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All I wanted for Christmas this year was an approval from the FAA to fly a job in Key West. After 3 denials this year, my wish finally came true a few days early with a certificate waver for my first flight in Monroe County Florida’s only Class D Airspace. Often referred to by local drone pilots as “The Forbidden Zone south of MM 17."
The Application Process:
The FAA has a detailed online form that we have fill out to request a certificate waiver to fly in Class D Airspace. After researching the area, converting the physical address to latitude and longitude, creating a flight plan, communications plan and safety plan, the form is submitted and we generally hear back from the FAA with an approval or denial within about 2 weeks.
Getting There:
We shoot real estate photos throughout the Florida Keys out of our office in Islamorada. Fortunately, I have become a master of time management and was able to get the approval for a day when I needed to stay the night in Key West anyway due to the new Real Estate Book hitting the streets. Getting there the night before is not only fun, but ensures that no traffic issues could make me miss the short approval time window for the flight.
Settling In:
The prior day’s appointments had all been delayed due to a heavy fog in the Upper Keys that lasted until about 11:30AM, a rare occurrence down here. This put my arrival time to Key West at about 6PM the night before, just in time for a quick sunset shoot near Louie’s Backyard. Special thanks to the sailboat, helicopter and unknown model coming together to remind us that Key West is open for business. After sunset, it was off to The Angelina Guest House in the heart of Old town, once a 1920’s bordello and gambling spot, now a friendly and quaint guest house perfect for a quick overnight stay or even longer. It’s a small, independent guest house with a friendly staff that never lets me down. Just down the street is Ricky’s Blue Heaven and if you get there early, they might just have a seat or two left if you failed to make your reservation in advance. If they are full, Santiago’s Bodega and Moon Dog Cafe are about two additional blocks away and also have great food.
Flight Day:
My favorite time in Key West is early in the morning, especially when delivering Real Estate Books. The place is so quiet before 8AM, plenty of parking, no traffic and few distractions. Just a tourist or two looking for someplace to buy coffee. Anyway, this is a post about Key West Photography, not my paper route. After getting a few things done in the morning, it was off to Eagle Avenue to make sure the drone’s geofencing was going to allow me to take off and it did. As the clock struck twelve I took off and shot about ten photos for the client. The urban environment is quite different from all of the waterfront homes we shoot on a regular basis, but she and her sellers were happy with the result. All in all, it was completely drama free, which was the plan from the beginning.
Happy Holidays, Happy Festivus, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to each and every one of you!
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It looks like the content wars have begun. Matterport 3D tours have been getting special branding on Realtor.com for some time now. Now Zillow.com has created their own 3D tour product that features the following marketing perks.
- Premium placement in search results on Zillow.com for the first seven days that the listing is posted.
- Inclusion in special email pushes to home shoppers prompting them to view the listing and 3D tour.
- Special red 3D home badge that helps them stand out on both Zillow and Trulia search result maps. *See Sample Graphic
- Home shoppers can filter search results to only homes with Zillow 3D tours which helps your listing gain more visibility when people narrow their search
Here is a sample from one of my favorite condos in Islamorada, Summer Seas.
A tiny home in the neighborhood!
Pros
The pros for choosing a Zillow 3D tour in addition to the additional marketing already covered is certainly the affordability and speed. It takes about 15 minutes to get this done at most homes which limits the time needed on site to shoot the home making this the most economical 3D tour option. Great for owner occupied homes and condos with amenities. Homeowners can go for a short walk or simply move out of the way of the camera with me. Exterior areas are included with this option regardless of sunlight and proximity to primary home, can sometimes pose a challenge for a Matterport scan. Currently Zillow is offering perpetual hosting at no charge, which is a huge plus for short term transient rental properties and vacation rental business owners! No annual hosting fees!
Cons
The drawbacks of a Zillow 3D tour over Matterport 3D is the lack of the ever popular “Dollhouse View” which is dramatic and gives the end user another way to navigate the space. Matterport also offers real virtual reality, the ability to measure rooms and create floor plans which is not an option for the Zillow 3D tour as of yet. The picture quality is close, but Matterport still has the edge. We may have a fix forthcoming for that so stay tuned!
Conclusion
Zillow 3D tours are an affordable option offering the proverbial “two birds one stone.” Providing a virtual tour that can be used anywhere with no annual fees (I’m talking to you, vacation rental business owners in Marathon!) plus bonus marketing on the Zillow/Trulia platform at no additional cost. A 2020 NAR study (*Exhibit 3-8) ranked virtual tours "very useful" high among all ages. Zillow 3D upgrade pricing is $75-$150 depending on the home size and complexity of the job. Let’s schedule your new property visual today!
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Photography in the Florida Keys - How we do it
Most photography in the Florida Keys is expected to have at least 3 things: blue skies, turquoise water and white puffy clouds. Recent weather conditions have made this requirement a bit more challenging than it usually is, but we are still shooting. We just have to spend more time with edits and post processing.
The Challenges
Sometimes it is a rainy week with 100% cloud cover like we experienced last week. We replace the skies when shooting on days like these, but most folks don’t know that we sometimes have to do that on a sunny day when we have no other option but to shoot directly into the sun. Today, the wind was blowing over twenty-five knots, which makes it a little sporty flying the drone and can cause motion blur on the water due to wave action or difficulty keeping the drone steady. On top of that, the predatory birds were out hunting on every shoot today. Fortunately, a little bit of patience and this technique mentioned in a previous post enabled me to complete each project.
The Advantages
Shooting Florida Keys Photography on an overcast day is certainly possible and can sometimes yield unique images. We call it “Bloodline Style.” Excessive cloud cover reduces the strength of the sun, which makes it easier for balancing light across the entire image or video and can enable us to show more detail in certain areas than we could if the sun were bearing down on us. Sometimes the replaced sky or enhanced water could actually look better than when shooting on the prettiest day. Here are 3 recent photos taken in the Florida Keys. Can you tell which one was taken in between rain showers?
Conclusion
If the weather is not ideal, don’t despair. We’re ready for that too and embrace the opportunity to bust out the blue jeans and rain coats. Besides, if you’re in the Florida Keys and don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes and it will probably clear right up.<