Real Estate Photography Career
A Digital Photography Career

A career in real estate photography could be right for you. Everyone knows that great pictures help sell a house. Many home owners take their own less than impressive photos of their house, but when those pictures don't bring in buyers they turn to a professional real estate photographer.

Professional real estate photographers take breathtaking photographs of homes that woo potiental buyers. The pictures bring out all the best features in the house making it seem spacious and lovely.

In order to do this job well, you need to have a good quality DSLR camera. Any real estate agent or home owner can use a simple point and shoot camera to take pictures of a property for free. You'll be charging so you'll need to make your services are worth the expense. You'll also need a good sturdy tripod and an external flash.

Ultra wide zoom angle lenses work best for this type of photography. You'll want the rooms to appear open and spacious. You'll need to include as much of the rooms you photograph as possible in one shot. The buyer needs to be able to see windows, fireplaces and any features the room has to offer in one clean looking photograph.

Experiment with camera angles and heights to get the picture that shows the room at its best. Try taking pictures with all the lights and lamps in the room on. Then take it with them off. Most rooms look best with all the lights on even if you're photographing in the middle of the day. If there is a fireplace have the owner light it before you take pictures of the room.

Starting Your Business

Portfolio

First you'll need to create a portfolio. Start out by looking at quality real estate photography to see what it's like. Notice the details. Remember what makes rooms and homes look good in pictures and try to mimic those things.

Create a portfolio by photographing your own home and the homes of friends. Make sure the home is clean and neatly arranged before taking any pictures. Nice touches like a vase of flowers on a mantle or a bowl of fruit in the kitchen add to the look of the picture.

Set Prices

Decide how much you'll charge for your services. Do some research online to find out what other real estate photographers in your area charge. Then set your prices for pretty much the same. Most real estate photographers offer packages and have examples of what the pictures from those packages would look like on their websites.

Get Your Name Out

Once you have a portfolio, you'll need to let people know about your business. Set up a professional looking website. The site should include sample photographs, the packages you offer, prices, and your contact information. Be sure to include some convincing reasons for a home owner to use your services on the homepage of your site. Once you've had some pleased customers, you can even include testimonials.

Tell everyone you know. You never know when a friend of a friend might be selling their house.

Contact local real estate agencies and home dressers to let them know about your services. Provide them with some brochures and business cards. You may even want to offer them a commission for referring new clients to you.

Get listed in directories for real estate photography.