Is getting professional photography for your listing really worth it?

That's probably one of the hardest questions to answer because what constitutes 'good' photography can be different amongst various observers. Back in the 80s, Apple came out with with the first easy-to-use desktop publishing system. The next day, everyone decided they were going to forgo expensive designers and produce their own business cards.

Of course, owning a copy of "PageMaker" didn't make you designer, and just because high-quality digital cameras can now be had for under $500, it doesn't make you a photographer.

The other side of the argument is that, for many people, digital 'snapshots' may be good enough, and are actually far higher quality than what may have been available even professionally 10 or 20 years ago. So, is it worth spending the money on photos that are marginally better than what you could take yourself?

Our answer is 'no'. It's not worth spending money on professional photos unless they are noticeably, significantly better than the photos you could get on your own... and to us, better means not that they are more pleasing to the eye or that they are artistically composed, but rather that they will attract more attention and generate more calls to you, the agent who hired us.

The photos in this post are all from a recent shoot for JP King Auctions of a condo complex located in Austin, Texas. We're located in Phoenix, so JP King not only has to pay for our photography services, but also our travel costs. Why would they go to that expense? Several reasons...

1) Several condos are for sale in this development, so the cost of hiring us can be amortized over multiple units.

2) The photos we take will be suitable for their website, brochures, and print-media advertising (newspapers and billboards). Repurposing the photos in more than one media also distributes the cost.

3) ...and finally, our pictures are different. They stand out. They look strange...some even say 'surreal'. We use a system called "Enhanced Lighting Compression" photography that combines high dynamic range, sharpening, and level compression to create photos that leap off the page. It's something that catches the eye as it drifts through a magazine or drives down the road. And eyeballs on ads is what good commercial photography is all about.

Of course, traveling to texas to take photos requires a project that can support our travel fees, so if you'd like us to come out to where you are, it most likey needs to be a large estate, or multiple units that can be aggregated together.

On the other hand, if you're located in Phoenix, ELC photography can be extremely reasonable, and saves you the time of taking the photos yourself. Drop me a line at 480-619-8164 if you have a listing in town or a project across the USA that you'd like us to quote.

There are many more examples of our ELC Photography, Aerial Photography, and incredible videos on our website at www.PrimeImageMedia.com


-Ben Freedman, Owner/Producer