EP. 1267 MAKING PHOTOS GREAT AGAIN

Unlock the secrets of exceptional property photography with celebrity photographer Rob Lowry! Get an insider's view on how to capture the perfect shot, from the emotional journey of sellers to the meticulous details that make a home shine. You'll learn the importance of timing, the best equipment choices, and the crucial role of natural light in real estate photography. Discover how multiple photos are expertly blended into a single, stunning image, and understand the pivotal impact of homeowner preparation on the shoot’s success.

Join us as we recount an unforgettable winter shoot at a waterfront property, illustrating how the right light and environment can set a listing apart in a competitive market. Hear behind-the-scenes stories and witness the quiet dedication required during these shoots. Plus, Mark introduces groundbreaking micro drone technology for immersive property tours, adding a new dimension to real estate photography. This episode is a heartfelt tribute to the art and technical challenges of capturing truly remarkable property photos.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

All right, guys and girls, have you ever wondered, when you're going to put your property on the market for sale, what happens on the photo shoot? It's sometimes an emotional time for sellers. There's a lot of detail that goes into it, and we've got the famous photographer, rob Lowry. Stay tuned, ah, top of the morning. Morning, mark, how are you Good? Thanks, rob, the celebrity photographer. Is it true, rob, that you used to shoot porn before you got into real estate?

Speaker 2: 1:02

Is it my?

Speaker 1: 1:02

hat. That gives it up. So welcome. Now what are you guys doing? It's 7 o'clock in the morning. How long have you been there for?

Speaker 2: 1:14

We've been there for a little over an hour now. We got here about 6.30 and we're waiting for the light to come. Right, it's not the great morning, but we've got a lovely little little down the east there for about half an hour, which put the light in the home, so we should be okay Now.

Speaker 1: 1:29

Rob, it looks like you wouldn't get a very good shoot with that sort of weather behind you.

Speaker 3: 1:35

Rob was very. I was nervous and Rob was nervous this morning because, first of all, he went to the east Ingleside, not west Ingleside, ten minutes difference. And when we got here we were talking through the differences of a sunrise shoot, a dusk shoot, and then a sunrise with the sun up, and a sunrise with the sun about 15 minutes into the sky. Big, big difference, Correct, correct.

Speaker 1: 2:05

Wow. So there's a lot more to it than just getting out your iPhone and clicking off some pics.

Speaker 2: 2:11

Correct. Equipment's probably number one, but after that it's experience and timing. So you want to know exactly the right time to shoot a home. This home shoots east or it faces east and north. So early morning sunrise you're still going to have dark where the land is between the sea and the home and if you wait a little bit for that sun to come up, then you get the light slanting across the trees and the grass and that's when you get that lovely thick honey light coming into the home. And that's what we're looking for. We take multiple shots and then we blend them together and hopefully that helps someone to uh to buy the home it does make a difference.

Speaker 3: 2:50

Though, it does make a difference, can we? Uh? Yeah, can we actually show you actually?

Speaker 2: 2:55

mark's point if I go, the photo should pop up on the phone. It didn't happen.

Speaker 1: 3:11

Do you think the viewers would like to see an example? Oh yeah, so because I've got to tell you from what I can see here. It looks like there's no good photos being taken this morning. It looks grey. It looks like I'm in London.

Speaker 3: 3:25

Come on, Mark. I was just saying to Rob that this would be a summer's day in England.

Speaker 2: 3:31

Can we see in there? Now these have got to be blended together, but see those shadows up on the wall. That's that lovely early morning effect. And if I show you the outside of the home, look at that, look at that light up on the brick. Right now it needs to be adjusted. We've got multiple shots, but that's because the light's hitting the front of the home and it's that lovely, thick, warm colour up in the trees here as well, and when we boost that up it'll look fantastic.

Speaker 1: 3:59

So, rob, can you explain because they just look like a bunch of shit shots that you just showed me framing? Framing because what you actually have done those with those photos is the same photo you've taken in a couple of different moments. Can you explain framing because you're going to create one photo from many photos, but it's the same photo, same angle. Can you explain that?

Speaker 2: 4:29

yes, right, that's why you'll see photographers using a tripod, because they need multiple shots from exactly the same point so they can overlay them and make one shot. I guess the simple answer is we, as people see in what photographers call 15 about 13 to 15 stops, and the best SLR digital camera takes a photo in about seven or eight stops. So our eye is much better than those cameras, even the good ones. So we got to shoot for the dark and we got to shoot for the light, and then we got to blend them together To make it look like what you see. So look, there's AI coming, there's all these things, but as of today, right now, I still manually do all that on a computer, are you right? They do look a bit funky out of the back of the camera, but later on Next week, when you show the finish shots, I expect they might look a little bit better by the time to get to the wall.

Speaker 3: 5:19

They look pretty good if.

Speaker 2: 5:21

I what I should, I'll click my fingers, show one of those shots for Ming Cara, and that'll give us an idea of that lovely honey, that lovely honey life that we talked about. Okay, that's, it's that we talked about.

Speaker 1: 5:34

Okay, it's going to be a long click, but I am going to bring one up for you. Whilst I'm bringing that up, whilst we're doing a long click, can you explain to me your? Because there's obviously, there's the technical aspect, there's yourself. The thing I love, and people are watching, is the owners. Now, billy, I think I'm guessing, has negotiated the owner of this property behind the camera to hold the camera for them. What a lovely owner. Her name's Kelly, so can you explain how an owner will make a photo shoot great?

Speaker 2: 6:09

or shit. So the best thing an owner can do is set up. So you get me there. We just talked about those sunrise shots. We've got a sweet spot of about 15 minutes.

Speaker 2: 6:18

Now I'm an ex-builder so I don't get in and do what needs to be done. But if the owner's got it set up and all the clutter put away and everything as tidy as they can do, then I might get six or seven shots in that little window. And if the owner hasn't, and I've got to put the dishes away and I've got to move the bread and and all that sort of general take the things off the fridge, all the general clutter of everyday life, I might get two shots. You know, it's okay, we live with that. We come back later, we do this and that. But if you want the best, the photographer should be taking photos. So the best thing you can do for him is to set up the home, declutter the home, have it clean, tidy and neat, uh, so that when I walk in I can I can just uh, work on my composition and work on light and the things that I should be working I like to think a good real estate agent.

Speaker 3: 7:03

I do. I agree. How many of uh, your photo shoots does the real estate agent attend?

Speaker 2: 7:09

ah well, with you guys always, uh. But different real estate agents have different approaches. There's a few that will give me the keys and send me out there to take the shots, and look, I've been doing this for long enough to know what they need. But it is good to have the agent there because that way we can collaborate, work out what they want as well, what they feel is going to work marketing-wise, rather than what I always feel is going to work photography, work, photography wise and sometimes we sort of find a balance in that. Yeah, there is. There is a difference. We're always arguing. We're not always walking around agreeing to the same shot what's Lisa gonna say this morning?

Speaker 2: 7:49

yeah, it way right.

Speaker 3: 7:51

Yeah, it's we're going to comment.

Speaker 1: 7:53

We're going to comment Billy.

Speaker 3: 7:56

What's Lisa saying? And then there's an agent what's she saying? We all want perfection, but Lisa is top tier when it comes to photography.

Speaker 2: 8:05

Yeah, Lisa's really enthusiastic about photography, so that's good. That makes it a little bit better too, because there's a vested interest in the process, so I don't mind that at all. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:16

Rob, can we drill down on that word enthusiastic in relation to Lisa?

Speaker 3: 8:23

Enthusiastic like Zeus, the dog here. Zeus has been helping on set this morning and some people actually include their animals in the photos like as a feature. So they'll be taking a lifestyle shot of this garden and they'll kid you, not have the dog in it, I think it's cute.

Speaker 1: 8:44

Now, rob, this is. Do you want to talk about this photo quickly?

Speaker 2: 8:48

There you go, there you go. That's exactly If you look at the grass there, that long shadow and that honey colour in there is only going to be available for about 10 minutes in the morning. So it's, you know, at this stage of the year, that's about 7.05 to about 7.15, 7.20. So your photographer should know that stuff, depending on the orientation of the home, you know, and if we do, then we can get those shots and they look much nicer than just, you know, flat, generic grass, like if Billy shows this grass now. So look at that. That's if you don't have a lot on it, that's what it looks like. So photography is I could be wrong here, but I think it's a Latin word and it means drawing with light. And that's still what we do. Is we as a photographer? We try to draw with the light and to get the best that we can you saw what it means photography I could have.

Speaker 1: 9:44

I'm happy they just go with it, though you said you sound it sounds. Uh, it sounds, it sounds ravishing. Um, rob, this is another. This is another photo from the same property. Yeah, um, and I'm just trying to highlight the difference between people that are just you, probably the, the deeps that yeah there you go yeah, tell me

Speaker 2: 10:07

about that photo the same thing again, mark. So you can see the sun is directly on the face of the building. So that if there's some old shots of that, we went back and did a reshoot and they just put much more energy into it and okay. But you know it was a lot of fun. But coming back in the morning and getting that honey-coloured light on it, it just gives it a more emotive, more romantic, whimsical feeling. Am I just saying words now?

Speaker 1: 10:36

You're just making shit up as you're going along and on the final photo, can you talk about that one?

Speaker 2: 10:42

That's it. That's exactly what we talk about with that shadowing coming in. You've got about 10 minutes for that to be as effective as that, before the sun's just too hot and just blows out that window. And that also illustrates you can't take that shot in a single shot because either the room's going to be pitch black to match the hot sun out or the other way around. So we've got that shot for the inside, we've got that shot for the outside and then I've blended them together to make that shot which I might say that is it nice.

Speaker 3: 11:14

Is that impossible to photoshop? That's good, but you can't put that sun in shadows with the lighting. No, yeah, no, no oh look.

Speaker 2: 11:21

But you know I say no and some guy in idaho will show you that he can do it. Uh, yeah, anything, anything's possible.

Speaker 3: 11:28

But uh, unlikely would be a better a better and I think you can still tell the difference between butler, pennsylvania. Well, you can still tell the difference. What's artificial, enhanced and natural?

Speaker 2: 11:41

100 100, and so we want to look, yeah and that's what I was arguing with billy about with this morning, where we can come up here on a sort of a silvery day and we can put a fake sky in and we can put. You know, we can boost the grass and we can do that, we can do that, but it's better to go with what mother nature presents, and I think it's the same with women it's the same with women, rob.

Speaker 1: 12:02

I'm keeping out of that you know, like I just think natural beauty, raw beauty, there's just nothing like it.

Speaker 2: 12:12

No, you're right, you know, yeah, yeah. But you know, everything gets a boost here and there, and the ladies are entitled to that as well.

Speaker 3: 12:21

And the men and the real estate. And the real estate.

Speaker 1: 12:25

Yeah, now the final question, the grand finale question when it comes to photography, and I'm going to ask you, rob, because we're salespeople and we're always talking it up have you ever had a done a photo, had a photo where you thought I have made them a lot of money?

Speaker 2: 12:49

Yeah, yeah, I have. There's been a couple of shots here and there. I think there was one of those. Can you hold the camera? My arm's getting really sore. I think there was.

Speaker 1: 12:58

I think there was one I thought Kelly was holding the camera.

Speaker 3: 13:01

Yes, she was for a moment.

Speaker 2: 13:03

Yes, she was. She got bored. There was a winter shoot for Lisa last year on the waterfront and the sunrise.

Speaker 1: 13:12

For a property, not for Lisa, for Lisa's property.

Speaker 2: 13:15

Not of Lisa, but for Lisa, and it was a lovely property and I remember as I took those I thought, wow, you know, the one thing these photos are going to do is get people to turn up and, to be honest, the only thing I provided to that was knowing that that would be the right time and the right day, but that's often what you want in a photographer. I would say that I've lived on the northern beaches. I've done this for a long time, so I know just by the address. You know generally what's going to be right or not, and I'm sure you probably know that photo.

Speaker 2: 13:46

I think the owners liked it so much that they made a little book of those photos, and it really is. They're really pretty photos and I'm sure they would have had to have helped get more. I don't know if it sells the property so much or made the money or anything like that, but what I do know is it would have got more people in the door. No doubt about it. It would have got more people in the door because it stops them. In a world saturated with marketing, those photos would have just jumped out of anything and made people stop and have another look, and if that's what I can do, that's my job done, isn't it?

Speaker 3: 14:18

That house was last year the third most. Yeah, that was the third. It was in the top three. See, there you go. Top three most viewed properties on realestatecom In Australia. It was over a hundred. It was hundreds of thousands of views.

Speaker 2: 14:34

So there you go. So, mark, I didn't know that, but what I did know was those photos would have done the job. So that just illustrates, doesn't it? Yeah, because I didn't talk about that with Billy beforehand, but I knew when I was taking those photos that they were special, not because of me, but because of the light, the timing, the day, the property all coming together to make a special shot.

Speaker 1: 14:53

Yeah, rob, I knew when you were taking the photos that you were special. Thank you, mark, you know what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying Now. Do you know when there's like model photographers where they talk to the model and go, yeah, baby, keep going, push it, push it harder, harder? Do you talk to the house like that ever, or do you have any sort of things that you don't, any little things that you do that a bit weird as a photographer when you take photos.

Speaker 3: 15:23

We're silly hats. I took to the real estate agent get to move heavy, heavy objects.

Speaker 2: 15:30

Insta reels of them and I, alright, sometimes hide in a cupboard and and I get them to open the cupboard and then we jump out. So we, we yeah, I've kind of muck around like that time to time but no, not really I generally believe it or not.

Speaker 2: 15:44

like it quite quiet, which seems weird, but it's because there's a bit of a process you're going through in terms of shutter speeds and ISOs and various things, and if everyone's chatting at you, you can lose your way and miss a shot or miss a key frame or whatever. So, yeah, I'll muck around a bit in between. Yeah, there you go, and that's coming to Mark at any moment. I'm just working on that. So, mark, just to explain, that's going to be your new thing. That's a micro drone and you fly it in virtual reality. So that would be the sort of drone that I can fly through your kitchen window, down your hallway, up the stairs, rotate around, go out the bedroom window, come back in through the bathroom window. That's all theoretical, but that's what we're Stand by over the next few weeks for that. Wow, there you go. That looks good, doesn't it? Wow?

Speaker 1: 16:35

You look pretty. Really you look very focused. They're very serious on the job.

Speaker 2: 16:40

I was actually frightened, very concentrated. It's quite hard to do. I know you're a drone pilot of some skill mark.

Speaker 1: 16:51

I'm the best. I'm the best in the business of crashing them. It's true, the best.

Speaker 2: 16:56

DJI have done very well. It's a different style of drone.

Speaker 1: 16:59

DJ, I've done very well.

Speaker 2: 16:59

Oh yeah, a different style of drone that's called an FPV drone, so it's a different method of flying. So I'm still coming to grips with that Stand by.

Speaker 1: 17:08

You're a beautiful man.

Speaker 3: 17:10

That's a great topic. Making photos great again. Yeah, all in the prep work, all in the time of day.

Speaker 1: 17:19

Thank you very much, Rob. You're a beautiful man that way.

Speaker 2: 17:22

Thanks, mark, it's always good.

Speaker 1: 17:24

Done so good, billy. Good on you, bud Getting out there this morning, boys Working hard. Six o'clock out of bed, five o'clock out of bed, boom, boom, boom. Photo time.

Speaker 3: 17:33

That's it, see you later. Thanks, see you later anytime. Thanks, guys, see ya, love ya. Bye.