real estate blog lab

The ReImaging Lab

As many of you know I love photography. I use a lot of photographs in our Real Estate business for listings and content on our various blogs.

Bad MLS Photo of the Day

Athol Kay was famous for his series “Worst MLS Photos” which were submitted to his site and there were many an RE Blogger made it a daily habit of stopping by his blog to see what really awful image was featured for the day. It wasn’t hard to find them and Athol’s commentary was always good for a laugh. Many of us really miss that bent way of looking at the world.

The Issue of Photos in Real Estate Marketing

Bad listing photos seem to be more the norm than good ones. While photos of a home are considered one of the most important selling features it continues to be the area most often neglected. Why? Because many agents don’t have the skills, the time, or the knowledge to provide good quality images for internet, print and MLS Marketing.

Some simply can’t see spending the money to have a listing shot professionally. They also see those services as expensive and time consuming to get what they want as fast as they want/need it.

The RE-Imaging Lab Solution

The RE-Imaging Lab is an online site where agents (or anyone, for that matter) can zip up and send photos to be Post-processed. The payment is secure through PayPal and easy to do when placing the order.

Most of the time (standard) processing can enhance the depth and quality of an image that is locked away inside the image file. Most of the time it is not represented visually by what we see on our screen. There is a tiny photo processing lab in your camera and it doesn’t always pick the best image to show. I’ve been re-imaging photos for friends and family for years. I thought it was time to turn these skills into an affordable service.

RE-Imaging Lab Rats

Beta testing a process is always a good idea before presenting it to the world. Therefore, I’m opening up the RE-Imaging Lab to the RE Blog Lab community and readers to take it for a spin and see how it works.

Since the site is set up with a two step process:

1. zip up and submit your image file (for beta 5 image limit) for processing
2. Place an order and pay for it with Paypal button options (YOU SKIP THIS STEP)

It means you can submit images for processing without having to pay for them.

IN THE SPECIAL INSTRUCTION PUT “LAB RAT”

I’ll process the first 100 photos submitted in this beta testing period FREE. Good Price?

What I ask in return

• I want your feedback on the experience
• Feedback on the information available on the site (still being added)
• Testimonial on the finished product
• Allow selected images to be used as before and after examples on site (identity protected : )
• Ideas and suggestions for the site

More Than Real Estate RE-Imaging is The HDR Processing Lab

Photos submitted don’t have to be about real estate. While this is the primary target market for the RE Imaging Lab it isn’t just for Real Estate Photos. Any image can benefit from some post processing to unlock the visual data hidden away in the file. Feel free to select any image you want to see improved. But night shots are the ones with the least detail to bring out. The ReImaging Lab is the most affordable HDR processing Lab on the Net.

Image Quality

Information about the size, type and quality of images is on site. In short RAW or high resolution images (JPG) will have the best end result. Cell Phone or Blackberry images are not going to benefit much of any.

HDR and Standard Processing

HDR processing is one of the options on the site. Not all images will benefit from HDR Processing. Some by their very nature are not good candidates for HDR processing. You can specify in the Special instructions if you want HDR processing of your images. During BETA I’ll be doing some standard and HDR processing even if you don’t request it.

RAW or Bracketed images (3 to 5 images of the same subject shot with 1 F-stop difference between each) are the best for HDR Processing. “True” HDR as the purists say can’t be done from a single image. However, I’ve gotten great results from processing single RAW images. They might not qualify in a contest as True HDR, but you be the judge of the results.

Paypal Submission Buttons Live

The Paypal options are live on site. Feel free to use them if you are so inclined. Once you click to put something in the cart you are taken to the cart and have the option of removing it or deleting the order. I’ve not tested this logged out to see how it all works. There are several places along the way where you can get out of the payment process.

Thanks in advance for your submissions and suggestions.