Photography and Video in Costa Rica » Photography

Real Estate Photography Tips For Realtors – Don’t Do it Yourself, You’ll Lose Your Commission Check…

Toh Gouttenoire — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:39:27 +0000

Casa Puro Dieces – Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica

I found this link to an article by Josh F. Sanders who is a Real Estate Broker and the Founder of Shiloh Street University in Seattle, WA, an online marketing school designed specifically for Realtors and agents.

Josh says:

“…it all came down to the listing pictures they saw online. That’s one of the essential real estate marketing tips for listings! Give buyers a great picture and they’ll jump inside the house that day. Give them a “do-it-yourself” picture and they’ll move onto the next home. The listing pictures make the difference, especially when you spend a few bucks on professional real estate photography!

Even when the listing pictures were better than the actual house, guess what? It still got the buyers inside! That’s your goal as a listing agent; get as many showings as possible. Professional real estate photography makes that happen!”

I point articles like this out because they offer good marketing copy for real estate photographers. Josh has some pretty good catch phrases for real estate photographers. Some photographers have links to these kind of articles on their sites.

20th Wedding anniversary – Amber – Playa hermosa.

Toh Gouttenoire — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:02:16 +0000

Another one hour session, at sunset, under the rain with luckily a 3 minutes of sun…

It was for their wedding anniversary, the 20th…

In playa Hermosa, next to playa del Coco, in Costa Rica.

20 thWedding Anniversary, Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica. from Bidrop.com on Vimeo.

20 thWedding Anniversary, Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica.
www.weddingbybidrop.com

Engagement Maria, Playa Flamingo, Costa Rica.

Toh Gouttenoire — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:16:50 +0000

A one hour morning session in Playa Flamingo.

Engagement Maria Playa Flamingo, Costa Rica. from Bidrop.com on Vimeo.

Engagement Maria Playa Flamingo, Costa Rica.
www.weddingbybidrop.com

www.bidrop.com

www.weddingbybidrop.com

To Sell a Luxe Apartment, No Ordinary Snapshot Will Do. NYT article.

Toh Gouttenoire — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:35:30 +0000

Another great article about real estate photography and its importance in dragging prospective buyers to a “live” visit and an easier sale.

David Paler purposefully strode through the cloud-nipping stretches of an $8.25 million Manhattan apartment, took in the set before him and called out demands with the directorial authority of Martin Scorsese. Then he assumed his position behind his camera, nodded in satisfaction and began shooting away.

While Mr. Paler may not be a renowned filmmaker or the favored photographer of the model Gisele Bündchen, his work is as scrutinized and touched up as any feature film or Vogue shoot. Mr. Paler photographs apartments for sales and rental listings.

These photographs, the real estate equivalent of head shots, are the bait that lure buyers to Sunday open houses. When these photos work, they help buyers picture themselves holding parties in their dining rooms.

Brokers hope that these photos will persuade bidders to pay more. At their worst, they invite derision for trivialities like a preponderance of throw pillows, causing buyers to move on to other listings.

“They’re huge,” said Suzanne Johansson, a broker who is selling an apartment at 111 West 67th Street that Mr. Paler was photographing. Photographs, she said, determined whether buyers were “going to be interested or not.”

It does not take much time with a real estate photographer to learn how deceptively hard taking marketable shots can be. Mr. Paler compares some shoots to “diplomatic missions” where you are “walking on egg shells.” Even at a professionally designed apartment like the West 67th Street home, Mr. Paler negotiated with two brokers and a stylist about dragging an elaborate dog bed out of a shot, moving around chairs and risking the safety of the selling family’s pet frog by unplugging its tank.

He tensely called for colorful items like plants and cookbooks to enliven the apartment’s neutral shades and added a basket of lemons in a photo because, “Lemon fresh — it’s psychological.” (He turned down a stylist’s offer to add a Buddha.) Toilets and trash baskets never stay in the picture. Through the shoot, he periodically glanced up at the horizon to track the ominous, chalky clouds. He would brighten skies later by combining shots and adding in light. In this market, he said, sellers and brokers were especially concerned that photos were flawless.

“It’s very acute right now,” he said. “Brokers are the psychiatrists. We’re kind of like the psychiatrists to the psychiatrists.”

Some of these photographers, not surprisingly, also do fashion and magazine work, but a few focus on only real estate. They are paid by brokers, and their fees vary, but a typical two-hour assignment, including travel time, may cost $250 for four published shots, and editing may take one more hour.

Caryn Leigh Posnansky has spent the last 16 months shooting apartments for sale, ranging in price from $250,000 to $19 million, for VHT, a Chicago-based real estate photo agency. Her less glamorous assignments have included scooping soap out of New Yorkers’ soap dishes and persuading one seller to throw away the bouncy chair he kept for his 3-year-old.

At a 19th-floor studio at 150 West End Avenue, she found herself with plenty of clutter to clear. The apartment had a renter who was less concerned about making the place listing-ready. Ms. Posnansky and a Corcoran broker, Sheila McCarthy, feverishly moved around books, took out recycling, removed mementos from the refrigerator and even pushed a desk chair into the hallway to present the portrait of a pristine and uncluttered apartment. After capturing her shots, Ms. Posnansky returned every book, magnet, fortune cookie and dead plant to its original location.

“They’ll never know we were here,” she chirped while wheeling a desk chair back into the apartment.

Some photographers spend more time physically transforming spaces. When Nico Arellano, a former set stylist from Uruguay, came in to photograph an eighth-floor, $2.3 million three-bedroom at 530 East 72nd Street, he realized that a couch and a pair of chairs swallowed up the space and did not show how large the living room actually was. Mr. Arellano, with help from two Halstead brokers, Ann Bialek and Madalyn Robbins, moved an entire living room of furniture. He would later edit the flat-screen television out of the shot.

“Sometimes we literally just change everything around,” he said.

There are more technical ways to make, say, a Lilliputian bedroom look merely small: using a wide-angle lens to fit the entire room into a single photo, or shooting the room at an angle from a corner rather than straight on.

“The wide angle is a must,” Mr. Arellano said. “The corner thing is my preference.”

Even a meticulously kept $1.15 million one-bedroom at 39 East 12th Street, with an accepted offer no less, benefited from a little magic. Its Halstead broker, Jane Greenberg, said that in this market she did not want to take any chances. So she hired Jay Bierach to take additional photographs highlighting the renovated windows and kitchen. On a recent overcast morning, Mr. Bierach wheeled in his camera and lights. For nearly an hour he snapped away and tried to add light with camera and flashes. Then he wrapped it up. He would have to find more sunshine back at his studio.

“I try to use as much daylight as possible,” he said. “I do what they want, and then I do what I need to do.”

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

Published: June 21, 2010

Real estate photography in Costa Rica: www.bidrop.com

100 Faces photography project, Looking for models…

Toh Gouttenoire — Sat, 22 May 2010 00:13:42 +0000

Bidrop.com is participating to a fund raising photography project and is looking for local models

The project is a book in which sale proceeds will be donated to The Hunger Project.

Dynamik Media is collecting an array of portraits from different photographers around the world. The goal is to portray the idea of beauty in women within different cultures.

I’m looking for 10 models, women between ages 18-32 which are considered to be beautiful in their local culture. So if you think you are or you know someone don’t not hesitate…

Contact me for more information, I’ll send you a copy of the model release and FAQ.

Lisa & Jon – Hotel Capitan Suizo, Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica Wedding photography.

Toh Gouttenoire — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:58:20 +0000

Wedding and elopment photography in Costa Rica: www.weddingbybidrop.com

“Paradise Lost: No Condos for Oasis Investors”

Toh Gouttenoire — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:27:18 +0000

Photos from Toh Gouttenoire Illustrate the Tico Times article “Paradise Lost: No Condos for Oasis Investors” (by Adam Williams) about the Tamarindo development.

Short Shrift : Hired to guard the construction site at Tamarindo Oasis, José Alberto Vargas, 59, from San José, claims he has not been paid for his past year on the stalled project, only given some food.

Shells with a View: Tamarindo Oasis Condominiums, sold on promises of paradise, await resolution of a financial conflict in a case that is winding its way through Costa Rican courts.

-

Horizonte del mar #201 – Playa Langosta – Real Estate Photography

Toh Gouttenoire — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:58:37 +0000

It is always a pleasure to shoot in Playa langosta especially at Horizonte del mar, right on the beach…

I’m not a big fan of HDR (High Dynamic Range, when you mix different exposure of the same scene to avoid burned or under exposed part of the image), so I had to light full power my new SB 900 and my faithfull SB 800 to fight that strong Costa Rican sun… even if I admit there is two photos in image #3…

RPM Services specializes in the management of luxury residences and condominiums exclusively in Playas Tamarindo and Langosta. Visit them here.

Real Estate photograpy in Costa Rica

New wedding website for wedding photography and videography in Costa Rica…

Toh Gouttenoire — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:06:33 +0000

-

Bidrop.com is happy to say that we’re working on our new website: www.weddingbybidrop.com.

Weddingbybidrop.com will be the website dedicated to wedding photography and video in Costa Rica. We also shoot Honeymoon and vows renewal.

For 7 years Toh Gouttenoire has been shooting (in photography and video) for Bidrop.com and other company more than 100 weddings in Costa Rica, mainly sunset beach photography in Guanacaste, but also, weddings in Arenal, Jaco, Manuel Antonio, Playa del Coco, Montezuma, Malpais, Playa Langosta, Playa Flamingo, playa potrero, puerto viejo, Limon, playa Tamarindo…

WeddingbyBidrop.com is working with high end customers as Hacienda Pinilla, JW Marriott Guanacaste, Los Sueños Marriott, Paradisus playa conchal, Capitan Suizo, Hotel resort Diria, , Los Altos de Eros, Four Seasons Papagayo, Villa Caletas, Sugar Beach, Bahia del Sol, Flamingo beach resort…

Please visit our wedding photography website and contact us with any inquiries.

www.weddingbybidrop.com at work

Abby & Justin – Villa Allegre, Playa Langosta, Costa Rica – Wedding photography

Toh Gouttenoire — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:07:49 +0000

I love Villa Allegre in Playa langosta, it’s really a “like at home” bed and breakfast, but straight on the beach…

I had great time in this intimate wedding, it was really emotional and fun at the same time…

Keep love growing…

Here is the mail I receive from Abby after uploading the photos:

Here’s a testimonial for you to post…feel free to use however you please – we would love to help support you however we can!

Dear Toh,

Justin & I want to tell you how happy we are with BiDrop and the photos of our wedding on Playa Langosta. When we were looking for a photographer, we wanted someone talented and artistic, but still affordable. Searching for a photographer across international borders was initially intimidating, but once we found you we knew we had found the right person. Your website immediately caught my eye. Your photos showed that you are creative and talented, and after contacting you the first time, I knew you would be easy to work with as well. On top of it all, your price was the best that I found, making you the total package! When we finally met in person, Justin and I both immediately felt comfortable in trusting you to capture the essence of our wedding…us. Throughout our special day, your energy and creativity allowed us to not have to worry about the photos and focus on the important thing, our love for one another. Our day couldn’t have gone any better; afterwards we were so excited to see our memories on film. We had high hopes for our photos, but once we saw them, we couldn’t believe how well you captured the emotion of our day. We can’t thank you enough for helping us to make sure the memories of our wedding will last a lifetime. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend you as a photographer for anyone looking for the best!!!

Sincerely,

Abby & Justin Hugill

Thanks a lot Abby I was really touched…

Photography by Toh Gouttenoire www.weddingbybidrop.com

Wedding photography in Costa Rica