Trying to break into the Photo industry!

[Houreal]

Hi,

My name is Tim, I'm making a transition out of Real Estate, and into the Photo industry.. I'm looking at an a390, and would appretiate any advice.

Also I was wondering what would be some ways to earn some money right
away, I'm thinking about talking to some of the top producers in Real Estate
in my area... to see if I can be their Photographer for their new listings.

Of cousre I would put together some type of portfolio of homes first, any ad-
vice in this area would be appretiated.

[Tom]

Hi Tim and welcome to TPF.

Why the switch from RE to Photography? Why photography?

I would definitely get a lot of experience, a sizable portfolio, equipment you need and a client base before jumping off the deep end into photography. Much like real estate, it is a very competitive business and one of the few where you will have competition that will work for free and give their product away just because they enjoy it.

I've heard from other people interested in real estate photography that it is hard to do because most REAs dont want to pay enough per house to shoot to make it worth driving to, especially in a city like Houston. If you could do multiple in a neighborhood, that might help. My roommate was a REA and I couldn't get any business through his office because no one wanted to pay more than like $10-$20/house.

To shoot interiors, you will probably want a full frame camera like the Canon 5D or Nikon D700. Plus an ultra wide angle lens like the Nikkor 14-24mm 2.8 or Canon 14mm 2.8 lens to make those rooms look big. Also, a tripod, because you will probably be doing some long exposures.

Not sure if there are people that do RE photography on here, but if there are, I am sure they will chime in.

Good luck!

[groovyone]

As a Sony user myself, skip the A390. It is decent but the A580 is a MUCH better camera for not much more.

As Tom said, for really good real estate photos you may want to consider FF, you will definitely need a wide angle, and you may want to look into off camera lighting.

[Houreal]

I'm on a very tight budget right now, and am putting the camera on my Conns account.. the a390 is the only decent one they have that's $500.00, or less. I'm hoping that I can
start off with the basics, and when I get the extra money.. upgrade, and get better equ-
ipment.

Thanks for both of your responses!

[craigb456]

I agree with Groovyone. I shoot with Sony as well and I started of with a A350 witch is an older version of the A390 and it left alot to be desired. I now have the A55 I would look at the A580, A55 or get the A65 when it comes out

[groovyone]

Originally Posted by Houreal

I'm on a very tight budget right now, and am putting the camera on my Conns account.. the a390 is the only decent one they have that's $500.00, or less. I'm hoping that I can
start off with the basics, and when I get the extra money.. upgrade, and get better equ-
ipment.

Thanks for both of your responses!

You may be able to snag a used A700 for that price if you want to stick Sony, or even an A550.

[auddii]

Personally I don't have much experience with professional photography, but Tom does. Listen to his advice. He has mentioned before that for the first several years of his photography business he made zero profit.

I would not recommend buying a camera on credit and hoping that you will be able to make lots of money from photography, especially if this is your first camera. Many people I know who have become pro photographers usually have an alternate stream of income (second job or spouse) that is large enough to support them entirely and they have a huge cushion for start up, advertising, and continuing to learn (classes and such). I'd look into doing photography on the side as you learn and slowly transitioning when you get a better idea of what you need and what you are doing.

I also think you need to create a budget, what you need to make to support yourself, break it down in to weeks and hours, and then decide if you can afford to charge that per hour based on your photography. Is it good enough to get clients to pay? Will the type of clients you are looking at be willing to pay those prices?

I have no desire to run a business, and so I'm happy being the helper. So, take my words for what they are worth; they aren't personal experience, but it's something I've heard from a LOT of photographers.

[Tom]

I'll save you my sob story about how hard it was to break into the industry and make a living wage freelancing. Short version, I already owned all the gear necessary outright and it took me 4-5 years of working at it full time to acquire the skill set in business, photography and photoshop to be able to charge a living wage and make a living at photography. In the interim, I did everything from sand and paint fences to work at Starbucks to hustle gin games to make a few extra bucks to make ends meet. Maybe [probably] I am a slow learner. I don't know. But it is very difficult to fight against the bottom common denominator when you first start out. And that is people that will do exactly what you do, only they do it for enjoyment so it is free or next to free. You need to be substantially better than that level or find a way to market yourself so that people want to use you over the free guy for some reason. That's really hard to do without experience or a portfolio. And there are some ridiculously great shooters that just do it for fun. Take a look in the nature section. There are virtually no professional nature/macro/landscape photographers around. But some people here do some incredible, breath taking work.

Do not go into debt to buy an entry level camera and think you can make it back in enough time to pay off the debt. That interest will pile up long before you can acquire the skill set to make enough at photography to pay off your equipment. Buying that camera on credit for that much in hopes that you will make it back to pay it off is a very bad business decision.

Save up and buy something, and see if you even like it. Everyone here will be more than happy to help you along the way.

[Hanky]

Welcome to the forum.

[auddii]

Ack. Completely missed that this was in the introductions section. Welcome to the forum! Not sure how much you know about photography, but we have people here with a wide variety of skill sets and knowledge. I'm sure most everyone can find something new here.

[Houreal]

I appretiate the advice, but I'm going with the a390... anything else, I'll at least have a really nice personal camera until I can get better. I'm only putting the Real Estate on the backburner, there's plenty of money for me to make in it latter down the road. I will aslos take the advice on do other things to get income coming in.

Thanks again! to everyone!

[groovyone]

No problem. Welcome aboard.

[J Eddington]

You are going to need more than a camera! How are you going to light those dark corners? (hint: on-camera flash usually isn't going to work well) What about editing software, do you have some now or do you need to buy that too.

[Todd Lambert]

I'm afraid that you're your own worst enemy here. I mean, you want to break into the business with no experience, very little equipment and what little you (will)have, is probably not sufficient to do a decent job with. These types of shooters are the ones that you will be competing against to begin with, so in a way, you're competing against yourself.

You admit that this is not a passion for you as you're planning on going back to RE when it gets better, so you're really only looking to muddy the waters further by being one of "those" photographers who go into it half-assed and then pollute the environment for others who may have a true passion for it and are struggling to make the break.

Sorry, I don't mean to be harsh, and I do welcome you to the forums, but it sounds like your going to be setting yourself up for failure right off the bat and then as I said, damaging the fragile professional market you're trying to enter.

[Flores]

why not 'ooze' in, don't break in ;)

Take pictures, get good. When you reach the point people start offering you money, don't be a snob. take their money. and don't be cheap about it. your time is valuable, damnit.

When you get to the point where you spend more time taking money for pictures than you do your 'real' job, you MIGHT be onto something...