Tips for Starting a Real Estate Photography Business
- Developing a business plan that outlines your startup costs, your target market, the type of business you wish to form, your business name, and so forth.
- Establishing a legal business to protect your personal assets should you be sued or the business goes under.
- Registering for taxes and opening a business bank account that's separate from your personal bank account.
- Developing your business brand and devising a marketing strategy, including advertising, creating social media accounts, and having a website.
- Practice flying in an open area - like a field - away from people, homes, and other potential hazards.
- Defer to other aircraft when flying, and obey all FAA regulations regarding drone flights. Also be sure to register your drone with the FAA.
- Avoid flying in bad weather to protect your drone and minimize the possibility of wind, rain, and other elements causing a crash.
- Practice both still photography and videography, as both will come in handy for marketing yourself as a real estate photographer. That includes learning the best angles and flight paths as well as learning the best camera settings to get the best shots.
Image Credit: Creative-Family via iStock
Starting a photography business is a difficult task, but in today's world in which we have vast arrays of applications of photography (and technologies to do it with), there's more opportunities than ever to put your photography skills to use in a business setting.
One aspect of photography that's really taken off - pardon the pun - is drone photography.
Drones are no longer prohibitively expensive, so even beginners can buy a drone with a highly capable camera and put it to use.
And of the best applications for drone photography in the business realm is real estate.
That being the case, here's a few crucial tips to keep in mind when starting a real estate photography business.
Plan and Prepare
Image Credit: TLFurrer via iStock
Like anything, developing a solid real estate photography business requires that you spend a great deal of time planning and preparing. That means tackling things like:
Of course, starting a new business requires much, much more than the short bulleted list above, but these represent some crucial first steps to take if you want to build something successful.
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Get Some Practice
Image Credit: @jansmartino via iStock
Naturally, you also want to prepare yourself to be a high-quality drone photographer and pilot, and that means practicing, and practicing a lot.
Though the idea is obviously the same, drone photography requires many more hard skills to master than simply picking up a DSLR and taking photos from your eye level.
Even if you've got some experience in using drones for photography, it's still important to:
Again, there's a lot more to becoming a master drone pilot and drone photographer, but knocking each of the above items off your to-do list will certainly help!
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Get a Drone That's Up to the Task
Before you can practice your craft as a real estate drone photographer, you need to equip yourself with a drone that's up to the daily task of real estate photography.
I think I have just the drone for that...
The DJI Inspire 2 Eagle Edition by Drone World is as impressive a drone as I've seen, and with its robust set of features and add-ons, it's one of the best drones for commercial use on the market today.
That's because Drone World designed this kit with prosumers and commercial drone photography in mind. That means it has the ultimate in performance and features that a commercial drone pilot could want.
For starters, this rig has a new HD Helical Antenna that offers four-times better performance.
That means you can fly the drone farther and with greater confidence because of a stronger signal.
That also means that you get to enjoy 720p resolution with minimal latency as well as improved control over the drone for increased safety.
What client wouldn't want a pilot that has better control and can fly safer when the drone is hovering over their home?!
The Inspire 2 Eagle Edition has all the bells and whistles that will help you take the most impactful real estate photos and videos, too.
That includes a filter kit with a polarizing filter that helps minimize glare and boost contrast in the sky. Also included is a variable neutral density filter that gives you the ability to slow the shutter for gorgeously smooth cinematic videos.
As if that's not enough, Drone World has even thrown in a dual-stacked neutral density/polarizing filter combination so you get the best of a polarizer and neutral density filter in one.
Add in a 240GB CINESSD card, a 64GB memory card, two batteries for extended flying time, a battery hub and charger, a controller sunshade, and more, and you have the makings of one heck of a commercial drone bundle!
That's not to mention that this kit even comes with the awesome hard-sided case shown above that gives you a way to easily and safely transport your gear from one appointment to the next!
That means that Drone World really has thought of everything to help you get your drone photography business off the ground.
You get a fantastic, highly-capable drone, all the accessories you need to create high-quality photos and videos, and loads of features that make creating photos and videos an easier process.
What's not to like about that?!
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Final Thoughts
Image Credit: Mark Brooks via iStock
Planning, preparation, practice, and getting the right gear are just a few of the steps you'll need to take when developing a drone photography business.
But like anything else, your success will depend not just on your skill and talents as a photographer, but on your ability to market yourself, meet deadlines, have positive interactions with clients, and so forth.
Drones offer real estate photographers all sorts of benefits, from being able to show the entire property in one frame to being able to inspect the quality of the roof to providing a unique and eye-catching way to document a property.
That being the case, it only makes sense to consider drone photography for real estate as a top choice for a drone photography business.
