Essential The Official Photography Thread

[Kamikaze Revy]

How long did it take for yal to get the drone handling/shooting down? I've had one for months and I haven't even started practicing with it.

The flying part of the drone is easy as hell.
We have 2 mavic pros and they pretty much fly themselves.
Honestly, being a gamer helps a lot. It controls exactly like a video game.
The part that takes some learning is getting the camera settings right but if you already have an eye for photography you'll be in good shape.
I honestly was able to fly the mavic pro with a significant degree of proficiency right out of the box. Getting a smooth parallax shot takes some practice but even that isn't all that hard.

 

[GoldenGlove]

The flying part of the drone is easy as hell.
We have 2 mavic pros and they pretty much fly themselves.
Honestly, being a gamer helps a lot. It controls exactly like a video game.
The part that takes some learning is getting the camera settings right but if you already have an eye for photography you'll be in good shape.
I honestly was able to fly the mavic pro with a significant degree of proficiency right out of the box. Getting a smooth parallax shot takes some practice but even that isn't all that hard.

That's good to know. I'm always busy with something when I want to try it out. Then the times I've taken it out and really would be like, "I'm about to fly this thing today" the weather will be horrible and then another week, month goes by and I still haven't taken it out.

I've taken it with me on 2 trips (Cali and ATL) this year and didn't even take it out because I didn't even feel like setting it up the initial time since it would legit be my first time using it.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

That's good to know. I'm always busy with something when I want to try it out. Then the times I've taken it out and really would be like, "I'm about to fly this thing today" the weather will be horrible and then another week, month goes by and I still haven't taken it out.

I've taken it with me on 2 trips (Cali and ATL) this year and didn't even take it out because I didn't even feel like setting it up the initial time since it would legit be my first time using it.

Download AirMap. The only thing to take some serious time with is getting familiar with the drone laws and airspace clearance in each area. If you’re gonna charge for drone shots get the part 107 license ASAP.

 

[Towlie]

How long did it take for yal to get the drone handling/shooting down? I've had one for months and I haven't even started practicing with it.

it doesn't take long, and a lot of the maneuvers are automatic.

my biggest concern is usually high wind (cause if the drone turns too far the motor cuts off)

and birds. I lost a spark to a bird flying into and then the spark fell into the water

right before Sydney I just found out you can fly over 400 ft if you just change the settings, and I was at like 600 ft getting the skyline in Sydney. Then i got the disconnect message and it didn't connect for like 5 minutes and my heart stopped. then it caught the connection and started landing lol.

I have a ton of experience with real estate video.
It's a blessing and a curse. Realtors (in my experience) have the least amount of respect when it comes to the value of a photographer or videographer.
In my experience, they have been the most demanding (expecting less than a 24 hour turn around), the least helpful (consistently walked into houses that weren't staged yet at all and they expect us to stage it for them), and are slow to pay.
Here's some of our real estate work:

dope! this is exactly what I want to do

I liked the speed ramps, and how you used the call out text in the geography

how do you set your pricing? by how big the property is? and what did you charge for the first video? 24 hour turn around is crazy

I connected with a realtor and offered to do 1 free video first so I could get in the door, but I'm sure it's just a normal house

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

it doesn't take long, and a lot of the maneuvers are automatic.

my biggest concern is usually high wind (cause if the drone turns too far the motor cuts off)

and birds. I lost a spark to a bird flying into and then the spark fell into the water

right before Sydney I just found out you can fly over 400 ft if you just change the settings, and I was at like 600 ft getting the skyline in Sydney. Then i got the disconnect message and it didn't connect for like 5 minutes and my heart stopped. then it caught the connection and started landing lol.





dope! this is exactly what I want to do

I liked the speed ramps, and how you used the call out text in the geography

how do you set your pricing? by how big the property is? and what did you charge for the first video? 24 hour turn around is crazy

I connected with a realtor and offered to do 1 free video first so I could get in the door, but I'm sure it's just a normal house

Current pricing for realtors is $300 for properties less than 2,500 square feet. $500 for properties larger than that. (And that’s due to how long they typically take to film). Pricing for federal or local government is completely different and MUCH higher.
You have to keep in mind that your local market is going to dictate your pricing. I’m honestly not happy at all with our current pricing, but, for now, we’re still in “build mode”.
24 hour turn around isn’t bad honestly, not for real estate. Our average turn around for real estate is 5 hours for video and pictures bundled together. The issue is when realtors get that kind of turn around, and still pay days later, and have no clue how to properly upload the content to get the most exposure possible.
The real estate market is tough. The top of organizations are often old white men that have no clue about the value of a photographer or videographer and they have no interest in have a legitimate social media strategy.
When you go into a market, DO NOT market your skills are a videographer or photographer. You have to speak their language. You have to present the solution to their problem, and it’s your job to figure out what their problem is. For realtors, pitch them the idea of spending less time on the road and more time actually closing on properties. Talk to them about the money they will save in travel, and how their listings will be seen by more people with high quality images.

 

[GoldenGlove]

it doesn't take long, and a lot of the maneuvers are automatic.

my biggest concern is usually high wind (cause if the drone turns too far the motor cuts off)

and birds. I lost a spark to a bird flying into and then the spark fell into the water

right before Sydney I just found out you can fly over 400 ft if you just change the settings, and I was at like 600 ft getting the skyline in Sydney. Then i got the disconnect message and it didn't connect for like 5 minutes and my heart stopped. then it caught the connection and started landing lol.

I thought of this when you just said that

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

I don't remember if I shared this on here yet.
This is a commercial we did for a sneaker laundry.

 

[Towlie]

Current pricing for realtors is $300 for properties less than 2,500 square feet. $500 for properties larger than that. (And that’s due to how long they typically take to film). Pricing for federal or local government is completely different and MUCH higher.
You have to keep in mind that your local market is going to dictate your pricing. I’m honestly not happy at all with our current pricing, but, for now, we’re still in “build mode”.
24 hour turn around isn’t bad honestly, not for real estate. Our average turn around for real estate is 5 hours for video and pictures bundled together. The issue is when realtors get that kind of turn around, and still pay days later, and have no clue how to properly upload the content to get the most exposure possible.
The real estate market is tough. The top of organizations are often old white men that have no clue about the value of a photographer or videographer and they have no interest in have a legitimate social media strategy.
When you go into a market, DO NOT market your skills are a videographer or photographer. You have to speak their language. You have to present the solution to their problem, and it’s your job to figure out what their problem is. For realtors, pitch them the idea of spending less time on the road and more time actually closing on properties. Talk to them about the money they will save in travel, and how their listings will be seen by more people with high quality images.

I guess I look at the turn around as quick because I have to wake up and work the next morning. Half the time after I film something I don't even feel like looking at the footage until the next day. I usually have to pick up my kids from the babysitter after the gig too.

Thanks for the pricing info. I'm gonna start a lil lower since I'm just starting off and hopefully build up some clients that way

Thanks for all the advice, I'll update after I get the first house done

I thought of this when you just said that

That was epic,

I was in a similar setup. It was a board walk with geese and shyt

It happened too fast though, it was like splash splash. I was just standing there looking stupid, like wtf happened

 

[Towlie]

I don't remember if I shared this on here yet.
This is a commercial we did for a sneaker laundry.

Nice. Do you do this full time?

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Nice. Do you do this full time?

I’m a videographer for the city Monday through Friday 9-5. I work out of city hall. I have my production business on the side that I’m building up to be strong enough to be my full time job. My city job is incredibly flexible. As long as I don’t have a shoot scheduled, my time is mine to do with as I please, so I’ve been able to do a bunch of shoots and meetings for my business during my regular work hours.
So yeah, I’m a full time videographer, but I’m not quite able to work for myself full time yet. Business is slowly becoming more consistent though through word of mouth referrals for the most part. My next step is to put together a few videos for our own advertising and boost them on social media. We’ve seen great progress organically, now I want to put some actual social media strategy behind the company and grow it that way as well.

 

[Towlie]

I’m a videographer for the city Monday through Friday 9-5. I work out of city hall. I have my production business on the side that I’m building up to be strong enough to be my full time job. My city job is incredibly flexible. As long as I don’t have a shoot scheduled, my time is mine to do with as I please, so I’ve been able to do a bunch of shoots and meetings for my business during my regular work hours.
So yeah, I’m a full time videographer, but I’m not quite able to work for myself full time yet. Business is slowly becoming more consistent though through word of mouth referrals for the most part. My next step is to put together a few videos for our own advertising and boost them on social media. We’ve seen great progress organically, now I want to put some actual social media strategy behind the company and grow it that way as well.

thats what's up, nice that you have flexibility and can build up your side business.

my long term goal for videography is to supplement my income when I retire

i'm planning on retiring at 55 from education with a pension. continue traveling and doing some highly paid videography jobs so I can make 15k-20k a year extra

for now im probably making 5k or so a year on it

 

[GoldenGlove]

The issue is when realtors get that kind of turn around, and still pay days later...

You know what I started doing with clients like that?

I started sending them a review copy of the footage with my company's watermark applied over the middle of the screen with the opacity set at like 70%


Now, what I do is share a link with folks via Dropbox, but disable the download option until they pay. I got burned 1 time where I thought me and dude had a cool relationship, and he uploaded a video I sent him to review, before he even confirmed with me that he was good with it.

I was riding around with my brother talking to him about it, and he was like, "I saw the video on his IG page earlier today"... I was like ... he eventually paid, but after that I was like I'm either watermarking the footage or disabling downloads

They'll pay cause they don't want a big ass logo on their shyt when they post it

 

[PimpHandStrong]

When you go into a market, DO NOT market your skills are a videographer or photographer. You have to speak their language. You have to present the solution to their problem, and it’s your job to figure out what their problem is. For realtors, pitch them the idea of spending less time on the road and more time actually closing on properties. Talk to them about the money they will save in travel, and how their listings will be seen by more people with high quality images.

excellent advice bruh

 

[PimpHandStrong]

at least they use a link to the actual high quality videos. Half these "models" i work with will take a screenshot of their pics instead of downloading the pics. Tagging me in the blurry ass screenshot

Bruhhhhhh I HATE that shyt

 

[Rayzah]

I took a helicopter tour while I was in Kiev, I think I took some decent pics, I have tone more pics, I just need to go over all of them. This first pic is from my chernobyl tour.
Some Arial shots from Kiev by LRG Photo, on Flickr

Some Arial shots from Kiev by LRG Photo, on Flickr

Some Arial shots from Kiev by LRG Photo, on Flickr

Some Arial shots from Kiev by LRG Photo, on Flickr

Some Arial shots from Kiev by LRG Photo, on Flickr