In the current IVD+ magazine, the real estate magazine of the industry association IVD Berlin-Brandenburg, I was interviewed on the subject of real estate photography. You can now read the full interview here on the blog:
Konstantin, you can be seen at many IVD events taking photos, how did that come about?
Well, apart from events, real estate photography is my hobby. There are, of course, overlaps with the members of the IVD. That’s why I approached Nils Werner in the summer of 2016 and have been a cooperation partner of the Berlin-Brandenburg regional association ever since.
What do you photograph in the real estate sector and who are your clients?
In principle, I photograph everything you can imagine. From the villa in Grunewald, to the Mitte apartment for rent, to the 1-room apartment in Berlin Neukölln before renovation. This range is due to the wide variety of customers – from private owners and estate agents to large housing groups with thousands of properties.
Technology is getting better and better, everyone has a cell phone camera in their pocket. What are you actually still needed for?
In the private sphere, I completely agree with you. I don’t go on vacation with a heavy camera any more either, my cell phone photos are enough for me. However, real estate photography brings with it very special challenges. Cell phones with their limited technical capabilities cannot do justice to this. Maybe if the weather is good you can still be lucky and take a decent photo of the outside. However, the cell phone reaches its limits in the interior of a property at the latest: Backlighting, dark rooms and narrow niches are just some of the pitfalls. For comparison – the image sensor of a full-frame camera as used by many professionals is approx. 60 – 80 times larger than the image sensor of a cell phone camera. Cell phone manufacturers can certainly conceal some things with good internal software, but the basic problem remains. If individual pixels have much less space on an image sensor, this is at the expense of image quality.
Other problems that I see, regardless of the technical equipment, are factors such as image composition, composition and know-how in image processing. Of course, you can learn all this to a certain extent, but it takes a lot of time, motivation and ultimately experience so that you are not helpless in the face of all kinds of circumstances.
But in a city like Berlin, surely most properties can be sold with cell phone photos or even without photos at all?
This can be a good thing in a tight real estate market. However, when it comes to obtaining a brokerage contract for a property, it is important to convince the owner of your professionalism. This also includes visual marketing. With this in mind, I cannot understand why cell phone photos are still used today to illustrate objects that are expected to fetch a 6- or even 7-figure sum. It is also a form of appreciation towards the owner if all the stops are pulled out for a successful sale.
I saw on your website that you offer 3D tours. What exactly can I imagine?
Basically, tours are nothing new in real estate marketing. What I offer are immersive 3D tours that allow you to move around the property absolutely smoothly and without delay. The image quality of the camera used for this is fantastic. The objects are not only photographed, the spatial data is captured with a laser and used to create an impressive 3D model. Similar to a doll’s house, you can view it from all perspectives and immerse yourself in the tour at any point – on your cell phone, tablet, computer or with VR glasses.
Are these tours suitable for every property?
The wow effect is naturally limited in the 1-room apartment. However, tours are always a great addition. I can only recommend it to anyone, especially for larger properties, whether an apartment or a house. Just a few weeks ago, I created a tour of the IVD Berlin-Brandenburg office. This and the associated 3D model can be viewed on the IVD website.
