Keith Diamond’s Real Estate Photography Journey

Keith Diamond is a professional real estate photographer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has seven years of real estate photography experience spanning different locations and styles. Honing his craft daily, this high-volume photographer’s commitment to quality and craft is unwavering. Dive in as he shares his journey and the secret of his success in this interview with us.

Keith Diamond’s Real Estate Photography Journey

What makes good real estate photography? And how do you prepare yourself for that? Is augmented or mixed reality becoming the future for real estate content creation? Know everything about the process from start to finish from real estate photographer Keith Diamond.

For the people who don’t know you, tell us a little bit about yourself & how you got into real estate photography.

I am a high-volume real estate photographer in Las Vegas, Nevada. My company has been in operation here since 2017. We have four photographers on staff. I started in real estate photography in 2015, photographing Airbnb properties in California. I have my Bachelor of Science in Digital Photography from the Art Institute, and I completed my Master in Fine Art in Media Design from Full Sail University.

What’s a typical work week look like for you?

A typical work week for me is between 20 to 30 property shoots that require photography and half of the time other services as well. The other services we offer are video, Matterport virtual tours, drone photography and videos, floor plans, and pre-shoot walk-throughs.

How do you prepare for a shoot?

The day before the shoot, I will see what I am doing the next day and make sure all the equipment I need to use gets charged. Then on the day of the shoot/s,  we load up and take off. Once on location,  one of us will go into the property, get the lights on, and adjust window coverings while the other photographer gets their camera ready and starts shooting outside.

What is your main gear?

My main real estate photography gears include :

• Canon R6 with 11-24mm f-4 lens.
• Benro Mach 3 tripod with Manfrotto gear head.
  

How do you edit your images? How important do you think is post-processing in the process? What do you think about outsourcing photo editing?

Because we do so many jobs each week, we have to outsource our editing. Finding a good editing company to do your post-production is important but, you need to make sure they do all your post- production for bringing consistency to your product.

Can you share a few secrets to your success?

“Image composition has been the key to my success. Being able to see from the foreground to the background of the image is important in real estate photography. The best thing any photographer can do for themselves in this industry is to go take a beginner’s designing class.“

What do you do in your free time? How do you hone your craft?

I try to get a round of golf in my free time. Since the pandemic, we have been working 6 to 7 days per week. So there hasn't been a lot of free time. As far as honing my craft is concerned, I guess I do that on the job.

What is the biggest challenge you face in the industry?

My biggest challenge, I would say, is letting go. I need to let my staff handle more and I need to step away for a much-needed reset.

What are your thoughts on virtual staging, virtual tours, and other incumbent technologies in real estate?  

Virtual staging has come a long way when we are talking about the quality of staging. In the beginning,  virtually staged images looked really fake back in the day. I really pushed virtual staging aside at least two to three images when photographing a vacant listing. Virtual tours have come to be the norm for listings 500k and up since the pandemic. Before the pandemic,  most listings 800k and up took advantage of, say, a Matterport. I see augmented or mixed reality becoming the future in real estate content creation.

Your advice for aspiring photographers.

If you work for one of these large real estate photography companies that pay you probably a fraction of what you're worth and, you want to get better, have them send you some of your work after it comes back from post-production. This will help you to learn a lot by looking at your own work on a bigger screen than the one on the back of your camera.

We’re sure Keith’s innovative thinking and drive to achieve more will take him a long way. We wish him and his business in real estate photography the best of luck.

Click here to read real estate photographer and marketer Orlando Mac’s interview on becoming a successful real estate photographer. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to stay posted on more such interviews. Wish to try out Styldod? Click here for a free trial.

Styldod is a design-tech company that aims to simplify real estate marketing and help agents present homes in their most favorable light online by reimagining and automating the listing photography process. Having begun as a virtual staging company, today, Styldod has affordable and best-in-class products and services for every facet of real estate marketing and photography. Styldod’s suite of services include virtual staging, image enhancements, floor plans, virtual renovation, 3D renders, 360 degree virtual tours, and Matterport virtual staging, to name a few. We're trusted by over 10,000 realtors from all over the US and from agencies like ReMax, Coldwell Banker, Keller Williams. Know more about us at https://www.styldod.com.