Have a Question?

If you have a question about real estate photography whether it be camera settings, equipment advice or business advice, I would love to hear it!

Fill out the form below to shoot me an email and I’ll do my best to answer!

25 thoughts on “Have a Question?”

  1. Hello,
    Thanks for the great information. I’m a real estate broker and take my own photos. I don’t do it for financial reasons but because I like the creative aspect of it.

    Can you recommend a reasonably price, easy to use, on the camera flash unit. I’d prefer it to have the TTL feature as well. Thanks!

    Reply

  2. In your enfuse tutorial you mention applying a preset while loading the pictures into lightroom. Can you please send me the link for the tutorial that describes how and why you create the settings in your presets (for each step off the editing process) That would be amazing to learn!

    Reply

  3. Thank you for this video. I have 5Dmarkii can you tell me best way to set up brackets for this. I was a realtor for 15 years, now have FAA drone lic and trying to build this biz to stay away from some of the drama in dealing with all the folks.

    Reply

  5. I purchased and tried enfuse without luck. I stacked my photos and went to enfuse but it tried to merge the 7 stacks instead of the 6 photos in each stack. Did not recognize the batch idea?

    Reply

  7. Hey Lance,

    I have been a photographer for over 15 years. Started out in the equestrian world shooting jumping events in mostly outdoor environments – light was usually very plentiful!! I added real estate a couple of years ago and seem to do pretty well. I learned a technique which blended an ambient and a flash shot manually which may or may not include a blown out image of the windows. This process produced really nice shots, but took a long time to process for the $$ which realtors were willing to pay. I cam across Photomatix Pro last year but have struggled to produce shots with clear windows. So my question: is there a way to make a preset in Photomatix Pro which can process pics with clear windows?

    Reply

    • No there really isn’t, sorry! Software can only do so much. If you want clear windows, you have to either blend them in manually in PhotoShop, or utilize the flambient method you are referencing, with doing additional frames for window pulls. You may want to google some outsourcing firms and send them some bracketed examples to see if they can get you a look that you like. Vietnam seems to be the place to go at the moment to hand blend brackets, and have a great window view.

      Good luck!

      Reply

  9. I am having trouble transferring my 3 photos, which are in a file folder, over to photoshop as a layer. It doesn’t give me the option. I have been just opening all three and they are at the bottom bin. How do I get all three in layers on the side.

    Reply

  10. I love your method of outlining your agreement in an email. I tried to do a contract but no one will sign it LOL. Hardly worth arguing about for $200. Would you mind sharing your email that you use with clients? I think I could adapt and refine it and make everyone happy. I think the email is enough to show intent right? I love the copyright logo on the batches for them to preview before payment. I also see you are an affiliate for ViewShoot that looks like it could be good too. Thank you for all the info.

    Reply

    • I now use ViewShoot for my policies/expectations, as it requires new clients to accept the terms before they can download anything. Here is what I currently use:

      Please take a moment to read through the below information so you know what to expect when hiring me as your real estate photographer as we all do things differently. You’ll find info about cancellations/reschedules, photoshop, weather and photo copyrights.

      ### Scheduling Appointments
      Please reach out to me via email/phone to schedule photo shoots. Appointments are booked on a first-confirmed basis and I generally book out ~5 days in advance. To ensure you are able to schedule photos on the day of your choosing, please plan on notifying me a week prior to the requested scheduling date.

      ### Copyright / Ownership of Photos

      ** Real Estate Agents **
      By booking an appointment, you are paying for appropriate licensing to utilize the photos to market the sale of the property. The photos may not be given to a third party such as a contractor, stager, designer, etc. In photography, the photographer almost never gives up copyright of the photos to another individual. Purchasing the photos gives you the ability to market the property via photos on Facebook/Realtor.com/MLS/etc. Please note that in the unlikely event the listing is canceled, you do not have the appropriate permissions to re-sell the photos. If a new listing agent contacts you about using the photos, please have them contact me. They may re-license the photos from me, only after I receive explicit permission from you that you don’t mind that the transaction takes place.

      ** Designers / Builders / Commercial Clients **
      By booking an appointment, you are paying for appropriate licensing to utilize the photos to market your business and your business only. The photos may not be given or sold to a third party such as another designer, contractor, material manufacturer (tile/flooring/countertop/painting company), etc. In photography, the photographer almost never gives up copyright of the photos to another individual. If a third party contacts you about using the photos, please have them contact me. They may license the photos from me for their usage, only after I receive explicit permission from you that you don’t mind that the transaction takes place.

      My relationship with you, my client, is my top priority! Questions about licensing? Shoot me a note!

      ### Do You Stage?

      Please note that although my full-time job is taking photos of homes, I unfortunately am not a stager/decorator/home cleaner. All properties should be photo-ready when I arrive. I highly recommend a professional home staging consultation prior to photography, as home stagers know how to get a property picture perfect! Due to liability of potentially damaging furniture, flooring, walls, decor, etc, I do not move furniture, treadmills, kitchen appliances, dog crates, etc. I also do not touch bathroom supplies so please be sure your client has removed all personal hygiene items from showers and bathtubs. If I notice a pillow on a bed isn’t sitting correctly or a mattress is showing, I will try to make it look as best as possible, but overall the property should be ready to go when I arrive. If you need a recommendation for a stager who can provide inexpensive staging consultations for occupied properties let me know, I would be happy to pass along a name!

      ### Do You Photoshop?

      Due to the popularity of “photoshop”, it is expected sometimes that grass be greened, photos are removed that the seller left out, or walls that show bad paint touchups are corrected by me on the computer. This unfortunately is not a service I provide as I run my business with ethics in mind and whatever a buyer will be seeing in person, is how the photos are delivered. If you are at all worried about a client adding decor items that you might not want in the photos, I advise you make a quick run-through with them prior to my arrival. Additionally all home repairs should be completed and in photo-ready condition.

      ### What Can I Tell My Seller?

      **-== EXCLUSIVE TO UEP CLIENTS =–**
      With the help of RESA (Real Estate Staging Association, Dallas Chapter) I have come up with room-by-room tips on preparing a home for real estate photography. Please feel free to share this with your clients: [https://www.PrepMyHomeForSale.com](https://www.PrepMyHomeForSale.com)

      ### Cancellation / Reschedule Policy

      I understand how dynamic the real estate industry is and things can change in an instant! However, I respectfully ask for 24-hour notice to cancel or reschedule photo shoots. Within the 24-hour window, a cancellation fee of $75 will be assessed. If I arrive at the property to find the shoot is cancelled (or I am denied access to the property), 100% of the quoted shoot amount will be assessed. A reschedule will then be billed as a completely new photo shoot. I do not foresee any reason to assess fees as communication between us will be open and current.

      ### Rescheduling Due To Weather

      Photo shoots will continue as scheduled as long as it is not physically raining. If rain is present, we can shoot the interior as the seller has probably put a lot of hard work into getting it ready for the scheduled shoot. I will then return for exterior photos at the earliest day possible where the weather cooperates. Another option is we can reschedule the entire shoot to my next available appointment. (No reschedule fees will be assessed for inclement weather.)

      ### Paying for Photo Shoots

      You’ll see your scheduled shoots listed under your account. You can click on the address for the shoot to go to the Details page. This is where your photos and download links will be accessible once the shoot is completed and payment has been made. I accept payment directly on my website via Credit Card by clicking any of the red Pay buttons. When the photos are edited, they will be posted to your account for viewing however the download links and virtual tour links will not be accessible until payment has been made in full. (Although your photos will be accessible from your account on my website, you’ll also receive a Summary email for each photo shoot for your convenience that will have direct download links to the photos and virtual tour links.)

      ### How Much?

      You can find my pricing and all of the services I provide on my Pricing page on my website: [https://www.UniqueExposurePhotography.com/#pricing](https://www.UniqueExposurePhotography.com/#pricing)

      _Pricing varies based on project and is subject to change without notice._

      ### When Do I Get The Photos?

      My turnaround time for having the photos ready is 24-48 hours. It’s almost always sooner! However due to technology and my workload at the given time, I may need the 48 hours to be sure I return back a quality product.

      ### Can You Access Properties Without Me?

      I have Supra Access so if there is ever a time when the homeowner will not be present and you will be not be at the property, I can access the property as long as I am given the 7-digit CBS code for the Supra Box at the home.

      ### Trip Fee

      My standard coverage area hovers around Dallas/Collin County. The following cities/areas may trigger a trip charge of $50+:

      Prosper
      Savannah
      Providence Village
      Denton
      Celina
      Melissa
      Princeton
      Midlothian
      Waxahachie
      Fort Worth*

      _(Service area is subject to change at my discretion and some locations are unfortunately too far out of my coverage area to be placed on my schedule. Properties located in outer areas will be examined on an as-needed basis. *Fort Worth locations East of 820 will not be subject to trip fee.)_

      (Also, FYI I created ViewShoot, so I’m not really an affiliate, but more of the owner. :p)

      Reply

  12. Thanks for all this info Lance. Can I ask – did you film all this on 5D MKII and would you shoot in on a 5DMKIII if you had 2 of them like I have?

    I’m just trying to achieve a smooth walk around of a property and I have a Zhiyun Weeble S gimbal now which helps. Do you suggest doing anything in FCPX after the shoot to help with good slow motion?

    I notice you didn’t do anything to your videos in FCPX to do with slow motion and your video looks great as you walk through the building.

    I tried a setting of 1280×720 50fps ALL-I in camera on 5D MKIII and then created an event at 24fps but not sure if that’s the correct way to do it.

    Any help for smooth slow motion please? Thanks again

    Reply

    • I would get a gimbal that get you the smooth video while on-site. In my experience it’s never a good idea to rely on post processing to fix things. It makes things much easier when the original shot is as close as possible to the end result you are after.

      Reply

  13. Question regarding Photomatix. I am a realtor and purchased the photo matrix. i took 5 AEB shots from Nikon d7200 and for some reason, I am not getting good results in Real estate presets available in Photomatix .

    Reply

    • I usually don’t get a result I like straight out of PhotoMatix. I try to play with the presets to get something that’s close, and then I finish final edits in Lightroom that really help get the final look I want.

      Reply

  14. First off, I was appalled by some of the negative comments. Sad but it is what it is.
    I just watched your hour LR tutorial. Iā€™m a PS guy and was fairly lost in LR. Much better now.
    My questions, in that tutorial you did everything in LR. When do you use PS? I know I can right click to open in PS. how do you save your edits so they are in LR? and is your final product still exported from LR?
    Thanks so much.

    Reply

    • It comes with the territory Tom. You just ignore the hate and move on. šŸ™‚

      I only use PhotoShop when I need to clone out something that’s beyond the capability of LR, or if I have to replace a sky. Otherwise everything can be handled in LR. When you right click and edit in PS, you complete your edit and then save/close the file and it auto dumps it as a new copy back into LR. So yes, if I do edit in PS, it comes back into LR where everything is then exported once ready.

      Reply

  15. Hey there, Lance! Fanning over your work. I’m Bell from PhotographyCourse.net. Are you up for a collaboration? I was looking the form mentioned above to get in touch with you and I’m unable to locate an email address for you so I head here on the comments (hope you don’t mind).

    Let me know know if you’re interested.

    Reply

  16. Hello, Just learned about Enfuse with light room. was having trouble getting it to work. Saw your video and was very informative even though done some time ago. my question for you though is do you leave the tiff images in your drive or do you delete. I would think all that information would add up quickly. I would appreciate you info on that after your done editing.

    Thanks Richard

    Reply

    • After editing is complete I only keep the exported JPGs for residential real estate work. If it’s a designer client where I know there may be adjustments or additional purchases later, I’ll keep the originals.

      Reply

  17. Hello,

    Thank you so much for sharing your experience with contracts.

    I am a real estate photographer and an agent is using the photos of a home he hired me to photograph for business promotion not related to the home sale.

    With no contract or terms and conditions, the agent has said he will use them any way he wants, Do I have any legal recourse?

    Thank you

    Reply

    • Hi Jon,

      You can likely take some steps depending on how he’s using the photos. Are they online ads, or on his website somewhere? You could look into DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and if the hosting company hosting his ads/images has a form to fill out, you can contact them regarding this. They will likely remove them for you.

      If it’s print material, it’s likely a lost cause. You don’t want to get into the mess of going through the expensive legal system just for a couple of images an agent is using.

      Good luck!

      Reply

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