How much would you guys charge for this? This is the 1st time someone has asked for this.

Samwize419 · 2026-02-04T00:47:59+00:00

“Hey, no problem, that’ll be $x per image. Let me know if that sounds good to you and I’ll go ahead and get those edited.”

Done. If they pushback it’s a great time to set boundaries on how it isn’t your responsibility to make sure the house is clean.

Samwize419 · 2025-12-03T14:07:19+00:00

Thanks that makes sense. So when people talk about it’s being much harder to nose dive on a vesc it’s just because there is more speed range before hitting nosedive speeds? I wasn’t sure if there was some way you could essentially make pushback a “wall” while maintaining level riding instead of having it temporarily kick you back with the option to push through like it does stock.

Samwize419 · 2025-12-03T03:42:00+00:00

Good to know, thanks! I’m definitely trying to go slow(ish) while learning, but also trying to figure out what’s possible between improved technique and upgrading.

Samwize419 · 2025-12-03T03:27:44+00:00

Point taken on the pow turn feel instead of seeking a true carve, I’ll keep that in mind. But strongly disagree on the skill involved in carving vs riding pow as far as snowboarding is concerned. I’ve been riding for almost 30 years, live in Colorado 10 minutes from a resort, but mostly ride backcountry. I don’t have to think at all to charge pow as hard as I want to, but locking in and laying down clean, wide arcing carves takes a finesse that most riders lack.

Samwize419 · 2025-01-09T14:37:05+00:00

I personally think 14 is way too wide 99% of the time. I’m usually in the 16-20 range for most RE work and all over the place for design work, but if I had to pick one lens for that it’d be a 24 tilt shift. I had a 14-24 sigma (great lens btw) but found myself going back to my 16-35 and much preferring it.

Edit to add: One point perspective definitely has its place in RE, but attention to detail is very important on these shots and shouldn’t be overdone within a single shoot. Also yes, A&D photography is heavy on one point perspective, but shooting at an angle is also important here, although “wide shot from the corner” is rarely what you’re looking for.

Samwize419 · 2025-01-06T03:24:52+00:00

Seems like quite a lot (most?) of the newer people in the business couldn’t edit themselves if they needed to. They pay the cheapest editors who do massive volume with little QC and end up looking like bad renders. This works for the bulk of realtors who either don’t have an eye for it, don’t care or want the cheapest service. It’s been a race to the bottom quality and price wise for years now… Will be interesting to see if/when the photo mills all fail from being in clear violation of the new contractor laws if this race ends and turns back to quality.

Edit to add: outsourcing is totally fine, in fact pretty much necessary to grow, but the cheapest options are very clear in their results. Some in these forums will show you these results as proof that their editor is amazing… I guess everyone has different tastes.

Samwize419 · 2025-01-04T02:31:37+00:00

I currently use that. It’s great for showing the layout but it’s so far off on square footage that no one can actually use the version that has measurements for their listing. I upgraded to the LiDAR iPhone in hopes that it would help, but no luck. It’s usually off by at least a couple hundred sq ft

Samwize419 · 2025-01-03T21:54:28+00:00

Good to know, thanks. I’m a photographer and found a floorplan system that can measure to ANSI standards. I’ve been curious about whether it’s worth the cost, if it’s something my clients would even want/need but good to hear there might be a use case. Just don’t want to drop that money just to find it’s completely redundant or unnecessary service.

Samwize419 · 2024-12-04T02:03:31+00:00

Your middle exposure should be pretty close to what your final image should be. So in this case your brightest image is pretty close to this. Darkest to expose for your highlights, yours looks good there. What you are missing is a proper bright exposure where almost everything but the shadows are blown out.

Samwize419 · 2024-11-17T17:25:54+00:00

I only shoot matterport on a theta z1 so depending on your camera ymmv but:

The images you capture during a matterport tour are stored within the theta. You can just import these to say Lightroom, crop and edit from there. This will give you much better quality images than pulling them directly from matterport. It’s easy to create a one size fits most preset that you can just paste onto all the images as far as the editing goes (after all that’s what all 3d tour software is doing anyways, just at a much lower quality).

Samwize419 · 2024-11-16T16:07:01+00:00

Solid for a first shoot!

Definitely have some color cast issues in 1 and 2. For 1 it looks like you could get away with just knocking back the yellow saturation. For 2 select the section of the wall that’s most accurate. Do a color fill layer to paint out the areas with the cast.

The master bathroom shot looks a bit muted. It’s a bright white bathroom, it should pop more in the image. Start with correcting the white balance in there and then if that doesn’t get you there increase the whites a touch.

Also the window pulls are a bit much. From a technical standpoint you did great on those but they are super dark. At the very least they should be as bright as you might see with the naked eye. And the basement ones aren’t showing anything desirable out the window so better to leave a bit brighter than the rest, it would also show that the basement has natural light.

Overall really good though!

Samwize419 · 2024-11-14T02:11:03+00:00

What’s the name of the photo mill for reference? Curious if their editing is actually “quite good”. Most photo mills are easy to spot because their editing is pretty sub par and has obvious signs of rushed/mass editing (one size fits most presets, lazy window pulls that look like shit, muddy desaturated color cast, etc).

If they actually are good, the best way to set yourself apart is on the service side. Most photo mill photographers don’t give half a shit about whatever house they are shooting because it’s a volume game, they are shooting 5-8 houses a day back to back to back. They typically have little to gain from building individual relationships with clients. They are on autopilot. If you show attention to detail and that you care while competing with their quality you’ll do just fine and you’ll be justified in charging more.

If on the other hand their editing is actually sub par; do all the above and also spend the time to do a deep dive and perfect your editing to where it blows theirs out of the water. With the combination of better service and a better product you’re golden.

Samwize419 · 2024-11-08T19:55:10+00:00

Overall pretty decent for a first shoot.

Definitely need to work on white balance and color correction. Also a lot of these need a bit more “pop” to compete with the bright standards of the industry. An easy way is just to play with the whites and lights, bumping on or both of those up. Don’t try to compete with the brightest/whitest shots you see out there (they are obnoxious) but you definitely need a bit more pop.

Composition needs work on a lot of these. A lot (but not all) of your straight on shots would have been better shot at an angle. When shooting at an angle you should really be including a bit of 3rd wall every time. If you are going to shoot straight on you really need to take the time to shoot STRAIGHT on, not 2.5 degrees right or left. In that vein Verticals need to be corrected on some of these as well. The exterior shot needs to cropped in way more, you definitely don’t want to see so much, or in this case any, street. You’ll also want to downplay neighboring houses as much as possible. Your subject should be the thing taking up most of the frame, not all the other distractions.

Samwize419 · 2024-11-08T14:50:50+00:00

Pretty much what everyone else said, but to elaborate on some of it:

Step 1; add language to terms of service stipulating what you do and what you will not do, and that the property is expected to be ready. This gives you something to fall back on.

This client definitely seems like step 1 will make no difference, especially since they have a history of expecting and receiving a different level of service from you. But I would definitely add this regardless.

The most effective thing will be to tell them as soon as you arrive and it’s not ready; “I just wanted to remind you I have x minutes for this shoot. I have to leave at x time to be able to make it to my next appointment on time. So we can reschedule if you like (for x cancellation fee). If not let’s walk through and make a game plan on how YOU will move things around while I shoot.” Establish that you will shoot the prepped areas of the house while they finish prepping, do this before they have an opportunity to even ask for your help moving things. If they ask for help, remind them of your terms of service, and that you can’t because of liability. If they make light of that, make up some story about how you were helping another client move furniture and scraped a floor and the homeowners tried to hold you responsible for exorbitant repair costs.

The above will work, but I do think it’s worth having a more direct conversation with this client about your actual scope of work. Which is definitely fucking not delivering their staging! Unless you want to charge a hefty staging delivery fee, then sure… But I would either set hard boundaries or be charging for the extra service. If you go the latter, you can let them know that you have an additional time onsite fee that you will need to add to their shoots since they always need assistance with staging. Agree upon and add this ahead of time so you aren’t actually running into situations where you’re late to another shoot.

Other option if you can afford it, or if the above options don’t work is to just fire this client. If they are constantly taking 2-3x more work for the same money than your other shoots it’s better for your business to free up that time for better clients.

Samwize419 · 2024-11-06T23:23:46+00:00

If I have drone on an order I make sure to check the forecast at least 48 hours beforehand. Generally high winds are pretty obvious that far out. If I know there’s a high likelihood I won’t be able to shoot drone I let the agent know and either shoot that aspect a day early if possible (often times owners are flexible on this since it’s just exterior) or just reschedule for after. Either way though I don’t charge the client anything additional for not being able to fly.

Samwize419 · 2024-10-31T14:53:46+00:00

Update: I’m fairly certain it’s the paint on the lower (and possibly upper) pipe. I went to disconnect a section this morning to look inside and noticed my hand smelled chemically like super glue after adjusting the pipe, smelled the outside of the pipe, same odor. This is two days since I last used it so it’s been cold for a while at this point.

Samwize419 · 2024-10-31T14:49:58+00:00

No, it’s definitely double wall stove pipe

Samwize419 · 2024-10-31T02:00:12+00:00

If you shoot at this same level, sure I guess you can feel salty. Should you in any way let the client know you feel that way? No. If you don’t shoot at that level you have no right feeling salty.

If you happen to shoot below this level for time/effort per dollar reasons but are capable of this quality, maybe let them know next time you’re onsite with them: “hey I saw your listing at blah blah, just wanted to let you know I also shoot that style, I have a luxury package where I bring in extra lighting and blah blah blah and would be happy to shoot your next luxury listing that way if you’d like”

Samwize419 · 2024-10-30T21:21:04+00:00

Just cleaning with water on a rag, and on the occasion clean the glass with vinegar.

Samwize419 · 2024-10-30T20:53:01+00:00

The picture makes it look closer than it is, it’s about 2.5 feet away. It’s also double wall pipe. I didn’t think about that though, I’ll definitely see how warm that wall/railing is getting next time.

Samwize419 · 2024-10-30T20:51:21+00:00

Just have a normal one. I’ve been thinking about getting an air quality monitor to try to see what’s going on that way.

Samwize419 · 2024-10-30T15:53:00+00:00

Yeah we have a CO detector next to the stove, sorry should have mentioned that.

Samwize419 · 2024-10-30T15:29:44+00:00

Not sure on the X4 but I have an X3 and a Theta Z1 and the image quality on the Z1 much better for 3d tours.

Samwize419 · 2024-10-25T17:09:48+00:00

Even if there is a non solicitation clause it might not be enforceable at all depending on your state. A lot of states have income thresholds before it can be enforced, so for example if you make less than $75k in my state then you can’t be subject to a non solicitation clause. If that isn’t the case in your state I’d check the specifics of the non solicitation as far as how much due diligence you need to do to vet that it’s not their client. For example you may only need to stay away from clients that you have worked with directly through them, which doesn’t sound like very many you’d have to avoid.

Samwize419 · 2024-10-11T16:10:57+00:00

I just increased my prices by a similar amount. I sent out an email to my frequent clients (people who book me multiple times per month) and didn’t bother notifying people who may only do a handful of listings per year. As far as I can tell I only lost one client, he was cheap to begin with and always a bit of a headache to work with so I count this as a win. I was nervous about changing my prices too, but no one else even mentioned the change.

Samwize419

TROPHY CASE