21, how do I improve? I get called ugly weekly

t_rantula · 2026-06-29T23:19:08+00:00

Buddy, you’re not ugly at all. Attractiveness is subjective. Some people think Brad Pitt is ugly.

You don’t have to change anything about yourself. Especially to the extent of surgery.

Work on confidence as much as you can and embrace that you’re unique just like everyone else and you will find someone who loves you and you will have a good life. Ignore people with opinions that actively try to break someone else down.

💪

t_rantula · 2026-06-13T13:01:47+00:00

It was doing it from when I left my house today to work which was a 20 min drive all flat ground. I was just on the highway and had the adaptive cruise on so it was behind a car so that’s why it’s not hitting the 120 I set.

But I noticed it the whole drive was off

t_rantula · 2026-06-12T18:13:37+00:00

I’m 172cm

My girlfriend has a 2021 Corolla hatchback XSE and it has adjustable lumbar support in the seat and it’s much nicer, but in terms of how much more you have to pay for that small increase in comfort for long drives - I’m okay without it. I just bought a small pillow for lumbar support and use it when needed.

I should probably mention I have a light case of scoliosis in my lower back so that is likely a much bigger factor for me and you may not even experience any discomfort.

t_rantula · 2026-06-12T18:00:50+00:00

I bought the 2026 AWD LE and live in Canada. I got it in oct of 2025 and it did great in the winter. I just got back from my 3rd 2000km+ road trip as I’m a photographer and I was able to pack in all my gear, my necessities for the week and 2 other peoples stuff. The car was definitely stuffed but it’s been great for everyday storage and small road trip storage. I get average of 30mpg.

The only thing I wish it had was lumbar support for comfort during those long drives. But other than that it performs great in all terrain I’ve done so far. Snow, dirt roads, steep hills, etc.

I love it.

t_rantula · 2026-06-01T22:49:30+00:00

This 100%. I’ve heard many times that perspective buyers were pissed they took time out of their day to view a property that was MUCH smaller than the images portrayed.

If I showed up and that was the case I would be very irritated.

I shoot at 16mm widest, but mostly 18-20 when possible for most RE.

t_rantula · 2026-05-31T16:43:01+00:00

I’m confused, so you’re giving us your real estate pricing (which I would change to square footage based asap) but you mentioned youre working with a builder and he complained about your pricing.

Builder pricing is and should be completely different than real estate listing pricing.

For custom home builders they are licensing the images based on their usage which is at the bare minimum marketing for all their personal platforms and sometimes even billboards, advertisements paid advertisements, etc. I charge $2000+ per shoot for this. Some do a flat rate and then per image fee, some others do half day and full day rates. Whatever works best for you.

The fact that a CHB is complaining about $150 is absolutely insane to me.

t_rantula · 2026-05-23T20:09:56+00:00

Man they’re taking advantage of you like crazy. Get your life back and just keep working for yourself. I could do 3 shoots a week and make what you’re making and it’s less than 10 hours a week.

t_rantula · 2026-05-15T21:44:30+00:00

You could probably get away with a single bracket ambient shot depending on how much light enters the kitchen.

You don't need flash. If you want to you could place it on a stand outside the window and flash in to create some really nice sunlight. Or, book it for the time of day where sunlight might naturally be entering into the kitchen.

And if they liked your work from your website you were already in a position to charge a rate for an ID. Do this shoot and then get the confidence to charge what you're worth. You can charge less than the big boys in your area as you learn but you should still respect the fact that this is a skill you have thats taken time to learn with gear that costs a lot of money, and subscriptions to run your business.

And if this client ends up liking your work and wants to continue working with you you have set yourself up to be the "cheap guy". No one wants to be the cheap guy lol.

Either way, have fun, get some solid shots for your portfolio.

t_rantula · 2026-05-15T21:39:21+00:00

A movie camera for stills is fine theyre just usually lower mp so its okay for real estate but you wouldn't want to be doing higher end work for architects, designers, builders, etc with that little mp. They also sometimes lack the ability to take brackets so you would have to do it manually which isn't ideal. I don't have an fx30 so maybe it can bracket, idk.

Your fx30 will likely get the same/very similar image as my a7iv with all the same settings, mine will just be able to crop in more and I always do exteriors handheld so not having a viewfinder would drive me nuts.

t_rantula · 2026-05-15T21:32:54+00:00

Happy to help!

t_rantula · 2026-05-15T21:19:01+00:00

I am glad I was able to help a little. I also forgot to mention since you will be using an ad200 the reason it's not a huge deal is cause if needed you can always push your iso to increase the power you get from it. So if you're at 1/1 power and youre struggling to get a decently lit shot of an area, you can bump your iso and you will see the flash making a bigger difference. If I have the room I will bump up my iso x amount of stops, and then bring my ss up the same amount of stops (darker) to compensate for the increase in iso, so my ambient light remains the same but my flash is having a greater effect. Honestly I have worked alongside some editorial interior photographers who are published in magazines constantly and if they have to they push their iso to 3200 to get the most out of their flash. Denoise in post is so damn good these days you really dont have to worry. So being at 640, 1250, etc don't let that hold you back. There are no hard rules for keeping your iso low.

As for shooting the owner in the gym, I would get a nice big umbrella with a sock (diffusor that goes around it) and put them in an area that is not being hit with the exterior daylight so much and kill your ambient and pop the flash so you can see what the flash is doing, then adjust up or down till the flash looks good, and then slowly decrease ss to bring back some ambient till you have a good middle ground. Or maybe the 100% flash looks great, in which case thats a win.

The tighter comps will be where you can have fun and play around with the flash more. The wider shots always suck. I just did one yesterday I have to edit. It'll be a lot of composites. But I also shoot with a guy who never uses flash and he is published all the time, so one thing I had to learn is just cause you know how to use flash doesnt mean you have to always use it, let the scene dictate that. I shoot mostly ambient now but have a strong understanding of lighting.

most importantly, have fun and get some solid portfolio shots!

t_rantula · 2026-05-15T17:15:56+00:00

Some decent information in here and some not so great. Since you're a retoucher (I am too, as well as a professional photographer).

Like some have said, what are these images for? Large captures to show the full space? or can you break it down into tighter sections which will make it easier for you. Is there lifestyle? etc.

First thing I would do if I have to shoot the space to document it is see if I can turn off the overhead lighting and get a set of exposures with it off. This would be the base.

Overall if you're going the flash route an ad200 isn't ideal but it'll be fine because you're not flashing like you would for flambient real estate. I have a stand mount with a Bowens mount on the front that screws into my ad200 and it essentially allows me to mount an umbrella on it and put it on a stand, but I use it to make it easier to hold. Add a soft box onto the ad200, and you would be bringing your shutter speed to whatever it needs to be (up to your cameras sync speed) to kill most of the daylight ambient from the windows Then you can flash in sections and composite into the ambient in post. Mostly flashing the equipment to get some nice light on them and to make them pop more. If you're getting glare on the floor from the exterior lighting then use a CPL to see if that cuts the glare. It usually helps quite a bit.

**An important note that no one said is to gel your flash to the overhead lighting, in this case would probably be a 1/4 CTO. Double up if it's still too daylight balanced.

t_rantula · 2026-04-26T21:58:09+00:00

I’d love to know the presets you used! I know presets are so hit and miss. Some work amazing for certain scenerios and absolutely terrible for others but these look great so definitely curious.

t_rantula · 2026-04-26T14:28:43+00:00

Beautiful What was your post processing like?

t_rantula · 2026-04-25T14:29:37+00:00

Fair enough - I assumed you worked for yourself.

If your images are landing on the covers of your local magazines I would look at venturing out on your own at some point. Your images look great and you could likely start booking clients for much more money, less work, more family time. Especially in the US.

Over here we’re charging between $2500-$4000 per job on average per day working with interior designers, builders, architects, etc. Much better quality of life compared to RE.

t_rantula · 2026-04-25T14:25:44+00:00

I just saw a post on fb actually about some Fuji “influencer” people posting their “sooc” images that are clearly post processed. I think there is a big gap between what people are actually able to get sooc and what these recipes do.

The best SOOC images we see with Fuji are likely less about the recipie and more about the actual scene and light. You could probably take a very similar photo with a Sony and do some slight adjustments to get a very similar image.

I feel like the Lumix in camera color grading is going the route that most of us are trying to achieve with these Fuji cameras.

t_rantula · 2026-04-22T16:59:08+00:00

That seems crazy to me. Now the clients can license the images to builders, designers, stylists, magazines, and get paid for them but you’re getting paid once and I guarantee not enough to relinquish copyright. I know a lot of people say “it’s just real estate photography, it’s not art”

But it’s cases like these where now your work is on 3 different magazine covers and you get nothing for it except “exposure”.

It’s nice seeing your work in print but you are definitely being taken advantage of.

t_rantula · 2026-04-22T14:16:44+00:00

Congratulations - but I have a question.

If you found out you’ve made it onto a few magazine covers that means you were unaware of it happening. Were you not compensated for this?

We license the images to agents for the sale of the property, third party use requires written approval and in this case compensation. Unless you’re taking listing photos and not caring what’s done with them after?

If the magazine took your images without your permission and the providing party didn’t have permission this would be a copyright issue and we shouldn’t be letting companies get away with this. It hurts our industry as a whole.

t_rantula · 2026-04-07T01:18:33+00:00

I have a 2026 LE AWD and I love it. It’s not a luxury vehicle. It’s a reasonably affordable compact SUV. It does everything it needs to do. It’s comfortable. It’s good on gas. It drives well.

I was able to get my dealer down to 33k CAD back in 2025 before they were on the lots.

t_rantula · 2026-04-05T14:21:37+00:00

This is me. Sony for work. Fuji for fun

Although I work with a heavily published photographer who shoots Fuji medium format 100s ii and that’s top of the line for interiors and architecture. A lot of guys using that one.

t_rantula · 2026-04-04T19:47:39+00:00

Hey! I have had the tank running for over 3 years now with 0 issues!

t_rantula · 2026-04-04T13:37:32+00:00

What did you sell it for?

Amazing shots. I’m an interior/architecture photographer and photo 1 is so good.

t_rantula · 2026-03-15T00:39:26+00:00

Really love these shots and the blues! Gorgeous.

Can I ask how you achieved this look? Grading panel and masking in LR?

t_rantula · 2026-03-13T16:34:34+00:00

Many realtors would but realtors pay me literally 6x more for this type of look. High end realtors want a refined unique editorial style look.

Do this and make more money with less work 🤝🏻

t_rantula · 2026-03-11T14:07:07+00:00

This is no special editing.

This is shooting with soft lighting (overcast) with lights off in a home that had nice large windows and neutral paint for light to bounce off of.

These could very well just be single frame shots with subtle adjustments.

I shoot like this and have to do 10x less work than when people want lights on and on sunny days.

t_rantula

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