Improving.
I’ve noticed a few local RE photographers beginning to use the same style as I have for a good few years, so that means I don’t necessarily have a USP in the area any more. Some of these guys and gals obviously have a much better grip on marketing than I do, and will be the force of the future in this fickle, unforgiving realm of image-making. Selling myself isn’t a strong-point of mine, and frankly, I just don’t enjoy doing it. That’s just me. I’ve seen countless numbers of bull-merchants over the years, I don’t have any inclination to compete with them, as they always win. The combination of raw youth, and a trend-setting haircut will triumph over reliability and expertise every time unfortunately. I now resemble an over-microwaved frozen sausage with some hair missing, so it’s almost game-over in the “look at me” department.
In the meantime, in an attempt to develop a unique style, I’m still experimenting with ways of employing medium format gear into my interior real-estate workflow constructively. As I’ve mentioned many times before, the Hasselblad produces files which differentiate themselves from those originating from smaller format cameras in terms of dynamic range and colour reproduction. Whether estate agencies would value this subtle improvement, when generally they’re after the widest, cheapest results, remains to be seen.
My expenditure on equipment needs to be as close to zero as I can get this coming financial year, so the purchase of the legendary 21mm Hasselblad lens has had to be put on hold for the time being. Bizarrely, as soon as I made a post about its’ relatively cheap availability on the used Japanese market, it seemed that they were all immediately bought up and then stuck on Ebay for around fifty percent above the original price by those horrible “side-hustle” profiteers that suck the joy out of the world by reducing the availability of anything worth owning. I guess I could rent one for a couple of weeks first to determine whether it’s going to be as revolutionary as I reckon. My formula for deciding if I should invest in new (not replacement) gear is basically - if it has the potential to make 10 times as much revenue as it’s cost in a 12 month period, then it’s worth buying. That means a £2K lens should aim to generate an extra £20K a year by attracting clients or work that value the unique look. I’m not sure that real-estate clients - even at the very top end - would be open to the concept though.
So, other improvements I’m working on:
Video capture and post-processing. My streamlining of the social media video workflow has vastly reduced my time on-site and in front of a computer. I have templates which contain intro and outro clips instead of text titles, the distortion caused by the wide-angle lens fitted to my DJI Osmo pocket camera is automatically corrected using adjustment layers, and colour grading is applied to clips with similar methods. My music clips are handled by Epidemic Sound, and are all Youtube/Instagram/Tiktok compliant. My export presets are set so videos size up within the limits for all the social media platforms. All this means that I can shoot and edit a 2 minute videro in my particular style in around 30 minutes all together. It used to be a 2 hour process.
The Shooting Process. I’m always looking to improve, but it’s getting to the point where I can’t streamline things any further. Unless I’m doing a “problem-room”, it’s two shots per space, using the natural light frame to do the heavy lifting. It’s feasible to completely shoot a regular property in 30 minutes nowadays.
Post production. My efficiency is pretty much dictated by the development of new AI workflow improvements, and the current choke-point is the lack of automation in Adobe Lightroom Classic. The whole app is generally excellent in it’s usability, and its integration with Photoshop is a great thing, but the inability to use scripting within the Lightroom environment is holding back some huge time-saving improvements. I’m guessing that this will come eventually, and I’m always looking for new ways to shave seconds off each part of my process.
I’ll keep you updated on my efforts!
