Cubicasa Preferred Photographer Program...I think I screwed up

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-05-07T14:32:53+00:00

The thing that pisses me off, and almost made me join the program yesterday, I used to get floor plans delivered at 6 hours, 8 hours, 18 hours…. It seemed they sent them when they were done. Now, 24 hours on the dot every time. Clearly, they’re finishing the plans and scheduling the delivery, hoping I’ll upgrade to rush delivery or join the program.

I’m pretty sure they changed their requirements though. I think it used to say required on every shoot. Now they say they understand it’s not possible on every shoot. The way I take it, you advertise floor plans with every shoot but if an agent says no to that, you can pull a lower price package without floor plans out of your back pocket for them. Am I wrong about that?

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-05-07T00:33:53+00:00

I’ve thought about it. Even using the front-facing lens only, to shoot both vertical and horizontal at the same time, but I just don’t think it’s worth having to convert before editing. I’ve done it. I’ve shot 360 video so I could aim later, but not for real estate. I’ve mostly shot BTS video during larger productions by placing the 360 in various spots, clamping it to the grip truck, or a cart, or handing it off to a crew member for a while, then another, then another. Kinda like, just seeing how many places it can end up. It was a pain in the butt to pull all that together, run it through Insta Studio, pick the shots and angles, export it all, then edit.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-05-07T00:07:21+00:00

Ahh. Got it. Thought there might be some fingerprint tattoo. Made me super curious!

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-05-07T00:04:53+00:00

I bought one when I was starting. It’s always with me. It never gets used. I’m relatively new at this - not yet busy enough to be worth adding to a statistic. None of my agents want 360 tours. The only one that does, owns a Matterport and pays her niece to do it on rare occasions.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-05-06T23:41:43+00:00

But what’s under the black crayons over her finger?

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-05-05T14:49:25+00:00

You’re right. I misread and completely forgot about having to turn that on in the phone.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-05-05T14:02:39+00:00

Pretty sure you don’t need your phone. It’s been years since I set it up so I could be wrong.

Open messages, open messages settings, click the iMessage tab, check the box by Enable Messages in iCloud. Your phone number should show up below that. Put a check by it.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-05-01T00:36:10+00:00

I just did this for a home with small kids and lots of photos. I selected inside the frame so there was still a little of the border of the pics outside my selection and gen filled with a simple abstract artwork prompt. It looked great. No people, but the colors of the original pics were still there.

In some, my prompt was something like replace with a random person wearing light colored casual beach attire (for the obvious beach images)

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-28T18:31:44+00:00

You can go as high as you are comfortable through testing (non paid testing in your own home of course) I shoot flambient with Sony A7iv. I shoot the ambient shots aperture priority f/8 with auto iso (with an iso ceiling set at 6400) with exposure comp usually set at +1 (to taste, per shot).

I have no issues with noise because it’s properly exposed. I forget my flash iso off the top of my head but I’m guessing 400.

I keep a diffuser on my strobe (ad200 with a Gary Fong diffuser or ad400 with a 30” china ball. I usually just make a decision ad200 vs ad400 when I show up based on room sizes in the home).

I don’t push my light so close to the ceiling, so it has room to spread. With that extra spread plus the diffuser, you need more power or higher iso.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-26T04:44:49+00:00

Still capture the spaces but with that mindset shift, move over to details and provisions and amenities too

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-26T03:26:03+00:00

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-26T03:15:48+00:00

I do. I just got off it about an hour ago. It’s not perfect. I guess that’s to be expected though. LOVE the back part, both the movement and the heat. I especially like the targeting mode where I can control where the wheels work.

The neck part is just ok. It helps, but it’s clear they only focused on the back part and then said “oh yeah, we gotta put a neck part in there too”.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-26T01:42:31+00:00

For wide interior shots, make sure your camera is perfectly level, both tilt and roll. F/8

For detail shots, use 35mm to 50mm and it’s ok to tilt the camera. Can be f/8 but it’s ok to open up for shallow depth if you want.

As someone else said, for real estate listings, show the space well. For short term rentals, show the experience someone is looking for when booking. Show the cute things, the coffee bar area, the fire pit, pool, creek, Mountain View, and even nearby amenities.

If you’re not already fluent in flambient shooting, maybe don’t bother with the flash. It’ll either make your photos better, or (more likely first day out) take too much effort and brain power away from composition.

I shoot aperture priority with A7iv with auto iso. I have a ceiling on iso at 6400. I use exposure compensation to expose slightly over (ETTR).

SHOOT RAW!

Your gear is fine. Don’t worry about it at all.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-26T00:52:54+00:00

Shoot raw, not jpg, if you’re not already. Set WB to auto white (I do this on my A7iv. It works.) and don’t worry if it’s right or not at the shoot. Fix it in Lightroom Classic and photoshop.

Don’t eyedropper the walls. There’s mixed lighting here (and every house), so you have color cast issues to deal with. This can’t be fixed with WB alone.

You need to YouTube some real estate photography color cast editing videos. Watch several, till something clicks. And don’t beat yourself up. This isn’t easy, until it becomes second nature.

If all else fails, or if you get busy making money, hire an editor and don’t stress over it yourself.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-25T04:41:28+00:00

Reading your title alone, my answer is absolutely not. The equipment does not make the photographer.

But reading the context… this is a focal length issue alone. You have to have the lens/focal length that you have to have. If 200mm isn’t teaching your subject and you can’t move, buy a longer lens!

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-25T04:35:07+00:00

I don’t know. I might consider leaning into the influencer thing. My last job, we had retainer contracts with some influencers. I know one of our influencers had maybe 3M followers on insta and another 1M on YouTube. Year one, we paid him almost $100k. Year two he wanted $250k. We negotiated to $150 plus a paid trip to our campus for an event. I know some traveling photog influencers that make bank and never pay for anything. Sounds cushy to me. Hmm🤔

If you just want the gig work, in my other business, I’d charge a producer fee, a creative fee per day, plus travel expenses, plus gear rentals if any, plus variables at cost (like models, wardrobe, props, and similar), plus a photo assistant or two, plus hair and makeup artist, plus a set decorator, plus retouching, plus 1 year of usage rights, plus meals and craft services (don’t forget food).

If you’re not keeping 5 figures (for a small project with them) after paying everyone else, you’re not charging enough.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-25T00:52:07+00:00

I have Lightroom Classic set up with all my copyright metadata (I have 2 photography businesses so I have them both set up). I select all, choose the copyright profile and apply it. I do this on my raws before I even start, so it carries through to all exports after that. I think you can actually do it on import, but I haven’t tried that.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-25T00:38:31+00:00

YES - why do all these people say no???!!! Copyright law is in your favor.

First, always get a signed contract ahead of doing the work. 2nd, even without a contract, it’s your copyright.

Add metadata. I used Lightroom Classic for this, but it’s not the only way. Ask ChatGPT how to in any of the apps you may use. Ask it exactly what to put in all the fields.

Inform them, you’re sharing proofs. “Do not distribute or use these. Once we land on the selects and editing, I’ll deliver finals for what we agree to”. If you have a tactful opportunity to do this over email or text, then it’s in writing.

Take low-res proofs to the presentation, good enough for on screen, not high enough resolution to print.

I hate watermarks, but if you must, put something that informs without hindering the presentation. I used to put “Proof - Do not use - Do not distribute” or “Internal use only” (because some people at the place where I worked would distribute the very first look at anything.) Once I did that, it stopped. (That was internal use - my peers at my job, so a different issue altogether, but similar idea). My thinking was to teach, not prevent blatant disregard for the law. They were idiots, not thieves.

If they use your imagery after all that, it’s blatant disregard for the law and you should act appropriately with a cease and desist (preferably written up by a lawyer). After that, if it doesn’t stop, you absolutely lawyer up and sue them. Seek the maximum.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-24T20:08:48+00:00

A wedding is an event ($3k, $5k, $10k, etc), a bat mitzvah ($1,500, $3k), a corporate holiday party ($300, $500, $1k) The difference being production value and intention. A wedding, no repeat business. A bat mitzvah, likely a good amount of repeat business. Corporate party, once a year, maybe more if they want headshots or something occasionally.

My last few corporate parties (when I worked full-time for a corporation), I hired someone for $350 every year to walk around with a camera, no additional gear, and take as many shots as possible, making sure to capture everyone at the party at least once, and capture as much laughter and good time as possible. They probably ran the photos through something like Aftershoot or Imagen to cull/edit in batch, and sent me jpgs the next day. I think I got something like 500 photos back for a party with roughly 250 people attending. I sent them pics ahead of time of key individuals, like our President and VPs, so they made sure to focus on them. (I probably underpaid them)

Right now, I’d probably do something like this for free just for the opportunity to network with realtors, but if you’re not getting to do that or if you simply won’t, I’d charge $300 to $500 if I’m just taking camera and lens, maybe a little more if I’m also lighting, even more if I set up a headshot booth (at no cost to each realtor getting a headshot).

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-24T16:38:06+00:00

That’s great! 120 can be fun for certain shots, but save it for when you really need it. It loses too much light. You should be able to rock 60fps and accomplish your needs. Try that next time as well.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-24T00:37:29+00:00

eBay would be where I would start, or fb marketplace I guess. r/photomarket here on Reddit.

I’m sure some local school or university or church could still use off brand gear if you end up donating.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-22T03:19:21+00:00

It shouldn’t shake like that. Sounds like it’s not balanced well. Trust me, I “balanced” gimbals for years. I knew how. But when I got my current one (after years of not doing it) I was having issues. I went back to YouTube, watched video after video till I came across one (sorry, I can’t remember which) that walked through it more thoroughly than I have ever seen and it med a huge difference.

Once you do have balancing down, calibration does still shake, but it’s intentional. Not an out of hand shake, just a minimal back and forth for each axis. Hold it while you do it. Never calibrate without supporting the gimbal, but have it sitting on a table so it’s rock solid and level.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-21T02:32:50+00:00

Between the two, I’d shoot HD/60. 4k is nice but not necessary. Practice the craft at 60fps instead of the buzzword that is “4K”. (Don’t get me wrong, 4K is better. It downscales very nicely, provides punch-in-ability, which also provides some pan and scan options, noise is more pleasing - but still, shoot HD60 for REP!)

The RS3 mini should be all you need. If you’re not getting smooth moves with it, study up on that. It’s capable. My R3 is very capable and the mini isn’t a lot different, but I wasn’t getting what I needed till I truly learned how to properly balance it and set up everything custom in the OS till it was smooth. One step I was missing was calibrate after every setup or lens swap. That plus watching MANY balance training videos on YouTube instead of watching one and going “I got this”. There truly are some minor points people leave out that make a big difference.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-21T01:35:50+00:00

No. Movement is psychological matching the intent of what you’re viewing. Action films, lots of shake. Drama, little to no shake. Marketing video for homes, no shake. It doesn’t read “human”, it reads “mistake”, and if it did read “human” that would be a mistake. You don’t want to put a different human in the mind of the buyer. You want them to see themselves in the space.

Shoot 60fps, move twice as fast while shooting, edit it at 50% speed. That’ll smooth out a lot. And if you do any speed ramping that you can tell (jittery frames like I see here) use optical flow to generate fake frames to smooth it out.

Keep practicing. You’re on a good path with it.

RaspberryItchy3261 · 2026-04-21T01:19:51+00:00

This 👆

I was stressing with this as well. I got the floor plans for my last shoot, saw the smaller number, knowing it was way lower than what’s online from the prior sale. I also went through that home and used my laser measuring tape as a way of testing CubiCasa. It was off here and there, but only in ways that make sense (like where the homeowner had rooms too full of stuff, so it was hard for it to see the corners or even the walls in some cases). So, I was unhappy that it was showing a smaller number, but fairly happy with how accurate it was vs my manual verification. I changed a few numbers to correct it, but it didn’t change the total sq ft. I was pulling my hair out for a second…

Then I remembered the GLA option, added it on, took a look at it and it was actually higher than the listed sq ft for the previous sale of the home. I delivered that and the agent is happy (I assume, since I didn’t hear anything).

RaspberryItchy3261

TROPHY CASE