Creative by nature, and ambitious by virtue, to remain viable today’s professional real estate photographers must always be looking to expand their reach and increase services. Blame it on smartphones and the internet if you want, but for most professional photographers the days of portrait studios and walk-in customers are long gone.
The modern real estate photographer must be nimble and diverse to stay afloat financially. Consequently, rather than specializing in a niche, many talented photographers now fill their calendars shooting a variety of topics like weddings, events, youth sports, portfolios, portraits, and product photography.
Increasingly, many are also learning to blend their photography skills with other forms of multimedia ranging from film and video, production, editing, and audio. Likewise, the end-use goals of photography are now also quite diverse, going beyond traditional portraits and promotion to an ever-expanding array of social media and virtual reality platforms.
Quite frankly, it can a little overwhelming. For today’s professional real estate photographer, discerning a good opportunity amid the clutter can be a challenge.
HomeJab is here to help. HomeJab is an app.-based real estate photography platform that skilled photographers across the U.S. use to fill their schedules whenever they want. HomeJab has helped more than 800 hundred skilled photographers with professional equipment and capabilities break into the real estate industry in ways very few could accomplish on their own.
Once a photographer is affiliated with HomeJab, the app. puts them in front of dozens of possible clients who need local real estate photography assignments filled every day. Photographers can choose assignments that fit their schedule and ambitions, and HomeJab takes care of the rest.
In our experience, working with literally hundreds of professional photographers, we find generally they have a few things in common. First, the ones we hire have a keen eye for composition and acute attention to detail. Second, they are focused on their craft. Professional photography requires professional equipment and learned expertise.
HomeJab partners with photographers who invest in their equipment and nurture their natural abilities. Finally, they are also entrepreneurs. Beyond talent, equipment, and experience being a professional photographer requires a person who has it within themselves to create and grow a business of their own.
On the other hand, many photographers are rather introverted and aren’t naturally well-suited to the high-contact relationships required by residential real estate photography. Because they are always on the go and have limited time or attention, building lasting relationships with listing agents can be difficult for photographers.
Once those relationships exist, however, even with only a few regular clients, there is a lot to do. From scheduling shoots with homeowners to post-production processes, and meeting the ever-demanding urgencies of real estate markets that fluctuate between feast or famine, it can be more than many professional photographers want to deal with.
For photographers interested in breaking into a new market, the process of learning topic-specific skills often necessitates a lot of trial and error. That is time-consuming, and possibly costly. HomeJab provides every photographer we contract with dedicated training as part of our quality assurance process.
Our training team’s guidance and structure help already highly skilled photographers dial in techniques around bracketing for difficult indoor/outdoor exposures and seeing the whole space from the buyer’s perspective before setting up to photograph it.
Currently HomeJab has well-established relationships with more than 5,400 listing agents across the U.S. Listing agents pre-purchase credits with HomeJab, which they apply toward any of many possible photography packages whenever they have a listing. The HomeJab app. connects listing agents to photographers working in their area. All transactions take place online.
Some HomeJab photographers shoot one or two houses a week, while others may shoot three or four on the same day. Once registered with HomeJab, a photographer’s work is assessed and approved through an interview process. After taking a few assignments and proving themselves as a reliable resource to area listing agents, many HomeJab photographers soon find their services in demand.
Typically, a photographer will shoot between 100 and 150 images to generate the 15 to 50 finished images in each package. In larger houses or HDR packages, the number of photos taken, and the time required increase with complexity.
Many HomeJab photographers enjoy being able to combine several multi-media skills on assignments based on pre-set, customer-directed package pricing built into the HomeJab platform. Depending on the size and value of the house, listing agents choose packages that include photographs, video tours, and even aerial photography and drone videos.
Listing agents book each job by selecting between standard or High Dynamic Range (HDR) images in finished photo counts of 15, 30, or 50. They choose from photo-only or photo+ packages with the possibility of video tours, aerial photos, and twilight exteriors.
In total, there are more than 50 different package possibilities that HomeJab photographers fill with a combination of cameras, camcorders, and drone-flown cameras to get all angles.
What makes it work so great for HomeJab photographers is that they accept the job and shoot the house correctly, but other than that their responsibilities in the post-production and fulfillment process are none. Once the photograph captures the images are, they simply upload those selected from each batch to the HomeJab platform. Then they are on to the next assignment.
Currently, HomeJab is working with more than 800 talented photographers drawn from every major metropolitan market in the U.S. In addition to the long line of listing agents and a deep pool of photographers, HomeJab also works with photo editors that stitch together the bracketed HDR shots and manage the other post-production necessities.
Being a great business is a lot like becoming a great photographer. Every day you look for little ways to get better. As time passes, you look back at what you have accomplished and see you are on the right track. HomeJab can help.
