Mr. Ortiz

Website / Online Mechandising / SEO

Choosing a Full Service Virtual Photography Company

By Joseph Ortiz, President, IPIX InfoMedia

Although the idea of photographing a property or properties might seem like a no-brainer, the actual project from thought to product can be a daunting task. In any type of photography project, there needs to be a strong organizational aspect and numerous decisions should be made in advance to avoid excessive waste of time and money.

If you are managing a single property or a small number of properties, using an experienced in-house source to shoot, produce and publish the online photography might be a reasonable solution. Or you could consider a local photographer who specializes in virtual tours. These options are workable if your project is simple and centralized. However, if you manage multiple properties in geographically dispersed area or cater to a refined audience that expects a high level of overall quality, you should consider other options. There is a wide range of national and international professional photography services that can help you manage and execute the production of your photography project.

When choosing and using a full service photography firm, there are several factors to consider. These relate to firm selection and also successful management and execution of the project. A framework for conducting a fruitful project includes the following steps: 1) define the project requirements; 2) competitively bid the project; 3) execute the project with team support; and 4) organize the assets for deployment and reuse. These steps hold true for small projects as well as large ones. Getting the most out of your investment requires detailed planning and investigation.

Define Your Project Requirements

Think of a virtual tour and flat photography project as an investment. The resulting images can be used across a wide range of applications from traditional print to online programs. You will get the best return on your investment if you think of this project as multi-use from the beginning.

The range of use translates into the details of how the photography is captured and produced. By deciding up front to capture a high level of quality photography, the results will have broader use. Quality in this case refers to technical aspects, such a image resolution, capture technique (mirror, panorama, or Full 360), and high dynamic range exposure bracketing. It also refers to traditional photography techniques such as lighting, scene setup, and point of view of the shot. Making sure that you showcase your properties with the eye of a professional photographer ensures that you'll be able to effectively share the unique ambiance of your property to all who see.

Define the photography file formats and resolutions up front. Especially with virtual tour photography, the panoramic image formats regulates how the images will be viewed online and offline. Open formats (e.g. '6 faced cube' or equirectangular) allow the final images to be edited and enhanced using off-the-shelf tools. Vendor specific formats give unique presentation and online viewing capabilities (e.g. IPIX Corporation's .ipx format or Macromedia's Shockwave format). Remember also that resolution and file size are tied to image quality. A high quality image means a larger file size and a slower download time. You might want to specify a range of image quality output sizes (e.g. maximum resolution w/no compression, maximum resolution w/light compression, maximum resolution w/heavy compression). If the service provider has the right production toolset, these various formats, resolutions and file sizes can be automatically generated with little or no incremental cost.

Consider that in retaining the services of a company to capture photography, the cost for the photographer and his or her travel time will be a significant element in the overall project cost. The time and cost to capture more photography once the photographer is at a particular location is incrementally a relatively small one. Therefore, carefully consider the number of shots you need at each property, and within each key location identified at each property. Additional shots will help show prospective visitors the fullness of your location's offerings.

Finally, make sure you understand who will retain the copyright ownership rights of the photography. Professional photographers generally expect to retain ownership of the images they shoot and companies that specialize in virtual tour photography may want to retain copyright ownership as well. If retaining copyright ownership is a requirement for your company, specify this in writing.

Competitively Bid Your Project

There is a wide range of professional services available to meet your photography and virtual tour needs. These range from commercial photographers to full service virtual tour companies. One person or company may excel at a certain type of photography, but less experienced with another. It is notable that anyone today can purchase a digital camera (that includes panorama stitiching software), set up a web site and instantly be in the photography and virtual tour business. Be wary of startups that look attractive due to the ultra low cost.

When comparing service companies, consider the following criteria:

Once you have organized the key criteria for the selection of a company, generate a Request for Proposal. Use this document to solicit information about target companies and to compare proposal responses. Put formal requirements in a spreadsheet and require competing companies to complete the spreadsheet as part of their response. This makes it easier to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the different companies.

Execute Your Project With The Full Support Of Your Team

No photography project can be executed by the photography company alone. The on-site staff at the property must be involved in the photography job scheduling and location preparation. The success of the project will be primarily in the hands of this staff. Chose one employee at each location to be the point person for the project. Identify the point people at all target properties ahead of time and make their contact information available to the photography company.

Organize Your Assets For Deployment And Reuse

Depending on the size and scope of the project, there might be a few dozen to a few thousand images upon its completion. Smaller sized jobs may be delivered on a CD or DVD optical disk. Larger sized jobs may be delivered on a USB2, FireWire hard drive or via an FTP file transfer. In any case, the amount of information will be staggering. Make sure the service company delivers the final content in an organized manner using defined names that identify the contents of the file without having to view it. Also, make sure you obtain the rights to the final production images as well as the source images. You want to have full control over your investment.

Though the options in showcasing hotel property have become more complicated in recent years, there is a broad range of services that can help you effectively and efficiently execute your project. The challenge is knowing what to expect at each step of the process and paying close attention to the technical, creative and logistical details of the project. Hopefully, the issues and considerations raised in this article will help you in your immediate and long term photographic needs.

Joseph L. Ortiz is a technology development and commercialization consultant. He most recently was Officer and VP at IPIX Corporation, managing the InfoMedia unit. Mr. Ortiz defined the strategic vision and business plan, restarting the IPIX Virtual Tour Photography and Movies business. He was regional business unit manager at Philips Consumer Electronics and has held various senior technical and business positions. Mr. Ortiz holds an MBA from Arizona State, an MS in Computer Engineering from the University of South Carolina, and a BS in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology. Mr. Ortiz can be contacted at 865-220-6544 or joseph.l.ortiz@gmail.com Extended Bio...

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