Why would a Realtor not have Professional photos?

How is it possible for a Realtor to not provide professional photography for each of their listings? As a service provider I see incredible results from the professional services I provide to help Realtors market their listings.

But to my surprise many realtors in the San Jose area are adapting much slower than other local areas in the Bay Area. Even when homes are selling fast, the listing agent continues to miss out on all the benefits that come from using professional photography and virtual tours.

Virtual Tour stats

I have created a stats system for the virtual tours that I provide. The stats page is in Beta testings and at this time, I am continuing to develop additional features. You can view the page below:

4waytours stats page HERE

Examples of the virtual tours can be viewed here:
4waytour – Virtual tour through the 4waytour system
Custom – Custom virtual tour and slideshow

Each of the above tours have unique tour ID numbers. Tour ID numbers are used to identify the proper stats in the database. You can view a stats page by using this unique tour ID: 4DC2

My stats page currently tracks the refering URL, browser, operating system, time, and tour ID. If I receive requests for additional stats, I will include them in the future. The stats page displays the refering URLs, times viewed per day of the current month, and the total views per month in this year.

Obeo $49 homesite tour

Obeo offers a virtual tour solution for $49. Obeo calls it homesite. Homesite is a dynamic webpage that loads unique information for a listing agent, and information for a property listing. The $49 fee does not include photography or any other service. And for a monthly fee of $39, a listing agent can create unlimited homesite tours.

This is a incredible value because Obeo is a powerful system that offers incredible upgrades and addons to their homesite feature.

Photographing Restaurant food.

Sunday evening I spent over at a friends restaurant photography some of his main dishes. I had done a little researching on photographing food and the different techniques used to provide excellent results. My intention was to use some of theses to capture the beauty of his craftsmanship.

In a perfect world, I would have done exactly that. But, as I have learned through many lessons, this world is far from perfect. I arrived with all my gear, and a few extras just in case.

For some mysterious reason, my mono lights are no longer communicating. What this means, is that I am only having one of my lights go off, when I need two, or three of my lights to go off. . . No problem, I thought. I have a extra wireless receiver and transmitter to connect to my lights and camera.

Ha, that would have been the easy route. I fired off some test shots of a onion on a plate. I was really enjoying the shots being produced. I gave the cook the GO to fire up the grill and prepare his best. A couple more test shots and one of my lights stopped firing. LOL. . . of course!

Hey, no problem here I thought. Lucky for me we were in a shopping center and my wonderful girlfriend enjoys watching me work. I asked if she could go to the store to get some batteries and she did. On returning, she was only able to get two of the six batteries I needed. This only allowed me to fire off another twenty shots because the batteries were not fully charged.

I had HOT food coming and running out of time. Lucky for me, I had brought a flood light. I set that up, adjusted my monolight, and fired a few more test shots. The cook started bringing me food while I was adjusting my settings. Many of the shoots looked great!

About 4waymedia

4waymedia was concieved through the collaboration of 3 individuals back in 2001. They were friends dreaming of working together and building a business founded on customer satisfaction. As time would have it, the three friends parted in business directions. Paul Gemignani stepped away from programming and followed the flash of a camera as he became a photographer. Brian Schwab finished his BA at San Jose State in Arts/Design and began teaching while contracting design work on the side. The third dropped graphic design and followed a business career in management.

In 2004 Paul Gemignani bought 4waymedia.com and registered a ficticious business name with the city of San Jose. This was a stepping stone that sunk into the waters of opportunity. After five years of contracting work, both Paul and Brian are ready to operate and run a regular business.

Our goal moving forward is to network with like minded individuals to create the foundation for 4waymedia to grow into a corporation. Our focus is on the people we serve, clients and friends that enjoy the excellent service and affordable prices.

We are growing and always looking for unique individuals that can add to our incredible team. If you, or someone you know might fit this role, please contact us through our contact page so that we can network.

4waymedia Company Overview

4waymedia can easily be thought of as a group of Digital professionals that can keep you up to date with technology and business..

We believe in keeping a client for a lifetime. Only by staying ahead of the curve can we keep you in the game.

We will work to earn your confidence and respect. And then we conitnue to maintain our integrity.

We bring all our services together to give you the most bang for your buck. You’ll save time and money by calling us first!

Besides having a great universal name, 4waymedia is striving to become the name and website that all Bay Area Realtors will go to for their Property Listing services. We want to make our website easy to navigate, and highly informative.

This year has incredible opportunities for those that work with a open mind and positive attitude. We are working with you to create streamline solutions for your everyday needs at a lower price than your used to. We believe in you, as a Realtor and as a client! We know that by providing you with incredible service, fair market prices, and the proper attitude; you will grow and succeeed. Only when you are successful, do we then become truely successful as well.

After thoughts of high end photography

-view them here-
327Sancarlos
163Miramontes

Over the weekend I completed 2 high end photoshoots. Both properties were in redwood city and very beautiful. I brought a lighting kit and decided to compare hdr photos with and without lighting being used.

Each shoot took me about 3 hrs at the house, and another 2 hrs on the computer processing photos.

In comparing a typical shoot to the shoots I am discussing I have come to a few of my own conclusions:

1) regardless of the package picked, I am offering incredible services across the board on all my services

2) HDR is incredible!! And there are ways to make it better!!

3) I am saving my clients money in multiple services I offer, this allowing them in invest more money into photography

4) Obeo is providing an excellent solution for Listng Agents that allows the Agent to use their favorite photographer directly, thus saving the agents from extra marketing costs

5) With the prices that my services are offered, more and more Agents are calling me directly!

6) Every shoot I complete, I dial in my technique a little bit more!

- posted at SB from iPhone