Real Estate Photography....

[Dana Grant]

Has anyone here ever done real estate photography?

I'm just reading about it. I think if I ever got into photography as a profession, this is what I'd like to do.

Just thinking out loud........


Dana

[Jim Chabot]

I'm guessing that this would be limited to very high end homes say 5 million and up. Around here the real estate agents take their own pictures. Sometimes I take the pictures for them if I don't like what I see in the ads. I also take a bunch of pictures when I complete a house that can be used in future ads.

[David Parker]

When I first started as a Realtor, I quickly realized I would have a huge advantage if I learned how to take decent photos. Most photos in the MLS and advertising were horrible. I have worked hard at learning both my camera (SLR digital) and Photoshop for correction. It has definitely given me an advantage.

Our office has ~100 agents and 'everybody' takes their own photos. Nobody has even tried to sell us 'professional' photography. The MLS used to hire a photographer to take curb shots for the MLS, but that was before digital. Ended many years ago. The publishers of the advertising magazines in our area will send their person out to take pictures for a cover piece, but they tend to be the publisher's wife or brother or such. They are all 2-3 person operations.

[Dennis M. Scott]

I've wondered how some of those pictures get into the listings. Occasionally they'll be turned on their side, blurred to the point of unrecognizable, or tips of fingers in the lense. Do realtors never look at what they produce? Seems like there might be room for professional improvement.

[David Parker]

I've wondered how some of those pictures get into the listings. Occasionally they'll be turned on their side, blurred to the point of unrecognizable, or tips of fingers in the lense. Do realtors never look at what they produce? Seems like there might be room for professional improvement.

It really is terrible. My advice is to review a Realtor's current listings and pictures before you hire him. A lot of lazy/ignorant agents out there.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

It really is terrible. My advice is to review a Realtor's current listings and pictures before you hire him. A lot of lazy/ignorant agents out there.

Someone who is just starting a house search told me that they looked at photos of a potential property online and decided it would be a good one to check out. When they arrived they were very disappointed. The photos were genuine, but taken at the only possible angle necessary to hide many major and obvious problems. They felt that the online photos were rather sneaky and that their time was wasted.

[David Parker]

Someone who is just starting a house search told me that they looked at photos of a potential property online and decided it would be a good one to check out. When they arrived they were very disappointed. The photos were genuine, but taken at the only possible angle necessary to hide many major and obvious problems. They felt that the online photos were rather sneaky and that their time was wasted.

Photos can certainly be deceptive. There is a difference between taking the best picture possible and intentionally hiding 'major and obvious problems'. More often, what we see is just bad photography. Dark shots/no light fill is the most common. Some are even out of focus. Just laziness.

[Dave McClung]

Someone who is just starting a house search told me that they looked at photos of a potential property online and decided it would be a good one to check out. When they arrived they were very disappointed. The photos were genuine, but taken at the only possible angle necessary to hide many major and obvious problems. They felt that the online photos were rather sneaky and that their time was wasted.

I have also seen deceptive photos, but we bought our home in Arizona strictly on pictures. We had never seen the house until the day before closing.

I had been following the listing on Zillow.Com. When I saw that it had been foreclosed, I had a realtor that we had been working with go check it out. Based on the pictures and on the realtor's report, we bought it without seeing it. It is n't a practice I would recommend to anyone else, but it worked for us.

[Betty Bolerjack]

Haven't been on this forum in a while, but in looking to see what was happening, I ran across this thread.

Dana, I would suggest doing virtual tours if you do decide to get into real estate photography. Those are very popular around here. I used to put them on nearly every property that I listed. I always took my own pictures when I went to the listing appointment so that I could get them up immediately as it is really helpful to have pictures up as soon as the listing goes on the MLS. I've even considered going to work for the company that I used to use, but I don't currently have the right equipment.

Anyway, I have seen pretty much all of the issues listed above. I've also seen a lot of listings that had either no picture or just one of the outside. Last I knew, our local MLS would do an outside picture if you wanted. If real estate agents aren't using a photography service, perhaps it just hasn't been presented to them properly. The virtual tour service I used was Obeo (http://www.obeo.com/) and I see they now have virtual staging (http://clients.obeo.com/obeo/virtualstaging/) for vacant properties, which is pretty cool.

Just some food for thought.