UPDATE - Photo's taken-Professional Photos = More Bookings??

Up, down, could be better? How to get more bookings is our number one obsession. Talk shop here.

Have you had professional photos taken?

Yes and it increased our bookings.
10
23%
Yes and it had no effect on bookings.
5
12%
No I take my own photos.
28
65%
 
Total votes: 43

catherinedonegal
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Post by catherinedonegal »

Some are good too :-)
Wendy@NorthIdaho
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Post by Wendy@NorthIdaho »

I paid $400 US for mine. No idea how that compares to others.
Wendy
New Vacation Rental called DayStar Lodge! (Sold Narrows Cottage now have a rental management company called A-List Rental Management)
Sheffield89
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Professional photographs

Post by Sheffield89 »

We are in the UK…

I don't consider myself a bad photographer, who does? But was frustrated that photos I took weren't quite as 'zingy' as they should be.

We contacted a photographer who specialised in property photography. His meat and drink was, I think, taking photos to support estate agents (realtors in US speak perhaps?) selling houses.

He was local - about 20 minutes away.

He quoted £150.

He spent a couple of hours with us and created some fantastic shots. I liked the colour tones he got - it looked like daylight inside and every shot look like bright sunlight was streaming in. The composition was good and he had a very wide angle lens which kind of exaggerates the size of the rooms. He also began to do justice to the garden; something we think is a plus point for our property but which we have failed to show off well in pictures.

But. It wasn't all him.

We were up at 7am preparing for him. We bought props to help dress the house and we ran around laying tables, putting out chess sets pouring wine/whisky/orange into glasses beakers and jugs, preparing picnic baskets and trays of breakfast. We ran around ahead of him laying out props so he could stage the shots.

But. He listened. He asked questions - "what is it that you think is special bout the property" he walked around and he looked at the whole house and the garden. And he had some nifty touches. A really long monopod that allowed him to take a photo from an elevated position looking over the garden hedge towards our property. In some ways not a hard thing to do but he knew to do it and had the kit to make it simple.

About 24hrs after he visited us we had 100 shots in both high resolution and lo resolution to download and we have been using these as we revamp our web site.

Now we haven't had the bill yet, but if it is as-quoted, that is very good value. We feel like it has had a good impact on booking but having spent the money it would be awkward to think otherwise.

You can judge for yourself. One of these sites uses the professional photos, one of them uses my photos.
www.cockettsholidaycottage.co.uk
www.cocketts.promotemyplace.co.uk

I don't think it's hard to tell.

If you are thinking of getting a professional photographer I'd say yes but I think you need to be careful to select a good one. Talk to few (or see how they reply to emails).

Good luck

Sheffield89
Wendy@NorthIdaho
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Post by Wendy@NorthIdaho »

The second link won't work for me, looks like you have a lovely place though and would like to see the other photos too.
Thanks,
Wendy
New Vacation Rental called DayStar Lodge! (Sold Narrows Cottage now have a rental management company called A-List Rental Management)
tavi
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Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:07 pm
Location: Algarve

Post by tavi »

no, I don't have professional photos and keep thinking I must do it.

I'm quite often told my photos don't do the place justice - particularly my studio which is much more spacious than it looks.

However, I'd rather exceed expectations than the opposite!

There are some tatty old studios in my resort listed on HL that have been photographed by professionals - the photos make them look enormous, bright, and modern - I can't help wondering what people think when they actually arrive!

Sorry, probably not helpful.

:)
Gordo
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Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 9:59 pm
Location: UK, Spain, Ireland

Post by Gordo »

I'm 100% for "Go Pro"... and staggered that such a high proportion of experienced owners haven't even bothered to try!

We went from ZERO bookings last year (aside from friends/family) to almost FULL occupancy from June-Sept this year. Absolutely nothing changed except we paid 90€ for a photographer. He put 100 pics on dropbox and within a couple of weeks of replacing all our online pics we got the first booking.. then came the reviews and then I suppose you're on a roll.

As the saying goes "you'll never get a second chance to make a first impression."

Bloke I used is a Murcia-based Spaniard, more than happy to recommend him to anyone around Costa Blanca South.
Sheffield89 wrote:We contacted a photographer who specialised in property photography. His meat and drink was, I think, taking photos to support estate agents
Same as our bloke - he was a Spanish agent

Go on do it... you know you want to :wink:

.
Happiness is a journey not a destination,
So work like you don’t need the money,
Love like you’ve never been hurt,
and Dance like no one’s watching…
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Nemo
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Location: Norfolk

Post by Nemo »

Gordo wrote:I'm 100% for "Go Pro"... and staggered that such a high proportion of experienced owners haven't even bothered to try!
Statistics - they are what you want to read into them. :wink: Of those that answered the poll, 12 people have used pro photographers and 15 have not. Are those 15 all "experienced" owners? No idea. High proportion? Definitely not; 27 people out of 7310 registered users? Just a snap shot of those that chose to answer the poll.

Me? Yes I have pro photos; has it increased my bookings, no; however it's made it more fun to market the properties. :)
arkvilla
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Post by arkvilla »

Lots of people tell me they love our photo's and booked because they were up to date and so they know what they will be getting.
insidestoryphoto
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Post by insidestoryphoto »

Just another thought on choosing a pro photographer: please make sure you use someone who genuinely specialises in property photography. Or even better, one who specalises in interiors. I meet so many owners who simply book their local general photographer to come and take photos of their holiday home and who invariably muck it up. A general photographer will spend much of their time photographing weddings and babies and rarely have the skills needed to handle rooms with space restrictions and awkward light sources. OK, I'm biased but photographers like myself spend every day doing nothing else but photographing property.
I also agree with a previous poster that styling the property plays a huge part too. Again a decent property or interior photographer really should do this for you, as well as provide suitable props.
Not all photographers are equal...!
www.insidestoryphotography.co.uk
Google Trusted Photographer for Google Virtual Tours
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

Gordo wrote: we paid 90€ for a photographer. He put 100 pics on dropbox

.
How much?? We can't even get our house cleaned for 90 Euros. How long did the photo shoot take? If I did it myself, I would be looking at the whole day.
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Jimbo
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Post by Jimbo »

kevsboredagain wrote:
Gordo wrote: we paid 90€ for a photographer. He put 100 pics on dropbox .
How much?? We can't even get our house cleaned for 90 Euros. How long did the photo shoot take? If I did it myself, I would be looking at the whole day.
90 euros/100 pix for a professional photo shoot - this is a joke, right? How could any pro photographer worthy of the name buy and maintain equipment, vehicle, insurances, computer, software, website (and all the rest) on such a pittance. I've just (happily) paid our local mower repair man more than that for servicing our leaf blower.

No wonder that ex-pro photographers end up stacking the shelves at Tesco! Gordo, if you're really 'on a roll' following the shooting of your property's publicity pix, you might consider sending your poor old snapper a bonus from the increased profits - otherwise s/he might be out of business the next time you come calling!
Jim
FelicityA
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Post by FelicityA »

I take my own photographs and deliberately do NOT use a wide angle lens because that would exaggerate the size of the rooms. The one thing I don't want to do is disappoint.

The comment I almost always get from those who mention it, on arrival is - "It's lovely - it looks exactly like the photographs!", almost with a surprised tone but also with a smiley face. This, with the fact that they are also saying the photographs sold it to them makes me a little complacent perhaps about paying for someone else to make a different approach.
ianthy
Posts: 522
Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:07 pm
Location: Bologna, Italy

Post by ianthy »

I used the Airbnb free service and then paid their photographer an extra €50 in Italy and 90aed or £20 for a set of 25 without the Airbnb logo that I could use on other sites. I think it maybe one of the best investments I have ever made. Not sure about others but I shop for holiday accommodation based on location, wide price band and then photos. I zip thru lots of listings and the photos need to catch my eye. From my perspective STR owner and guest the photos are very important.

Another good investment is re-drafting the text that goes with your listing. I had this done for £50 by a travel writer and saw an up kick in enquiries and bookings. The offer is the same but the words used are better than I could have drafted. I am not sure about the rules ref advertising here so I won't mention the service but if anyone wants the details then please PM me.

Thks
rosebud
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Post by rosebud »

I had photos taken by a Holiday Lettings photographer and they were really, really bad. In the end I think I deleted all of them!

My current ones were taken by a professional photographer who was a friend of a friend as a favour.

I didn't 'dress' anything or really think much about the pictures so need another set. My cottage rooms are small and my camera will only show about a third of any room - a wider lens is needed & I do intend to employ someone next year
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Jimbo
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Post by Jimbo »

FelicityA wrote:I take my own photographs and deliberately do NOT use a wide angle lens because that would exaggerate the size of the rooms. The one thing I don't want to do is disappoint.

The comment I almost always get from those who mention it, on arrival is - "It's lovely - it looks exactly like the photographs!", almost with a surprised tone but also with a smiley face. This, with the fact that they are also saying the photographs sold it to them makes me a little complacent perhaps about paying for someone else to make a different approach.
Jimbo sprinkles a little stardust and asks members to consider this scenario:

You ask a plumber to install a new kitchen sink in one of your gites (you've already examined and approved his 'previous work portfolio'). Just as he's about to crack on with the job, you say "Oh, there's one stipulation - you can't use a wrench."

"But", the plumber says, "a wrench is an essential tool in my kit. Without it, my work would likely be sub-standard, your gite guests and you would be unhappy and my hard-won professional reputation damaged. At least, let me use my wrench to ensure that the joints are watertight - if you then choose to loosen them again, that's up to you. I know that I'll have done my best work on your behalf."

"No" say you. "I'm the piper and I'm calling the tune". "No" says the plumber "I'm the professional here and I refuse to work with one hand tied behind my back. I decline the job. If you find somebody willing to undertake your work without an essential tool in their armoury, you can be sure that they're not a pro"

Jimbo sprinkles a little more stardust by asking members to substitute pro photographer for pro plumber ...
Jim
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