This one was worth arriving early for. Sun streaming in, heron stalking the water’s edge and the ‘bloop’ of little fish breaking the surface. Technically the challenge was to avoid distracting reflections in the windows, and mitigate the light fall-off into the room. Before the addition of two flashes, the right side of the room was seriously dark!
What is it with this incessant urge in people to chronicle their every waking moment, with each brain-purge shamelessly aired via blogs and social networking sites to a world the author believes is panting in breathless anticipation!
Why when I was young we didn’t have Facebook or Twitter. Nor did we have digi cams the size of a cigarette packet. We had pen and paper…and…and…we had to wait days for prints to come back from the lab. Like this self-portrait from 1978 taken while hitching from Sydney to Brisbane. Camera perched on a rock, delayed shutter. Yes I was shameless even then. And if I’d had today’s technology, I would have shared this within 30 seconds instead of waiting 30 years ;-D
By ‘harm’ I mean situations in which wonderful things COULD happen. Dan May took this awesome shot at Whangarei Heads, NZ. He had tramped up to a high ridge overlooking the ocean where he camped the night and was awake at dawn to enjoy the interplay of light and weather.
Oh, and he had a camera on him!
Landed back in Brisbane this morning…at the same time we left NZ! Had a great time and ticked the main boxes; surfed (what used to be) my local beach, caught a snapper off the rocks and jammed with friends. All in a haze of pavlova, glazed ham and Steinlager!
And NZ’s gnarly coastal tree, the Pohutukawa, was in blossom everywhere.
NZ Pohutukawa in bloom against a Summer sky.
I’m off to Ihn Zihd for a couple of weeks. Back Dec 31st to rock the Marcoola SLC with my band The Remedy. Check us out at www.theremedy.com.au . I’m looking forward to shooting more photos and video of Sunshine Coast homes when I return.
A recent survey found that …
Source: Online Real Estate Video – Real Estate Videos Increase Property Values
©2008-2011 ReelSEO.com Online Video Guide
Why use video to market real estate?
1) video is engaging. It will hold a viewer’s attention longer than a static photo.
2) by telling a story appropriate to a target demographic, video can create an emotional hook between the content and the viewer.
3) video can deliver not only the spatial flow of the home, but also include the sounds of the home, further evoking emotional response. Great for the long-distance buyer.
4) video distribution via Youtube and social media sites increases the visibility of any given property from a search engine standpoint.
5) video boosts the agent’s own brand power, in part by showing that the agent is willing to utilise new marketing technologies. By introducing the property on-camera the agent can begin a relationship with prospective buyers.
The following video (filmed by Gold Coast company Platinum HD) drives home many of these points, and it’s not even about a property!
Well I’m convinced! So much so that I’ve tooled up to offer real estate video on the Sunshine Coast. Here’s my example…
This morning (5am!) I took part in a video conference call with 3 other photographers who are all at different stages on the video-for-real-estate learning curve. Participants were located in Melbourne, Seattle and N.Carolina. I mean…how great is the intenet…really! To be able to share ideas with such immediacy accelerates learning enormously. But THEN the nerdy-squares pulled out their iPhones and began comparing photography-related apps; a light meter, a database of lens characteristics, an almanac providing sun position at any address at any date and time (great for predicting the best time to photograph the street side of a home). I gotta git me one of them thar phones!
Living as I do under the shadow of Mt Coolum, I’m always on the lookout for new angles on him. After a fine morning I was returning home because incoming cloud had put paid to a scheduled afternoon property shoot. As I was crossing the bridge on Walter Hay drive I happened to turn my head and sha-WING! I pulled over and walked back for this view across Lake Weyba to Coolum.
Mt Coolum from the lower reaches of Lake Weyba
A chat I had recently with a client indicated that fiscal reality was biting and potential listers were increasingly looking for opportunities to trim costs. The most popular item to excise? Professional photography. Hopefully the reasons outlined below will help you persuade vendors that good photography underpins all visual marketing efforts.
Are property photos needed at all?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say, “Yes!” Real estate marketing media reflect the fact that our primary sense is visual. Hands up anyone considering advertising on the radio! (edit: I did recently hear a radio ad for a new subdivision!).
Professional photography is expensive.
No. No it’s not. Real estate photography must be the bargain basement of all commercial photography, costing around 1/1000th the price of even a $200K home. If your property is worth more than this, then the leverage is even greater.
Can I get away with ‘OK’ photos?
There are two reasons why I feel it is false economy to not use pro photography.
I made both the photographs below; the first with a ‘point-and-shoot’ using its built-in flash, and the second with my DSLR and four (4!) off-camera flashes. Which one would you rather have advertise your home?
Typical image from a 'point & shoot' camera.
Professional interior photo.
While trimming photography costs from the marketing budget might help land a listing, is it in the vendor’s best interests?
Good photography moves product and is the lynchpin of visual marketing media. Poor photography blights every marketing effort.