rrg6481 wrote:
You might want to try HDR. I think I could satisfy the interior shots with seven and the exterior with three but I like the complete coverage of 9 and 7 in case I need to modify processing. Also included are at least 2 brackets of each perspective...just for insurance. I think 35 minutes per shoot is unreasonable. I shoot a 2500 to 3500 sq ft home in about 60 to 90 minutes. 25 to 50 HDR photos. Depending on the speed of your computer the whole shoot can be batch processed in Photomatix on a lap top (part of which can be done en route to the office in the car) in about 90 mins. Photo Shop post takes another 60-90. With 2 lap tops most of the batch processing is done while driving and while unloading at the office. You could process 3 shoots in a long day earning $300 to $375 for stills only. What most clients don't take into consideration is the state of camera readiness of a home. I shot a beautiful home last week where the 2 inch wood blinds were sagging so badly all I could do was raise all of them all the way up before the shoot. It took an extra 15 to 20 mins each way to make the house cam ready. I don't get paid for that. Its just a cost of doing business. I send a "To Do" list of things for a home owner to check off to help prepare a home for photography but it only helps in about 30% of the shoots ....but those shoots are a pleasure.
You might want to try HDR. I think I could satisfy... (
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If I was working on my own, as you apparently are, I'd be on the full-HDR bandwagon ASAP because the results are always fabulous compared to single shots with flash. I make about half of what you do by working for a national company though, so you can see my reluctance to do any more than I currently am. I'm at about 60-90 minutes for the shoot which typically includes 25 stills and 4 panoramas of 12 vertical shots each, then 120 minutes of post at the office before uploading via an FTP client to the company where they stitch the pans, make minor adjustments to my stills, and host the tour online. They provide the client MLS sized files, 8X10 sized files, branded tour with realtor name and address on it, unbranded tour for MLS, and a YouTube video tour that is the same as the Flash tours.
I could actually reduce my post time in half if I trusted them to do post as well as I demand of myself. I get rave reviews from my realtors so I don't want to lose that because they request me specifically now instead of another area shooter that works for the same company.
I recently found a company that sells a little box that connects to any Canon camera, you set a perfect exposure and focus in manual mode, then push a button on the little box and it takes the perfect exposure plus I think it's 9 or 11 (I don't remember at the moment) more HDR variations. When you're finished you upload the whole shoot to them and their computer processes the HDRs to perfection. You look at the thumbnails of everything you shot and buy only the ones you like for $1 each and download them back to you in high-res. From what I've seen of their examples gallery, the resulting HDRs are fabulous and the only post needed might be cropping and resizing. So a 25 stills package would cost me $25 to have it completed to theoretical perfection with almost no post needed.
It looks like a VERY cool setup but not for what I'm being paid currently. They also sell a brand new Canon T3i with a 10-20mm ultra wide Sigma zoom and their little box built into the body and a single button added on the body to trigger it. I'm not sure how that affects the Canon warranty but it's an option. In your self-employed situation one of these rigs would shave 90+90 minutes off of each of your shoots and you might be able to jam 4 into a day.
I agree about the time wasted on home readiness. Soap bottles, refrigerator hangings, shampoo bottles, bathroom throw rugs, robes, used towels, knick-knacks by the hundreds, bedrooms full of random children's toys piled high, power extension cords across the front of furniture, etc. People are numb to these things because they live there but the camera sees everything in its crude reality. I many times end up working with the realtor to move furniture if it's not too big, moving bright colored pool toys, putting away garden hoses, etc.
The thing I've been having problems with very often recently is ceiling flood light bulbs that have been out for months but the residents either don't notice or they've been too lazy to replace them and forgot they were out. So I end up with a kitchen with 6 working and two not. Not two side by side but causing shadows in areas where it should be bright over a counter top or snack bar. Then somebody has to go find bulbs (harder if the residents aren't home) and the realtor or I end up climbing up on the marble counter tops and putting in new bulbs for 9 or 10 foot ceilings. Sometimes they're so high we can't reach them and I have to increase area brightness in post and paint in a working light bulb with a "dodge" brush which isn't perfect but there's no choice. I had a house last week with 5 ceiling bulbs out in 3 areas of the house. 3 were in cathedral ceilings and I had to post edit my butt off to get it to look right.
I enjoy what I'm doing, even though it's time consuming and not as profitable as I'd like. Others are out in the 95 degree heat or killing their backs standing in a convenience store or stocking at WalMart as a part time job while I get to see amazingly cool huge homes, meet new people, work in a professional field with mostly nice realtors (notice I said mostly), and sit at home after the shoot(s) with my computer processing my creative output while taking frequent breaks to be with my wife and toddler whenever I want.
I wish I was in an area where I could be self-employed and make $375 a day shooting stills only. I really don't like doing panoramas but they are a necessary evil currently. Because this area was the #2 worst hit in the U.S. during the 2008 collapse (Las Vegas was #1) it hasn't recovered like other parts of the country yet. Things are still rather slow although building slowly. My goal is to break out to fully self-employed after making enough contacts who love my work so they want to work with me exclusively.
Where do you post your tours? Are you working with RTV or someone like that to use their hosting and advertising advantages that help the clients, doing your own hosting, or just handing over your work to the realtor to do what they want?