How much does a real estate photographer make: Real Estate Photography Salary – Main Points to Consider

Real Estate Photography Salary – Main Points to Consider

Real estate photography services are always in high demand. Thus, many photographers want to know the average real estate photography salary. Nowadays, the average annual salary for a real estate photographer ranges between $40,000 and $62,000.

The fees of a real estate photographer can vary greatly depending on multiple factors. In this article, I to tell you what factors affect photographers’ earnings. Besides, I’ll share some tips that will help you increase your income.

Average Real Estate Photography Salary in Different Cities

According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual salary of a real estate photographer is $60,520 in 2022. This means nearly $5,043/month or about $29 per hour.

However, prices can vary greatly from region to region. According to the data, California-based real-estate photographers have the highest salaries. However, some photographers in other states have decent salaries as well. Below, you will see a list of 3 cities with the highest rates for real estate photography.

A photographer can significantly increase his income by becoming a real estate representative, real estate salesperson, or senior real estate manager.

Your income might increase from $27,197 (44.9%) to $35,239 (58.2%). If you specialize in high-end real estate photography, your income will be higher than the profits that your colleagues get when shooting other real estate objects.

Average Salary per 1 Real Estate Photoshoot

Many people who are planning to get into real estate photography want to know to what fees they need to set. The real estate photographer salary is difficult to calculate since these professionals usually use hourly rates. The average price varies from $100 to $250 per hour. It depends on a photographer’s skills and the type of real estate.

As a rule, you can set a fee ranging from $55 to $65/hour for shooting lower and middle price range properties. For beginner photographers, the rate can start at $50 per hour.

For shooting luxury properties, an advanced photographer gets an average of $180- $200/hour.

A professional photographer who specializes in commercial real estate photography earns from $400 per hour. Thus, for one photo session, you can get an average of $800-1500.

Factors that May Affect Your Salary

A real estate photography salary depends on multiple factors. When setting the price for your services, it is important to consider several things besides your competitors’ prices and location.

Distance

Your income directly depends on the location of a real estate property. The further you need to travel, the more expensive your services will be.

To understand how much you need to add to the basic cost, calculate the amount of gas you need to travel in both directions. Then multiply this amount by two since you never know what might happen on the road. Don’t forget to include extra expenses.

Keep in mind, one mile of fuel costs about 15.8 cents for a gasoline car and about 13.4 cents for a diesel one.

Don’t refuse to take orders when a location is challenging. If you take into account all the possible costs, you might get an income that will exceed your expectations. Besides, this is a great opportunity to expand the geography of your orders in the future.

Equipment

As the rule, the price for the services depends on the equipment costs. If you are interested in real estate photographer jobs, make sure to buy all the necessary real estate equipment.

Camera. When choosing the camera for real estate photography, select a model with a good zoom. It will allow you to take general shots and close-ups. Besides, it’s better to buy a camera with a tilting screen.

We also recommend considering the Canon EOS 90D. Most experienced photographers use this model since it allows you to adjust all the necessary real estate photography camera settings. The average camera price ranges from $1,000 to $1,500.

Lenses. You will need a wide-angle lens for this type of shooting. A wide-angle lens for real estate photography will come in handy when you need to shoot the exterior and fit the entire building in the frame. It also works for interior shots with a smaller viewing angle.

The Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM lens works great for both novice and advanced real estate photographers. It costs about $1,000.

Tripod. To avoid camera shake while shooting, you can buy a tripod for real estate photography. A stable tripod will allow you to keep the camera on the same level and simplify your workflow.

The Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB is a great value for money. You can get a worthy tripod for under $200.

Flash. You cannot always shoot with good lighting since it’s difficult to choose a perfect time slot. We recommend buying a professional flash to illuminate a large area if needed.

You should try using the Godox Photo Studio 80cm 31.5in Portable Octagon Umbrella Softbox. Many photographers use the lighting equipment of this brand. Besides, this softbox will cost you about $50.

Time on Post-Processing

Since real estate agents need to get images shortly after shooting, the photographer should have a flexible schedule to process the pictures.

I recommend preparing a real estate photography contract with terms of cooperation, including deadlines and the fee for urgency.

The real estate photography salary depends on how quickly you can send processed photos to a client. The more experience you have, the faster you can process real estate photos.

American photographers charge nearly $2–5 for editing. Prices vary depending on the quality, runtime, and extra services, such as object removal or image enhancement.

If you need to quickly retouch many shots, you can contact the FixThePhoto experts. They will tweak colors, fix lighting issues, remove imperfections, etc.

Order Real Estate Photo Editing

Professional photographers often create their real estate Lightroom presets that allow them to quickly enhance photos. If you are a beginner, you should improve your skill first and avoid using the wrong presets.

Additional Options to Increase Real Estate Photography Salary

Since the real estate photography business is a developing industry, many photographers nowadays specialize in photographing buildings. To stand out from the competition and raise the price tag, you can provide extra services to your clients.

Video

Since many photographers create slideshows to view photos more comfortably, why not shoot a video to showcase a building? You can start your career with simple video clips and gradually improve your skills.

The price for a real estate video varies from $1,000 to $10,000 per minute. You can customize the cost based on the complexity of real estate video ideas.

Besides, you can learn more about 3D real estate photography. You can create 3D video tours with specialized programs. This service is becoming quite popular, as it allows realtors to sell properties more quickly.

Order Real Estate Video Editing

If you do not want to spend much time on post-processing, you can entrust this task to professionals. The FixThePhotо video editors will process your video for an affordable price.

Aerial Real Estate Images

Real estate aerial photography is an advanced type of service gaining popularity nowadays. Using drones for real estate photography, you can shoot the building from different angles to showcase the property and its neighborhood. Since the Federal Aviation Administration has imposed restrictions on the use of drones, you will need to fill out paperwork to get permission.

A drone photoshoot costs between $150 and $250 per hour. The price also includes video editing. If the shoot takes longer, a photographer charges an additional fee of $50- $70 per hour.

Bonus Tools

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You can use these actions to enhance your real estate photos. With their help, you can tweak colors, make photos brighter, and emphasize details without distorting a picture. This bundle will come in handy for real estate photographers.

How Much Does A Real Estate Photographer Make (2022 Update)

Lesson Overview

Below I’ll answer the question of how much real estate photographers make annually, monthly, and hourly, complete with monthly income tables and updated data and figures for 2022.

The income figure starts with a fairly broad range and ends with a specific figure based on assumptions we make around the factors discussed in each section below.

If you read each section you should be able to have a much firmer grasp on how much you could make as a real estate photographer in the US market. Or, skip to the section that grabs your interest with the links below.

Table of Contents (Quick Links)

In this lesson you get detailed answers for:

• How Much Does a Real Estate Photographer Make a Year
• Number of Homes You Can Expect to Shoot Each Day
• Expected Income You Can Earn Per Home
• How Does Seasonality Affect Your Monthly Income
• How to Increase Your Income With Marketing
• Monthly Income of a Real Estate Photographer
• Hourly Income of a Real Estate Photographer
• A Day in the Life of a Real Estate Photographer

Kristian Pettyjohn, CEO of PhotoUp

This is the first lesson in the How to Become a Real Estate Photographer course. A premium (and completely free) course written by the Kristian Pettyjohn, CEO of PhotoUp, the leading provider of software, services, and systems for real estate photographers.

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Getting Started

Undeniably, real estate photography is an excellent way to expand an existing photography business or turn your photography hobby into a flexible and profitable career.

Seasonal in nature, a real estate photography business can provide steady income year-round, but your larger profits are made in the busier summer home selling season.

What I personally like most about the real estate photography industry is the flexibility, variety, and earning potential it affords photographers.

Particularly if you already have some camera gear, the business has a low barrier of entry, has low operating costs, and the market, while competitive, is expanding.

As a real estate photographer, if you want to pick up a shoot here and there, done. Want to do an all-day luxury portfolio shoot or prefer to be in-and-out in an hour to make a quick buck? Very doable.

Want to earn six figures being a photographer? It’s easier than you might think.

The short answer is that a full-time real estate photographer can expect to earn between $50,000 to $150,000 as a solo photographer, quite a bit more if you build a team over time.

For those who commit to sales and marketing (discussed in later lessons in this course) and commit to their business full-time, the average real estate photographer can reasonably expect to earn the following:

All figures are general estimates for educational purposes only.

Okay! We’re talking real money.

While there are many more factors to consider, such as the amount of investment required for gear and marketing, being a real estate photographer can be a very profitable business.

All things considered, having worked with thousands of photographers over the past decade with my team at PhotoUp, here is what you need to know to calculate how much you can make as a real estate photographer.

Number of Homes You Can Expect to Shoot Each Day

Typically, your earning potential as a real estate photographer will chiefly depend on how many homes you shoot each day.

While I’ve literally met photographers shooting 8-10 homes per day in the summer, this is frankly unrealistic for most photographers (and downright crazy, but more power if you have this much energy). 

Given that, the average full-time real estate photographer shoots between 2-4 homes per day at the height of the busy season in the summer and 1-2 homes per day in the slower winter season.

Additionally, an average residential home shoot takes 60-90 minutes depending on the home size, though larger homes can take longer.

Increasingly add-ons are becoming the norm in real estate marketing, which can add more time to your shoot (and more profit). Examples of common add-ons include:

• Video
• Aerials
• Floor plans
• Virtual tours

So, four shoots in a day will likely take you 6-8 hours with drive time, and this is before any photo editing and business sales or administration.

As a result, if we consider four homes per day to be a safe maximum of shoots per day, you should expect on average to shoot half of this amount during the summer busy season. And a quarter in the slower winter season as you first get started.

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Real Estate Photo Editing

PhotoUp is the end-to-end business platform for real estate photographers.

Expected Income Per Home (4 Crucial Factors)

Next, we need to look at data on how much income you can earn per home you shoot. There are 4 big factors here: client type, location, offerings, home size.

1. Client Types

When you are looking to estimate your earning you need to determine what type of client you intend to service. There are four common client types broadly speaking in real estate photography:

Luxury

While you can find training online from photographers shooting luxury homes hanging out of helicopters or shooting 25 flash shots per frame on exteriors and spending hours per photo editing, there is a good chance this isn’t going to be you, at least not at first. 

For true luxury properties, agents can spend tens of thousands on marketing, but this is the 1% of the 1% of real estate photography. So let’s cross out luxury clients for now.

Architecture

Architects are generally one step below luxury, at least in their pay scale. These are often portfolio shots for architect firms or home builders, who might complete 10-20 projects per year. Often, you can charge $500-1,000+ for these higher-end shoots. 

Again, not likely where you are likely going to start as an existing portfolio and reputation are generally needed to break into this space.

Additionally, the volume is small enough that architecture photography is limited unless you live in a big city or a luxury market like New York or Jackson Hole.

Commercial

Commercial photography is often viewed as an auxiliary or parallel path to residential real estate photography.

For one, commercial photography is primarily found in medium to large cities with spaces ranging from commercial buildings to photos of hotels or restaurants, to imagery for marketing agencies. 

Second, pricing is on par to Architecture photography and can be quite complex (and fun) given the larger spaces. Again, let’s cross this off your client list for our earnings model.

Real Estate Agents

Awww, yes, the mainstay client of most real estate photographers. Given there are nearly three million real estate agents in the US alone and over five million homes sold each year, this is the target client for most real estate photographers.  

Depending on your location and offerings, most real estate photographers charge $150-200 per shoot as a base price. However, the price can be further adjusted based on the additional factors below.

2. Market Location

For starters, when it comes to income per home the location of your market matters. Two factors come into play: cost of living and the population of your city. These often go hand-in-hand, but there are always exceptions.

Cost of Living

And what I really mean is the median cost of homes in your area. Generally, the higher the cost of homes, the higher you can charge.

In recent years home prices have surged, with the median home price now over $400,000 nationally. 

If homes near you are selling above or below this amount on average, you may need to adjust your pricing up or down accordingly.

Population

Typically, the larger the city, the more scarce land is, and thus home prices are higher. However, some cities in the midwest and south are still affordable relative to cities on the coasts.

With a larger population generally means more upper-end homes, which typically demand professional photography and media when listed for sale. 

A good starting point is 250,000 in a metropolitan area. Surely, if you live in a bigger city, you may be able to charge slightly more. And the opposite goes for smaller cities or towns (though you may have less competition as well).

3. Home Size

While real estate photographers can debate which pricing model is the best forever (we’ll discuss this at length in future lessons), most photographers charge more for larger home as measured by square footage.

For example, if the base price for a 1,500sf home is $150, it’s not uncommon to charge $50-100 extra for each additional 1,000sf.

In addition, it’s also good to know that in most markets the average home size will be between 1,500sf and 2,500sf.

4. Service Offerings

Probably the most under-appreciated way to build a profitable real estate photography business is being a media and marketing company, not just a photography company.

This is a larger industry shift known as Real Estate Photography 3.0, or REP3 for short. 

That said, while some offerings require you to invest in more gear, there can be a good return on investment.

Some popular offerings which can assist in moving your price per shoot above your base price include:

• Aerial Photos & Video – almost a must these days (requires a special FAA license)
• Virtual Staging – an easy upsell with no additional equipment needed
• Virtual Tours – yes, these are back!
• Single Property Websites – another easy upsell
• Home Walk-Through Videos
• Digital Floor Plans

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Average Income Per Home

With all these factors taken into consideration, it’s safe to assume that the average real estate photographer can expect to earn around $200 per shoot. 

As you’ve seen above, depending on your client type, location, home size, and offerings, you may actually see this go as high as $300-500 per shoot or more.

Seasonality Can Affect Your Monthly Income

The real estate photography industry (like most photography businesses) is highly seasonal and follows the real estate market.

How much so?

To give you a better idea, our historical data at PhotoUp shows that on average across over 200 US markets the winter is about 60% slower than the summer.

This isn’t strictly true everywhere. If you live in more southern latitudes, sales may only dip 10 or 20%, or even go up in the winter.

On the other hand, if you live in very warm locations, like Phoenix, I’ve actually see business volume go down in the summer (I guess home buying in 120º weather isn’t ideal).

More specifically, there is a pronounced drop in order volume following US Thanksgiving at the end of November through the first two weeks of January.

From mid-January onward you can expect a nearly linear increase in business through the Spring, then accelerating sales in April through the peak, which is typically June or July. 

Often, there is a small dip in orders during August as families settle and send kids back to school. The business then remains fairly steady for September and October.

Steps to Increase Your Income With Marketing

If you can learn early that starting a business means learning sales and marketing, you can quickly overtake your competition and break into any market.

There are really two places where you should invest your time: driving traffic to your website and buying agents as much coffee as possible (that is, set more in-person mirco meetings).

Let’s take a quick look at both.

Marketing

The fastest way to get business is to get real estate agents to your website to book photoshoots. You don’t need a fancy custom website to get started. SquareSpace or Folio are great DIY options.

However, a website doesn’t equal traffic. There are two ways to attract website visitors: paid google ads or organic search engine optimization (SEO).

Google ads obviously cost money, but can get you traffic from day one. Organic ranking is even better, but requires energy and time. That said, it’s best to work on both.

If possible, set aside $200-500 per month to run a google ads campaign, remember you only pay when people actually visit your website.

On the organic ranking side, content is king. If you can muster the discipline to write two blog posts per month, there is a good chance you can move to the first page of google within 6 to 12 months. And once you do, you can dial back your paid ads.

Conclusively, if you don’t have the cash for ads right away and if writing isn’t exactly your thing, get ready to collect more Starbucks stars than ever…

Sales

There is a strong correlation between the number of agents you connect with in person and the amount of photo shoots you will book.

For instance, I’ve talked with a real estate photographer who very successfully rented a small office in a real estate broker office and grew a small team of photographers chiefly from their proximity to agents everyday.

Agents are a busy bunch, so I recommend building a list of agents in your local area and sending them a quick email intro with a request to connect for 10 minutes at their office.

Naturally, ask what their coffee beverage of choice is and you’ll fast make some new friends. A great lesson to learn is people do business with people they like and know. Coffee and proximity.

So when you show up to a meeting, frame it as coffee with a friend, not a hard sales meeting. Get to know them. Also, ask them what is most important to their business for marketing their listings and see where you can add value.

Now, that we’ve learned what factors can affect a real estate photographer’s earnings, we can make the following informed assumptions as a starting point to project monthly and annual income:

You might say, “Gheez, those are some pretty low numbers!”.

True, they are modest (which is a wise way to model). However, not only are they reasonable, turns out they can still produce quite the respectable income:

	Seasonal Volume	Daily Orders	Monthly Income
January	50%	1	$4,000
February	60%	1.2	$4,800
March	70%	1.4	$5,600
April	80%	1.6	$6,400
May	90%	1.8	$7,200
June	100%	2	$8,000
July	100%	2	$8,000
August	90%	1.8	$7,200
September	90%	1. 8	$7,200
October	80%	1.6	$6,400
November	60%	1.2	$4,800
December	40%	0.8	$3,200
Annual Income			$72,800

While just a model, it’s helpful to see a real estate photographer can earn $72,800 per year by shooting a very reasonable number of homes each day.

Do the quick math ($72,800 / 12 month / 20 days / 8 hours) and as a real estate photographer you can make nearly $38 per hour on average.

Not too bad. What’s crazier?

Increase your max busy season shoots to three shoots per day and your average income per home to $300 and your annual income would exceed $163,000.

In Review

To sum up, in this lesson, we learned that the major factors that affect how much real estate photographers can make each year are:

• The Number of Homes Shot Each Day
• The Average Price You Earn Per Shoot
  • Client Type
  • Market Location
  • Home Size
  • Service Offerings
• The Seasonality of Summer vs Winter
• Online Marketing & In-Person Sales

Besides, we also discovered it can be quite a profitable business with earnings in the $60-120K range within your first few years. And possibly more if you are disciplined in your marketing and sales.

While it’s a great first step to verify what you can make as a real estate photographer, you need to ensure you actually like the daily, fast-paced workflow, dare I say grind, of the real estate photographer’s life.

While it’s tempting to say, “Perfect, just 1.6 homes per day?! That’s a walk in the park!”.

In real life, you will never shoot a pleasant 1.6 homes each day.

More likely is this scenario: in the summer Monday is slammed with four shoots from Realtors who landed new listings over the weekend.

Then perhaps, you will have just one booking on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, none on Thursday, and an urgent last-minute booking from your biggest client Friday at 4 pm (and to think you were so close to a perfect three-day weekend!).

In the winter it’s quite the opposite story. If you are a one income household or unaware of the big swings in seasonality, things can get scary quick as your order volumes drops off a cliff.

Welcome to the real estate photographer life: fast-paced, seasonal by nature, and a heck of a lot of fun!

In the next lesson (coming soon), we step through the daily workflow of a real estate photographer in more detail.

Income Report: How Much I Earned As A Real Estate Photographer in 2017

I started a real estate photography business in the Spring of 2016.  After 3 months I was worried why I wasn’t quitting my full time job and shooting beautiful architecture in exotic places around the world.  I came to the deflating realization that it was going to take much longer than 3 months and a handful of postcards sent to real estate agents to regularly make enough money to quit my job.

2016 was a very slow year in business (as it is for most new businesses), where I only brought in maybe $1500 in 9 months.  2017 proved to be a much better year for me.  While I still don’t have the income potential to quit my job, I am able to shoot things that interest me and the money I made from my real estate business has enabled me to take chances and make mistakes with my landscape photography.   I’ll break down how much I made in each part of my business and where the money came and went.  This article is going to be a complete look into my photography business world, aside from a few minor details about dates and volumes.

Let’s get started with the number I know you’re dying to see.  How much did I make all year long?  Don’t worry, I won’t drag this out.  I made $10,941.07 so far in 2017.  That includes both real estate and landscape print sales.  I say “so far” because the year is not yet over and I still have a commercial shoot coming up and 2 holiday gift markets where I’ll hopefully sell a few landscape prints.  $11k sounds pretty sweet, right?  And believe me, it is.  But, I have almost $11k in expenses as well.  The cold, hard truth is that for the few first years in business, you probably won’t be seeing much, if any, profit at all.

Here is the breakdown of how much I earned and how much I spent.  As I mentioned, I won’t go through line by line of my balance sheet (a couple line items will be redacted due to their sensitivity) but I will point out a few notable items.

My cost of goods sold was the cost for all my prints.  As I mentioned, I’m including my landscape photos in my income report as well.  Looking back on this, and this is the first time I’ve looked at my profit/loss report this year, I can’t believe I spent over $4000 on prints.  Usually, I don’t print anything unless it had been ordered already since I am just starting out selling prints, but I am producing inventory for a couple holiday gift markets this month so I have lots of prints hanging around my office.  My most popular print by far was my 2017 Eclipse panorama.  I sold over $1200 worth of that print for a profit of about $700.

In the advertising/marketing category, that includes all Google Adwords ads and Facebook Ads.  It also includes postcards, mailing supplies, and promotional gifts.

Gas and fuel are pretty obvious.  I didn’t use my business credit card every time I was traveling for “work” so this number will be off.  However, I did use it for the more fuel costly trips like when I went to Southern Utah and drove all over down there.

Meals and entertainment is food and drinks while on the road.  A burger here, a soda there.  One night, after a very long shoot at a million dollar real estate listing, I stopped at a local pizza place and picked up a pizza to eat on my hour long drive home.  I got this special “Apocalypdough” which has ghost peppers in the dough.  They make you sign a waiver (no joke) saying you understand that consumption may result in bowel discomfort and you won’t hold them liable.  It was delicious.

Professional fees and website expenses are kind of the same category but 17 Hats likes to categorize things funny.  I have to go back in and correct some of those.  These include the cost to run my website, add-ons that I purchased, video templates for Adobe After Effects, and other things of that nature.

Small equipment includes anything gear related.  Bags, lenses, remote shutter releases, and my fancy Rhino motorized slider that cost $1500.  Of course this is the largest category.

The training and education category includes any video training, ebooks, and other tutorials.   Training is very important and while you can find almost anything for free online if you look hard enough, sometimes it is easier to just buy a training series from someone already established in the industry.  I haven’t regretted any of the training I’ve purchased.

Most of this income is from real estate photography, I’d say about 65%.  I shot a handful of houses this year that provided the ability to stay flexible in my business.  The real estate photography work also funded most of the landscape photography.  If it wasn’t for shooting a few homes here and there, I wouldn’t have been able to take “business trips” or print out photos to display on my cubicle wall at my day job (which has lead to a few more sales to coworkers).

The art gallery at my office.

Thoughts on the year

At the end of the year, my bank account has less than $700 in it.  For being my second year in business, I think this isn’t half bad.  Work has a tendency to find me when I least expect it and people come out of the woodwork to purchase landscape prints every now and again.   I honestly did better in 2017 than I thought.

Real Estate

I started out the year charging 9 cents per square foot for real estate work.  I thought this was a fair price to pay for the quality I am able to deliver (I still think it’s a great price for quality).  However, this is upwards of 4x the amount that others are charging and I missed signing several clients because of it.  When I quoted the .09/sqft price, many real estate agents practically hung up on me.  However, being relatively new in business I knew that I still had the option to adjust my prices according to what the market is willing to pay.  I lowered my pricing based on a more traditional square footage model and it settled on about .07/sqft (as a comparison).  I was still struggling with this pricing, not being to land the number of clients I want so I switched to a two tier pricing model with the cut off at 3500 sq/ft.  Anything below is $150 and anything above is $225.  I don’t expect to maintain this pricing forever but since I’m still new, I’m calling it my “special introductory price. ”

The real estate photography market is heavily saturated in Salt Lake with the average price being about $120 and going up to a little over $200.  Drone photos and other specialty services like twilight photos are extra, of course.  There are several big box type photography companies and about 5 times as many independent real estate photographers to compete with.  There are so many “business coaches” who will tell you, “Don’t lower your prices! Increase your prices! Stick to your guns! Don’t be afraid to charge higher prices! Forgot those cheapskates who can’t afford you! They’ll be terrible clients anyway!”

But you know what?  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.  Meaning, a paying client now is worth more than that unicorn client who will “appreciate you” for who you are and love to pay your arbitrarily inflated prices tomorrow.  Someone did the math that if a real estate photographer were to shoot 2 houses a day at $150 each, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, they could make $75,000/year.   That’s a decent wage, well above the medium income line in America.  I had the realization that I don’t need to be a millionaire doing this, I just want to get paid to do photography.  Yes, I understand that working for myself means paying my own health insurance and taxes and whatever, but the principle is the same.  Getting paid a little bit every day right now is better than holding out for huge windfalls “as soon as the right clients come along.”

Not everyone agrees with me, and that’s totally cool.  But I understand that while I’m a nobody, I can’t charge “somebody” prices.  Just because Peter Lik sells a photo of some dirt for $6.5M doesn’t mean all photos of dirt are going for millions of dollars these days.  But I can work my way up the ladder.  There is no rule saying I can’t.  If you find yourself struggling with the idea of working “below your worth” consider what your end goal really is and understand you don’t have to “make it” right from the start.  If you are wanting to get into real estate photography, it can be hard to know where to start with your pricing.   Check out my Salt Lake City real estate photography website for an example of what real estate photographers could charge in a market similar to Salt Lake.

Landscape

I always thought it would be cool to sell landscape photos and make actual money off that.  I didn’t plan on that at the beginning of the year, however.  Landscape photography was just a hobby at the time, although I was getting pretty serious about it.  It wasn’t until I started selling eclipse prints like crazy that I thought I might actually be able to do it.  I hadn’t sold many prints before then; a few here and few there to friends and family.  I gave away more as gifts than I sold at that point.  But I always wanted to do more with it.

I got the courage to sign up for some art shows after reading a fantastic article by Nathan St. Andre earlier this year.  I realized that selling at an art show was within my grasp and I could hurdle the relatively small barriers to entry.  I became serious about it a little too late in the season but that only gave me plenty of time to do research into the requirements for different art markets.   I found 2 indoor holiday themed markets in Salt Lake and signed up for the second 2 weekends in December.  There are 2 more art fairs in the summer that I want to sign up for that have entry fees and juried acceptance (a panel decides whether to include you or not).  From my research, these can be very hard to get into but I think I have a good chance.  That is my goal for 2018.

My booth setup at the holiday gift market last Saturday.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, my goal is just to get paid to do photography.  Whether that’s real estate photography, small business videos, selling prints, or product photography, I just want to support a family with a reasonable income by using a camera.  I think too often people assume the American Dream is to have 2 Teslas in our 5 car garage and front row tickets to the super bowl every year.  This is impossible for most people to achieve.  Instead, I like to think the true American Dream is to have a comfortable place to live, good food in the fridge, a couple cars that run well, and the ability to take the kids to Disney World every couple years.   I think that can be accomplished with any self-made photography profession these days as long as you A) don’t get greedy; and B) are realistic about what your local market wants.

I hope 2018 is so bright I have to wear shades.  Maybe next year I’ll do another year end recap and we’ll see what happened.  If you have a photography business, take a look at your profit and loss statement (or import your banking transactions into Excel) and see how you did this year.  And remember, it’s not about net profits, it’s about how much you grew this year.

Link Disclosures

How to Become a Real Estate Photographer + is it Worth it?

Real estate photography is often the underdog of the photography world, living under the shadow of the more glamorous photography niches like headshots, portraiture, or landscape. Real estate photography can be not only fun, but also profitable.

In this article, we’ll discuss how you can become a real estate photographer and also if it is worth it for you.

How Do You Become a Real Estate Photographer?

Becoming a real estate photographer is not much different from becoming a professional photographer in any other niche. In fact, it has a much lower barrier to entry than other photography fields.

Of course, you’ll need to have the gear and photography knowledge to start shooting real estate. But, building a portfolio is much easier. You can start by shooting your own house, friends’ and relatives’ houses, and get your name out.

Unlike wedding or fashion photography, there is not much on the line for someone letting you shoot their property, maybe except their time. That is how I got my start.

So, how do you become a real estate photographer? First, you invest in the equipment and gain the skills. Then you build your portfolio. Then you approach homeowners and real estate agents and ask them to allow you to take some pictures for them. If you already have a job, don’t quit it yet. Work your way up until you feel you can sustain yourself for a long time. That’s the process in the simplest words possible.

Do Realtors Hire Photographers?

Of course, realtors hire photographers. Almost every company in the business of selling physical products hires professional photographers to take pictures of their products.

This list includes jewelers, watchmakers, mobile phone brands, game console manufacturers, restaurants, computer manufactures, camera makers, and thousands of other products. Why should real estate be any different?

Having said that, not all realtors will hire photographers, but many of them will do. If you cold call a potential realtor and they turn you down, it is not the end of the world. Many times, agents shoot their own listings. If they do, politely ask to assist them for free. Not only will you get some real-world experience for free, but you will also develop some connections, which are essential in the business.

Is Real Estate Photography a Good Business?

This can be a tricky question to answer, as the answer can be both yes and no. Yes, real estate photography can be a good business, but it depends more on you rather than on the business (unless there is a pandemic).

Let me explain. Gyms are a great place to lose weight, gain muscle, and become fitter, right? But, you’ll find lots of people who go to the gym, and their health goes nowhere. Who do you blame in this case, the gym or the gym-goer?

Similarly, real estate photography can be an excellent business for you. Still, you’ll have to put in the work and put yourself out there consistently for some time before you can start reaping the benefits.

What Education Does a Real Estate Photographer Require?

Becoming a real estate photographer doesn’t require formal education or a photography degree. You can be a high school dropout or have a college degree; it doesn’t matter.

Just as in the regular job world, once you’ve had even one job, the next employer hires you for your experience. Similarly, if you have previous experience in shooting real estate and also have a great portfolio of pictures to go hand in hand, it doesn’t matter what formal education you get. When you produce good images that help sell houses, realtors have little use for your degree.

Should You Shoot Real Estate for Free?

Doing work for free is highly debatable amongst photographers, with strong points made for both viewpoints. Real estate photography is no different. If you ask any real professionals the same question, you will get mixed responses.

However, I have a simple opinion. Whether you like it or not, doing some work for free is essential to break into real estate photography, especially at the beginning.

If you’re just starting out, have no experience or portfolio, you wouldn’t expect someone to pay you, right? That is why you do some work for free while building your portfolio. Once you do have a decent portfolio and a proven track record of getting sales, you can start charging money for your services.

Part-Time vs. Full Time Real Estate Photography

I’ll be honest. Doing real estate photography part-time or on the side is quite challenging. Real estate photography requires a quick turnaround, not only for taking the shots but also for editing and delivering them. This means that either you’ll miss out on a decent number of shoots when you’re working full time, or you’ll burn yourself out by doing both. It is manageable but not desirable.

The situation gets more challenging when you’re just starting. You’re trying to make a name for yourself, develop relationships, work at your existing job, and shoot real estate. You’ll have little time to rest, and you might have to do this for a few years before you’re comfortable jumping it.

My recommendation would be to either prepare yourself for the grind or have at least 18 months of living expenses saved in liquid assets and jump in with both feet.

How Much Does a Real Estate Photographer Make?

This is one of those questions which is hard to answer precisely. It is easy to find the average incomes of real-estate photographers, but it is unlikely to give you any clarity of what you can expect to make. Your income as a real estate photographer will largely depend on location, skill, experience, network, luck, and you.

But I’m not going to leave you hanging. Based on real-world data, a real estate photographer’s average income is somewhere between $42,093 and $62,205 annually. Of course, there will be outliers, and usually, the more expensive properties you photograph, the more money you make.

Equipment for Real Estate Photography

Unlike some other photography forms, the equipment that you need to photograph real estate is not too expensive. Since you’re taking static shots, and the lighting is mostly under your control, you don’t need expensive bodies.

Technically, you don’t even need a full-frame camera; an ASP-C body (with the right lens) should also work. Here is an essential checklist of things you’ll need.

• A mostly modern camera body – Here are our recommendations
• A wide-angle lens
• External wireless flashes
• Some light modifiers
• A steady tripod

A good wide-angle lens is the only mandatory equipment here, and ideally, most of your budget should go towards it. You don’t need the fastest lens out there, but you do need a lens that will have the best sharpness, least chromatic aberration, and minimum distortion. As for the actual focal length, you can get a lens somewhere between 16-24 mm full-frame.

Do You Need Insurance for Real Estate Photography?

Yes, you do need insurance for real estate photography, just as you’d need it for any other business. Real estate photography might seem harmless from a distance, but there are several risks you would want to be protected against:

• You want to be insured to protect your gear. There is a possibility of breaking your gear, getting it wet, gear being stolen, etc.
• You want to be insured to protect yourself. If you or any of your team members accidentally break precious items during a shoot, your business will be on the hook for the damages. This is especially important if you shoot with drones indoors or out.
• You want to be insured to protect your clients as well. If, while shooting, your client’s foot gets tangled in some cables that you laid out, and they fall and hurt themselves, your business will be liable. Having proper insurance coverage will put you and your clients at ease.

The good news is that insurance premiums for real estate photography are usually relatively low. You’ll probably be able to find decent coverage for less than $2000 a year.

Dynamic Range in Real Estate Photography

High-dynamic-range (HDR) photography in real estate photography is almost mandatory to use. Without it, your images might look good, but not great. Specifically, it gives your images a close-to-real-life look, and it shows the home in the best light. Of course, all of this results in beautiful images, which means a faster sale or a better sale price.

Working with HDR in real photography isn’t challenging. All you have to do is come with a workflow that works for you and your clients and stick with it. Some photographers use the bracketing functions of camera bodies to capture a combined HDR image straight out of the camera. In contrast, many others prefer the other method of capturing multiple shots and combining them in post.

The process is pretty simple too. Place your camera on a tripod, set your frame, and then take multiple shots at varying exposures. For the best results, use a self-timer, or trigger the shutter through a remote control.

As for the actual number of shots to take, some photographers settle on 3, while some go as high as 7. Remember, when working with HDR, more is not always better. Using too many exposures may make your images appear un-realistic. Even with limited images, correctly processing the images is critical. It is easy to go overboard in this step and make your images look terrible. Subtle improvements will work best. For the processing, you can use Adobe Lightroom CC, Photomatix HDR Software, or any other software of your choice.

Here is a link to a guide on our blog on processing real estate images.

How much to Charge for Real Estate Photography

Pricing real estate photography is quite different and tricky than other forms of photography. In other popular types of photography like weddings or events, the price is usually derived relative to time spent. However, that is not the best way to price real estate photography. Real estate photographers usually charge based on per square footage of the house they are shooting with some additional fixed fees for add-on services like drone shots, videos, etc.

But how much do you charge for real estate photography? Well, the answer depends on a lot of factors. Your experience, brand name, the property itself, and the locality that you operate in; all affect the final price. Instead of giving you some estimated numbers, let me share a framework with you using which you’ll be able fairly price your services.

Start by calculating your costs. Consider your camera, memory cards, fuel, depreciation, food, equipment wear and tear, taxes, everything. Once you have a decent approximate, divide the number of houses you plan to shoot each year. If you’re just starting, use the number that you would like to shoot per year. This will give you an approximate cost that you incur per house that you shoot. To keep this simple, let’s say the number is $25 per house.

Next, price your time. Let’s say you have a 10-hour workday (including commute), and you shoot 4 houses a day. If you price your services at $40 an hour, you should be making $400 a day in revenue. That means your per-house price would be $100 + $25, which will be $125. Keep in mind that the $40 an hour is after taxes and expenses, so it can be a little lower than what you expect.

Now, these calculations are not perfect by any means. There are many other variables that you’ll need to consider. But, I hope that this will help you price your services in a fair manner for your clients.

A couple of more things you should keep in mind: These numbers will work for established photographers, but you might have to work around these or work for free when you’re first starting out. Also, if you’ve settled on a price and are not getting enough work, lower your prices. If you can’t keep up with your work load, then raise your prices.

Should You Invest in a Drone for Real Estate Photography?

If someone asked me this question a few years ago, I would have told them they don’t need to invest in a drone. But, times have changed. Drones, especially from reputed brands like DJI, have become quite affordable. Hence their usage in real estate photography has exploded as well.

So, my answer today is yes; you should invest in a drone. If you don’t invest today, you will invest in one eventually. Better get ahead of the curve and start early. If there are not a lot of photographers who are offering aerial photography, then this could be your way in, or it could also be your competitive advantage.

What About Real Estate Videography?

If a picture says a thousand words, a video is sure to say many more. However, despite its benefits, real estate videography won’t be a service that you’ll provide to all your clients. The reason is that it is expensive.

You might be able to shoot pictures of a small or medium house in an hour, but if you shoot videos too, that time will go up significantly, and your fee will  too. Not to mention capturing the video, editing it, grading it, and producing a beautiful video highlighting the house is a much different skill than simply taking pictures.

So, should you focus on real estate videography? It depends. It can be beneficial to provide this service to agents who sell houses priced at a million dollars and above. Still, it might not be affordable for the agent or the homeowner to spend that much money on the listing. So, make a call depending on the work you’re expecting to come your way.

Real Estate Photography Tips

The basics of photography apply to real estate photography as well, but there are many practical things you’ll need to know if you want to work as a professional.

Although we already have a post on our website covering real estate photography tips for beginners, having more knowledge about the profession you’re trying to get into can’t hurt. So, here are some practical real estate photography tips to give you a head start.

Talk To Your Realtor

Before taking the first shot, you must speak with the realtor about the shoot. Remember, you know how to photograph, but the realtor knows what to photograph. Speak to them about the best features of the house they want to highlight, the angles they need, the number of shots they want for each room, etc. It will show the realtor that you care, and you’ll be shooting exactly what will help sell the house. Typically, exterior shots, shots of the bedroom, and shots of the kitchen are considered most important by most realtors.

Clean the House

If you’re shooting a previously occupied house, it is well worth your time to clean the house first. Take out the trash, or move it someplace it is not visible. Make sure no rubbish or clutter is lying around anywhere. Also, make sure the toilet seats are down, and personal items like toothbrushes, cosmetics, and pictures of the family are not visible anywhere. It is entirely possible to find questionable items when doing the cleanup, so be prepared for it as well.

If you’re shooting a large house, it might be worthwhile to bring along an assistant to help with the cleanup while you focus on taking the pictures. Your job is to present the home in the best light (get it?), and putting in a little bit of work to make everything presentable will go a long way. If you need a reference point, think of a nice hotel room and clean and present the house to that standard.

Turn On All the Lights, but Not the Fans

Even when shooting indoors, you’ll want to turn on all the lights in the room to light up everything. If there are lights with mixed color temperatures, stick with the daylight ones. For rooms with large windows, you might not have full illumination to all areas. If that is the case, you can choose flambayant lighting (flash + ambient), or you could also shoot bracketed to preserve the dynamic range.

Shoot from the Right Height

This is a real pro tip. When shooting rooms, make sure the tripod height is at the eye level of a sitting adult. When shooting a kitchen, the tripod height should be in line with the cabinet height. For exterior shots, use the maximum tripod height possible.

Shoot at the Right Time

Cloudy weather is excellent for outdoor portraits as it creates a soft and flattering light. However, cloudy weather is the worst time to take exterior real estate shots. They will make your shots look flat, and the white sky will provide poor contrast to your shots.

The best time to shoot exterior real estate shots is twilight, when the sun is going down. This will give you the most pleasing shots. Make sure to turn on all the lights in the house (tip above), and for rooms that have insufficient light, make sure you’re carrying some pocket RGB lights to light up those rooms.

Use Backlighting or Side Lighting on the House

If it is not possible to shoot exterior shots at twilight, you’ll have to figure out the best lighting and angles to create a good shot. Try to pick an angle so that the sun is not directly hitting the front of the house. That kind of light is not flattering for real estate pictures. Instead, try and compose the shot so that the light is either hitting the back of the house or the side of the house. Backlighting is also a great option in many cases.

If you have to pick between great lighting and a great composition, always choose great lighting. A shot with pleasing lighting and not-the-best angle will always look better than a shot with bad lighting and a perfect angle.

Vertical, Vertical, Vertical

This tip is for the composition of the shots you’re going to take. Every interior shot you take will have some vertical lines. It may be from windows, pillars, ceilings, etc. When composing your shot, make sure all the lines in the shot are vertical. Shooting it this way creates more realistic and immersive pictures.

It might seem like a small detail, but it will improve your shots significantly. If you angle the lens for the composition and the lines start converging, then you’ll need a tilt-shift lens to take those shots.

As you’ll be able to tell from the image below, the vertical lines in the shot are just a little skewed. The overall shot would have been much better if that was corrected.

Exposing for Interior Shots

Most people don’t understand photography; they only care how a photo feels. This will include many agents as well. To please your customer, see if you can expose your shots to be a little brighter. Usually, half a stop overexposed works best, but sometimes you’ll need to go a full stop over. You might think that the photos are too bright, but that is pleasing to home buyers.

Preparing Rooms Before Shooting

You’ll be cleaning and tidying up a lot, so you better get quick and efficient with it. Here are some simple tips that will make a massive difference to your shots.

• Always carry a spare vacuum in your car. You never know when you’ll need to use it.
• Take multiple photos from different angles. Decide on the best one later.
• Too much furniture can clutter up a space. Always try to make the rooms look spacious.
• You’re not photographing a room; you’re photographing a lifestyle. Make sure your pictures showcase it. Add a centerpiece, cutlery, candles, hand towels, flowers, and other things that you’d expect the owners to do. It will help them see the house in a personal way and will also make the agent happier.

Are You Ready to Become A Real Estate Photographer?

I just shared a ton of real-world information with you on how to become a real estate photographer. There’s the good, the bad, and then there’s the somewhat-ugly. It’s not all sunshine and roses, I’ll admit, but if you have the passion and the drive to do it, you’re likely going to make a successful career in real estate photography. I wish you all the best.

Click the following for real estate photo editing services.

Also, don’t forget to check out some additional resources about real estate photography from our website:

Sky Replacement for real estate photography

Cameras for real estate photography

Real Estate Photographer Salary: What You’ll Make and Why

According to various salary aggregate websites, a real estate photographer’s salary in the US ranges between $45,000 and $82,157, with an average salary of $62,309. As of July 2022, the base salaries for real estate photographers are listed as follows:

Payscale	ZipRecruiter	Indeed	Salary. com	Glassdoor
$45,000	$55,730	$82,157	$52,128	$76,531

Keep in mind: Salary aggregate websites typically rely on data submitted anonymously by individuals using their site. Some websites may have received larger amounts of data of either higher or lower than average salaries, which may affect the site’s calculated average.

Read more: What Is a Real Estate Photographer? How to Become One

What influences a salary?

The salary of a Real Estate Photographer is determined by a number of factors, including education, experience, and job location. In this article, we will take a closer look at how these factors impact salary.

Years of experience

Salary increases are generally tied to your experience level. In general, the more years you spend working as a real estate photographer, the more you can expect to earn. Here’s how experience can impact your real estate photographer salary, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Compensation Survey.

Location

Where you live can also impact how much you can make as a real estate photographer. Typically, working in a large metropolitan area correlates to a higher salary, as well as a higher cost of living.

Here is a list of some major cities with their corresponding average real estate photographer salary according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

How does this compare to similar jobs?

Here’s how a real estate photographer’s salary stacks up against similar jobs.

How to increase your real estate photographer salary

Now that you have a better idea of what you could expect to earn as a real estate photographer, let’s look at ways to boost your salary.

1. Strengthen your skills

Pursuing and improving in-demand skills could make you more competitive for promotions and higher-paying positions. These skills include:

• Photography: Understand how to take high-quality photos that accurately represent a property
• Editing: Edit photos to further improve their quality
• HDR Photography: Use high dynamic range photography techniques to capture well-lit photos
• Virtual Staging: Use software to digitally stage a property to improve its appearance in photos
• Drone Photography: Operate a drone to take aerial photos of properties

2. Go back to school

While you don’t necessarily need a degree to be a real estate photographer, going back to school and getting one could help you command a higher salary. If you’re interested in pursuing this route, look for programs that offer coursework in photography, business, and marketing.

3. Talk to Recruiters

If you’re interested in making more money as a real estate photographer, one of the best things you can do is talk to recruiters. They can give you insight into what companies are looking for, what salaries are being offered, and what skills you need to brush up on.

Article Sources

1. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “National Compensation Survey, https://www.bls.gov/ncs/.” Accessed July 2, 2022.

2. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Occupational Employment and Wages, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes274021.htm.” Accessed July 2, 2022.

3. Payscale. “Real Estate Photographer Hourly Pay, https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Real_Estate_Photographer/Hourly_Rate.” Accessed July 2, 2022.

4. Ziprecruiter. “Real Estate Photographer Annual Salary, https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Real-Estate-Photographer-Salary.” Accessed July 2, 2022.

5. Indeed. “Indeed Salary Finder, https://www.indeed.com/career/salaries.” Accessed July 2, 2022.

6. Salary.com. “Real Estate Photographer Salary, https://www.salary.com/research/salary/recruiting/real-estate-photographer-salary.” Accessed July 2, 2022.

7. Glassdoor. “Real Estate Photographer Salaries, https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/real-estate-photographer-salary-SRCH_KO0,24.htm.” Accessed July 2, 2022.

How to Get Into Real Estate Photography

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Do you want to learn how to make money with real estate photography? We’ve got all the answers about what it takes to do professional real estate photography.

Format Team

May 25, 2021

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So you’re considering a career in real estate photography.

Whether you’re already a working photographer looking to dive into a new niche or you’re brand new to the world of photography, this guide is for you.

You likely have some burning questions you want answered before you take the plunge, like how much do real estate photographers make a year, is real estate photography profitable, and how do you figure out your photography pricing? Should you get into real estate drone photography? And what’s the best lens for real estate photography?

Lucky for you, we have everything you need to know on how to start a real estate photography business right here. Let’s get started!

What Does Real Estate Photography Involve?

Let’s start with the most obvious question, how to do real estate photography in the first place.

Realtor photography involves more than you might think.

You can either venture into the world of house photography or commercial real estate property.
When you’re contemplating how to start a real estate photography business, you have to be prepared to wear many hats.

In addition to taking photos, real estate photographers should be prepared to spend additional time and resources on things like house staging, photo editing, marketing, sales, and admin work.

If you’re used to taking your time editing photos (which can often take longer than the photoshoot itself), be aware that you won’t have that luxury with real estate photography.

Realtors usually need a quick turnaround time on the real estate photos, with deadlines of 24 to 48 hours being most common. The main way to work in the real estate photography business is by working alongside real estate agents, photographing homes or commercial real estate for online listings.

However, you may want to consider dipping your toes into real estate stock photos as well.

By making your real estate stock photos available online through resources like Shutterstock, you can add an additional income source that is entirely passive, meaning less work for you in the long run.

How Do Real Estate Photographers Price Their Work?

If you’re thinking about starting a career in realtor pictures, you’ll need to know how much to charge for your services as a professional real estate photographer.

When setting your real estate photography pricing, make sure to consider the work you’ll put in outside of the real estate photography itself, like preparation, travel, and associated fees, and the amount of time it will take you to edit the photos. Of course, suppose you don’t already have all the necessary equipment for real estate photography. In that case, you’ll also need to factor in those expenses (like, say, if your camera doesn’t have the best lens for real estate photography).

Don’t underestimate the amount of time a particular job might take you, either—for more advanced real estate photography. You may be asked to make significant edits that can eat into your time and your profits. You should also consider setting a higher rate for super-fast turnaround times.

At this point, you might think, “is real estate photography a good business?”

The answer will depend on a number of factors, including your working style. You have to be willing to put yourself out there to find new business opportunities and be flexible on your turnaround times.

Real estate photography rates will also vary depending on where you live—unfortunately, a small-town real estate photographer just won’t be able to charge as much as someone doing real estate photography in a big city.

However, always make sure you’re valuing your work by paying yourself a fair wage, regardless of where you’re located, your skills, and the equipment you’re using.

What Kind of Real Estate Photography Pricing Guidelines Should I Follow?

If you’re new to photography, start by researching the basics of pricing your photography.

You can also ask your local photography community (MeetUp, Facebook Groups, etc.,) to ask how much does a real estate photographer earns specific to your area. This can give you a good starting point and give you an idea that real estate photography can be lucrative.

As professional photographers, you have to consider the expenses you have that allow you to edit photos and account for your costs. This may include your camera equipment, insurance for your camera equipment, editing software, your experience, your transportation, and marketing.

Like any creative business, real estate photography rates will differ based on location and experience, but here are some basic tips you can follow.

Set Different Real Estate Photography Rates For Different Sized Homes

The larger the house, the more rooms, and features you’ll need to capture and edit. It only makes sense that you charge based on the property you’re shooting.

You might charge under $200 for homes 3,000 square feet and under and over $200 for 3,000 square feet and up.

Adjust Your Real Estate Photography Pricing Based on Time of Day

Sometimes it’s difficult to coordinate shooting times with the homeowners and the real estate agent, which means you might be given unconventional hours to shoot.

Shooting high-quality real estate photography at sunset or in the dark will involve more equipment and editing than daytime shoots, so get all the details before you provide your client with your final rate.

Higher-End Listings Mean Higher Rates

Suppose you’re photographing a home that will be listed at upwards of $1 million. In that case, your real estate photography pricing should reflect that—your rates could jump from around the $200 mark to closer to $500, depending on the value of the real estate listing.

Some people also set their real estate photography rates based on square footage, using a pricing formula of around nine cents per square foot.

If you do real estate drone photography, you can charge more than regular photos, with one minute of professional video costing anywhere from $200 to $400.

Video tours of home interiors and individual rooms should cost upwards of $1,000. When you set your real estate photography pricing, base them on deliverables (i.e., 25 high-quality images, one minute of drone video) rather than an hourly wage, and work the time your efforts will take you into your pricing formula.

What Makes a Good Real Estate Image?

Your photos are selling homes, which means they have an important role in highlighting the property’s best features. When it comes to home photography, certain beginner’s mistakes can easily be avoided using these tips.

When it comes to home photography, there are certain beginner’s mistakes that can easily be avoided using these tips.

Always Use a Wide-Angle Lens

Have you ever noticed that quality real estate photography can make even the tiniest of spaces look spacious? Well, the trick to that is a wide-angle lens. Wide-angle lenses have a small focal length and allow for more background to be in the frame, enhancing the perspective.

We’ll talk in more detail about the best lens for real estate photography below.

Emphasize the Room’s Best Features

Every room will have one key feature you can focus on, whether it’s a beautiful picture window or a rustic fireplace. What separates professional real estate photography from “amateur hour” is to hone in on what makes each room special and emphasizes that to the viewer.

Avoid Bad Weather and Lighting

Yes, it can be inconvenient working around mother nature’s unpredictable schedule, but if it’s super-foggy or muddy out, your real estate photography may not end up looking as great as you hoped.

If you’re skilled in photo editing, you may be able to account for unforeseen weather forecasts, and you can turn cloudy skies into beautiful sunsets. As a skilled editor, this should also reflect in your real estate photographer pricing.

Take Advantage of New Technology

If you want your real estate photography to stand out, or if you’d like to make a bit more money, real estate drone photography can be a great option for you. Keep reading for more information on using camera drones to bring your real estate photography to a whole other level.

What is the Best Lens for Real Estate Photography?

If you’re new to photography, read up on the basics before buying your real estate photography equipment. You’re probably wondering: what is the best lens for real estate photography? For starters, it’s all about that wide-angle lens. To get those super-wide real estate images that we’re so used to seeing, your lens should be in the range of 10-24mm.

While wide-angle is great for capturing the extent of the space and making a room look bigger than it is, you want to stay away from fisheye lenses as it adds too much distortion and looks unnatural.

You should also remember that you will probably be shooting indoor and outdoor real estate photography, so choose a camera setup that works with both. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some options for the best lens for real estate photography.

• Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED

This Nikon lens can shoot at 16mm for interiors and go up to 35mm for exterior real estate photography.

• Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

The ultra-wide-angle lens and range of focal length from 17-40mm makes this one of the best lenses for real estate photography.

• Sigma 1-24mm f/4 DG HSM

This lens is made for Canon cameras, and with zero distortion and fast focusing, it’s an ideal lens for real estate photography.

• Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L UD

This is an ultra-wide tilt-shift lens, which allows for unique real estate photos that stand out.

What Does Real Estate Drone Photography Entail?

In addition to real estate pictures, video can be an extremely lucrative option when pursuing a career in real estate photography.

Dramatic, eye-catching visuals can be created using real estate drone photography, which can help a property stand out from the pack online. Camera drones can be great for creating a virtual tour, moving through each room of a property so an online viewer can experience the space.

Drones can also create sweeping landscape shots and showcase a large property, but they won’t take the place of your trusty DSLR camera—when it comes to interior shots, your best bet is still traditional real estate photography.

If you’re interested in adding real estate drone photography to your repertoire, be aware that drones can be pricey, generally starting at about $1000 and going up from there.

There are other barriers to becoming a drone operator, too. In the US, you’ll need to get an operator’s certificate to operate a drone for real estate photography, even before you start charging for your services. It will also take time to learn to operate the drone, so it’s a good idea to connect with a real estate drone photography professional when you’re first starting.

Drone photography will also be more time-consuming and expensive than regular real estate photography. Be prepared to film long video segments and cut it down to more easily digested shots in post-production. To create high-quality video, you’ll need a 3-axis gimbal to hold your camera in place as your drone flies around. This allows more control over your real estate drone photography, like zooming and panning your shot.

Since real estate drone photography is more weather-dependent, make sure to get multiple shots of the perspectives you need most, just if the first one doesn’t turn out. You should aim to shoot your real estate drone photography on a windless day and stay close to the ground to avoid wind gusts.

Your drone should come with flight control software, which you can use to map out your flight plan in advance rather than to make those decisions as you go. Be careful around things like wires and trees, which could destroy your drone and end up costing you a lot of money.

Along with a general property photography contract, you’ll need a specific drone-operating contract since there are additional legal requirements for drone operators.

Real Estate Photography Tips

If you’re wondering how to take real estate pictures that impress, we’ve got you covered in that department too. Here’s a comprehensive list of tips to make your first few sessions go smoothly as a real estate photographer.

Create A Standard Shot List

Establishing a list of the photographs you’ll need for the home will save time when you’re on location and help you cover all your assets you’ll deliver to your client.

Here’s an example of the shots that you may include in your shot list:

• Front exterior (at multiple angles and distances)
• Wide-angle shots of the bedrooms, family room, kitchen, and den
• Shots of feature rooms (laundry, pantry, garage, basement)
• Backyard/deck photos

Of course, every home will have its unique features, so ironing the required shots ahead of time with your clients will help speed your working process when it comes time to shoot and provides a seamless client experience working with you.

Walk Through The Home

When you arrive on site, get a feel for the space you’re working with before picking up your camera to shoot. You can take mental notes of the lighting, angles, and stand-out features of the homes you’d like to feature in your photographs.

If the homeowners are there, you can also ask if they can move objects, furniture, or declutter areas that may become a distraction in the image. The less editing work to remove clutter or other imperfections in the image, the better for your overall workflow.

Flash Photography in Real Estate

Often, you don’t have control over when you arrive at the shoot, and there’s no telling what kind of natural lighting the home has.

Flash photography may be required to get the rooms in the house looking their best. The problem is those flash units on a camera can create harsh lighting and shadows, which means you’ll have a lot of work post-production to even out the vignetting (dark edges of the photo and a bright center).

We recommend you use a flashgun rather than your camera’s standard pop-up flash so that you can move around its position. Try turning the flash on the camera so that it’s facing a wall to reflect light. Having the light bounce off the walls will create softer light for a more even look.

Correct Distortion

Lens distortion is an important factor to account for when doing any type of photography. When it comes to real estate photography, where your subjects are rooms with very crisp, angular lines, you may want to correct the lens distortion to fix bent or unnatural lines and curves.

Luckily, programs like Adobe Lightroom make it easy to correct lens distortion in a matter of clicks. To minimize how many adjustments you need to make when editing, make sure you’re shooting your rooms straight on—use a tripod and your camera’s leveling meter if you have to.

The Client Review Process

Being a good real estate photographer is more than capturing images of beautiful spaces. You’ve got to manage your clients’ expectations too.

Once you’ve got the shots, it’s a good idea to review the photos with the real estate agent while you’re on-site to avoid any unhappy clients and having to revisit the property for missed shots.

You can count out the images from your setlist to ensure you’ve gotten the complete list of promised shots and that all looks good in the viewfinder before leaving the property.

As the hired creative professional, you can’t assume that everyone understands your process or the photos you’ve taken. Make this time the opportunity to explain why you like the particular shots and what they can expect them to look like after you’re done editing them.

Where Can You Learn Real Estate Photography?

If you’re wondering “how do I become a real estate photographer?”

There’s no one place to get started.

There are plenty of real estate photography courses available online through platforms like Udemy or Coursera that help you understand the basics of technique and business aspects.

Additionally, seeking out online photography groups to learn from colleagues and get practice is an excellent way to get real-life experience and practice with your camera and equipment.
Look for Facebook or Meetup groups to connect with and learn from other photographers in your area.

What Kind of Background Do You Need to Run a Professional Real Estate Photography Business?

You don’t need to come from a particular background to become a successful real estate photographer, but having experience as a photographer and freelancer helps.

Running a real estate photography business is much more than just taking professional real estate photos. You’re solving a problem for real estate agents, and they’re going to you for professional expertise as well as your deliverable photographs.

You’ll also need to set up an invoicing system, photography contracts and spend time and effort looking for new freelance clients. A big part of working as a real estate photographer is also developing a social media strategy to get your work seen.

How Do I Promote My Real Estate Photography Business?

The #1 way to promote your real estate photography business is to set up an amazing online photography portfolio. This way, prospective clients can see all your real estate photos and real estate drone photography in one place—along with your real estate photography pricing page.

A portfolio website as a photographer is a valuable tool for demonstrating your credibility and professionalism.

On top of this, a well-built website can also serve as a marketing tool that finds you new clients. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a key component in helping to increase your web page’s visibility when users conduct searches for local real estate photography services.

Don’t have one yet? No worries—just use a website builder to create one in minutes.

Make sure to pick an online portfolio website that offers beautiful templates so your real estate photography website will make a strong, stylish impression. Another great feature to keep an eye out for? A built-in online store, so clients can purchase your real estate photography packages immediately.

Looking to book more photography clients? Create a stunning photography portfolio website to wow your clients with beautiful galleries and deliver your client work with our powerful priviate proofing tool. Start your 14 day trial with Format today, no credit card required.

Congratulations—you now have all the information you need to start your very own real estate photography business! Soon, you’ll be right at home in the real estate photography world and landing your dream clients.

Want more tips on making money with photography?
How to Start a Successful Photography Business
10 Ways to Promote Your Portrait Photography Business
The Ultimate Photography Hashtag Cheat Sheet

💸 How to make money from photography – 53 ways. How to start making money as a beginner photographer

Ten years ago I was a beginner in photography and did not know how many topics, directions and opportunities the photo industry contains. I did not imagine that making money in photography is easy, and besides this, there is always the opportunity to come into contact with what you love every day.

This list of earnings in photography I have written based on my more than a decade of experience as a photographer, using lessons from both my successes and mistakes, from hundreds of books on photography and marketing read and from thousands of hours of video watched, from talking with the best photographers of the world and businessmen, whose experience I projected onto the photograph. And, to tell you honestly, I am proud of this article and regret that at the time when I was just starting out in photography, I did not have this list.

In today’s world, the cost of entry into the photography business is so low that almost one in two claims to be a professional photographer. Today, a practicing photographer needs a little more than $5,000 to fully engage in their work. This is such a low price that it is not comparable to any other starter entry in any other business.

And so you bought or rented a minimal set of photographic equipment, called yourself a photographer and began to work practically at a loss and for wear and tear. Thus, you expect to attract more customers. But the low price strategy only works in the long run, when you have a certain financial cushion and a few years ahead.

And now the main question. If an aspiring photographer has a huge number of competitors and an equally aggressive price dumping that will bankrupt anyone in less than a few years, how to build your sales strategy? How to become a truly successful photographer? How to build a successful income in photography?

Choosing a Niche

If you read the articles linked above, you understand that price competition is a losing strategy. And at the same time, the average photographer anywhere in the world earns no more than three hundred dollars for one photo shoot. How then to proceed? How to get out of this vicious circle?

Your task is to be different from the rest. Create something unique that will make you stand out from the rest. It could be the ideal provision of a service or a service. But an easier way is to choose a niche. Determine one, maximum two areas in which you will work, earning money from photography and become the best in them.

And all those 53 ways to make money with photography are needed so that you choose for yourself exactly those that will inspire you, in which you will improve, and after a while the customer of your dreams will turn to you, because that you are the best. The best photographer in his specialization.

Now we come to the main point. To what opportunities and ways of earning exist in the modern photo industry. This will help you choose your path on the thorny road to the title of “the most commercially successful photographer on the planet”

In this section I will describe all kinds of ways to make money with photography, point out their pros and cons, and tell you how you can build additional sales in each topic. So, let’s begin.

Work with private clients. B2C (Business to Consumer)

This is the easiest activity for a beginner photographer. The entrance to it is symbolic. As a rule, in order to start providing services to individuals, you only need a camera with good optics.

And, what is very important, the client pays money immediately and in cash. To work with a private client, it is not necessary to open a company and hire an accountant.

But there are also disadvantages. The main disadvantage of working on the b2c market is the client’s return time. As a rule, it is from a year to a year and a half. First, the girl orders a photo shoot from the photographer. For facebook or instagram. Then she gets married and already needs a wedding photo shoot. Next – pregnancy and after that – shooting a child with a happy mother. Most often, this is where it all ends, but sometimes people get divorced. Therefore, the circle can be started again. And between these major events, they sometimes order a reportage photo shoot.

What does this information give us, you ask. And the fact that when working with private customers, if we take ten shoots per month as a standard (you read the article about how much a photo shoot should cost, right?), The photographer needs about a hundred clients a year. One hundred new clients per year, because the return period of a private customer is from a year to a year and a half.

And the second big minus that nullifies the dreams of a million dollars in a bank account and an island in the Pacific when providing b2c services is the principle that a private customer is guided by when choosing a photographer. For most, it’s the price.

And secondly, any client needs criteria by which they choose a photographer. If there are no obvious criteria, then the client chooses by price.

We have discussed with you the ways to make money in photography, the pros and cons of working with a private customer, and finally, let’s determine what services a photographer can provide in this area.

Wedding photo shoot

One of the most competitive areas where you need to be not only a good photographer, but also a good organizer and manager. You have to charm all the employees of marriage agencies, every toastmaster in your city should be, if not your friend, then a good acquaintance.

The bride and groom are excited, the parents are worried, the guests are in anticipation. A wedding photographer must arrange, organize, make everyone smile at a certain moment. Be sure to ask the bride before the wedding what kind of photos she wants. Remember, she is your main customer, who will recommend you later. And making money on wedding photography is the most attractive for many aspiring photographers working in the b2c market.

Love story photo shoot

People in love usually love everyone around, so it’s nice to work with them. For photos of couples in love, you need to invent and experiment so that each story is special, and your portfolio is filled with diverse works.

This niche can be combined with a wedding theme. Offer young people who order wedding photography to create a photo story of their relationship, which can then be shown at the wedding.

Family photo session

Quite a difficult niche in which many people try to work, but maybe you will do better. Here you need to be able to photograph children of different ages, be loyal to mom, who needs everything at once, and to dad, who, in principle, does not understand why this is all.

If family values ​​are important to you and you know how to express this in your photos, you can work in the niche of a family photo session. And your earnings in photography will grow at times.

Pregnancy photo session

I don’t know a single happy future mother who would not like to capture the process of pregnancy. A photo session for pregnant women is an occasion for a future mother to feel the significance and uniqueness of her condition.

This specialization opens up a huge field for fantasy and creativity. Starting from shooting one frame once a week and then editing a time-lapse, and ending with cool staged photos.

Newborn photography session

Newborn photo album is a trendy theme. In it, I would advise those who cannot imagine life without communicating with babies and other mothers to work. And you must admit that it is better for photographers of girls, they communicate with babies more naturally and intimately.

Plus, you need to understand at least a little about the periods of a baby’s life. Children of the first 14 days you will photograph mostly sleeping, older children can be capricious, and already starting from 3 months, some babies begin to dislike strangers. This is important to consider when developing a scenario for photography.

Children’s photography

Many parents are willing to pay money to photographers to capture the memories of their children growing up. This is the only specialization where the client’s return period can be about six months, and not a year or a year and a half.

Children’s photography involves the ability to communicate with children, and also find places for photography, which is not easy. You may even have to create places like I did for my son, and then for other children.

Private Portfolio

This is the specialty that drives many camera owners into the photography business. First, a novice photographer takes pictures of his girlfriends and friends, and then people from outside who are willing to pay money for this service begin to come.

A separate topic in a private portfolio is photos of models or girls who aspire to become them. A model portfolio is a fundamental tool for a career and success in the modeling business. You must be able to create an image in the pictures in which the directors of advertising and modeling agencies can see the rising Cindy Crawford.

Erotic photo shoot

A separate subspecies of a photo shoot, loved by many photographers. After all, it is photos in the nude style that collect a huge number of likes and reposts on social networks. To work in this topic, you must have a subtle sense of proportion and good taste.

In addition, you must understand that despite the bright cover, this is the same work. All the eroticism and seductiveness of erotic photo shoots will end for you after one or two shootings. But the creative impulse must remain, then you can create photographs that will be called real art.

Children’s photos for schools and kindergartens

Probably the most disliked specialization among photographers. Often, newcomers treat this niche with disdain: the competition is high, the money is small, there is no fame.

But if you like it, then here you can get a stable income and a good income on a photo of a children’s portfolio. The key to success is the right organization. Creating vignettes and shooting children’s events are always in demand. Negotiate and sign one contract with the director of the school or kindergarten. The school takes care of the financial issue, allowing the photographer not to be distracted from his work – to create high-quality children’s photos and albums.

Photos of pets

Photo shoots of pets are not as single and small orders as it might seem at first glance. A huge number of breeders of rare breeds order photo shoots of pets, and just the owners want to take a few shots of their pets as a keepsake.

If you love animals, then this type of photoshoot is for you. As in many other specializations, you must be in the subject in order to speak the same language with customers. Photo of pets is a category in which it is not easy, but interesting.

If you like to keep abreast of all the events, you like hanging out, then reportage photography is your way of self-realization as a photographer. Many aspiring photographers think that reportage photography is just photography for parties and birthdays. But it’s not.

There is a separate category of photographers who believe that it is reportage photography that is real, true photography. After all, the task of the photographer is to capture the event, to make it the property of history.

And in a way they are right. To convey the emotion of a boxer who won the champion title or the tears of joy of a music fan who managed to break through the barriers and hug her idol – this is a real, sincere photograph.

In this section, I will not describe the pros and cons of reportage photography. After all, preserving history for future generations is a calling. And only you can decide if you want to be a reportage photographer.

Photography of banquets, birthdays and other events for a private customer

Every time you shoot in a new environment, without being able to change and adjust it for your purposes, there will be no staging, the right composition and accessories. Especially for you, there will be no repetitions and takes, so you need to know the script and instantly navigate.

From the point of view of making money in photography, photographing events is not the most successful way to earn money, but in a difficult period it will help you stay afloat. It is good to combine it with the niche of family and children’s photography.

Photographing concerts and music events

Photographing stars during concert tours and music festivals is a specialty that does not immediately come to mind, but is a rather successful niche niche for the insiders. If you are a fan of music and musicians, then this is for you.

Media and online communities are constantly in need of professional photos of show business stars, so create your circle of journalists and editors, thanks to which you will get to concerts and for whom you will work. Start with young but up-and-coming bands to build your portfolio and then move on to a higher level of artist popularity. It is also a good way to make money from photography in the long run. After all, if you beautifully photographed an aspiring group or artist and after a few years they achieved a world vocation, then you can safely resell your photographs to magazines and online publications again and again.

Sports photography

The sports photography niche makes it possible to create vivid and even dramatic images. If the rich shades of wrestling and the heated atmosphere of the competition make your heart beat faster, this is your topic.

Sports photos are needed by various media, so as in the specialization with musicians, acquire useful contacts among journalists. Also look for different angles to display events at the stadium. Take pictures of athletes, catch the most incendiary moments of wrestling, do not forget about the fans and coaches, on whose faces you will see the real heat of passion.

Paparazzi

Photos of a star in an extraordinary situation are always interesting to the general public. But in order to anticipate this moment and capture it, the photographer needs to have the intuition of a true detective. And also patience! Be prepared to wait hours for a celebrity to take some treasured shots.

Stars everywhere say they hate the paparazzi, but that’s not true. A star’s photo needs paparazzi, and a star needs her photos to be featured in popular tabloids. Therefore, your earnings in photography in this specialization are not only editors, but also celebrity producers.

Photojournalist in the hot spots of the planet

You can become a full-time photojournalist for a news publication, or you can be a stringer. Stringer is a freelance reporter who can work for several companies at once and lives on fees.

You will need not only the skills of a photographer, but also a knowledge of journalism. And you should also be aware of current world events and political aspects. Working in hot spots will require you to have courage and a high sense of self-preservation, the ability to understand people and the ability to find a common language with them, good physical shape and quick reaction.

Political reporter

The profession of a reporter implies an interesting and eventful life in the upper lobbies of power. You will capture the key facts of political events that will confirm the veracity of political news.

Here it is important to understand the political situation, understand the essence of what is happening, be able to analyze and even predict events in order to be at the right time in the right place.

Social photography

Social problems always worry the society. The synthesis of photography and sociology makes it possible to show the “wounds” of the modern world: poverty, drugs, emigration, conflicts. The task of social photography is to cause a wide resonance in society, to get a response to a social problem.

Photos that highlight social issues are used in documentaries, book publishers, television and print media.

Street photography

This is a photo shoot on the street, in which there is no place for posing and posing. The photographer shows modern society, the interaction of different characters, situations that arise around.

If you are fascinated by the life of the city, the unimagined emotions of people, the opportunity to capture a moment that will never happen again – street photography is your direction.

Travel photography

Do you dream of seeing the world? Become a travel photographer and you will succeed. Travel photo tells about places where many people want to visit. The most important quality for a travel photographer is the ability to shoot a famous place that has already been shot a hundred times before you from a new angle, to get off the beaten path.

To work in the travel photography niche, you need to love traveling and exploring new places and accept the fact that you will be away from home 350 days a year.

Photographing of space

Photo of space — amazing, exciting galaxies, large-scale universal catastrophes, immersed in the dusk of nebula. To realize yourself in this topic, you need to really get involved in space, which means having a telescope.

A digital camera is attached to the telescope using an adapter. Photographing is carried out outside the city, where lights and lights do not interfere. Do you like such a picture – you, a telescope, contemplation in the silence of distant worlds and constellations? If yes, then space photography is your calling.

Scientific photography

Photography is a method of scientific research that is used in various fields: nuclear physics, astronomy, geography, biology, history, psychology, medicine, cartography. Scientific photography provides proof of the existence of an object or phenomenon.

If you want to capture a hydrogen atom, or know what the surface of the moon looks like, go in the direction of scientific photography.

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As a rule, a commercial customer is more demanding both in terms of the quality of services provided and the service itself that a photographer can offer him. Therefore, this type of service is not suitable for a beginner, but as the next step on the career ladder, it is obvious.

Advertising photography already needs professional equipment, and you can’t just get by with an entry-level camera with a whale lens, as is possible when working with a private client (but this does not mean that I recommend working in the b2c field with amateur equipment).

Another disadvantage of working with commercial clients is the complex system of organizing a photo session. You must be able to make an offer for the customer, have experience with the brief, know what the target audience is, and keep documentation. Most often, the entire organization of photo sessions falls on the shoulders of the photographer.

A photographer needs to have his own team and contacts of specialists, which are not available, and will be needed for photography.

But at the same time, there are some advantages. The most obvious plus is the customer return time. When working with commercial customers, it ranges from three months to six months. Therefore, a photographer who works in the field of b2b needs about 30 regular customers. Agree that this is much less than when working with a private client.

And the second big plus is that a commercial customer is aware of the importance of photography, that it can sell better, and, accordingly, he focuses not on price, but on the quality of these very photos and on the stability of the photographer’s work.

And given that in this area the layer of novice photographers is immediately cut off, who dump on prices and do not give out stable quality, there are no more than a dozen competitors for a commercial photographer in one region. Therefore, work in the field of b2b is the best income in photography. And after some time, having accumulated an extensive portfolio, you will be able to start working with production agencies.

Production agencies

In the field of advertising photography, in addition to working for a specific customer, there is also work with production agencies. In fact, these are the organizers of complex advertising filming for large customers, such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s or, for example, Loreal.

If you want to work with these big brands, there’s no point in working directly with them. Your letters and calls will go unanswered. Similar brands work like this:

1. A brand develops a product and instructs an advertising agency to create an advertising campaign
2. Advertising agency, after the development and approval of the campaign, conducts a tender for shooting products among production agencies
3. The production agency offers specialists from its base for photo sessions -Cola, you need to look not for contacts within the brand, but for the production agency that works with Coca-Cola. And do it in such a way as to get to their base.

   This way of working is interesting because you only need your portfolio, experience and hands. Everything else: equipment, film set, assistants and other staff is a headache for a production agency.

   So what kind of services can a photographer offer to a business?

   Let’s start by dividing advertising photography into three types: subject, catalog and image. These are different types of photo sessions and, of course, the experience and equipment for each type is different.

   Catalog shooting of clothes and footwear

   Designers and manufacturers of light industry are becoming more and more lately. In addition, many clothing dealers from Asia enter the market, and such a manufacturer does not provide photographs that would be adapted to our market.

   After all, you see, when the end consumer sees an advertisement for clothes, he compares himself with the model shown in this picture. What if the photo is Asian? How will our girl with European features associate herself with a Chinese or Korean woman? Therefore, many Asian clothing sellers understand this and order clothing photos from local photographers.

   Here it should be understood that a catalog photo session can be of two types. On the model and on the mannequin.

   Image photoshoot of clothes and shoes or photography of a lookbook

   This is a photo session following from the previous paragraph, but not shooting clothes against a uniform background, usually a studio one, but a more complex, image-based one. The customer selects ten to fifteen images and creates a certain image that is understandable to his audience (or he can create an incomprehensible image, but which can surprise her).

   Shooting takes place at a predetermined location, it can be nature or an interesting interior. Often a clothing designer or manufacturer hires different photographers for catalog and lookbook shoots. One is cheaper, the other creates interesting photos.

   Model Portfolio

   Working with modeling agencies is a great way for aspiring photographers to get a steady income from photography and also get a good shooting experience. Worldwide, the cost of one test shoot for a modeling agency is approximately one hundred US dollars.

   And I know a few photographers who love to travel and in all major cities they have clients – modeling agencies. Yes, and what to go far, I, at one time, worked in Hong Kong and Barcelona, ​​Milan and Istanbul for modeling agencies.

   It would seem, how does this type of shooting differ from a simple photo session of girls? There are two differences. The first is psychological. The agency pays the photographer, but this amount is deducted from the model’s salary. Therefore, in fact, the model pays the photographer. But then. And it is easy for the agency to part with money, realizing that they will return to them in a month or two.

   The second difference is what kind of photos are needed for modeling agencies.

   Business photo portrait

   A huge number of business and political people order photo portraits for company brochures or campaign booklets. Or for illustrating articles in magazines, not trusting this process to a staff photographer.

   And here you can turn around for an enterprising photographer. And besides everything, it’s interesting – to create a unique image of a person. For example, I once filmed the captain of an aircraft. Getting to the closed territory of the airport was unforgettable.

   And yes, sometimes I also order portraits for myself from other photographers.

   Architectural and interior photography

   Architectural and interior photography is well suited for those who do not like working with models and for whom the catwalk world is as far away as the international space station.

   There are a huge number of hotels or apartments that need to be sold or rented out. And the photographer is given a certain commercial task. Make the guest look and fall in love. Photos of interiors should convey the atmosphere and comfort of each hall, each room, each room.

   This section is for true introverts. If you are like that, and it is a burden for you to communicate with models, invent poses for them and listen to whims, then choose your work with inanimate objects and be happy. But know that in any case you will have to work with the whims of the customer.

   Product photography can also be divided into catalog photography (shot against the same type of background) and image photography (building complex compositions).

   Glitter photo shoot

   Working with glass, chrome and other shiny surfaces is fraught with many difficulties. But if you immerse yourself in this specialization, you will learn how to create interesting artistic effects even from the distortions and reflections of shiny surfaces.

   Product photography of glare products is in demand in many business sectors. Look around, everything glitters and sparkles: food packaging, furniture, cars, household appliances, dishes. This is a complex, interesting and very profitable income in photography.

   Jewelry photography

   If you want to become the lord of the rings, you need to become the lord of light. It is the right lighting that brings out the jewelry in all its glory, and you will spend more than one day making the light work properly. You will also master macro photography to perfection and learn to see the artwork of a jeweler.

   Precious photography skills are needed by numerous jewelry factories and workshops, which are becoming more and more, because girls love diamonds.

   Photography of bottles and glass products

   Photography of glass bottles is a must for beverage manufacturers. And here the photographer must not only skillfully shoot using various light sources, he must be able to take advertising selling photos.

   Alcoholic drinks have a lot of associations to use. Look at the shelves with alcoholic drinks in the supermarket, almost all bottles are the same, manufacturers try to stand out through naming and label design, but this is not always possible. Therefore, you may have to come up with a legend for wine or brandy, evoke a visual association with a holiday or memorable date, or maybe reflect the high status of the drink.

   Shooting non-glare items

   Photoshooting non-shiny items is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. When shooting matte objects, you need to be able to form chiaroscuro, with the help of which the texture, volume and depth of the object are displayed.

   And of course, as in any advertising photography, the subject must be shown in an interesting and associative way. The picture should sell.

   Flower, plant and still life photography

   Flower photography is becoming more and more popular. Photos of beautiful flowers and flower still lifes adorn not only the pages of specialized publications, but also interior magazines and even fashion magazines. The flower industry is increasingly penetrating into our lives.

   Photographing flowers can be very different. Commercial customers need photos of bouquets and flower arrangements, photos of indoor flowers, photos of halls decorated with flowers. You can create creative photos using macro photography, which will allow you to penetrate into the texture of a flower in detail. Such images are often used for interior design, screensavers, etc.

   Food photography

   In today’s world, hundreds of restaurants open every day. And many of them build their advertising campaign around social networks. Therefore, they all need good and high-quality food photos.

   Food photography is a rather young specialty that appeared seven or eight years ago, along with the popularity of social networks and a period of decline in prices for printed materials.

   Beverage photography

   This is a subspecies of food photography, which I specifically singled out in a separate paragraph, since it requires slightly different skills and experience due to the difficulty of shooting glass objects.

   In fact, this is a combination of photography of bottles and food, where complex light is placed on the glasses, but food photography accessories are used.

   The narrow specialization you read about at the beginning of this article is also good because the more you immerse yourself in it, the more difficult it is for your competitors to reach the heights where you are.

   If you know how to scuba dive or fly a drone, then you can safely occupy a niche where you will not be equal, and a good specialist is always well paid. And earning money in photography with the help of the ability to own special equipment will significantly increase your chance to leave your competitors far behind.

   Creation of 3D panoramas

   3D photos allow you to view an object from all sides, take a virtual walk around the restaurant hall and see the house for sale from all angles. Three-dimensional imaging has become popular with the advent of e-commerce.

   The buyer of the online store cannot pick up the item of interest, turn it around and examine it from all sides. On the site, he does this using 3D photos. According to statistics, a 3D panorama increases sales by a third, and also significantly increases the time spent by the user on the site, which has a beneficial effect on his search “reputation”.

   Creating vario and stereo photos

   To capture the attention of today’s sophisticated consumer, photographers use the most unusual visual forms. One of these areas is vario and stereo photography.

   The stereo image is very realistic, the technology allows you to show the subject in the smallest detail. Vario means “changing”. The most common vario pictures, in which one object turns into another. But you can apply other effects, animation for example.

   Car photography

   Car photography requires a professional approach and special technical skills. Here you need to be able to work with a shiny surface, choose the angle that most advantageously emphasizes the design of the car, feel the “character” of the car in order to choose the appropriate place for shooting.

   A photo of a car should be both informative to show all the details and functionality and artistic. If you are a fan of cars, then you will enjoy solving these multiple tasks.

   Close-up photography

   Macro photography allows you to take a fresh look at your surroundings. Close-up photography will require you to make your own decisions and know-how, which can come with experience if you focus on macro photography.

   Macro photography is of practical interest not only for lovers of flowers and insects, as many believe. It is used in research, medicine, law enforcement, and commerce. Collectors and philatelists may need your skills.

   Underwater photography

   In the past, only a few beginner photographers could afford to shoot underwater, the price of special equipment was prohibitive. Now everything is more accessible, so you can try your hand at this specialization.

   The underwater world holds many secrets that oceanologists, scientists, researchers want to know and your photos can help them. And shooting underwater is popular in the advertising industry, it provides an opportunity to create stunning images for brands, one way or another connected with water.

   Aerial photography (using drones)

   Aerial photography allows you to add an unexpected angle to the usual scenario of a photo shoot. Shooting from a bird’s eye view will show the full panorama of the event (wedding or music festival), highlighting its beauty and scale.

   Aerial photography is good for photos of real estate objects, hotels and inns in the resort area, indispensable for shooting flash mobs, and may be in demand by extreme sportsmen. As you can see, the circle is wide and you can try different directions.

   A professional photographer is not just a person with a camera, it is a whole team of people working on the same idea. After all, the photo business is not just about being able to shoot beautifully, it is also about organizing photo shoots, selling your services to customers, and just hanging out.

   And if you understand that all of the above specializations are not to your liking, but the love of photography attracts you to this business area, try yourself in the specialization of service photographers. This photo earning is for real sociable personalities.

   Here you need to have a good experience in organizing photography or sales, and for some items and start-up capital. But, it is quite possible that you have these abilities, so let’s discuss what services can be provided to photographers.

   Creation of a photo studio

   A photo session in a studio is used in various areas of the photo industry. But running your own studio is expensive, and many photographers simply don’t need it on a permanent basis.

   Therefore, the creation of a photo studio is a great business. Here you can earn money by working as a full-time photographer of the studio itself, by renting a photo studio for commercial and private filming, by renting equipment for photo shoots outside the studio.

   Photographer’s agent

   It’s hard for talent to find their way on their own, you need an agent or, as they say now, a producer. A photographer’s agent is a professional who will organize photo shoots and cool projects, interviews in magazines and on television, workshops and just meetings.

   Earnings in photography consists of% of orders and sales of photographs. And a nice bonus will be a free visit to master classes and photo exhibitions.

   Photo production

   Such services are most often needed by large media publications that want to get a quality photo product. Here you need to be able to choose the right team, clearly set tasks, coordinate the process, form and not exceed the budget and deadlines, control the release of the publication and indicate the copyright holder.

   This is a serious business that requires not so much creativity as the ability to manage resources and people. If you have such competencies, this is your area.

   Photographer’s assistant

   Both in-studio photography and on-location work usually require the assistance of an assistant. To become an apprentice to the Master is a great success. You help to set the light during the shooting, hold the reflectors and give the lenses, while, in fact, you participate in a master class, for which you also get money.

   You can offer your services for free in exchange for a consultation and the opportunity to take a few shots under the guidance of a professional photographer.

   Light setter

   The construction of light in photography plays a key role. Light makes the frame harmonious, high-quality and effective. Constant light, generator light, LEDs, softboxes – all this attracts you? Then this is your topic.

   In this specialization, it is important to know the basic techniques and logic of setting the light in order to create a harmonious light pattern, the features of working with soft and hard light. Even if you understand the light intuitively, knowledge and practice are priceless here.

   Stylist: fashion stylist, food stylist, decorator

   A good result of a photo session is made by a trio of professionals: a stylist, a photographer and a decorator. Thanks to the well-coordinated work of such a team, chic reincarnations and new images are created, design ideas and style solutions arise.

   According to the stylists and decorators themselves, their work is hellish work, which is not paid as well as they would like. You will be running from morning till night in search of things and accessories, spend many hours on negotiations, falling asleep, you will continue to generate ideas. But if this rhythm is your dream, and you feel euphoria when you come up with a new image, welcome to this profession.

   Retoucher

   A photographer is an artist who paints a picture and a retoucher finishes it. He works with light, with color, adds the necessary touches, removes unnecessary details. This creates harmony and completeness of the photograph.

   The retoucher is the “right hand” of the photographer, so it is important that there is complete mutual understanding between the two professionals and the same vision of the final result. If you are a bit of a perfectionist and like to bring everything to the ideal, think about this option for self-realization.

   Restoration of old photos

   There are still a lot of old, or rather, very old photos in our families. Time does not spare them – they fade, break. Many people want to keep the memory of their past, and here specialization – restoration and restoration of photos can help.

   For example, one of my acquaintances decided to write a whole book dedicated to his family. He had a large number of old photographs that professionals had to work on, but the result was wonderful.

   Organization of a photo club

   If you are a club person, like to communicate and cannot imagine every day without another party, and at the same time you also like to take pictures, then you are an ideal organizer for a photo club.

   Photo club – people who are obsessed with photography. Gather like-minded people, organize events, meetings, joint trips, training, and don’t forget about membership fees. Any party where photography is in the center of attention is your front line of work.

   Organization of photo contests

   A photo contest is an effective tool for promoting a photographer, an opportunity to show their work to a large audience, get feedback from critics and a professional jury. It is also a good opportunity to look around and see what your colleagues are doing. It is important for any photographer to be in the top 100, in the top ten, in the top three, to be the owner of prestigious prizes and awards. This is a recognition of skill and professionalism.

   To organize a photo contest, first of all, you need a decent idea, then you can find both participants willing to pay for participation and sponsors. If this is a social photography competition that highlights the problems of society, it can receive grant support.

   Photo equipment manufacturers can become partners of the competition for beginner photographers, and if the theme of the competition is the fashion industry, well-known clothing and footwear brands can allocate money for the organization.

   Organization of photo exhibitions

   Photo exhibitions are as important for a photographer’s career as, if not more, than contests and festivals. An art exhibition allows not only to present individual works, but to show a whole project united by a common meaning, the photographer can tell his photo story.

   A photo exhibition organizer is not just a person who chooses a venue, negotiates with sponsors and provides information support. A professional organizer will think about what place would be ideal for these works, what audience will be interested in the pictures. On how correctly he will expose the work, his earnings depend, which most often consists of a percentage of the sold photographs.

   Organization of photo tours

   Traveling around the world to create new photo masterpieces requires high qualifications, knowledge and money. If you are not yet ready for solo sailing, the best solution is to organize a photo tour for a group.

   Make an appointment with a teacher and gather a group of people who want to visit a distant (or not so) but beautiful country to study and replenish their portfolio. You will have to coordinate all issues both before and during the trip, but you will get invaluable experience, an interesting trip, training and payment for your work as an organizer.

   School of photography

   The learning process for a photographer, in my opinion, should be continuous. If you are in this profession, look for masters who will help you find out in a few days what you yourself would have reached in several years, and also help you objectively evaluate your work and development vector.

   Why would a practicing photographer need to share their work? Also necessary. This allows you to systematize and rethink your own knowledge, gives you an impetus to try and learn something new, to keep abreast of progressive developments in the field of photography. Therefore, do workshops, organize master classes, become a teacher of large educational projects. If you feel strong, create your own school of photography.

   And finally:

   1. If you liked the article, rate below

   2. If you have any questions, write them in the comments below, I will be happy to answer them!

   3. I suggest you familiarize yourself with my photography school where I have a lot of theoretical and practical lessons for beginners and professional photographers, as well as where I conduct online workshops every month where you will see live – how the shooting takes place, what camera settings are, how they are created cool photos and I answer all questions!

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   Real estate photo shoot prices: how much should you charge?

   As an Amazon partner, we earn on qualifying purchases.

   Do you want to offer property photos to the agents you work with, but don’t know how to charge for your work? Real estate photography pricing can be tricky, so we’re going to help you with advice on developing a real estate portrait photography pricing, including pricing factors and sample quotes. 9Ol000 questions

   • What is the importance of investing in real estate?
   • How to help real estate agents prepare for a headshot?
   • How often should real estate agents take professional headshots?
   • Should I sell full rights to headshots?
4. Conclusion

Real Estate Headshots Prices

Professional real estate portraits cost between $100 and $1,000. That’s a really wide range, so let’s dig a little deeper into real estate agent pricing.

When billed by the hour, you can expect professional real estate portraits to cost around $100 an hour at the low end and up to $250 an hour or more for premium packages.

Meanwhile, photo prices for a simple real estate head shot can be as low as $50, while a full dressing up session can be as high as $1,000 or more.

There is no correct fee that applies to all photographers as rates for real estate photography vary by skill, experience, type of business, area of ​​service, equipment, editing and delivery. Similarly, you should consider your competition as other headshot photographers offer a wide range of prices for professional headshots.

How to rate real estate agent photos

Because real estate agents want to make a great first impression with potential buyers, they need professional photographers to take their formal portraits. A great property shot can make their social media profiles and listings stand out, and it takes a good photographer to do that.

However, there are certain factors that you should be aware of during your real estate photo shoot session that may affect your prices.

Photography Experience

One of the best ways to charge for your real estate agent’s portraits is to determine your skill level. Experienced photographers charge a lot more than relatively new real estate photographers entering the business, especially if you are charging for portraits for the first time.

Whether self-taught or trained, your good skills and years of experience should be reflected in your ideal real estate portraits. For example, a professional photographer with years of experience might charge an hourly rate of $100.

Number of headshots

The number of portraits can also have a big impact on your bids as it can affect your schedule. The more portraits clients want, the higher you can charge. You can bid on a headshot, although in most cases a bundle is the best option.

Service Area

Another way to help portrait photographers know how much to charge for headshots is to look at the service area.

Great headshots can cost more if you have to rent a room or buy installation materials. However, you can also save money if the client only needs a simple backdrop for real estate portraits and you don’t need to bring any extra equipment.

For example, onsite photography fees can be expensive if the property or office is far from your San Diego service area. Doing portrait photography in Poway, an affluent San Diego suburb, can add over 30 minutes round trip. In this case, consider adding a toll per mile. Meanwhile, you can waive additional fees for a local real estate client.

EQUIPMENT

As with other niche photographers, equipment is one of the vital factors to consider when pricing headshots. Know that the more photography tools you use, the more difficult the job becomes.

For example, a simple headshot often requires a camera body, lens, flash, light and reflector. In some cases, you can add a computer and snapping tools to select a portrait in situ.

Take extra memory cards, batteries, chargers, backdrops, light stands and ambient lights with you when shooting in the office or property. Also, it would be better to use a sturdy bag to keep all your belongings safe.

Post-production

As with regular real estate photography, professional shots usually require only basic editing. However, you need to make sure that the post-production sticks to the right tone or look that your clients want for their branding or marketing needs. You can ask questions such as:

• Do customers like basic editing or artistic effects?
• Do they want to change the background?
• Do they want their faces to look natural?
• Should you add presets?
• How much are they willing to pay for editing?

For retouching, in general, you can soften the shadows, improve the brightness and make color correction. Depending on your preferences, you can also include removal of stray hair or bags under the eyes, make-up enhancement or body shaping effects.

On the other hand, complex editing work involves changing the background, adding graphics or text, and changing clothes.

Season

One way for real estate photographers to know how much to charge is to take the season into account, as this can affect shooting times and availability.

The real estate market is a year-round industry, as many people want to sell or buy property. There are peak months when a real estate agent struggles to work on their marketing efforts, and this is a great chance to charge higher fees or add on a rush fee.

In addition, there are low seasons when you can offer discounts or better deals to encourage potential customers to book you and pay in full.

File Delivery

Other real estate portrait photographers tend to ignore shipping when calculating how much to charge for headshots. The back of portraits may have an additional cost depending on the shipping method.

Standard shipping methods include sending a USB flash drive or CD. However, a much better way would be to send the snapshots digitally through a client management program, cloud storage, or Google Drive.

Also, it’s best to set the turnaround time for portraits. For example, make sure your customers receive their digital files within 72 hours. Add a rush fee if they insist on getting the portraits before your usual deadline.

Estimated prices for professional photography

The confusing thing about pricing is that sometimes you won’t know if you’re charging too much or too little. After seeing the various variables that affect the cost of headshots, we give you tips and pricing examples that can serve as a guideline when charging customers.

Take the time to change prices to suit your needs and style of portrait photographer; just make sure the final prices justify the inclusion of the packages.

Individual headshots

Individual headshots are popular with people who want to build trust and get realtors to talk to them. There are times when a business or group gives their real estate agents the flexibility to personalize their marketing work.

Basic headshot

You can get a great headshot even with a simple setup, and a headshot is the fastest way to take a simple portrait since you don’t have to travel or bring your gear. You can charge a reasonable price for a great headshot from $100 to $200.

• Maximum 15 minutes
• Scheduled at your workplace
• 1 outfit only
• Photographer 1
• Image selection on site
• 3 retouched images
• Cloud storage
• Additional photos available for $20 per digital file.
• Photo License Surcharge

Lifestyle Branding

Shooting a lifestyle branding style is more complex than a typical portrait shot because it must reflect the agent’s character and aspirations.

You should discuss this with the client so that you know how to plan your shot list. Therefore, you should work on the concept before the working day.

For this reason, a professional photographer may charge up to $550, as you will spend more time and resources. Signature Lifestyle Shot is similar to the basic setup with premium add-ons:

• Up to 90 minutes
• Indoor and outdoor options available
• Can be located at the workplace, agent property, or company office.
• 1 photographer with assistant and professional makeup artist
• Up to 4 wardrobe changes
• Photo collation on the spot
• Up to 25 retouched images
• Digital gallery plus flash drive
• Image license surcharge

Deluxe headshot

Some need more time and more photos. With an optimal cost of $300 to $350, a perfect head shot is like an improved version of a regular portrait session.

• 30-minute session
• Studio
• On-site photo selection
• Up to 2 outfits
• 1 photographer with assistant and professional makeup artist
• 5 retouched headshots
• Additional photos $25 per digital file.
• Image license surcharge

Individual headshot on location

Unlike a studio setting, this means traveling and moving your equipment to another location, so the cost can be anywhere from $375 to $400.

• 30 to 45 minutes
• Up to 10 retouched photos
• 2 wardrobe changes
• Up to 2 photographers
• Additional images cost $25 per digital file.
• Any location within 20 miles, surcharge per mile for areas outside of radius Syosset, New York
• Online Gallery
• Image License Surcharge

Team Headshots

Hosting a team photo shoot can be the best option for businesses that want a cohesive theme to easily identify their members. Having a single anchor or idea also allows groups to showcase their branding, purpose, and message through high-quality photographs.

Corporate shots

The advantage of a corporate group headshot is that you can offer a discounted package as there will be several people in the photo session. This is a great marketing strategy to encourage an agent to take a new shot.

Make sure you know the number of people as this affects how much time you have to shoot and edit.

While you can get $375 to $400 for this, you can also make a custom package that fits your clients’ specific needs.

• Studio
• Up to 10 people at $75 per realtor
• 1 photographer only
• You can also offer a full day job of $1,500 for 8 hours.
• Another option is to offer a half day rate of $750 for 4 hours.
• 1 outfit only
• Single or background
• Up to 3 retouched photos
• Digital delivery plus hard copies
• Additional files available for $25 per headshot.
• Image License Surcharge
• Additional Fees for Special Edits and Slimming Effects
• Travel charges may apply for filming in multiple locations or outside of your service area.

Headshots of the team on the spot

The idea is somewhat similar to a corporate shot package, although some groups would prefer to use their announcements or new offices as a backdrop for the shoot. To do this, one good way is to charge $85 per person, or $425 for a group rate.

• Up to 5 persons
• Environmental background or simple background
• 2 photos per team member
• 1 photographer with assistant and professional makeup artist
• Basic retouching
• On-site headshot selection
• Travel fees to locations outside of your 15 mile radius of service area
• Digital delivery plus prints
• Image license surcharge
• dollars for a 4-hour shoot and a maximum of 40 participants.
• Another option is a full day rate of $2,100 for an 8-hour shoot and a maximum of 90 people.

Executive Portraits

As a portrait photographer, clients expect you to have the best knowledge of how they best look and project themselves in front of the camera. For executive style, the main factor is to devote more time to each person.

• 15 minutes per realtor
• 1-2 outfits
• Extensive posture and angle coaching
• Open to environmental settings
• On-site image selection
• Up to 2 photographers
• Basic photo editing
• 5 high-resolution edited images
• May include RAW files
• Online gallery and CD
• Image license surcharge

Add-Ons

90 services that customers may want from your service.

• File management : Organize images by last name and first name. You can also classify files by department. You can get an extra $200 if you use client management software.
• Hair and makeup : At least $30 for heavy retouching of each photo, including airbrushing, unruly hair removal and root touch-up.
• Installation : Know what the set design is like so you can calculate if you need to add extra fees for materials and props.
• License : The fee should depend on things like where the client will post the photos and the number of portraits to distribute.
• Video clips : Some people like to take advantage of the moment when they are all dressed up. Others won’t need a full video, a short video will suffice to introduce the real estate agent.
• Seal : There are real estate agents who love getting prints and showing pictures in their offices. The standard size for portraits is 8 x 10, and you can charge between $3 and $5 per print, depending on the type of paper you use.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it important to invest in real estate?

A professional headshot is important in marketing because it’s one of the first things people notice. This is a good way to introduce the agent and influence people’s opinion of the business. The Realtor may use portraits for listings, websites, social media platforms, Linkedin profile, and printed materials.

How to help real estate agents prepare for a headshot?

A good way to help is to ask agents where they need to use headshots. Be sure to help prepare a wardrobe that will make real estate agents look professional yet attractive at the same time. In addition, a professional photographer should compile a list of shots to instruct subjects when posing.

How often should real estate agents take professional headshots?

The real estate agent should take a new photo at least once a year or two to reflect the latest views and trends.

Should I sell full rights to headshots?

Headshot photographers automatically own the copyright, so customers must pay for full ownership rights and use the files in social media and other marketing plans. While selling rights is a great way to make more money, make sure you have a signed contract that details the usage rights.

Conclusion

Professional portrait photographers can charge anywhere from $50 for a basic shoot to thousands of dollars for complex shoots. A well-made portrait is something all real estate agents should have, so this is a good product for your photography business.

For those who take portraits of agents, how much do you think the right head shots cost?

process and cost building up to free workshops by an interior photographer –

It can be roughly assumed that each room is presented in 2-4 images, and for some small spaces one photo is enough. This calculation is more valid for real estate presentations. However, there are details.

Over the past 10 years, the process of viewing photos has changed: most of the customers look at images on small screens of phones. This creates the specificity that the photographer has to work on. It’s a pity, but less and less often we see photos of interiors in glossy magazines.

A huge amount of visual information has brought us to a situation where you need to interest the viewer literally from the first photo, and not lose his attention until the end. He wants to understand: is the object of interest worth literally from the first photo? We answer yes.

This is the reason for the attentiveness to each frame, and especially to the “leading” (first) for the gallery. The exception is photographs of the condition of the object taken to obtain a bank loan against the security of the object or some details that are planned to be placed at the end of the viewing line.

Naturally, a photographer wants to get a great shot right away. But in practice this rarely happens. from the very beginning of the art of photography there are “ problems ”. To solve them, the photographer uses additional lighting (explanation 1 , 2 ) and retouching (explanation ).

The more lights the photographer places, the longer it takes to shoot one photo. Of course, one of the components of professionalism is to take a picture quickly.

99% of my portfolio photos are taken without any additional lighting: I try to convey exactly what the designer has done. However, I carefully and imperceptibly reduce the differences in actual illumination. This important stage of post-production requires careful work with “masks”. The process consists of manual gluing of 2-20 photographs of the same composition with different exposures.

What is modulated with supplementary lighting?

Many options are possible, which I will try to list.

🏮 If we put a softbox over the shooting point, we will get light from another “as if” chandelier, which does not exist in reality. Of course, this chandelier primarily illuminates those objects that are closer to it. But in processing it is not difficult to cope with this if a prudent photographer took several shots with different exposures. Each of these decisions must be kept in mind or recorded in the process.

🏮 If we want to add illumination to some specific places, then based on the situation, we can solve the problem through directional light devices, a banal on-camera flash to the ceiling, or method light brush . Of course, the usual process of exposure bracketing should be worked out anyway.

📝 On-camera flash to the ceiling. This extremely bad method will only be good for those Photoshop Jedi who realize that a frame with such an ugly backlight can take some of the detail through masking if you use the frame in layer mode with the “brightness” parameter because otherwise, the color temperatures of the flash and other light sources will conflict significantly.

A note about the light brush ↴…

By working with a light brush in the interior, I mean shooting when the light source is most often used as a manual soft box, which “shows up” parts of the photo.

What lights and attachments are used on interior lights?

To understand the work with light in general and additional lighting in particular, it is worth updating the knowledge about the physical properties of light.

💥 Light intensity drops as the square of the distance.

Let’s put it simply, the deeper (farther) from the light source the object that needs to be “illuminated”, the less light will reach it, falling on closer objects. The scattered light of the softbox, falling into the foreground, will lose intensity until it reaches the distant object. As a result, the foreground will be illuminated too much. To treat this situation, you can use honeycomb nozzles (strips) on softboxes or tubes. It is also possible to take several shots for different plans, and then mix them in the editor. BUT!

Photographers often forget or don’t take into account that the architect’s or owner’s team has invested in the design and lighting. This means that every light source and the shadow they project onto every other object in the house matters a lot.

I think that the decision to take a few flashes or lamps, changing the whole black and white picture of the interior, is an extreme decision.

However, for the sake of a beautiful selling picture, this is quite common in interior shooting of hotels and restaurants.

📝 We can say with confidence that in the next few years the problem of lighting the interior with your devices will become less and less, both for photographers and videographers.
– the culture of interior design is steadily growing and now almost every project includes the calculation of each location by illumination.
– The photo camera is steadily improving and it solves many problems.

What reduces the viewer’s interest in interior photography?

Relevant details are great. Random details are evil. They reduce the comfort of the perception of the image, destroying the harmony. Furniture and decor show the size of the room, functionality, thoughtfulness of the object, etc. In addition, the space becomes alive. The empty object is the walls, windows, floor and ceiling. However, while decorating, you should stop in time ( details ).

If you don’t understand the place of some decorative detail, remove it. Let the structure be clear. In professional interior photographs, the position of each item is thought out. An experienced photographer thinks fast).

Losing presentation techniques in interior photography

Sometime in the mid-2000s, it became possible to make spherical panoramas, creating 3D tours from them. Many photographers and clients then believed that this method would supplant the real estate profession as an interior photographer.

Time has found a place for this technology: it turned out that it has different effects for different tasks. This needs to be explained in detail.

🎁 I present to the attention of readers previews of 5 books on real estate photography . Excellent literature, but in English. I believe that school education + a dictionary will allow you to master it.

The first market in which 3D tours began to run was luxury real estate. For a couple of years, US realtors have collected statistics on the impact of the tool. It turned out that the tours reduced visitor traffic to the facilities. Why? The man looked and ticked the box.

However, it is the visit that leads to a lively interest. The development of interest in an object begins with photographs and develops in feelings and emotions in the process of viewing. But that didn’t happen. In this case, the ability of a realtor to conduct a presentation plays a crucial role.

But for places of public entertainment, spherical panoramas and tours show their effectiveness. As for 3D tours of hotel rooms, there are quite a few of them. They look “at an amateur” because. most of the rooms – the premises are rather small and the view of the viewer of the 3d tour often rests “on the wall”. Although it is much easier for management to buy a 3D tour than to choose a photographer, for a clear reason: a photographer must be able to choose and defend a choice, a tour is just a tour.

Are there standards (rules/laws/regulations) in place for interior photography?

😲 Yes, there are and they are very different. For example, in the US, pre-sales photography must show the product without retouching. The exception is the state of the sky. As you can see, a lot depends on the rules of the country in which the photographer works.
You will be surprised, but real estate sites often put forward their own requirements for the presentation of interiors. Of course, they will take almost any photo for publication, but the requirements.

When is it worth spending money on decorating?

Note that interior magazines only show decorated objects. The portfolio of any designer also consists of completed interiors. Why? Such photos make the maximum impression. Below I will refer ( here ) to American statistics in this matter. Statistics give an idea of ​​the strength of the impact. But it needs to be clarified: the cold souls of investors rarely succumb to the charm of an object. The pre-sale preparation complex works for those who are looking for a house or apartment to live in.

😢 As a fact: there are no Russian statistics on the dependence of real estate sales on photo quality . Although I, for my part, sometimes learn some statistics from old clients. Here, for example, is the statistics of room booking changes for a particular customer of mine: here and here .

There is a Real Estate Staging Association in the USA. This organization calculated that decorated homes sold (or rented) 68% better in 2007, 85% better in 2008, and 78% better in 2009d. It is clear that when selling, the increase in value comes out much more than the cost of interior photography of the object. Decoration and high-quality professional photography are mutually reinforcing factors. The buyer, seeing the decorated interior of the house, feels each room: its exact size and its possible uses.

The most ingenious interior photographer can only take pictures of an empty room in an empty room. It is for this reason that I wish to help the reader. After all, the first impression of the Client about the object should be excellent, it begins with photographs.

What can a photographer advise for decorating a room with their own hands for sale?

If your budget does not allow you to hire a decorator who will analyze, collect and deliver the props to the beginning of the photo session, then I recommend realistic advice here: “ About preparing the interior of a budget apartment for photography on your own? ”

In any case, it is required to create a feeling of warmth and comfort from the interior for the guest. Buy bright and large flowers, put them in vases suitable for your location. Perhaps you will find some accessories, perhaps an open “forgotten” book or magazine will give the desired effect. Every thought in this direction can be helpful.

If the room is empty, then we are still working on creating sensations. For a large object, furnishings are required at least in the key rooms. If the property is in the “concrete walls” stage, or it is a small new object, then fragmented solutions are also possible. It’s great if there is a sitting sofa (armchair) on which the Visitor can sit down. Let there be a coffee machine and the smell of cinnamon. And ficus flower in a pot. All this sinks into the cost of the project, but affects the feelings of the visitor.

An example of simple and quick work with an empty room ↴ …

Specific actions always start with cleaning and troubleshooting. First of all, windows are important. Dirty windows are the first enemy of sales. Further, the process moves towards simple positive elements – flowers, fruits, elements of comfort, this has already been said above. And a minimum of small, crushing interior elements. Beauty and harmony conquer emptiness and anarchy.

Decoration and quality professional photography are mutually reinforcing factors. The buyer, seeing the decorated interior and feeling the creativity, feels each room: its exact size and possibilities of use. Moreover, the relationship between the Seller and the Buyer is built on a mutually respectable level.

Example. A completely empty room with a balcony gets a lively charm from several items: curtains, clean windows, poster, chair, carpet and plants.

Thanks to all the customers who listen to my advice!

How to show the interior to a potential buyer?

Such advice is out of my scope, but it’s safe to say: try to think like an experienced salesperson if you want to avoid wasting money and time.

The arrival of a guest buyer is a realtor’s show. A professional realtor adjusts his presentation method for a particular visitor, whom he analyzes according to a mass of parameters. In the States, it is considered natural to show an object when it is empty: the buyer, as it were, tries on the object for himself. In Russia, this is not yet the rule, but it happens more and more often.

🕺 There are a lot of sophisticated sellers among realtors. For significant objects, they do ↴ …

💃 There are a lot of sophisticated sellers among realtors. For significant objects, they make booklets that should remain with the potential buyer after viewing. They even use velvet paper for covers, treat them to coffee and tea, give them to hold an affectionate cat. Why is this? To influence the senses, to fix the object in the memory of the visitor with positive emotions.

However, there is always a simple move that few people like. If you reset 8-12% of the fair value of the object, then most likely this amount will compensate for your inexperience. It must be clearly understood that the work of a photographer, which is about 0.5% of the value of real estate, makes it possible to fight for + 7-15% of the price of an object.

What are the requirements for photographs of architectural firms?

The high technical quality of any photograph must meet the objectives of a particular photo session. The rest depends on the contract. The photographer may need to study the outer points to capture the subject. It is possible that the photos should show the object at different times of the day from the same place (time lapse). Some photo shoots documenting the construction of buildings become lengthy projects, where each particular shoot dynamically develops the theme.

In what format should the image be sent to Clients?

As for the size of the images, most customers are quite satisfied with the image detail up to 20-25 megapixels, which is 5000-6500 dots on the larger side. Of course, modern cameras can produce 40 and 80 and 160 megapixels, but this will lead to enormous expenses for retouching every detail, and something new will not appear in the very concept of the picture.

Regarding profile sizes and file formats ↴ …

The widest color gamut profile is ProPhoto RGB. It is in it that it is logical to process images, saving intermediate results in formats like TIFF. But it would be a mistake to give the majority of Customers an image with a ProPhoto RGB profile. for the Internet, this profile is not supported. Before finishing your project, you should convert ProPhoto RGB to sRGB or Adobe RGB. The vast majority of Clients are satisfied with jpg-format files with minimal compression (10-12). If necessary, it is possible to provide files in the trending WebP format. It is especially good if the image has a lot of soft transitions rather than small details.

📝 I will add that sometimes photographers get carried away with expanding the dynamic range, and the photo approaches 3D visualization. Not all customers like it.

Photo format can be divided into several groups. The most common is the standard format in 2×3 and 3×4 aspect ratios. Before starting any work, you should know the attitude of the client to vertical, horizontal or square images. The next format is panoramas. We have several types of panoramas: circular, spherical, and intermediate shapes. Often interior panoramas are created for 3D tours.

Vertical formats are useful for some social media, magazine covers and posters.

About the “ideal client” through the eyes of a photographer

A client who is interested in every component of a product is undoubtedly a lively and interesting person. It is interesting to work with such and make efforts to optimize a specific task for the sake of lowering the price. Nevertheless, such a client is rather a pleasant joy than a pattern: we are all busy with our working moments and it is not often possible to delve into everything.

Nevertheless, mutual respect and interest in creative tasks and work is the best thing we can do for each other, being in the positions of Client and Contractor. In addition to ethics, there is an important reason for this: the results of the work of an interior photographer directly affect the business.

How can a customer adequately select a photographer and find out the cost of his task?

Honestly? Don’t know. But the only fair way to evaluate any service is to estimate its time consumption, to understand the cost of equipment, to add a factor to the business mechanisms. Probably so.

What does the photographer sell? The accumulated experience in solving various situations in shooting and retouching, the aesthetic component, the technical equipment for solving the problem. It’s clear that the sum of these moments leads to minimum orders for travel from $80-120 per task.

What business components are included in the cost of a professional interior photographer? ↴ . ..

📷 Any expenses start from shooting and post-production (processing) of images. The level of professionalism of the photographer is proportional to the ability to optimize each of the elements and achieve the best quality photos.

📷 Depreciation of equipment, consisting of cameras, tripods, computer equipment, racks for additional lighting, lighting itself, video accessories, rails, steadicam.

📷 Investment in training or self-study. Our industry is developing so rapidly and dynamically that every six months there are new items that require attention. 10 years ago, I didn’t even think that I would be doing interior video, lifting a copter or moving a camera on a rail or steadicam.

📷 Advertising investments and online portfolio support. Like any business, photographers need an influx of new customers. It is important that customers come from different sources. Without a doubt, the source of the most “warmed up” customers is the recommendations of regular customers. However, in “crises” clients go bankrupt, restructure, change business, which means that the photographer must invest a larger share in advertising costs.

What lenses are really good for an architecture and interior photographer?

The answer is simple: a set of modern lenses with a range of focal lengths from 14 to 100 mm (FFE) will be convenient for the photographer. Why modern? Because they give an honest correct color, do not “warm up”, thanks to modern lens coating (enlightenment).

Another reason to avoid old optics, even if they were professional at the time.

This is due to the poor resistance to backlight that every photo session has. It is given by the included chandeliers, windows, etc. As a result, the image loses contrast, color and – its commercial appeal.

📝 A photographer’s best choice will always be a “fixed” lens – a lens with a fixed focal length. And this is not a fantasy, but a reality. However, my personal choice is this: a super wide-angle prime, a standard professional zoom lens and a detail prime.

What filters and why are they used for interior photography?

Not all wide-angle lenses commonly used by interior photographers offer the ability to use filters. However, it is polarizing filters that often save a lot of time in image processing and even provide what is impossible without them. It’s all about the glare.

These filters minimize glare on reflective surfaces: sideboards, parquet, etc.

and intensity. At known angles, exposure to a polarizing filter improves this situation.

What is the essential equipment for an interior photographer?

Most orders can be handled with just a set of optics, a tripod and a camera. As you grow professionally and want to improve your results, this list will be supplemented by lighting fixtures. In some cases, it is more profitable to rent equipment, for example, if you need a medium or large format digital camera, then it is not cost-effective to keep it on the balance sheet.

📝 Some photographers end up reducing their equipment to a minimum in the course of their business. There is one “but”. They use this minimum wisely and skillfully.

About lenses with different focal lengths and construction of perspective

Choosing the focal length of the lens for the frame, we choose the method of constructing the perspective and its deformation, in the case of lenses with shifts (Tilt/Shift). Here, for example, is how the stained-glass window of the wardrobe looks when working with various optics.

A few more live examples in the article for novice photographers and Customers: “ How to make a professional interior photo session “.

– The boundaries of naturalness take on a special meaning for interior photography. The camera lens captures reality within the framework of “direct linear perspective”. Many people believe that photographs taken with lenses at wide and narrow angles of view significantly deform the perspective that is familiar to a person. Thus, once again the question arises about the “reality” and “realism” of photography.

Can you tell which brand of photography equipment is best for interior photography?

I would say that every brand has clearly bad lenses, overpriced lenses, and working ones. To understand optics, a photographer must not only read reviews, he must be able to look at sample images, understand what he is looking for in a test photo. In addition, the maintainability of a particular model is always important; you can learn about this from personal practice or from friends-masters. Not all spare parts (gears, boards) can be obtained even on aliexpress. The trend is that some manufacturers do not even repair their models, but simply change them during the warranty period. Purchasing such lenses after the warranty has expired is a risky move.

If you don’t know how, then the recommendation is simple – buy / rent the most expensive, or consult. The only way.

For those wishing to draw their own conclusions about the performance of wide angle lenses in backlight, I recommend three test articles in the appropriate section: “ Wide Angle Tests”.

What optical parameters should I pay attention to when applying to interior photography?

We rarely see blurry backgrounds in interior photographs. It is hardly worth investing in lenses such as: sigma 20mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art, Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art. These are very specific tools that you can rent if you want to experiment.

Interior photographer clients almost always demand sharp images with maximum detail. Of course, there are exceptions. But in general, a photographer is interested in a tool that can give a high-quality image with the correct color reproduction in any extreme situations ( example ). There are two such systemic situations in interior architectural photography: photography against a large light source, such as windows, and photography with many bright point sources, such as halogen or diode lamps. Both examples are common and some aspects of the problem are covered in the article: “ There is nothing easier than the work of a photographer against window “. Do you want to understand the problem? Take any lens for rent and shoot. You will get real knowledge, much more than questionable Internet tests.

What is useful for a modern photographer in knowledge of building perspective in general and linear perspective as well?

Linear perspective is a way of depicting reality that the photographer almost always works with. So, it is worth knowing this method. So.

Perspective is a way of displaying spatial objects on a surface (canvas, monitor, spheres) in accordance with the geometric, mathematical, philosophical laws inherent in this method.

There is a list of already available types of perspective, however, it is possible that the reader will come up with his own, new way. So, let’s look at the diagram ↴ …

There is a list of already available types of perspective, however, it is possible that the reader will come up with his own, new way. So, let’s look at the diagram . …

Direct Linear Perspective

Linear perspective assumes a single vanishing point on the horizon line (objects get proportionally smaller as they move away from the viewer). For a considerable time, this method of constructing an image was considered the only correct one.

Wide-angle lenses are used to enhance the effect of linear perspective, and telephoto lenses are used to soften the effect, which equalize the difference in the sizes of far and near objects.

Is there a way to get rid of glare when shooting indoors?

Any manufacturer will tell you this way: “Get our latest lens. We have improved its anti-reflective coating.” This is both true and a joke. In the case of wide-angle optics, in demand in our genre, the situation is more complicated. There are different lenses, but it is not possible to get rid of parasitic flare completely and with a guarantee. However, there is an old reliable solution suitable for any lens.

☝ “Finger” method . I already wrote about this method: “First of all, the photographer can try to block the light sources (lamps, windows, etc.) in the frame. This can be done with any simple object. Such an object can be one of the photographer’s fingers, or another part of the body. In addition, the photographer can use the second method of work, and highlight those problem areas mentioned above with additional light. Such light can be flashes or electric lamps. The photographer can use colored flash attachments to balance colors.“

Interior photography, real estate photographer – apartments, hotels, restaurants

Professional interior photography in St. Petersburg, interior photography, interior and real estate photographer in St. Petersburg.

One of the main tasks of interior and exterior shooting is to attract the attention of potential customers. This is equally important for property owners who advertise for sale or rent, as well as for owners of hotels, cafes and restaurants.

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PHOTOGRAPHY OF LUXURY AND COUNTRY REAL ESTATE

High-quality photography of real estate allows you to profitably and quickly sell the property or rent it out

PHOTOGRAPHY OF RESTAURANTS AND BARS

Thanks to interesting photos of the interior of the establishment, more guests will come to you who want to see it with their own eyes HOTELS AND HOTELS

Professional photography of hotels and hotels shows the rooms from the best side, and attracts new guests

PHOTOGRAPHY OF SHOPS AND BEAUTY SALON

High-quality photos of a store or beauty salon provide a constant influx of new customers

YOU JUST LOOK!

MORE THAN 4 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

Interior photography is one of the key areas of work of our studio. We know what needs to be done to ensure that the photo is not only beautiful and informative, but also fulfills its commercial purpose.

ABOUT 20 PHOTOS FROM EACH HOUR OF SHOOTING

On average, you can shoot about 20 photos per hour of shooting, which you receive the next day in technical processing. In this form, they can already be used, but to increase the commercial effectiveness of photos, we advise you to order their basic or advanced processing.

TWO CUTTING OPTIONS

Always have a choice! Therefore, upon completion of the shooting, you receive all the photos, and select a photo for further processing. There are two versions of it – basic and advanced. They are distinguished by the thoroughness of working with the image, you can find out more about their differences below.

CREATING A COMFORTABLE WORKING ENVIRONMENT

As a rule, we send processed photos within 1-3 working days. You get them in two optimization options – for printing, and separately – for posting on websites and social networks. networks. We also optimize photos for booking systems for free. We work on a turnkey basis, making our cooperation with you as comfortable as possible.

WHAT’S OUTSIDE?

We also do architectural photography . To learn more about this service, view portfolio and read customer reviews, you can follow the link below:

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What will be our work:

Discussion of the task, determination of the cost of

We call up or write off, we discuss the details of 9045 CONTRACTS

At your request, we conclude an agreement in which we prescribe all the conditions

PHOTOGRAPHY AND PAYMENT OF 50% OF THE COST

Photographing is carried out at the appointed time and payment of 50% of the total cost of work

PHOTOS PROCESSING ACCORDING TO YOUR WISHES

Processing takes from one to ten working days

SENDING PHOTOS AND PAYING THE RESIDUE AMOUNT

quality, and pay the remaining 50% of the cost of work

HOW TO PREPARE THE ROOM FOR PHOTOSHOOTING?

To guarantee a high-quality result of photography, it is necessary to carefully prepare the room for it:

Carry out a general cleaning with washing the floor, mirrors and windows

Check the operation of all lighting devices

Iron the bedspreads and furniture covers

Remove personal belongings

One of the main tasks of interior and exterior photography is to attract the attention of potential customers. This is equally important as for real estate owners who place an advertisement for its sale or rent, and for owners of hotels, cafes and restaurants .

HOTELS AND HOTEL PHOTOGRAPHY

Professional photographs of the interior of a hotel, hotel or hostel are an important part of success in the hospitality business. Photos of the hotel – the first thing they pay attention to when choosing a place to stay. Professional photography of hotels, inns and hostels includes the choice of lighting, detailed processing of photos, color correction and emphasizing the dignity of the room. When shooting a room setting, it is important to pay attention to the comfortable living conditions, the amenities available, and the overall atmosphere of a relaxing place to stay. The resulting photographs cause great interest and a desire to settle in a particular room. Therefore, a professional photoshoot of hotel interiors is ideal for online advertising and shows only the best sides of hotel rooms.

PHOTOGRAPHY OF AN APARTMENT, COTTAGE, HOUSE

When renting or selling residential real estate, the main role in the effectiveness of an ad is the quality of photographs and their attractiveness. Most of the information about the premises, whether it is an apartment, a country house, or a cottage, the potential buyer receives from the placed photos of the situation and the facade of the building. When photographing residential real estate, I strive to show not only the layout of the premises, furniture and decoration in general, but also its individual features, important little things that can cause increased interest among buyers, and it is advantageous to distinguish your ad from many similar ones.

PHOTOGRAPHY OF AN APARTMENT, COTTAGE, HOUSE

When renting or selling residential real estate, the main role in the effectiveness of an ad is the quality of photographs and their attractiveness. Most of the information about the premises, whether it is an apartment, a country house, or a cottage, the potential buyer receives from the placed photos of the situation and the facade of the building. When photographing residential real estate, I strive to show not only the layout of the premises, furniture and decoration in general, but also its individual features, important little things that can cause increased interest among buyers, and it is advantageous to distinguish your ad from many similar ones.

PHOTOGRAPHY OF COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Professional photography increases the effectiveness of any advertising campaign or announcement. When renting commercial real estate, the quality of photographs of office space, as well as photographs of the facade of the office center and its infrastructure is critical. When looking for a place to rent, a potential tenant looks through dozens of ads, and makes a choice based on the first visual impression. Therefore, high-quality photographs of office and business centers help the landlord to quickly receive a lot of requests to view the premises and conclude a large number of lease agreements .

PHOTOGRAPHY OF A RESTAURANT, CAFE OR BAR

When choosing a restaurant, an important criterion is not only the quality of service and cuisine, but also the interior, the atmosphere of the establishment. To attract new visitors Every restaurant needs professional photos. Many guests make their decision to visit a particular restaurant based on photos and information on the Internet, and the photos of the restaurant are the first to be noticed.

PHOTOGRAPHY OF A RESTAURANT, CAFE OR BAR

When choosing a restaurant, an important criterion is not only the quality of service and cuisine, but also the interior, the atmosphere of the establishment. To attract new visitors Every restaurant needs professional photos. Many guests make their decision to visit a particular restaurant based on photos and information on the Internet, and the photos of the restaurant are the first to be noticed.

PHOTOGRAPHY OF A STORE, BEAUTY SALON, GYM

Photography is also necessary for shops, beauty salons and gyms – in general, all establishments, the success of which largely depends on their internal environment and atmosphere. Only a professional photographer can emphasize the advantages of the room, and skillfully hide its shortcomings , choose the right angle and shooting point, take into account the geometry of the room and its illumination.

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What it’s like to work as a photographer in the USA: personal experience

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Photographer is a fairly common profession among our immigrants in the United States. We decided to find out how they live in America and talked to three girls from different parts of the country who have different work experience

1

ZagraNitsa: In your opinion, is it necessary for a photographer to have a special education? Where and how did you learn to photograph?


Alina Ryabinina: I don’t think that having a higher education in photography is necessary, but you need to learn and develop. To reach a certain level, it is necessary to invest time and energy in learning what you are doing. You can watch training videos for hours if you don’t want to go to college and then put them into practice. And hone, hone skills. I completed an online course in photography in 2011 at the Photography Institute (London), and participated in many workshops by other photographers. And upon arrival in America, I went to Santa Monica College for 2 years to get an AA Degree in photography.

2

“Abroad”: Photography is often considered more of a hobby than a job. Is it possible to earn and live on this money in America?



А.Р.: You can live on a photographer’s income if you are ready to shoot everything and put enough effort, energy and time into looking for orders. If you have recently moved and no one knows about you yet, orders will not appear by themselves. At first, you will most likely have to take on shoots for $ 50 dollars, which you yourself will find on craigslist and similar sites, in order to build up a client base. The photography market in California is super saturated, but there are also many clients. At first, with 3-4 shoots a month, you will, of course, have to work somewhere else or live from your savings, because you certainly can’t live here on $500 a month! Periodically (if you’re a good photographer) you’ll come across orders like a $2,000 partially prepaid wedding or a 30-minute portrait for $450. But it is important to remember that water does not flow under a lying stone, and in Los Angeles it is instantly “covered with sand” in general.

3

Foreign: Tell us about your most unusual or memorable photo session.



AR: The most unusual one was probably in Greece. I lived on a boat for a week, taking photos and videos for a company that deals with regattas and yacht trips. Unforgettable feelings! Once I was lifted to the very top of the mast so that I could take the yacht from there. Just the case when fear is mixed with happiness!

1

ZagraNitsa: In your opinion, is it necessary for a photographer to have a special education? Where and how did you learn to photograph?



Galina Plevako: Photography appeared in my life about 10 years ago. At that time, like many beginners, it was more like a pleasant hobby, but every day I was more and more imbued with the process. Hobby turned into a profession! I gained experience, experimented, and came to the conclusion that my directions are weddings, family photo shoots and love stories, as well as shooting for a portfolio. Why? Probably because it is in this work that there is no place for falsehood, and your task is to convey emotions, to reveal a person.

Professional education for a photographer is extremely important, but in practice it happens that gifted self-taught photographers shoot better than those who graduated from a special school. I started as a practitioner, and then decided to supplement my knowledge at the Lotus photography school in Dubai, which I graduated in 2010.

2

“Abroad”: Photography is often considered more of a hobby than a job. Is it possible to earn and live on this money in America?



G.P.: As long as photography is just a hobby for you, you don’t earn. If you do photography professionally, working, for example, for publications, advertising campaigns, magazines, etc., then you can earn very decent money and live in any country in the world. However, it should be understood that when photography becomes your business, the measure of responsibility for the result increases in proportion to your earnings. There is always a need to constantly improve and “be in trend”. The amount of the fee will depend both on the level of the photographer and his experience, as well as on the portfolio and references.

3

Foreign: Tell us about your most unusual or memorable photo session.



GP: The most memorable shooting was at the Parus Hotel in Dubai, where the wedding of an Arab sheikh took place in the presidential suite. A peculiar palette of national traditions of the Arab wedding, luxury and pathos – a truly grandiose sight! You open this unknown world and at the same time you become its particle. Through the prism of rites and religion, live emotions appear, and this is strong. The scenery itself is unforgettable. I would wish every photographer to experience this.

1

ZagraNitsa: In your opinion, is it necessary for a photographer to have a special education? Where and how did you learn to photograph?


Maria Boguslavskaya: If you have an insane desire to take pictures, then I am absolutely sure that you can not study. Everything I know has been read online or discovered through trial and error.

2

“Abroad”: Photography is often considered more of a hobby than a job. Is it possible to earn and live on this money in America?



MB: Many people think so, but for me back in Ukraine it became an additional job that brought in more money than the main one. I’m not so long ago in the USA, and it’s hard for me to judge from my own experience, I started shooting here just a month ago, before it was not possible. In a year, I think I will be able to answer accurately. But I am sure that in the USA you can live on the salary of a photographer.

3

Abroad: Tell us about your most unusual or memorable photo session.



MB: When I am asked this question, I immediately remember one photo session. She was about two or three years ago, it was about minus ten outside. I photographed my classmate in a long red dress in the park. Goosebumps were even on the cheeks! It’s hard to choose one: there are so many wonderful people who helped make their photoshoots memorable for me.

See also: TOP-7 professions for remote work in the USA and Work in the USA: 6 vacancies for Russians with a salary of $2,500 per month.

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