Equipment recommendations for Interior/Real Estate Photography

[Longshots]

Cant think of a more over saturated market.

Before you spend any money - I'd suggest posting some images and gain some real professional feedback from those "working" in the field.

Aptitude, skill, knowledge are the decision breakers to lift you from being able to better the RE agent with their own camera. Few seem to be offering that helpful suggestion. If you dont have those (and no offence but its not an easy field), then you have no chance of competing in a market that has gone so low in pricing that it literally defies business logic (prices are less than $50 to shoot a house inside and out, including high view shot, view shot from the house, and all interiors and exteriors).

[Adrienne]

You have been a member since December, but we haven't seen a single photo yet.

Rick, without going into the details of your reply I have tried to upload photos and view other's photos but the site doesn't allow me to do it. I read in the frequently asked questions that if I participated more in the forum then my profile would improve. I would be more than happy to interact more on the site.
Adrienne

[Adrienne]

Rick. This is what I get.....

Adrienne, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

[ricktas]

There is ZERO reason you cannot upload photos for critique etc. Access to members photos and ability to post your own happens within 60 minutes of your very first post to the site

To see all the member photos click FORUM on the menu and scroll down and you will find all the member photos forums.

To resize your photos to meet the site size restrictions, see this tutorial

As long as your photos meet the pixel and filesize requirements you have access to all of the site to post photos for critique etc.

To understand how to post photos, have a read of this Library section

[Keith Young]

Hi I thought I'd chime in as this issue right up my alley. I am a successful full-time RE photographer in Sydney. I think that although having or being able to afford a full-frame camera for RE photography would be great, it is not absolutely necessary. If you are just starting out, of course you are just going to use what you have. Pretty much any DSLR will do the job and any rectilinear lens that has approx 100deg angle of view get your foot in the door. It would be silly to spend thousands on a camera and on other equipment just to find out you cant even get your first client. Its a very hard climb to the top and there seems to be hundreds of photographers out there trying to undercut one another for the bottom end of the market. Unfortunately that is where everyone must start. You need to be able to rise above that get yourself a descent portfolio, a few regular clients then you are on your way. If you are any good you will be in demand and can raise your prices, if you are no good you will loose you clients and have to find an income elsewhere.

Learn and perfect HDR, but don't use it as your primary weapon of choice. HDR is a tool just like strobing and layering in Photoshop you need to learn when to use and not to use each technique and even combine all of them into one photo if needed. The nature of RE photography is that it is very post processing intensive you may find yourself spending more time at the computer than behind the camera, and it is these techniques that you will also need to perfect. As ricktas said it is a lot of effort for little reward it may initially seem easy but it is not!

[peterb666]

That's excellent advice Keith. Note that it probably won't help the OP as he hasn't been on AP since 2 days after is original post but it should be invaluable advice for others.

[Bally]

Pity the OP hasn't been back, lots of interesting advice here. From the RE side of th equation, can I suggest that there is still room for the professional tog in this industry. with the accent on professional. A tog needs to be able deliver a better product than a RE agent armed with an SLR. HDR and PP and good skills are just part of it. Professional includes ability to make the most of every location, on time, on budget and in appropriate formats as needed by the agent for web, brochure, printed ads, windows or other. Portfolio a must and sell the sizzle, agents need to be able to seperate themselves from the pack in the same way as the tog must, so understand the industry, who is paying the bills and who is the real customer, as this will vary from RE agent to RE agent. Vary the product to suit th edifferent markets, or focus on one, which ever way you go, differentiate yourself or go broke. Lots of market leaders in this industry, selling based on lots of different abilities, price, quality, service, trust, relationships. Manage your costs, time and market more that you shoot, and you might do well. Cheers

[johndom]

very good thoughts Bally, too many people think that price is the only differentiation.
Wheres the link to the should i work for free page when I want to quote it?

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...-work-for-free

ah there it is.
Should i drop my prices just to get another job?

[wjasin]

Hi everyone,
i joined this forum just a few days ago for something else and i came across this thread. this is my 1st post. i'll save my introduction for another thread, and i dont mean to hijack this thread by posting my own questions, so if the moderator feel i should create another thread, please let me know and i'll be glad to do so.

i have many questions, but i guess i'll save it for other occasions. as a background, im currently studying interior design in my final year. and im seriously thinking about a career in architectural/interior/RE photography instead of becoming interior designer.

most of you agree that practice practice practice is a good practice and posting images for review is good too, but what if the actual building/room isnt nice? it doesnt have to be like the ads we see or celebrity-level kind of nice, but decent enough house. because my house isnt exactly nice. and the thing with asking friends, we might have to move a few things for composition, clean up a few things, and before we know it, we've changed a lot just for the sake of a good frame and they may not like we move things around. im guessing offering a free service to RE agents is not a good move?


i hope my problem is clear as mud to you all. any pointers would be most welcome. thank you.

[ricktas]

Hi everyone,
i joined this forum just a few days ago for something else and i came across this thread. this is my 1st post. i'll save my introduction for another thread, and i dont mean to hijack this thread by posting my own questions, so if the moderator feel i should create another thread, please let me know and i'll be glad to do so.

i have many questions, but i guess i'll save it for other occasions. as a background, im currently studying interior design in my final year. and im seriously thinking about a career in architectural/interior/RE photography instead of becoming interior designer.

most of you agree that practice practice practice is a good practice and posting images for review is good too, but what if the actual building/room isnt nice? it doesnt have to be like the ads we see or celebrity-level kind of nice, but decent enough house. because my house isnt exactly nice. and the thing with asking friends, we might have to move a few things for composition, clean up a few things, and before we know it, we've changed a lot just for the sake of a good frame and they may not like we move things around. im guessing offering a free service to RE agents is not a good move?


i hope my problem is clear as mud to you all. any pointers would be most welcome. thank you.

Yes, if you are doing RE photography, you need to clean the room up! End of story! You are trying to present photos that will sell a home, and an untidy room won't! This is not about what your house looks like today, it is what it should look like to a potential buyer. If you cannot make it look, clean, tidy and respectable, then you are devaluing the house, cause people wont even go look at a house that looks messy in the advertising photos.

Offering your services for free is stupid! Cause then you spend your time and money (your gear cost money, and it will cost you money to get to the homes to take the photos), so you are not offering them for free, you are losing money by doing them for free. Once you do it for free, the RE agents will want it for free everytime.

[wjasin]

Hi Rick,
thanks for the quick reply. I see what you mean with sellability. I guess when we've done our best in tidying up, cleaning, etc, it's the ability to find that selling composition is what separates the good and the so-so RE photographer. Well, i guess my next question is, whose job is it to do the styling? the photographer or the agent/owner? is our job just pressing the shutter? my argument is, no, a RE photographer's job is not just to press the shutter, but to have a say when something's not right in the frame that s/he feels wouldnt help selling the property. however, if s/he does this, s/he might need to do the styling, which translates to more time and money that they should charge, but in the cut-throat RE world where it's gone down so cheap, it doesnt translate well and become either an added value service (ie: free service) or couldn't be bothered with styling and just press the shutter.
also, say i've grown out of taking photos of my house's interior and ready to take on more challenges, what can i do next? say for portfolio purposes, should i ask to take photos of my friends' houses?

sorry if i sound like i want to get free tutoring on how to start becoming a RE photographer (but i do...), it's just im seriously thinking but i have no one to ask in my circle of friends and i have lots of questions.* removed - site rule breach*

[ricktas]

Did you read through this thread wjasin? There is not much money to be made in the RE photography game for the vast majority of photographers, and this has been pointed out several times in this thread. You have joined up selecting that you are a beginner photographer, so to be blunt, spend a few years getting to know how to take great photos, and then, and only then, look at making this hobby a profession, either part of full-time. With all due respect, as a beginner, you should not be considering doing any work, photographically, for anyone, at this time.

[ricstew]

Somewhere in your agreement there should be a bit that tells about presenting the house to be photographed. I don't clean.....thats not in my agreement. I do move something if I need to, and I do put the toilet seat down but I don't clean. If its not up to standard you contact the agent and say its not up to standard......would you like me to come back when its been tidied up? If not you shoot it anyway. You can provide a walkthrough service but you charge that out too. In a walkthrough I provide the owner with advice on how best to prepare the house, garden etc for photos. I may even provide the odd prop but I don't so it for free. All of that will be reflected in the price.
cheers
Jan

[James T]

Hi Rick,
thanks for the quick reply. I see what you mean with sellability. I guess when we've done our best in tidying up, cleaning, etc, it's the ability to find that selling composition is what separates the good and the so-so RE photographer. Well, i guess my next question is, whose job is it to do the styling? the photographer or the agent/owner? is our job just pressing the shutter? my argument is, no, a RE photographer's job is not just to press the shutter, but to have a say when something's not right in the frame that s/he feels wouldnt help selling the property. however, if s/he does this, s/he might need to do the styling, which translates to more time and money that they should charge, but in the cut-throat RE world where it's gone down so cheap, it doesnt translate well and become either an added value service (ie: free service) or couldn't be bothered with styling and just press the shutter.
also, say i've grown out of taking photos of my house's interior and ready to take on more challenges, what can i do next? say for portfolio purposes, should i ask to take photos of my friends' houses?

sorry if i sound like i want to get free tutoring on how to start becoming a RE photographer (but i do...), it's just im seriously thinking but i have no one to ask in my circle of friends and i have lots of questions.* removed - site rule breach*

You should expect it to be in a reasonable state when you rock up. Then depending on the budget, client, prestige of the place, intent for the images you either shoot it maybe tweaking bits as you go. Or, you have a stylist come in and style the rooms.

For folio, shooting exteriors is easy, lots of places you can get good access from public land. Building up interiors maybe harder, you could look at talking to local businesses & people with nice houses and seeing if you can gain access. Yes, for free (boo, hiss, blah blah) but you can make it work for you.

[Keith Young]

A RE photographer may need to move some flowers or a chair, and open or close the curtains / blinds as required. A RE photographer is not a "stylist" as such and there are plenty of pro stylist out there that know how to do their job. A RE photog is definately not a cleaner or a removalist. My largest client now professionally styles about 95% of their properties, and the the stylist knows exactly what they are doing everytime. I only have to turn up, set up the lighting, open windows, doors and blinds and take the shot. A photo of a beautifully styled property I took a couple of weeks ago is here:



All I had to do was open the doors and set up my gear for this house.

wjasin why don't you post some photos that you have taken and let us take a look and see if you are on the right track.

[wjasin]

Hi everyone,
thank you so much for the replies and helpful tips.

ricktas: yes, i have read, but sometimes i forget a few things here and there due to the many comments..
ricstew & James T: thank you for the info. James T: will try to muster up the courage
keith young: yes, i will try to post soon. yours look great. from the info on your flickr, are you exposing for outdoor and add strobes to indoor to light up the inside and balance the lighting? i guess your way of doing things is what i prefer compared to the HDR way. Not saying HDR is bad or anything, but i just think it takes more time in postprocess to balance everything and get a realistic type of HDR. and more time spent = more money lost IMHO.

[Keith Young]

Well no, that's not quite right and that's the whole thing you need to get you head around what is happening and how to deal with the situation and what compromises you may take to make it pop... First I am actually exposing for the indoor scene as it is the primary part of the composition. I then secondly I "try to control" the outside exposure mainly using shutter speed. During daylight hours it is rare to have the outside under-expose. But in the above shot I was very lucky as there was a couple of huge trees blocking most of the direct sunlight falling onto the outside area thus the exposure looks more balanced and natural. 1/50s at F8 under normal daylight conditions would normal be way over exposed, you can still see where I have let the blue sky totally blow out between the leaves.

The shot below taken earlier during the day from the other direction and had more sun on the outside area and the shutter is more than double the previous shot but I could recover just a touch of blue in the "real" sky but still have detail in the outside shadow areas. The sky is not the primary point of focus in this shot and I think that is where most RE photographers get it wrong. I know others would just paste in an under-exposed false sky and your mind would automatically says "something is not quite right!" I personally hate that type of photo. But that's just me.

[GerryK]

Like many people in this thread I agree with the view that you need to finish the course. I worked as a photographer for ten years whilst holding down a primary job so I could live (read eat). It was fun, teh weekend pay was great, but it killed my then marriage. Any kit will do to start with, as the key is in how you translate what you see in to an image

[James T]

... but it killed my then marriage...

That's an important point (I'm not saying this wasn't the case here Gerry, your post just brought it to mind) if you want to be a freelance photographer, a supportive and understanding partner goes a hell of a long way. I've found it also helps if she's an accountant.