece of the puzzle where you will either have it organized and don’t have any issues, or you’ll make it more difficult than it needs to be and time will be wasted. From choosing the right memory cards to storing and organizing the photos on your computer, every decision makes a difference.

Do you have a backup plan? Working with expensive electronics, real estate photographers need to be aware of the potential for something to go wrong. And when something does go wrong, how will you get by without disrupting your work schedule?

A benefit of running your own real estate photography business is being able to have control over how much money you make. Through setting your schedule and choosing your real estate photography pricing, you determine how much income you will bring in. But it’s not as easy as one might think, and there are mistakes that should be avoided when first pricing out your services.