SHOOT LOCATIONS - Tips for hiring your home out for photo shoots
As someone who has photographed many many Shoot Locations, and use shoot locations for her product clients regularly, here are my top tips for hiring out your house for Photo Shoots … after chatting to so many home owners already doing it, and being asked a variety of questions from home owners who are wanting to hire out their house. Here are my top tips, and questions answered (don't hesitate to get in contact if there’s anything else you’d like to know):
Show your potential customers (the businesses looking for shoot locations) how beautiful your home is, buy having it professionally photographed by me … you’ll need to show your house in the best natural lighting it gets, clients will want to see where the light hits. And even better would be a list, and photo examples of where the light hits at what time of day (the times will change through out the year) … this is is helpful for the businesses to plan their photoshoots out, and get the most out of your house. (some businesses will want to ‘scout’ the location ahead of a shoot, to really get a good idea of the light and space).
You will need to have a contract drawn up, to cover your house for any damages that may occur, I can help you out with this, upon completion of photographing your house for you.
There are two quite well known businesses that are like Airbnb, for shoot locations … Pure Locations and Aloca … these businesses advertise your house for shoot hire, they take all the stress out of the process for you, and handle everything … booking your clients, contracts, taking payments etc … you do of course have to pay them a fee, but if you don’t have the time, or just don’t want to have to do it, they will do all the ‘book keeping’ side of hiring out your home for shoots. It also means a lot bigger businesses (with more money to spend) are seeing your home and that it is available to hire. But of course you an handle this all yourself if you choose to.
I would also highly recommend starting an instagram account purely for your house, and advertising the fact you are now hiring it out for shoots. Naming your home, and featuring only the professional photography you will get from me after I photograph it for you. You definitely don’t need to be posting on this account all the time, it’s not another thing you have to maintain … but it does mean when you have shoots at your house, everyone involved with the shoot … photographers, models, make up artists etc … have a instagram account to ‘tag’ where they are, and then that’s free advertising for you. And if they are tagging the house, you can repost/share any of their content, so free content for you, to advertise that your house is available for shoot hire (more professional photography, rather than dodgy iPhone photos, of your house). You do need to have a clear brand, and if you are paying for professional photography, I wouldn’t then post random iPhone photos that don’t match the aesthetic brand of the house, branding is so so important. Having a beautiful logo for you house is also very helpful, to give the overall feel of the home. (I come from a graphic design background too, so I can design a logo for your home).
All you really need to do it have a clean and tidy house, before each shoot booking. You may want to hire a cleaner for this, I can also recommend some for you, depending on your location.
If you literally don’t want to deal with any of this, I am available to photograph your home, and do all this other work to have it up and running, ready to take on clients … designing a logo, launching your instagram account, writing out contracts, and automated email replies with all the details, putting together PDF’s to talk your potential clients through your house, how the light hits etc, we could even video your house, to really show the lay out etc …
Bonus Tips
@peppahart has a beautiful home in Cabarita (@casa_campana) that was built for shoot hire, she has spoken a lot about hiring out her home for shoots on her instagram account, some really helpful content there, if you would like to read more, from someone who is already hiring out her house.
Your house doesn’t need to be ‘perfect’ and jaw dropping amazing, you would be surprised by the price my photography clients have paid, and houses I have used for product shoots for clients in the past, I will be completely honest with you, if I think your home will not be able to be a shoot location, just ask me, I won’t lie to you and waste your time.
If the whole home isn’t photo shoot ready … you just need to be completely honest with your potential clients, about what areas of your home are shoot worthy, how many rooms, or outdoor spaces can be used, what the best angles are etc.
If you’d like to see some of the homes I have photographed in the past that are all hiring out their homes for photo shoot locations, head over here. These shoots were all done purely to advertise these homes being available for shoot hire. And these homes here, are some that I have used for product photography shoots, in the past.
As always, don't hesitate to get in contact, to find out more about my services, and even just to have a chat about hiring out your home for shoots.