5 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Real Estate Photography Business During the Pandemic
- Teach Potential Clients While You Network
- Network With Other Photographers
- Use This Time to Spruce Up Your Social Media Channels
- Start Learning About the Newest Trends
- Add Services That Don’t Cost You Anything
- Learn How to Streamline Your Workflow
- The Business of Real Estate Photography: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting your own Real Estate Photography Business
- Photographing Real Estate Interiors and Architecture: A Comprehensive Guide to Equipment, Technique and Workflow for Real Estate Photography
- How to Photograph Real Estate With a Smartphone
- Real Estate Photography Tip: How to Photograph Commercial Properties
photo by Image Supply via iStock
If you own a real estate photography business, you’re no doubt feeling the pressure of this pandemic. My business is pretty well established and we are still feeling the sting of a downward economy.
But, there’s no need for you to panic because you can use this time to improve your real estate photography business so that when the market turns back up, you’ll have even more clients to impress.
Let’s take a look at some real estate photography business tips that you can do from home.
Table of Contents
Teach Potential Clients While You Network
photo by filadendron via iStock
If you built your real estate photography business in a large city, then you probably used an old tactic I’ve used a thousand times: trade lunch for some networking.
You walk into a real estate agent’s office and ask the agents for a little of their time in return for lunch at their favorite restaurant. It works almost every time.
But, I find that a lot of photographers forget about one of the most important real estate photography business tips while they use this networking move; they forget to teach their potential clients.
Many agents don’t know very much about real estate photography. They know what sorts of pictures their clients like, but they don’t know about the specific equipment necessary to get those shots.
photo by Rawpixel via iStock
Go to your meeting with a goal other than simply talking about your real estate photography business, teach your potential client something too. It helps to fill more time and they might enjoy learning about other people’s work.
Now, you may be thinking, this is fine and great once I can actually take potential clients out for lunch. All of the restaurants in my town are closed. What am I supposed to do?
Set up a Zoom meeting. Ask your agent what their favorite meal is and have it delivered to their house. It’s classy. It allows you to get a few minutes with them to talk about your real estate photography business, and it allows you to continue networking from the comfort of your living room.
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Network With Other Photographers
photo by LeoPatrizi via iStock
One of my favorite real estate photography business tips is to network with other photographers in your area. I received a large portion of my clients from other photographers when I was first starting out and it was a great way for me to meet other people so I could fend off those “work from home” blues.
Well, it’s time to kick it up a notch. I’ve been hosting weekly virtual happy hours with photographers in my area since this pandemic broke out. It’s been a good way for us to share tips on how we’re dealing with slowing business and a nice period for us to vent about how much this pandemic has changed our lives.
I promise you that if you start virtually networking with others in your industry during one of the worst times, they’ll remember you during the good times and make it all worth it.
Use This Time to Spruce Up Your Social Media Channels
photo by bigtunaonline via iStock
I’m definitely guilty of letting social media fall by the wayside when I get too busy, and my real estate photography business hurts because of it.
Take all of this social distancing time and network with potential clients on Facebook and Instagram. Build the types of pages you see other photographers that you admire in your area building.
Having an active presence online will only help increase visibility to potential clients. It also helps you define your brand and your brand messaging, which also helps you increase visibility to clients.
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Start Learning About the Newest Trends
photo by Kyryl Gorlov via iStock
Chances are, new photography trends have popped up since you started your real estate photography business. Aerial photos and 3D walk-throughs are two of the latest trends I still see very few real estate photographers offering.
If you have a little bit saved in a rainy day fund that you can afford to spend on some new equipment, then you can take this time to learn a new trick.
Real estate photography is all about making your properties stand out, and with new and exciting approaches to highlighting a property, you can make the homes you photograph stand out from the crowd.
Add Services That Don’t Cost You Anything
photo by AndreyPopov via iStock
If you don’t have a rainy day fund that you’re willing to spend on a new drone, you can still work on adding services to your real estate photography business that don’t cost you anything.
For instance, many clients value a quick turnaround time. For example, If the average turnaround time in your area is 3 days, try offering a 24-hour service. As another example, you can waive cancellation fees for returning clients.
These are simple suggestions that give potential clients all the more reason to hire you, and they don’t cost you a dime!
Learn How to Streamline Your Workflow
photo by jacoblund via iStock
As they say, time is money, so the more time you spend getting photos ready for your clients, the less money you can make.
If you ask me, one of the best ways to streamline a real estate photography workflow is to ditch artificial lighting and use HDR methods for interior photography.
Why spend tons of money on lighting gear and tons of time setting it up when you can use your camera’s AEB function to bracket exposures? Doing so gets you well-exposed images in far less time, so it only makes sense to incorporate this practice into your workflow. If you’re not sure how to use your camera’s AEB function to bracket exposures, check out the video below.
Once you have your bracketed exposures, you need to merge them. Doing so blends the bracketed exposures you took into a single composite image that is well exposed throughout the range of highlights, midtones and shadows.
And if you go about it the right way, you can use this to streamline your workflow even further...
By using software with real estate-specific settings, you can merge your photos. Using Photomatix Pro 6, you can automate the process to save time. You can also use one of dozens of HDR presets to get the precise look you want in the photos.
This is all about working smarter, not harder. Making choices that streamline your workflow will aid you in doing just that!
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