Why one portrait usually isn’t enough
Your portrait gets more use than most people’s. It’s on the sign, the card, the listing, the mailer and the building directory, and the people looking at it are deciding whether to call you.
But the portrait’s only half of it. What agents run out of is everything else: you at an open house, walking a property, handing over keys, at the closing table, out in the neighborhood you sell. That’s the stuff your social calendar eats through, and it’s what makes your feed look like a working agent’s.
So I usually do both in one session: the portrait, and a set of photos of you doing the job.
What the portrait has to do
- Look like you on the day you answer the door. A photo that flatters you into somebody else creates a small awkward moment at the first showing.
- Read at a distance. A sign gets seen from a car. Detail that works on a screen disappears at forty feet, which is the argument for simple backgrounds and clear contrast.
- Survive a crop you don’t control. Brokerages crop to circles, squares and banner strips. Frames with room around the head come through that fine. Tight ones don’t.
What the lifestyle frames are for
Listings, yes, but mostly everything around them. Social posts, the about page, the mailer, the sponsorship ad in the school program. With a set of your own photos, you stop reaching for stock.
How often should I replace it?
When it stops looking like you. A photo that’s visibly a decade old says something you didn’t mean to say.
What about brokerage requirements?
Most brokerages specify a background, a crop and sometimes a dress code. Send me the spec ahead of time and I’ll match it.
How long does it take?
An hour or so for portraits alone. Add a couple more if you want the lifestyle set, and I’ll build it around a property or an open house you’ve already got on the calendar.
