Continuing the Alliance

Congratulations, you have found a photographer you like their work, their prices, and most likely, you like them. How do you stay in touch with them?

- Stay in Contact

- Join their mailing list

- Follow their blog

- Invite them to send in new work

Future Project Estimates - Try to give the photographer as much lead time as possible for a project to ensure they can provide a thorough Estimate as well as give you priority scheduling in their calendars. By having them provide Estimates against other photographers that you also like their work, will ensure the pricing you are receiving is on standard with the industry.

Really Like Them - Consider a Multi-Project Contract

This will ensure they are there for you.

How to Get More “Bang for your Buck”

Provide Feedback.

Be sure to provide the photographer feedback on his/her images. These are business people the same as yourself, and if you, the customer, isn’t happy or would like to try a different approach, the photographer should be open to your suggestions.

Scrapbook

As you go through your business day/weeks, there are bound to be images of other projects that an angle catches your eye, a time of day/lighting, anything. Show these to your photographer. It will help him/her gauge your tastes and preferences, leading to increasingly successful projects in the future.

Whether we are your photographer or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Architectural and Aerial Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com
866-722-9506

Image Delivery

This can depend on a multitude of variables, as well as the methodology of the individual photographer. But most importantly, if there was a serious time consideration, this should have been disclosed to the photographer at the time the Estimate was requested.

Time Frame

This is greatly dependent on the number of images in your shoot, specific deadlines requested at the time of Estimate, and the workload of the photographer’s studio itself. Your photographer should provide you an estimated date of delivery of proofs (whether online or hard copy) within 1-2 business days of the shoot. Just a basic rule of thumb on the typical processing time images not requiring extensive post production efforts is two to twelve hours for each image, so if you have a five image shoot and taking an average of that, you could potentially be looking at 30 man hours in post production, so, potentially a week.

Online Contact Sheets

For ease of review, and sharing among many parties within your firm, many photographers provide online contact sheets to their clients. From these contact sheets, final delivered images can be selected. However, some clients still prefer to have a physical contact sheet delivered. If this is your preference, be sure to tell that to the photographer at the time you’re asking for the Estimate.

Final Images

There is a wide variety of image delivery options available to you:

• Electronic Download - final image files can easily be downloaded directly from a photographer’s web site
• DVD Delivery - a physical DVD with all the final images delivered to your office
• Hard Copy Delivery - a hard copy print(s) created by the photographer
• Combination - some clients prefer a combination of two or more of the above delivery options of the final images

Image Storage

Though your photographer undoubted is going to maintain a copy of your images, to be absolutely safe that you always have access to your images, the best approach is maintaining your own catalog.

The industry standard for Digital Asset Management (yes, DAM) is the 3-2-1 approach.

• Three (3) copies of the images
• Two (2) different onsite drives or media (one hard disk/server, one DVD, or two hard disks)
• One (1) offsite copy. These files can be maintained on either a hard disk, back up service, etc.

Whether we are your photographer or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Architectural and Aerial Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com
866-722-9506

EXCITING NEWS! Take Your Business Image to New Heights!

R2 Photography has always provided aerial photography, but we're excited to announce in addition to traditional fixed wing aircraft, we now provide our clients with two unique multi-rotor aerial platforms which have been custom designed exclusively for R2. These flexible solutions will provide the safe and professional capture of high-quality stills and videos that were previously only available by expensive fixed wing or helicopter aircraft, if they were available at all. 

Most importantly, we're not just hobbyists looking to cash in on a fad, we're serious imaging professionals. We are fully insured and we have undergone a rigorous training certification program. Both these qualifications provide our clients with the confidence they are dealing with true professionals with safety and high quality footage paramount to our services.

You can see examples of our work at both at r2-photography.com and r2aerials.com

In addition to on-site services, after the shoot you will receive professionally processed images and footage. We don't just dump a bunch of raw, unedited images/footage on your team to handle. This ensures the images look their absolute best!

Our services and expenses will be determined on a case-by-case basis due to site conditions, client requirements, and the client desired finally editing. 

As when working with R2 Photography, in working together you will be able to depend on several things: a cost effective approach, on time, on budget, no surprises, and a high quality end product. Our promise to you is a photography service you can build a strategic, enduring alliance with, and not just a one-time solution. We strive for you to see our services as an integral partner to achieve your goals.

We look forward to working with you to take your business' image to new heights!

Whether we are your photographer or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Architectural and Aerial Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com
866-722-9506

Post Production

OK, you’ve chosen the photographer, received the estimate, photographed the project, since there isn’t any film processing involved anymore, you should have your photographs immediately when you leave the shoot, yes? Not quite.

Basic Digital Processing

The extent in which post production processing takes place on your images depends on a lot of factors, including what special treatment the images require as determined in the Estimate. But nearly every photographer (or their digital production staff), at minimum, performs the following actions on their images:

• Imports them into their digital asset management system. This includes cataloging your images as well as inserting permanent digital text information (meta data) into the images.
• Basic retouching for minor imperfections including dust on the sensor, flaws on the site.
• Applying subtle changes in contrast/color balance/tone to ensure all the images appear to have the identical color cast and exposure.

Advanced Digital Enhancement

Depending on the specific services outlined in the Estimate, additional image enhancement can be applied:

• Light Color Temperature Adjustment. Sometimes there are multiple light sources with different color temperatures in one image. Lighting brought onto location, as other on site techniques, used by the photographer should minimize this impact, but sometimes it is easier and more cost effective to perform final adjustments digitally back in the studio.
• Removal of Distracting Elements. In the magic of the digital world it is more possible than ever to get rid of distracting slight switches, outlets, faceplates, plumbing, cords,
• Merging Multiple Exposures. This technique is commonly referred to as High Dynamic Range (HDR) and allows the photographer to take multiple images of the same scene at different exposures and merge them into one image. This allows for increased detail in highlights and shadow areas, and, for example, minimizes burn outs from over exposure from strong lighting coming in a window.

Whether we are your photographer or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Architectural and Aerial Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com
866-722-9506

Schedule/Timing/Duration of Shooting Images

Ideally, the order in which images are taken needs to be established before arrival on the location and can easily be established by some kind of scouting. Natural lighting through windows, on exterior faces, etc. can determine what order images will be shot in. As a very rough rule of thumb, each individual image can take from 45 to 90 minutes to set up, properly stag with props and furniture arrangement, and photograph. However, some of the highest end architectural photographers can take several hours for set up, primarily to position lighting. I know of one of the top photographers that can has been known to use 200+ lights on a single image and it took eight hours to achieve his single, award-winning shot.

Photography Staging Area

Talk with the photographer about what kind of staging area needs are required. He/she will need space for cases, lighting assembly, and, if the photographer doesn’t work with their camera tethered to a display, a workstation to review images after the shot. Depending on the amount of equipment and props required, these needs can be just a few square feet, but generally average about 10x10.

Your Input - How Much Are You Involved?

Photography is a collaborative effort, but how this is handled varies from photographer to photographer. My approach is working with you, listening to your vision for the image, your preferences, learning what you’re trying to achieve with an image, etc. helps me create an image that hopefully exceeds your expectations. But just like you are a specialist in your field, we are as well, and bring unique experience and creativity to the process as well. If it were easy to just press a button and capture incredible images, you could bring in a high school student or someone from your administrative staff with a good camera.

Potential “Don’ts” When Working With A Photographer

This is varies from photographer to photographer:

• Touching Equipment. Just from a liability standpoint, if you were to innocently shift a tripod or a light stand, and it were to fall over... well, you get the picture.
• Looking Through the View Finder/Touching the Camera. Some photographers absolutely don’t like this at all. With more and more photographers shooting tethered, you will be able to see the image instantaneously as soon as it is shot anyway. Besides, again, would you want to accidentally knock over that camera that potentially is worth more than some used cars?
• “Saying Anything But “Yes.”  I saw this written on another architectural photographer’s web site as something some photographers demand - and they were referred to as prima donnas. Personally if you were always saying yes to me, I would be worried that you weren’t completely involved in the project, and we might not be accomplishing your vision.

Whether we are your photographer or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Architectural and Aerial Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com
866-722-9506

Preparing For Photography - Scouting / Props / Models

Scouting - Should You? 

There are three types of scouting: 

• You and the photographer are both present on site. This is the most ideal situation to ensure the exact views and details of an image are exactly what you're envisioning, but can also be the most expensive. 
• You have the only photographer (or one of his/her assistants) go to the site.They take rough scouting images based on a floor plan/site plan with a shot list and angles for images identified. Those images are sent to your office for review, feedback, and approval for the final photography shot list. The margin for error in you achieving exactly the shot you want increases with this option, since you're not there on site with the photographer. 
• You provide rough images. 
  These have been taken previously by yourself or someone on your staff and generally accompany a floor plan/site plan given to a photographer identifying angles and specific details provided. The chances of not receiving exactly what you anticipated is increased further, as the photographer will have never visited the site before the day of final photography and can't plan for potential issues that may impact the shoot that would otherwise be identified during a scouting visit. 

Which type of scouting is also a judgement call based on several factors: 

• How confident are you in the photographer understanding what images you want or details to highlight from just a conversation or a floor plan diagram? 
• How critical are the images to your portfolio? If these are going to be "flag ship" images, then the more critical it is that you be there to ensure your vision is captured in the images 
• Is it a cost effective decision for you to also be at the shoot if it is not local to your firm's main office? 

NOTE: Reshoots are expensive and can be irritating to all parties involved, so, if at all possible should be avoided, and the best way to avoid them is a scouting session.

Props/Models - Do You Need Them? 

This is question that has a lot of variables for you, and can often be determined by a scouting trip with the photographer: 

• How important are the photographs to your portfolio? If these are just documentary images, the extra cost of pro acquisition/rental can be minimized. 
• If this is an exterior shot, and the new landscaping is either not grown in, or hasn't been installed yet, would renting plants for the shoot make the image match your vision? 
• What kind of use is the interior space? Obviously, if it is a restaurant, you would want table settings. If it is a computer lab, have the workstations already been installed? 
• Would the use of people in your image create a sense of use and scale? Using people in your images can potentially dramatically increase the costs associating with creating the image, especially if talent needs to be hired for the shoot. 

Finally, help us help you! Share your insights, questions, and ideas with us, and be sure to let us know how we can improve this newsletter and our blog. Until next month!

Whether we are your photographer or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Architectural and Aerial Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com
866-722-9506

Preparing For Photography-Scheduling

A successful project is more than just showing up with a camera. But, the first step is SCHEDULING. Some of this should already have been established when requesting estimates. If you didn't provide the information, a diligent photographer should ask you.

Depending on the project, a lot of elements can be involved: 

Scheduling - Who Should Do It? 

This is completely a judgement call on your part, and several factors figure in: 
- Your confidence in your photographer’s communication skills 
- You relationship with either the building occupant or owner 
- Whether you’re going to be in attendance at the shoot (if you’re not going to be there, why try to coordinate the other two parties? 


Availability
When will the site be completed or accessible by the photographer? Sometimes there is a small window between project completion and building occupation. 

Security

Are there any special security/access requirements to the site or the facility? If the site requires security clearances or coordination with facility management for access, this needs to be incorporated into your schedule as well as that of the photographer. 

Time of Day/Week for Building Occupant - Is there a better time to access a site for the convenience of the facility owner/occupant as well as to achieve the images you had in mind. If you’re photographing a medical facility, is there a slower time of day or day of the week for the photographer to be present and minimize the impact on the patients/staff? Is the building only occupied during the week? If you want exteriors without vehicles in the parking lot, this is something to keep in mind because a weekend would be ideal. However, if the photographer only has access to the interior of the property during a week day, that means you may have to schedule two shoot days. If a weekend shoot works best for the building occupant, does the building owner/occupant want a representative on site during photography and what would be the additional cost? 

Time of Day for Images - What time of day would be best for optimal natural lighting both interior and exterior? Are you looking at a dusk shot, but some interior shots would be best when taken in early morning sun?

Whether we are your photographer or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Architectural and Aerial Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com
866-722-9506