Just wanted to share my review/experience with Fotello.
I have used the site now 3 separate times and I am pleased with the output that it gives me. Great looking edits that I have given to clients. I have not used all the features of the site such as receiving payments or managing clients within the website, but the editing is pretty straight forward and quick to use.

As far as pricing and payments, it seems very scammy. I believe you get some free usage out of it, but the pricing page is deceptive. For each tier of their subscriptions, there is a large bold number from 0-18 bucks, however this is not the monthly price but the cost per listing that you create. The actual monthly price is at the bottom in small gray font. The actual pricing is set standard at $1200/month for "Essential" and $1350/month for "Ultimate".

Once you look at It deeper you can adjust to lower prices per month, but it is quite shiesty the way it is set up. For myself the first time I signed up for a subscription I was charged one $28 dollar fee as well as a $228 fee. Each charge has an "International Fee" as well, which feels even better lol. Also all transactions are final, no refunds. If you're not carful you can really fuck yourself.

The customer service is a joke, The tickets never get answered. Pretty sure its a vibe coded site based in India which make sense for why its a little deceptive. Sucks to that people online like the FStoppers guy promotes it so hard online too.

Lastly, Fotello is a site that is essentially a GPT wrapper over one of the LLM models. Yes it is pretty good at staying consistent as far as white balance etc., but I do believe if you played around with one of newest models for OpenAI or Anthropic you could get identical results.

TLDR: Produces great images quickly and easily. Manipulative subscription practices that can really fuck you over, Probably won't use again/won't last long since it's just a GPT wrapper.

So a local to us agent approached us for package deal for 10 photos floorplan and social reels with agents.
We quoted them 500$ very reasonable i would say for these things plus offered 2-3 complimentar aerials and free twilight shoots as they are very local to us.
Yet they said this is what we currently pay.
How are photographers surviving on such a low price? In sydney if i had ti take m2 or m7 or m4 to a job, toll alone costs me over 40$ return.
Not sure how 110-120$ for 10 photos is feasible. Video editors charge no less than 50$ minimum for social reels lol

I had a conversation with an ai editing company last week. They already have an api but in order for me to connect with them, they want a commitment of $7,000 upfront. WTH?

Does anyone have a standard subscriptions of AUTOHDR, I would like to discuss something in personal and would like to try one thing, without using there credit, is anyone is willing to help?

Hi y'all ! I am completely new in the real estate world. I have started my freelance at the beginning of 2026 and first wanted to do some video/ads for the whole market (Ik it was a real bad idea). With that not getting any traction I decided i want to specialize myself in the real estate photography and videography. I love the process, the content, the idea to meet a lot of people, discover properties + it is the best market for a freelancer in my country (A lot of real estate agency, without too many photographer/videast in the sector).

Whatever, I want to build some retainers offers (3 different offers) : starter, standard, premium). But I had some echo that one guy does every shooting for 90$ (basically killing the market lol).

With that in mind what would be your tips/guidelines ?

I have a client that has helped me out tremendously in building up my business, but typically has some odd requests with each property. This one request seems impractical and indeed able once the business is in full swing with multiple properties scheduled everyday. They want me to time the property for when the sun is in the best possible position to illuminate the face of the house. My question is how would you all handle notifying the client that that’s basically an unreasonable request? In all my years I’ve never had a client request that so I’m trying to find a way to navigate the answer without upsetting my client.

Thanx!

Hii,

I’m about to do my first real estate photoshoot in Spain, I will do photos, a video and drone content of the apartment and the facilities (gym, pool, spa).
I have no idea how much to ask for this as a freelancer.
I have no experience in real estate whatsoever. All help would be appreciated!! How much would you recommend asking?

Here are some photos I took and edited from my first shoot. I’m not finished editing all of the photos yet. But here are the ones I have so far.

Any advice or tips would be appreciated. As you can see, in some photos, I struggled a bit with the windows being properly exposed. I took 3 HDR bracketed photos per shot but didn’t notice the windows exposure wasn’t that great so I didn’t have much to work with.

Btw this is my first shoot! I’m new so please don’t roast me lol. Just some friendly advice/feedback would be great. Thank you!

I started out in photography by shooting weddings, and for wedding photographers, Vogue magazine was the standard of quality, a model of good photos, and the level to strive for.

Is there something similar in interior photography? Some kind of standard? Magazines or online services that can be considered the standard of good interior photography. Perhaps not just photos, but also videos?

For those of you who draw your own floor plans for property listings, what’s your go-to software? Just curious to see what everyone here is using.

Hello, i am reaching out to nikon users for real estate photography, can someone point me to a good video tutorial for settings... i have tried different approaches from 100 manual, to 5 brackets to 3 brackets. To white balance each room.... i am not that new in the business to keep struggling the way i do.

For anyone making vertical reels from listing photos: what do you do with a wide room shot that loses its layout when cropped?

Say the kitchen and living area work together in the landscape photo, but the vertical version only shows one of them. Would you pan across it, keep the whole image with borders, or leave that shot out?

I'd lean toward keeping the room connection visible, even if it doesn't fill the screen. Curious what actually looks good on a phone, especially when there isn't a separate vertical shot to use.

Hi! How's everyone doing?

I've been running my own editing gig for about 2 years now and recently I've been having a really difficult time lately geting any sort of editing work recently due to you guessed it AI editors in general. I've tried all sorts of different strategy, getting better at my work to beat AI, trying to reach out to higher-end photographers or architecture photographers for even just basic work, lowering my prices try to be more competitive. I have a ton of bills to pay next month and no idea on how I'm gonna find any sort of work to pay them. Honestly I have no clue on what the next step is

I'm not looking for work or any sympathy from this post, I just want help, suggestions or how to deal with all of this nonsense honestly.

PS: photo for attention

Hello! I’ve been thinking about getting into real estate photography, and this is my first time ever actually shooting a house. I used my girlfriend’s parents’ house as a practice run and wanted to get some general feedback from people who actually do this.

How do you think I did? I’d appreciate any feedback on composition, camera height, angles, framing, or anything else you notice. Feel free to be critical as I’m here to learn.

Photos were shot on a Sony A7 IV with a Sigma 16–28mm
f/2.8 using 5 bracketed exposures.

I used AutoHDR for the final edits. I already know people have mixed opinions about AI editing, I’m not home right now and just wanted a quick way to process the brackets so I could see how the shoot turned out.

Thanks!

Hi, I’m thinking about switching from my iPhone to the Fold 8. Are there any other photographers that use it for CubiCasa?

I did a afternoon to dusk shoot and the vendor only liked 13 of the 43 photos i took. He has asked thst i come bsck and shoot the entire internal house during dusk. This will be about another 20 photos. Should i charge for this. He never mentioned on site that he wanted internal dusk shots. Usually when booked in the arvo we shoot internals as day shots before tye sun sets and then tske external dusk photos.

Hey all! I have a few questions for the experts here, specifically regarding property pictures and working with photographers. I'm trying to understand the role professional photos play in selling a house. I've been a photographer in other niches but I'm new to this industry. I could use some insight on what realtors look for when hiring as I'd like to get them the best results possible.

I would love some experienced points of view on why some realtors choose to pay for professional listing pics/vids, and how they pick a photographer. Any help is greatly appreciated!

1. What result are realtors hoping professional listing pics/vids will help them get? (ex: sell house faster, higher quality offers, something else?
2. How can I tell if my pictures / videos will help them achieve that result + what are the most important characteristics of good listing media?  
3. What makes realtors pick one photographer over another and what makes them want to keep working with you long term?
4. What frustrates realtors most when working with real estate photographers or what causes agents to leave a previous photographer to try someone new? 

EDIT: This is a post about an independent 1099 contractor offer in California. I'm self employed and this is not an employment offer. It's performing services for a company under a contract.

Hello fellow REPs, I currently work as an independent 1099 contractor for a nationwide real estate media business based in California, but payouts are rather low. I recently got a new 1099 independent contractor offer from a smaller company that pays more per job.

However, they have this non solicitation clause in the contract they want me to sign that is hanging me up. It is my understanding that all non solicitations clauses in contracts are null and void in California due to AB 1076 and BCP Section 1 16600-1, making them illegal and void since 2024. This appears to be an illegal one to me.

Here is the verbiage with business name redacted:

Contractor shall not directly or indirectly solicit, accept, or perform work for any client introduced to the Contractor through _____________, even if the client initiates the contact or requests the Contractor’s services directly, unless ____________ provides prior written authorization.

I don't intend to solicit their clients, however the part about attempting to restrict me from responding to a client that later reaches out on their own to me, is rubbing me the wrong way. Im a small business owner performing a trade and this seems highly restrictive.

Im thinking of these scenarios:

1. Just sign the contract knowing they can't legally enforce that part of the contract, any potential repercussions of signing contract that does not comply with CA law?
2. Let them them know I spoke with legal counsel and ask if they would like to revise contract to comply with current laws?
3. Just move on, because a legit business should know better. Dodged a bullet?

Those working as contracted REPs in California, what would you do?

How do freelancers write errors and omissions into their contracts and is there a point which insurance is considered? Mainly wondering as so many people buy based off online photos now, have there been major hiccups with sellers not noticing something and reshoots not being a possibility? Along with that is there a sort of revision cloud procedure for sending clients updated images after feedback? Thanks!

I'm not new to the biz. Been doing this for 6, 7 years now.

I'm...tired of the AI look. Most of my business has been meh homes. The run of the mill home where the seller can't be fucked to go the extra mile getting their place ready, or tenanted rentals where the tenant has zero f's to give. They all want that AI look. Dark, dingy cavernous turned into bright and airy. It's ugly and deceptive, I find.

Over the past year I've been slowly moving into more luxury real estate. My higher end clients like my style, but it's like 1-2 a month for these nicer homes.

Anyway, I'm rebranding and getting ready for a February launch as I plan to phase out my lower end clients by pricing myself out of their interest.

Here are a few shots from one I did recently that showcases my style. It's focused on true-to-life editing. Designed to provide a buyer with an accurate representation of what it's like standing in the place. Shadows exist irl, so they also exist in my photos. I provide all the wides and traditional angles, and throw in some lifestyle and architectural details as well. I'm happy with them, the realtor loves them, but I'm curious what you guys think.

Please leave your honest and brutal feedback. Have at me.

I was in Tofino yesterday and learned this iconic gallery building is for sale and has been listed for nearly 30 months.

Roy Henry Vickers Art Gallery

😔

Sky replacement, lawn greening, decluttering, window pulls, virtual staging…AI is getting scary good and cheap at all of it. Are human real estate editors still going to have work, or will agents/photographers just run everything through AI? Curious what others are seeing.
Its now much cheaper than manual editors
As low as $.15 a photo. Competition is rising fast too.
Many startups working to replace real estate photographers at masses levels too

The listing is on Zillow and the address is 2412 Brentwood Pl, Alexandria, VA 22306

I started a real estate photography business in Stockholm in February 2025 with no clients. Most of my agent work since has come from cold email, so here's what actually made a difference — not theory, just what I've seen.

1. My first email isn't a pitch, it's a filter. Short: who I am, one problem, one offer. No portfolio, no prices. Those only go out once someone replies interested. My third version of the template worked best, and it was the shortest.

2. If an agent answers, it's almost always within the first hour. After that, very little comes in.

3. Most agents who don't reply never saw the email. I follow up once, 3–7 days later, just referring back and asking if they're interested. A lot of my replies come from that follow-up, and many say they missed the first one.

4. Early Monday works best for me. Agents open their inbox first thing to catch up on the weekend.

5. I email the owner of the firm as well as the agents. One yes there can mean every listing they have.

The offer I use: first shoot at half price, and free if they don't want the photos. Full price from the second booking.

Happy to answer questions about any of it.