The marketing activity of any real estate business should include professional real estate photography as an intrinsic part of the whole strategy. A professional photo either sparks the buyer’s interest or disinterests the buyer. It is an industry fact that buyers show positive interest 60% of the time when a professional photo accompanies the real estate proposal.
Images form an in-depth part of the marketing strategy. Take a look at billboards, signages, flyers, or any online advertisement; it is heavily dependent on relevant images. It is ever more essential to choose the right photographer for taking professional photos of your real estate properties. In this article, we share some tips to choose a property photographer.
Photography Output
Begin with understanding what kind of photography you want to get done for the properties. Dusk photography suits houses with outdoor lighting and pools whereas daytime shoots suits all types of homes. Huge properties covering acreages will include various facets such as sprawling gardens and outhouses, and they are best covered through aerial photography or aerial videos.
Again, larger homes with attractive gardens benefit from elevated photography. Therefore, you
have to realise how you want to market the property and what kind of images/videos are needed to complement the marketing style, and then move ahead with finding a professional property photographer.
Photography Skills
Begin by floating the requirement among your network for recommendations. Opt for people who are experienced in property photography. Once you have some prospects, analyse their portfolio and talk to the previous clients for honest feedback. Check the educational qualification, nature of experience, and licensing (if any).
Talk to the prospects upfront and get to know their photography style and whether it would suit what you had in mind. You can either hire a property photographer in-house full-time or on a freelance/contractual basis. Talk about the turnaround time, their use of professional equipment, delivery medium of the images, and the intellectual property rights of the photos.
Pricing
Cheapest is not the best, ever. You might be tempted to opt for the cheapest option but take a step back and evaluate whether it would be a strategic investment or not. Certainly, affordability matters and so does the skills of the property photographer.
Talk to people who already employ photographers and ask the current market fee for a certain skill-set. Based on this data, you can negotiate well. The final price always depends on the photographer’s skills, equipment, and nature of employment.
Prepare Before Shoot
Prepare Before ShootBefore commencing the shoot, communicate your vision with the photographer. As we shared before, you must have a certain clarity as to how you want the photographs to communicate a perspective. Share this perspective with the photographer. Things like highlights of the home, its attractive features, best timing to shoot and other pointers should be clearly communicated with the property photographer.
Endnote
If you want to create an exquisitely attractive real estate campaign, professional real estate photos will be an invaluable contribution and worth every invested penny. The properties will attract more buyers and help to secure a higher price.