Real Estate Forums

Buy New Tampa · 02-20-2008, 09:47 PM

Jared has told me that royalty-free images that can be used in template designs are hard to come by, so I am looking into the possibility of providing them. I need help in determining What type images are needed for royalty free distribution of website templates?

Please let me know either here or on the blog I created to discuss such issues.

NealRM · 02-20-2008, 09:50 PM

I'm not sure that images are that hard to get. Istockphotos has 1000's of images that can be purchased. You do have to get the upgraded package for using them in templetes so.

Jared · 02-20-2008, 10:57 PM

Neal he is referring to images that guys in my business can use royalty free. Those from iStock cant be redistributed as part of a template or a design for instance. Guys like me that publish templates for WordPress for free download have to pay hundreds of dollars for royalty free distribution or they have to hire a photographer.

With istock photo you can only use it on a per project basis and when I go to publish free or even commercial templates for download I can't include images that are not royalty free for distribution.

This is exactly what designers need.

SEOWolf · 02-21-2008, 01:03 AM

Royalty free images would be great for our industry.

Especially if you could package them on a per market basis; i.e. Las Vegas, Seattle, San Diego and so on for the major markets.

Just think of the frequent flyer miles you could rack up.

~VegasMack

NealRM · 02-21-2008, 05:30 AM

Jared,
You may want to relook at istock extended license option. It does have an option for web templates. Below is an excerpt on istock's licensing options.

Quote:

You may also purchase the option to resell the Content in an unlimited number of electronic templates for e-greeting or similar cards, electronic templates for web or applications development, PowerPoint or Keynote templates, screensavers, and email or brochure templates.

The cost is not cheap (~$100) and I would encourage more competition in the market. That should help drive prices down.

Tampa,
I would suggest you stop by some photography sites in addition to real estate sites. Many photographers would love to be able to sell their photos somewhere besides iStock. A good place to start is www.phototakers.com. It is a good forum that only deals with photography.

Jared · 02-21-2008, 08:52 AM

Neal I looked and they have certainly changed their policy. I notice many of these sites however strictly say "NO RESELL" of the photos as part of a template. $100 isn't painful but as it was explained to me, his new ez royalty free site will sell royalty free images on the CD level so you buy an entire CD of say mansions or condos in well known markets for $150 or so. To me that should sell like hot cakes.

I know I'd like to have a cd with say a few hundred images all high resolution for print templates and web templates and other things. I have a feeling if they can compile the CD as collections like they do at stocklayouts.com this would be a hit.

I've purchased two separate CD's from stocklayouts.com way back when they had a bundled deal and that was tragically expensive. However I can redistribute without royalty my work as a result of the product. Thats why I think it should be done for photos as well especially in the real estate industry.

I'd pay a person a day rate of $250 to get me a few hundred photos with a digital camera. I'd package them up myself and sell them if that were my business model. Lots of ways to approach this niche business because no one is doing it.

Buy New Tampa · 02-21-2008, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jared

I'd pay a person a day rate of $250 to get me a few hundred photos with a digital camera. I'd package them up myself and sell them if that were my business model. Lots of ways to approach this niche business because no one is doing it.

Well, today Jesse (the photographer) and I went out on our first shoot for EZ Royalty Free and came back with a bunch of pictures to work with... the good news is we have started the process... of course, for about a days worth of work, I am not so sure we have anywhere near 150 photos that we would consider "stock quality". We do have a lot, but we will need to have many more days of shooting to accomplish what we are trying to. I guess my point is, I do not think it is possible to pay a photographer a day rate of $250 and come up with all of the images you would want....

What I am thinking of at this point, for real estate photos, is three different categories, one exteriors, one interiors and one design elements (select shapes and designs from a house that are not pictures of a complete room, etc). Depending on the resources we find to shoot, we could have more then one cd in a particular category and we could possibly have a cd that has some from each category. What do you think Jared, would this type of strategy work.

We still need to come up with a pricing strategy... my guess is we will have prices that are dependent on how difficult and costly images are to get. For example, we are near the beach (sort of) and can easily come up with a set of panoramic nature shots in a day or so. That will obviously not be the case for the real estate photos. Of course, it will be easier to sell at a more moderate price if we know we will be selling a bunch of them.

I will update the progress on our website and try to include some photos I took of us taking the images... I am an amateur, so I can give my pictures away free... hahahaha

NealRM · 02-21-2008, 08:54 PM

So how are you planning on handling the releases and distribution? We have a few gigabits worth of real estate photos. Maybe we could work out something?

Buy New Tampa · 02-22-2008, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NealRM

So how are you planning on handling the releases and distribution? We have a few gigabits worth of real estate photos. Maybe we could work out something?

We are working on the details... it will likely be a combination of selling prepackaged CD's and downloaded images purchased in some bulk quantity...

What type of photos do you have? I have a few gigabits worth of photos myself, but I am not a professional photographer and would not consider my pictures "stock quality". My partner IS a professional and we are starting to build our collection of photos where he is able to set up and control the lighting, etc.

NealRM · 02-22-2008, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buy New Tampa

We are working on the details... it will likely be a combination of selling prepackaged CD's and downloaded images purchased in some bulk quantity...

What type of photos do you have? I have a few gigabits worth of photos myself, but I am not a professional photographer and would not consider my pictures "stock quality". My partner IS a professional and we are starting to build our collection of photos where he is able to set up and control the lighting, etc.

The best way so see the type of photo we have is to stop by out site. 99% of the photos on the site were taken by us. We normally keep photos for a year or more after the property sells, so we have a several hundred more properies with 20-40 photos each.

The copyrights on the photo is no problem, since we took the photos. We would need to get a release from the home/property owners.