Table of Contents
- The Challenge and Opportunity of Real Estate Photography
- What Equipment You Need to Get Started
- Building Your Photography Business
- Digital Tools to Help You Grow
Are you looking for ways to grow your real estate photography business in 2024?
Even though the past two years have thrown more at you than in a lifetime with the current pandemic, it may be pushing you to take a leap of faith and start the photography business that you’ve been dreaming of.
In this post, we’ll share how to grow your real estate photography business in 2024 and explore the ways you can start building a sustainable, profitable, and scalable business.
Let’s start by discussing the challenge and opportunity of real estate photography.
The Challenge and Opportunity of Real Estate Photography
Many of the most successful businesses that you know started during a time of crisis.
For instance, well-known companies such as Microsoft, Airbnb, and Netflix began during recessionary times. The founders saw a problem and decided that they would take a chance and try to solve it.
And you can do the same!
When you’re considering what type of photography business to start, real estate photography has a lot of great benefits.
Firstly, you get to be your own boss and set your own schedule. Secondly, you don’t need a lot of capital or equipment to get started.
You can avoid crowds and essentially work on your own using just a DSLR camera, tripod, and possibly some external flashes.
And even though the economy is unstable right now, there continues to be a lot of movement in the real estate market.
In some areas, like Florida, it has exploded because people want to be able to be outside year-round because of Covid.
So, now is the perfect time to start your own real estate photography business! With that said, let’s take a look at what equipment you need to get started next.
What Equipment You Need to Get Started
Fortunately, getting started in the real estate photography business isn’t hard. To start out, all you need is a good digital SLR camera with a wide-angle lens and a tripod.
Your iPhone might work if you’re listing your car or bike on the Facebook Marketplace, but to be a professional real estate photographer, you’ll need to invest in quality photography equipment.
In addition, you’ll also need transport to be able to drive to the location to shoot. As well as a reliable internet connection to access all the digital tools you need and to stay in touch with clients.
We recommend that you start by doing a free shoot or two for a Realtor friend of yours.
Or make an offer to a local real estate agent to do some work for them – whatever it takes to start building a portfolio of work that you’re proud of and that showcases your talent.
Once you’ve built a portfolio, then you can start to do some marketing and grow your new business.
Building Your Photography Business
The first step in building your real estate photography business is to create a website or online portfolio that showcases your photography.
Keep it clean and simple, while showcasing your best work, your personality, and the area where you live and work.
With PhotoUp’s custom websites, you can build a website or online portfolio and have it up and running in no time. Also, make use of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to start marketing your business online.
On your social channels, you should keep it light and informative and try to build engagement.
Let people know who you are and what you do, but don’t overwhelm them with too much information or bombard them with salesy content.
Starting or joining Facebook Groups in your niche is a good way to engage with fans and followers and get eyeballs on your photography.
Digital Tools to Help You Grow
Once you are up and running, then you should start accessing all the digital tools that can help you scale and grow to become the best real estate photography business in your area.
Here are 3 suggestions to help with your productivity and the quality of your product:
1. Real Estate Photo Editing
You don’t need to spend time and money on buying and learning to use Photoshop and Lightroom. It’s faster, cheaper, and more efficient to set up an account with an outsourced editing provider like PhotoUp.
They have teams of photo editors on standby, ready to take your RAW photographs, edit them to match your style preferences and standards, and get them back to you within 24 hours (or less!).
That’s an incredible advantage and asset to your photography business.
A real estate photo editing partner lets you keep shooting and generating more work without having to manage the time and effort it takes to process photos.
Best of all, you can create a free PhotoUp account today and get 10 free edits as a welcome bonus!
2. Virtual Staging
This trend of using hi-res, digital furniture to transform the look of an empty property is sweeping the industry.
All you need to do is shoot clean, high-quality images of empty rooms. And then upload your photos to a team of editors who will furnish the room, fix the lighting, and provide a realtor with beautiful marketing material that they can use to showcase the listing.
PhotoUp’s virtual staging services start at only $25 per image and have a short turnaround time of 24 to 48 hours.
3. Single Property Websites
As a real estate photographer, you can do so much more than simply deliver images to your clients.
Take the time to learn how to build a single-property website for your clients that combines imagery, text, video, floor plans, and even a virtual 3D tour.
It’s a great service that is perfect for high-end properties and offers huge value and time savings for Realtors.
With a little bit of ingenuity and perseverance, you can set yourself up as a professional real estate photographer and carve out the kind of career you want.
As you can see, the digital tools that you need to succeed are just a click away.
Get started with PhotoUp today, and let our professional photo editors help grow your real estate photography business. Before you go, you may also want to check out the following resources:
- How to Build a Single Property Website
- How to Start a Career in the Real Estate Photography Business (in 2024)
- Adding More Services to Your Real Estate Photography Business
- Ways Real Estate Photography Outsourcing Can Help Grow Your Business
- 3 Reasons Why Virtual Staging Is a No-Brainer for Real Estate Photographers
