Photos - how much is it worth paying a pro?

[mvus]

We all know how important having good photos is to attracting people to your property and hopefully making a booking.
My question, (out of interest) is assumming there was a good professional photographer in your area, 'roughly' how much would you expect to pay for a 4 hour photo-shoot and post production of 20-30 images for use on your website and property listings?

[paolo]

At a guess: £200-250. Entirely depends on the photographer's hourly rates. I used one from my village who is an art/portrait photographer, so not necessarily very good at houses, but he was on the spot and he had a digital camera, and he cost about half that for 40-odd photos.

[mvus]

I guess most people think it is going to cost a lot of money (£200+) for something good. I've seen thousands of "private rental" listings and I would say less than 1% of them were professionally taken compared to nearer 100% for hotels which I assume to be the nearest competitor in the market.

[Clexane]

My theory is get a digital camera, take hundreds of shots at different times of the day at different angles and a few of them are bound to be good.

[paolo]

I don't think £200 is a lot of money to get good photos. Good photos are those achieved by a pro with correct lighting and composition, as well as decent lenses, to sell the look and atmosphere of your property.

How many more bookings will good photos win you? A lot more than £200 each year I would say.

[Normandy Cow]

I agree that professional photographs have the edge if you can afford them. As a keen amateur photographer I have taken all my own photos for my website and I think they are reasonably OK compared to many, but if money was no object then I would still probably get a professional in.

However, what really astounds me is the number of holiday property websites with really ropey photographs which could so easily have been better if the "photographer" (and I use that word loosely!) had just thought about what they are seeing through the lens before they pressed the shutter. And this is not just to do with lighting, exposure etc, but just common sense...

For example, these particular ones are my pet hates:
- a photo of a kitchen where the eye is immediately drawn to the focal point which is the dustbin - when just temporarily moving the dustbin out of the way would make such a difference.
- Photos of bathrooms with loo seats up and toiletries scattered around (much discussed in an earlier thread I think).
- Photos of living rooms with a mess on the tables/chairs etc.
- Exterior photos of the house with a couple of cars parked bang outside - move them down the road for a few minutes while taking the photo!!!!

...and many others - the list is endless...

[Alan Knighting]

Catherine,

Your examples are amongst the many things the eye of a professional photographer is trained to see. The professional composes and takes pictures; the amateur just takes pictures. The composition of the picture is just as important as is its quality; in many cases it is more important.

I agree! The pictures on your Website are nice and am sure they do your property justice. In all honesty, how many times can one say that?

Alan

[Alan Knighting]

Paolo,

There's two threads running about pictures. Could you find the time to consolidate them?

Alan

[paolo]

There's two threads running about pictures. Could you find the time to consolidate them?

In short, no it can't be done. But the other thread is more about what to do with jpegs, while this one is about taking the photos.

[lakegarda]

Hi, this is my first posting, I just wanted to show you the professional photos I just had done for my mum's apartment, which I manage, on Lake Garda. I've been meaning to have them done for ages, kept faffing around worrying about the cost, but I am so delighted I thought I'd share the results with you. I've uploaded the pics to a blog as I haven't been able to get them on my website yet (which is undergoing a major overhaul). However, if you compare the new professional photos with the photos on my website (property Il Palazzo), please let me know what you think and let me know if you think it was all worth it!
The old photos are on www.gardaholidays.co.uk (Il Palazzo)
and the new ones are on http://gardahomes.blogspot.com

Looking forward to hearing your comments.
Sarah

[mpprh]

Hi

I came across this photo company recently : http://www.motionviews.com/before_and_after.html

Their before and after photos make me very embarassed by my own efforts.

Peter

[cromercrabholiday]

We did a deal with my wife's boss - her husband is a professional photographer. They stayed for the weekend and we got some interior and exterior shots. Not only the improved quality but "dressing" the rooms appropriately which we hadn't thought to do.

John

[Ju]

Sarah,

I think your new photos are brilliant. I didn't think we had any need for a professional photographer, as I've got a good camera myself, but after seeing your photo's I've changed my mind! Was there any bedroom photos done? They are not on your blog site yet.

I hope you don't mind me asking a couple of questions:

How much did it cost?
How did you find the photographer?
Did the photographer specialise in interior photography?

Hope you see the return in increased bookings!

[lakegarda]

Thank you Ju,
yes we did do some bedroom pics, which I have now uploaded to the blog. In the one there is a bit too much distortion I think, so it may have to be redone with an ordinary wide angle lens, but it's still 100 times better than my attempt.

In answer to your questions.
1. I did three apartments, 18 photos in total so it was expensive but I only need one or two weeks extra bookings to cover it. With the banco ottico lens (don't know the English) it was 48 euros per photo, plus 70 cents per km travelled by the photographer. (he did 100 so I paid 70 euros). With an ordinary wide angle lens it would have been 28 euros per pic. Total came to just over 1000 euros, including VAT. It took the best part of a day (it took at least 30 minutes to set up each shot) and the photographer and his assistant worked right through with no lunch. They were brilliant.
2. I found the photographer, believe it or not, through yellow pages online (paginegialle.it). I chose 5 with the best websites (ignored those without websites - come on!) and emailed them all. Only one replied, but it was my favourite with the best website and examples of photography. (www.fotografo.it)
3. They have done interiors for magazines but they are not specialized in them. They do everything.

Best of luck
Sarah

[lakegarda]

by the way

I have the copyright to these photos: I can use them as much as I want for whatever purpose: the only limitation is that if they are published, in a magazine article for example, I have to name the photographic studio.
Considering I paid 500 euros recently just to use two large scale prints of Lake Garda at a trade fair, that seems very reasonable to me. The photos were very high resolution (50 MB per photo!) so they can be blown up to huge sizes.
Sarah