How much should I pay a second shooter for real estate photography?

A flat rate. Cineminn pays $50 an hour, about $120 on a standard listing. He shoots and uploads brackets; the company edits, delivers and owns the agent.

Should I split revenue 50/50 with a second shooter?

No. A split makes him a partner in the client, and partners eventually call the agent direct. Pay for the work, hourly or per job, and keep the agent and the edit yours.

What should a second shooter agreement include?

What he does: shoot, upload brackets, leave. What you own: the agent, the edit, the delivery. His rate: flat. One page he reads before his first shoot.

Answers › Running the business

Ask the agent

How do I pay a second shooter: hourly, per job, or a split?

Second shooter incoming. One thread says 50 percent, one guy pays $100 a shoot. Which won’t blow up?Asked by a photographer on Reddit, r/RealEstatePhotography

Flat. Hourly or per job, never a percentage. The percentage isn’t the real question anyway; who owns the agent and the edit is. Pick the wrong model and one day your second shooter does the math and takes your agents with him.

A split makes him a partner. A flat rate makes him a cost.

Pay half and his number grows with the ticket, not the work. Same house, same forty minutes, and he makes more because you priced it better. He didn’t do anything for that raise. You did.

Half the client starts to feel like half the business. So one day he calls the agent direct. He has her number. He’s been in her listings for six months. From where he’s standing, why wouldn’t he?

Hourly or per job, none of that happens. You own the agent, the edit and the delivery. He owns the forty minutes in the house, and he gets paid for exactly that.

The $100-a-shoot guy on the thread has the right shape. Flat, per job, paid for the work. Whether it’s $100 or $120 depends on your package, not on a thread.

Pay a shooter fifty an hour. Never pay them half the client.

Fifty an hour, about $120 flat on a standard listing

Here’s exactly what Cineminn pays, and it isn’t a percentage. Fifty dollars an hour, which comes out to about $120 flat on a standard listing.

He shoots, uploads the brackets to Dropbox, and he’s done. We edit, we deliver, we own the agent.

On our $390 package: $120 to him, $17 of editing, $5 of delivery, $248 to Cineminn for a house we never drove to. That’s the math that makes a second shooter worth having. Split it 50/50 and the same house pays the company $195 before editing, and the shooter has her number.

Be the company, not the photographer

This only works because of something agents never tell you. The agent books your company, not the guy holding the camera.

Ten years on the agent side: I never knew which shooter showed up at my listings and never asked. I called a company. The photos came back the same, the invoice came from the same place, and that was all I needed to know.

So every invoice, every text, every delivery link comes from you. He never emails her. And pay him flat and pay him fast. Good shooters stay where the money is simple, and leave where it’s a conversation.

If a shooter wants a percentage, he wants the client. That’s not a shooter. That’s a partner, and you didn’t post for a partner.

I never knew which shooter showed up at my listings and never asked. I called a company.

The big lesson

Pay for the work. Never pay for the client.

Do this

This week: write your one-page contractor standard. Then offer your first second shooter a flat rate per shoot, with you owning the edit and the agent.

The delivery checklist

What she actually needs when the files go out. Free. Then take the sixty-second roadmap quiz and I tell you what to fix first.

Get the checklist Get my roadmap

Straight answers

How much should I pay a second shooter for real estate photography?: A flat rate. Cineminn pays $50 an hour, about $120 on a standard listing. He shoots and uploads brackets; the company edits, delivers and owns the agent.
Should I split revenue 50/50 with a second shooter?: No. A split makes him a partner in the client, and partners eventually call the agent direct. Pay for the work, hourly or per job, and keep the agent and the edit yours.
What should a second shooter agreement include?: What he does: shoot, upload brackets, leave. What you own: the agent, the edit, the delivery. His rate: flat. One page he reads before his first shoot.