Category: photography

photographers, photography, videographers

5 Ways to Make Money with Shutterstock

Pipas Imagery

Shutterstock is a leading provider of royalty-free stock photos, illustrations, and videos, and it’s an excellent platform for photographers, illustrators, and videographers to make money. If you’re a creative professional looking for ways to monetize your skills, Shutterstock is worth considering. In this post, we’ll explore five ways you can make money with Shutterstock.

  1. Sell Your Photos and Illustrations: One of the most straightforward ways to make money with Shutterstock is to sell your photos and illustrations through the platform. Simply sign up as a contributor, upload your work, and start earning when it’s purchased by customers.
  2. Sell Your Videos: In addition to photos and illustrations, Shutterstock also allows you to sell your video footage. This is a great way to make money if you’re a videographer or if you have a large collection of footage that you’d like to monetize.
  3. Participate in the Shutterstock Custom Program: The Shutterstock Custom program allows you to work with businesses and organizations to create custom content, such as videos and photos, specifically for their needs. This is a great way to make money if you have experience in commercial photography or videography.
  4. License Your Music: If you’re a musician, you can also make money with Shutterstock by licensing your music through the platform. Customers can use your music in their videos and other projects, and you’ll earn a royalty for each use.
  5. Sell Your Templates: If you have a talent for design, you can create templates for things like business cards, brochures, and social media posts and sell them on Shutterstock. Customers can then purchase and use your templates to create their own marketing materials.

In conclusion, there are many ways to make money with Shutterstock. Whether you’re a photographer, illustrator, videographer, or musician, there’s an opportunity for you to monetize your skills and create a passive income stream. So if you’re looking to make money with your creative work, consider giving Shutterstock a try! Click here to get started!

photography, Realtors

Simple tips to enhance outdoor photos

Pipas Imagery

Keystone-Heights-real-estate-photography-1The cover photo on a listing is usually the most important photo because it peaks the potential buyers interest and gets them to continue looking through the rest of the photos.  Often times the cover photo is an exterior shot of the home.  Here are a few affordable ideas that can be done to help make that exterior cover photo really pop and get more buyers interested in your listing!

Add a small container garden

If your listing has a porch try adding a small container garden with brightly colored flowers.  This is an easy way to add colorful curb appeal and is simple to put together.  Stop by your local garden center and grab a few containers of varying sizes, some of your favorite plants, and a couple bags of potting soil and you are all set!

Spruce up the mailbox

Most people tend to overlook the mailbox when thinking about ways to add more color or curb appeal to their property.  Adding a few flowers around the mailbox is a quick and easy way to incorporate some more color without a lot of work.  Some simple low maintenance flowers that can be added are marigolds, petunias, or zinnias.

Paint the front door

The front door is often a neutral color that doesn’t draw much attention to it.  Adding a color that accents the house can make a big statement with a small amount of work.  Check your local hardware stores to see if they have any paint containers on clearance.  This is a great way to get a color pop without spending too much.

Add outdoor furniture

If your new listing has a large front porch that doesn’t have anything on it, consider putting a few pieces of outdoor furniture on it.  This will help add charm to the front of the house.  Sometimes you can find cheap outdoor furniture at thrift shops that can easily be spruced up with a little bit of paint.  Also add a brightly colored throw pillow and that will help draw attention to the home even more.  If there is a table on the front porch, consider adding a small container with flowers in it there too.

Small and simple final touches

Don’t forget those final details that can make a world of difference.  Adding a wreath to the front door can be very welcoming.  Possibly paint the shutters to give them a refreshed look.  Mix in a few colorful flowers into flower beds that are already there to help the front of the home pop a bit more.

I hope these ideas gave you some inspiration for easy way to enhance the curb appeal of your new listing.  Keep in mind that all of these ideas are just suggestions.  If your listing is in a neighborhood with a home owners association be sure to check with them regarding any rules or regulations about making any changes to the exterior of the home.

photography, Vacation Rental Photography

Professional photography enhances vacation rental listings!

Pipas Imagery

So many vacation rental owners spend tons of time and money on making their rental property look just perfect with all the special touches that make people feel at home.  But then when the hard work is done they are usually so ready to get it rented that they take a few photos themselves and hope that works.  Getting your property rented regularly relies heavily on gaining the proper attention from potential visitors that it deserves.  Having high quality photos will draw people in and get them to spend more time viewing your property over others.

 

 

Sell the emotion of your property

The entryway to your property are the photos you have displayed.  So it is essential you have the right photos in order to get those future guests to walk through that entryway and become your customer.  The photos should be welcoming and enticing so that they can envision escaping their reality and enjoying themselves in your vacation rental.

Pictures are processed by future visitors much faster than the words used in the description.  If you lost the future guest when they were browsing the photos they may have never gotten to the description to read more about what your rental offers and missed out on your amazing property.

Sunrise-23

Emotions are what sell a property.  But keep in mind that all of your photos won’t necessarily be emotion seeking.  In fact the majority of your images will just be showing the facts of the property (size of the rooms, kitchen layout, amenities, etc).  The combination of high quality emotional and factual photos are what will sell your property.  And of course at least one dream shot that really gets your future guest daydreaming about kicking their feet up and relaxing in your property.

Choosing the right photographer

If you had a bad tooth ache you wouldn’t go see an eye doctor, well the same rule of thumb works for photographers.  To get good property photos be sure to find a photographer that focuses on architecture and marketing.  A photographer with these skills will provide you with the right photos for your property.  Also just confirm with the photographer that they will provide photos that will market an experience, not just a property.

With the right photographer in place you will soon realize that this investment in professional photography has an amazing return.  Future guests will see that you have invested in your property and will appreciate it!

photography, Realtors

Should I add amenity photos to my listing?

Pipas Imagery

Sometimes the actual house for sale isn’t the only thing that potential buyers are looking for.  Instead they might be looking for the full package of not only the perfect home but also the perfect neighborhood with all the bells and whistles.  Buyers are often looking for things to do locally and ways to easily socialize with their neighbors.  Amenities can be a huge selling factor when home buyers are looking for their new place to call home.

neighborhood quote

A big part of most neighborhoods is the amenities that are included.  If a buyer sees a large monthly home owners association (HOA) fee then their first question is going to be – “What is included?”.  Adding amenity photos will help them see right away the benefits of what is available to them when they buy that particular property.  This will help the buyer stop wondering and now you’ve captured the buyer’s interest before they have moved on to the next home.

There are many large neighborhoods that have groups of amenities and only certain ones are accessible to some of the subdivisions within them.  The future home buyer might be wondering which ones would I have access to with this property.  Having the photos in the listing helps them to understand which amenities are available to the home owner and those that are not.

The amenities that are available tend to vary based on the area you are looking at.  Some examples of common amenities are pools, tennis courts, gyms, clubhouse, and playgrounds.  Some less common amenities can include community lake with walking path, golf courses, or boat launches.  Everyone is looking for something!

photography

How do I know how many photos I need?

Pipas Imagery

One of the first things you’ll notice on our services page is that our base packages are based on number of photos instead of by square footage.  This is set up intentionally to allow each Realtor the opportunity to determine how many photos they think is necessary to capture the home they are listing.  I often hear from agents “do you recommend a certain package” or “just shoot whatever you think the home needs”.  Before providing feedback I always ask a few more questions and try to get a feel for the property in order to make the best recommendation.

_More isn't always better. Sometimes it's just more_ (1)

More isn’t always necessary.  When determining how many photos you may need, there are several factors come into play including the total number of rooms in the home, the outdoor features on the property, and if the home has any unique qualities.  If the home has a lot of character to it then you may want to choose a higher photo package to make sure you capture everything with specific lifestyle shots.

Also, when picking photo packages be sure to think about the neighborhood and property as a whole.  Some neighborhoods have amazing amenities and that is what sells the property.  Other homes are in a very desirable location and drone photos might be the key to showing proximity to the beach or a great school nearby.  At the end of the day our goal as your photographer is to help you intrigue more buyers to want to come out and see the home you have listed so you can get it sold faster and for the most amount of money.

In summary, when looking at how to choose the right package be sure to really analyze the needs of each property individually.  We are happy to make suggestions or answer any questions you have so that in the end you get the product you were hoping for.