Real Estate Photography Job Description
I’ve worked as a full-time professional real estate photographer for the past 7 years. The best way to give a proper real estate photography job description is to give you an overview of my daily routine and then discuss what goes on behind the scenes.
It will give you a good idea of the day-to-day type work as well as all the other smaller things that need to be done throughout the year. Overall, real estate photography is an extremely flexible and rewarding profession.
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Real Estate Photography Job Description
Daily Routine
On my standard day, I’ll be at a house at around 9:00am that has been on my schedule for at least a few days in advance. The real estate agent that hired me will be at the property with me about 75% of the time and the homeowners will be present closer to 90% of the time.
I’ll spend anywhere between 1 to 2.5 hours at the house depending on the size of the property and the package that the real estate agent purchased. If both photography and videography was purchased I could be at this one house for up to 4 hours if’s its a large one.
After that I’ll usually have about an hour in between shoots. I do this purposefully to allow myself some wiggle room to make sure I’m never rushing a job. Then I’ll head to the property that I have scheduled for the afternoon.
It’s very common that I’m home by 3pm everyday at the latest. I immediately upload the images to my hard drive. Once they’re uploaded, I’ll either add them to my editing queue or start editing right away if I’m all caught up.
I’ve found that it usually takes me a slightly longer amount of time to edit a job than I took to photograph it. This mean that on average I’ll be editing for 2 – 5 hours per day.
Now, this is simply how I choose to work. Many others decide to photograph a 3rd or even 4th house and outsource their editing work. Personally, I like editing my own photos since I have a specific style.
You will find all types of differences in this daily routine. I like to keep my workload manageable and never accept more than 3 houses per day. There are days when I only have 1 home and in the slow season I will have some days completely off.
Again, I prefer to schedule myself like this. I like my downtime and enjoy having days off. Others will never have a day off and will work 80 hour weeks. There is a lot of freedom of choice involved here.
Behind the Scenes Work
In addition to photo editing, there is a lot of extra non-photography work that goes into being a real estate photographer. Any real estate photography job description that says it’s only photography is either lying or written by someone that isn’t a real estate photographer.
Unless you’re being hired by an established company you’re going to need to market yourself and your services. This means client outreach, marketing strategies, website creation, building a portfolio, etc.
These are integral parts of the job for any real estate photographer. You can read all about that in this article: How To Become A Real Estate Photographer
You’ll need to keep track of your accounting as well. Many outsource this by using an accounting software or hiring their own accountant, but this can also be done using a spreadsheet and some detailed record keeping.
Accounting services like Quickbooks can be extremely helpful. I choose to keep my records using Microsoft Excel since I’m a bit of a spreadsheet lover.
Every job will require and invoice and payment. If you aren’t keeping proper records all year, it’s going to be a huge pain come tax season. This is not to say that it’s difficult at all to keep the proper records, just that it’s absolutely necessary.
The final thing that takes up a lot of my behind the scene time and effort is client relations. I’m always in contact with at least a handful of clients for scheduling, photo delivery, or invoice/payment purposes.
Many of my clients have been with me for years, so as time goes on it gets easier and easier. When you land a new client however, more time will need to be dedicated to making sure they are satisfied and understand your process.
This will likely just be small troubleshooting issues like making sure they can easily access the images when you send them, laying out an understanding of the services you provide and what expectations you have, and how and when to make payments.
Real Estate Photography Job Description
90% of the time I absolutely love being a real estate photographer. I get to make my own schedule, choose who I work with, and to some extent decide my income level. The other 10% of the time is peak summer season when I’m feeling slightly overworked.
I would say that it’s helpful if you are a people person, but it’s definitely not a requirement. If your photos are high quality, you market yourself correctly, and you keep good records, you’re likely to succeed as a real estate photographer.
I hope you found this real estate photography job description helpful. You’ll find some additional resources below.
Additional Resources
You’ll find more helpful articles on real estate photography, as well as other types of photography, in our Beginners Guide. It’s full of articles with helpful answers exactly like this one.
Our Business Resources page has all the resources you’ll need to get your Real Estate, Interior Design, or Architectural Photography business started on the right path.
Finally, go check out our Gear page to get up-to-date reviews and recommendations on todays best gear for Real Estate and Architectural Photography.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is being a real estate photographer worth it?
In short, yes! Below you’ll find an article we have explaining why the answer is yes.
How do I become a freelance real estate photographer?
By heading over to this article and giving it a read: