Archive for May, 2008

Proposed Orphan Works Bills Will Radically Change Copyright

May 30th, 2008

If you haven’t noticed Congress is on it’s way to passing some legislation that will radically change the way copyright law works. Photographers owning copyrighted material will be effected by these laws if passed. I suggest taking the time to understand what is about to happen with copyright and if you don’t like it, express [...]

Questions From A Realtor Photographer

May 27th, 2008

Today I got a question from a Realtor (Todd on the east coast) I want to answer Todd in a post because I think Todd is not the only Realtor with these questions. Todd said:
“I am a photo enthusiast but also dyslexic and have no patience for instructions. Real estate has been my life for [...]

Items of Interest for Real Estate Photographers Using Macs

May 26th, 2008

If you haven’t noticed lately, there is a major “horse race” going on between Lightroom and Aperture. Many beginning real estate photographers are trying to decide which application to buy. Ian Wood wrote a detailed comparison of Lightroom/Aperture Pros and Cons over at O’Reilly DigitalMedia blog that is well worth a read if you are [...]

Jeremy Esland’s Discussion of Tufuse Pro Experiments

May 25th, 2008

I wanted to highlight the PFRE flicker discussion thread that Jeremy Esland started explaining his experiments with Tufuse Pro. If you’ve been using any of the Enfuse/Tufuse products I think you will find Jeremy’s experiments very useful.
Thanks Jeremy for describing your experiments with Tufuse Pro.

Ocean Front 360VR Photography by Mario Restrepo

May 23rd, 2008

Mario Restrepo of San Diego, CA sent me a link recently to one of his recent shoots of an ocean front Las Gaviotas luxury property about an hour south of San Diego.
I particularly like Mario’s simple, elegant tour interface and integration of a large satellite Google map of the area into the tour. Nice work [...]

The Business of Real Estate Photography: e-book/Start-up Kit Now For Sale

May 20th, 2008

I have the first edition of my e-book/start-up kit called The Business of Real Estate Photography completed. The goal of this kit is to help new real estate photographers get started in a part or full time business by explaining how to market to Realtors, how to establish prices and how to approach the rest [...]

Doug Heddings of TrueGotham.com Talks About Video

May 20th, 2008

Doug was a guest on Inman TV on Friday and gave tips for real estate agents looking to use video as a marketing tool.
I know many readers here don’t do video but I think it is useful for everyone in this business to track the way real estate agents are using video to sell property.

Aperture 2.0 On Track To Be Ideal Real Estate Photography Application

May 19th, 2008

Recently I was listening to the TWIP podcast where Alex Lindsay (a plug in developer), Fred Johnson (Lightroom product manager) and Richard Harrington (author of Aperture 2.0 Apple Pro: Training Series) were discussing the new plug-in architecture in Aperture 2.0 and how the design philosophy of Aperture is different than Lightroom. The discussion turned [...]

Summary of Using HDR for Real Estate Phototography

May 19th, 2008

I’d like to synthesize and distill the information and discussions about how to approach using HDR for real estate photography.
First of all it is important to look a lot of real estate images and refine your ability to see subtle differences styles and lighting.
Next I think you must always be working to prevent committing the [...]

Why Lightroom is Essential For Real Estate Photography

May 14th, 2008

Back on April 29 I did a post on The Bare Essentials to Get Started in Real Estate Photography and I included Lightroom as one of the essentials on my list. One of the comments on this post asked, “what essential photo editing does it do easier than Adobe Photoshop Elements?”
The answer is [...]

Jeremy Esland: Real Estate Photographer of The Month

May 12th, 2008

Anyone who has been active in the PFRE photo discussion group recently has seen Jeremy’s Esland’s work and and seen all the constructive help and advice that Jeremy gives. Jeremy is a real estate photographer that works out of Algarve, Portugal and is my pick for the May PFRE real estate photographer of the month. [...]

Why Are Agents Always in a Hurry For Photos

May 11th, 2008

Have you noticed that most real estate agents are frantic to get the photos from a shoot. Do you understand why?
Here are the underlying reasons that listing agents need the photos ASAP:

It’s foolish to shoot photos before seller signs listing agreement: Until an agent has a signed listing agreement the seller isn’t committed to list [...]

Does Your E-mail Address Look Professional

May 9th, 2008

As a small business owner you want to do everything you can to project a professional appearance. Your e-mail address that your clients see is one way of projecting that professional appearance.For example, the email address john@doephotography.com projects a more professional appearance than john341@yahoo.com. How do you get a professional looking e-mail?

Buy a domain name [...]

Real Estate Photographer Directory Gets You Clients

May 7th, 2008

Doug Cranmer in Chicago gave me some details of his recent success with his listing in the PFRE Real Estate Photographer Directory. Doug says:
“I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know that my investment in the PFRE Real Estate Photographer Directory paid off very well. A Chicago Realtor did a Google [...]

A Marrow Donor Has Been Found For Scott Kleiman

May 7th, 2008

Back in January of this year we asked for you help in finding a marrow donor for Realtor Scott Kleiman. Susanne Hayek just reported that a donor has been found for Scott. Susanne says:
A donor for Scott has been found! All we know is that she is a young (20 something) woman from overseas. She [...]