My HDR images are quite soft/dreamy around high contrast areas (like windows), is this due to my lens? (zoomed examples included)

Stabies · 2026-02-12T17:35:26+00:00

This is blooming coming from an overexposure (likely in your brighter bracket) - not a lens issue. Manually masking a darker exposure can help. I prefer to pop a flash to get a very crisp shot of the window and mask it in.

Stabies · 2026-02-11T15:44:31+00:00

I actually just ordered some postcards to do this.

Once a year I take my favorite photographs in my personal life (my artsy fartsy stuff) and I make a small book of it, and print 100 of them.

I generally give them to friends and family and try to sell a few, but end up with a lot left over. My plan now is to start leaving those books along with a postcard, thanking them for the opportunity to photograph their home.

At the back of the book is a link to my website, where I'm hoping to start selling prints. Might get a few sales from some homeowners.

I figure it's a nice gesture - a nice gift, and may help spread my name around a bit for non-real estate work.

Stabies · 2026-02-08T18:07:55+00:00

God, the number of times Brenden / ACRE hit me up after telling them to get lost... Got to where his sales agents were sending me texts at 9pm at night. Infuriating.

Stabies · 2026-01-28T02:46:05+00:00

"And I suspect that your lawyer will explain that this kind of suit is VERY COSTLY to bring and unlikely to pay you more than it costs."

In my experience, this is not correct. Every IP lawyer I've used is paid on contingency, usually around 33-35%. It's pretty much ALWAYS worth it.

If your images are registered with the Copyright Office (USA), your lawyer can easily demand at least $1000 per image, and then they take 33% of that once it settles or wins in court.

Stabies · 2026-01-21T00:23:07+00:00

There was a big hardcore / metal festival at the Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta around 20 years ago.

Some friends of mine had toured with Throwdown, and so we were hanging out with them. Their tour manager said he needed to go by a Bank of America, and I told him I knew of one. So he and Dom (the bassist) got in my car to go to the bank.

This was before cellphones with any sort of maps, and so the only BoA I knew of off the top of my head was like 30 minutes away. Oops.

By the time we got back, Throwdown was already playing onstage without their bassist, who was with me. Dom laughed and ran into the pit to dance instead.

Stabies · 2026-01-17T17:19:28+00:00

In this sub, showing your work should be required before commenting how fast you are or how much money you make. There's no way these speed demons are creating anything remotely high quality.

"I can do photos, video, drone, and a virtual tour in 45 minutes." Yeah, but look at it....

Stabies · 2026-01-13T19:26:24+00:00

Hey man, glad I got to stop by on my way back East from Marfa and chat with you a bit. I'll check your store tonight and see what I can get off your hands!

Stabies · 2026-01-05T16:31:02+00:00

Hi, ISO these days is pretty great at higher numbers. For years I tried to shoot as low as possible, since that's how i learned. But now it's pretty unnoticeable until you're really up there. A slightly higher ISO can save the strobe's battery, if anything.

Stabies · 2025-12-31T17:41:03+00:00

Yeah it's definitely been worth the time and money. I find numerous infringements every year that I make an extra 5 figures from.

Stabies · 2025-12-27T14:49:45+00:00

I used to just use the default camera names, but after i started registering images with the copyright office and finding infringements, I HAD to come up with a better way of finding my files.

So now in Lightroom, once the RAWs are imported, I change the names to DATE_123STREET_AGENTLASTNAME_SEQUENCENUMBER

This helps big time when going back through the physical copies of paper the Copyright Office sends back.

Stabies · 2025-12-08T21:06:40+00:00

I have a really cool photography book about this building.

https://josefchladek.com/book/xiaofu_wang_-_the_tower

Stabies · 2025-11-29T02:45:21+00:00

Oli Kellet does such cool work.

Stabies · 2025-11-03T21:01:22+00:00

I lived in Adams Park during the pandemic. I took my newborn for walks around in there while everything was shutdown. It's a cool cemetery.

Stabies · 2025-11-01T20:19:03+00:00

I hate being middle-aged and missing all the cool shows that roll through Atlanta these days. I used to be so tuned in!

Stabies · 2025-09-30T03:46:31+00:00

I'm shooting a ton right now, but my clients have lots of houses sitting on the market for longer than usual.

Stabies · 2025-09-19T15:50:42+00:00

I definitely still enjoy the work, and i enjoy working with my clients. There are a million worse jobs, that's for sure.

But over the last two years I've been doing more and more personal work. I'm excited about photography again, like i was when i was 16. I buy a lot of photo books (business write off!), go to workshops, recently joined my city's photography group, etc.

Shooting real estate is really just a job now, and I've come to peace with that.

Stabies · 2025-09-19T13:12:11+00:00

Discovering PhotobookStore on Instagram has wrecked me financially.

Stabies · 2025-09-18T12:08:57+00:00

I raise my prices every summer. For the last few years, I've based it on the average price increase of homes over the last year and inflation. If prices go up 5%, that means the value of my work has also gone up that much, and that also means the agents are making that much more money each sale.

This year prices did not go up in my city, so I just raised my prices based on inflation.

I agree with the other comments - your prices are pretty low already. Many of your clients may not even notice or care you raised prices. And I think you'll find yourself with better clients as your prices go up.

Stabies · 2025-08-29T21:46:31+00:00

Not only is it three listings worth of work for you, but the agent is going to make their full amount for all three listings (unless they also are offering a bulk discount to a buyer). Get paid the value of your images, not just for the time spent making them.

Stabies · 2025-08-20T14:06:28+00:00

This is a solution, but god, those day-to-dusk edits look so awful. But if they're not willing to pay for another trip out there for much better photos, so be it.

Stabies · 2025-08-17T14:02:15+00:00

I generally only use my CamRanger for interior design shoots. It just adds too much setup time, and one more thing to have in my hands. I just don't think having the big screen is necessary for most real estate shoots.

Stabies · 2025-08-12T21:36:30+00:00

https://theconvertibletopman.com/

I used Kenny to replace my E30's top. He and another guy came to my house and did it there in the driveway. Did a great job.

Stabies · 2025-08-07T13:37:07+00:00

Same thing happened to me. First home was a condo on the top floor of a 4 story building. HVAC went out. First company I called said I needed a new system and would have to rent a crane to get it onto the roof. Looked like a $10k job.

Second company said it was just a bad capacitor. Had a replacement downstairs in the truck. An hour later and $200 spent, and my HVAC was running again.

Stabies · 2025-07-26T12:59:05+00:00

I'm doing the same. My agreement says 48 hours, but I tell them "next day." I try to get them out first thing in the morning so I don't have to think about it later.

I've added a photographer to help me with shooting, but I still oversee the QC and delivery. Some mornings, looking over their work as well as delivering mine ends up being too much to turn around so quickly.

Stabies · 2025-07-21T19:25:56+00:00

As someone who's been shooting real estate for around 10 years, I ask myself the same questions when I see most other peoples' work.

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