Tallahassee Testimonial

I have been a virtual tour provider for several years. RTV is hands down the best virtual tour software company in the industry. RTV provides lighting fast support, online seminars that are fun and informative on various topics like marketing, photography techniques, business strategies, and the product the product is fantastic to boot.

The major draw for me is that they offer a system for businesses like myself that streamlines the entire tour process from shoot to production to hosting. They even send my customers weekly stats. As a provider with RTV they often send me leads and direct jobs through their 32 national partnerships they have under contract.

My company produces nearly a thousand virtual tours annually, and I could not do it as efficiently any other way. There are other virtual tour building software companies, hosting companies, panoramic stitching software companies, equipment companies, and it is possible to spend a lot of time and money putting together your own system that works.

But you won't find a single system that works for you like RTV does. You won't find a system built from the ground up specifically for Real Estate photography and business virtual tours. You really can't do any better if your in the business and depend on quality AND quantity with a fast turnaround for your customers. Is there room for improvement in their system? Yes. They aren't a huge corporation with an unlimited budget. But they listen to the needs of their customers, prioritize their upgrades, and always surprise me with new and improved services.  I can't wait until the new RealTour Fusion system comes out any day now!!



Tally Tours Inc
Tallahassee Virtual Tours
www.TallyTours.com
Order a Virtual Tour (850) 491-3909












Myles produces all of the final products and virtual tours for Tally Tours.  He turns Aaron's photos into virtual tours, photo tours, and digitally enhanced still photos.

Myles started Tally Tours in 2005. He is a professional photographer with a degree in Digital Media Production from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ.

Myles worked in television and film production from 2002 - 2004.  His credits include working with Good Morning America, VH1, various national television commercials, and many large TV & film productions such as MTV's Making the Band, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, and M. Night Shyamalan's The Village.

Myles began producing Virtual Tours and photography for real estate in Philadelphia before moving to Tallahassee with his girlfriend who has since completed her graduate degree in Classical Archeology from FSU.

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Improving Your Photography

Interior photography can be tricky sometimes and sometimes the photos don’t come out quite like you or the client hopes.  I myself have been noticing some problems with photos coming in for Tour Track jobs.  It seems that lately people photographing interiors of model homes and hotels have been framing their pictures in a way that shows quite a bit of the ceiling, too much ceiling really.  While showing the ceiling may seem to give the feeling of a larger room, if it cuts off the furniture as a result it should not be done.  It may seem natural to walk right in and point and shoot, but stop, take a look, adjust your camera and then really scrutinize what you see through the view finder.  If all else feels, take your shot, then re frame it and take another from a lower perspective or angled so more bed/furniture shows than ceiling. 

Remember, your photography and virtual tour client is expecting you to be the creative eye.  They get their rooms ready but they are not doing so with the knowledge of how a room will photograph, that is your job.  So take a look around, check each shot when you take it.  Are you showing up in a reflected mirror?  If you’re using your on-board flash don’t shoot directly at a surface that will reflect (I see this a lot with wooden furniture and plants)-in fact just turn off the flash and try shooting that show on a tripod with a low shutter speed instead (try bracketing and combining exposures).  Make sure your aperture is set small so the room is in good focus, there is nothing worse than having an sharply focused object in the foreground and everything else blurry.  Open your eyes, is there a garbage can that should be moved, pillows crooked, can furniture be rearranged to make the space seem larger and more appealing?  Ask yourself all of these each time you enter a new space.

I found this article online and it offers some good tips on how to best shoot your interiors.  http://www.photocentric.net/real_estate_interiors.htm He has some great examples of images along with what is wrong with them and how they can be better.

Educating yourself on your trade is key.  In efforts to offer good feedback and advice to our virtual tour photographers, RTV has established a Photography Review Board (RTVPRB) consisting of a few reputable volunteer photographers from our system.  Now, when a client complains about a photo shoot, RTV uploads the images in question to a gallery of photos for the RTVPRB to go over and offer comments and tips.

It may seem easier just to send someone back out to try to fix their error or reassign it all together, but that does the photographer a disservice.  It takes away their opportunity to learn and grow in their art and it would be saying either, I don’t have the time to help you do better, or I don’t think you’re capable of doing better.  RTV wants to work with you to help you be the best you can be.  Because we believe in you and we know you are capable of doing amazing things.




Jacqueline Burke
Director of National Accounts
Virtual Tour Software & Hotel Photography
Toll Free 866-947-8687 ext 493
www.realtourvision.com
Like us on Facebook

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How it all Started - RealVision History

This all started about about 34 years ago. At age 16 I was photographing weddings and already doing portrait photography. I had a love of photography that stemmed from my Grandfather. He was not a professional but he also had the same passion. I worked in Allen Brooks Studio in Westland, Michigan for many years as a portrait and, wedding  and commercial photographer. In the early 90's I was burned out and decided to make a career change. I decided that I would work in the computer field and worked as the lead Technician for Michigan Mulitple Listing Service now known as MIRealSource. In 1997 I met the love of my life Joy and we were married in 1998. Joy also share my same passion for photography and computers. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University with degrees in business and computers. Joy was working for JC Penny as a manger and was not happy. I told Joy that we should start a web design company.  From there Web Wizard Creations we born.

Joy started the web design company in 1999 and that's when things really started to change. Joy was working very hard and building the new business. In 2001 I decided that it was time for me to focus on our future and continue building our business. I left the MLS came to work with Joy.  To this day she always reminds me that I work for her (smile). When I was working at the MLS virtual tours where just staring to come out. I thought that they where pretty cool and would make a great marketing piece. I immediately know that I had a passion for virtual tours and as a professional photographer I knew the quality of the tours I was seeing was horrible. I started doing research and I found a virtual tour software company here in northern Michigan called Real Tour Vision (RTV) they had the process for doing virtual tours that I liked and they looked great. At that time we where doing web design for real estate agents and resorts, both of which could benefit from virtual tour technology. In 2001 Joy and I decided that we would make the investment and start offering virtual tours. Real Vision Studio, a Metro Detroit virtual tour company was born.

After a very short time the virtual tour company took off and we found we had made the right decision. We where shooting virtual tours all over Michigan and also traveling across the US for larger accounts. Also we discovered the benefits of being a part of the worlds largest virtual tour network that spans into 50 countries and with over 2000 photographers offering  360 tour technology. No matter where the job was located we had the network to get the job done.

Present day, we have two very unique companies to help anyone with online marketing. Web Wizard Creations  and Real Vision Studio. With our years of experience in photography, web design, and digital marketing we know how important online presence is and we help build stronger brands every day.

Remember that everything is all about perception. More people today use the Internet when making decisions that affect their life from buying a home to going on vacation, so make sure your web site has everything they need to make an educated decision about you!

Michael & Joyce Thompson
Real Vision Studio
Southeast Michigan Virtual Tours
www.RealVisionStudio.com
Order a virtual tour today: 734-727-2276

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Excellence is Our Standard

At Vision Quest Virtual Tours, we photograph all of our tours using a secret technique that provides an incredible level of clarity and detail that is not available in traditional photography.  For each individual image, we photograph many exposures and then blend these together to provide an image that shows both the dark and bright areas equally well.  To see the difference that HDR makes, take a look at this tour...http://rtvpix.com/BU-0966-L16DVB-01?h=500&w=700


We photographed 350 tours in 31 states last year and drove 39,000 miles to shoot tours.  We photograph a wide range of virtual tours and our prices range anywhere from $100 to $2,500 per 360 tour depending on the size and scope of the job.  I read a Facebook comment earlier today from a photographer that said that he would not consider shooting using HDR unless it was on a higher price tour because he felt like it was extra work and the extra time made it cost prohibitive.

That confounds me!  We pride ourselves on providing an excellent product no matter if we are shooting a one bedroom condo or a huge hospital.  Like I said earlier, we charge according to the scope of the job but every single image we shoot is photographed using the multi exposure technique because it gives us the best results every time...and we think that's why our customers choose to work with us!

By the time we publish a virtual tour, we will have used no less than 6 different software programs to create the end result.  Because of the volume we do, we have streamlined our processes and invested in our systems so that in actuality it takes us almost the same amount of time to shoot a tour using our technique as it does to shoot without it. Even if it does take a little longer, we find it easier to just do our best work every time and trust that it will all even out in the end.



















Greg and Paige Mitts
Quincy Illinois Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a virtual tour: 404-863-9769

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The Drive to 1000 Tours

So far our local virtual tour company, "Perfect Images" has done 500 virtual tours. We've done tours for 80 realtors and over 35 real estate companies, some commercial business too. Does this make us experts on Virtual Tours? I believe it does. I remember the days when our first virtual tours would take us about two to three hours to finish. Of course, it did not take us long to bring this time down to one hour or less. I am talking about the whole process.

Taking the pictures takes approximately 30 minutes and the stitching process another 30 minutes or less. You know, that what's so great about working with a virtual tour software company like Real Tour Vision. The process is simple and fast. Their customer service is outstanding, and for that reason we can guarantee our customers the links the same day of the photo shoot! Isn't that incredible?

It's amazing the horror stories I here about other virtual tour companies. Some take a whole week to send the links out and some just don't do it at all.

Real Tour Vision is an example of what a virtual tour company should be, outstanding customer service and a pioneer in technology. I see myself and my company being a part of Real Tour Vision for a very long time.  Great Job Real Tour Vision!

Claudia Jaramillo
Perfect Images
www.360perfectimages.com

Ivan Herrera & Claudia Jaramillo
Vero Beach Virtual Tours

Perfect Images
www.360perfectimages.com

Call us today - 772-559-2364

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Recuva to the Rescue!

It was a long day and after getting home from a 4 hour virtual tour at Macedonia Baptist Church in Detroit. I was sitting at my desk and my dog Maggie was being so cute and playing doing something I have been trying to get on video for months, but every time I pick up the camera she always stops.

I grabbed the camera out of the camera bag and started filming and she quite doing it, as usual.  Not thinking I went to erase the video and selected "all" and pushed the delete button.  I knew the very moment I did it and said aloud "oh Sh**".  It was too late, all 17 spins where gone!

I wanted to cry. I told my husband Mike and he said, "Hold on a second, they are still there, the FBI recovers erased data all the time we should be able to do the same."  I searched online and found a FREE program called Recuva and downloaded it, after I installed it and ran the program, it recovered ALL the deleted images on my memory card.  I couldn't have been happier! 

Important fact to note, if this happens to you DO NOT take any other photos or it will start overwriting where your images were stored. Pull the card from the camera and set it aside, download the software from here http://www.piriform.com/recuva and follow the instructions. This was a happy ending, even though I still don't have my cute video of Maggie.


 
Michael & Joyce Thompson
Real Vision Studio
Southeast Michigan Virtual Tours
www.RealVisionStudio.com
Order a virtual tour today: 734-727-2276

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More Secrets from The Traveler’s Gift

The book The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrew is about Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success and I am reflecting on how these decisions apply to our virtual tour business. I wrote earlier about the first Decision - “The buck stops here. I am responsible for my past and my future.”  The next three decisions are somewhat interrelated as they are all about our actions.

The second Decision of the book came from King Solomon and was “I will seek wisdom. I will be a servant to others”.  It seems strange that the man who is considered the wisest man ever would advise the traveler to seek wisdom.  But there is truth in the idea that the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.  Our virtual tour technology provider, RTV, Inc. has a national conference that we will be attending in May.  I will be teaching other virtual tour providers about how to market their virtual tour business but the real reason we are attending is to learn from other virtual tour dealers about their best practices.  Even after almost 15 years as a professional photographer, Greg is always open to learn better ways of improving his skills and systems as a photographer.

The third Decision of the book is “I am a person of action. I seize this moment. I choose now.”  This decision was shared by a Civil War colonel at a critical time in the war.  Given the choice to surrender or charge, the colonel gave the order to charge and in doing so changed the outcome of the war.

Quitting is often a temptation but as the colonel in the book said, “When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act.”  Most of us will never face a physical battlefield but we must make this same decision on a daily basis in the battlefields of our minds.  Armed with this simple philosophy, we can usually win our battle at least for the day.

I have found a way to work my way through a quagmire is often not to focus on the big picture but instead to break my actions down into manageable pieces.  I have a goal of making at least 100 contacts every week and that number can be overwhelming so when faced with the temptation to take a break or quit before the end of the day, I force myself to make 5 more calls.  Usually, the 5 turns into 10 and the 10 turns into 20 but by deciding to do SOMETHING, I am often able to get over the hump.

The fourth Decision, “I have a decided heart. My destiny is assured” was shared with the traveler by Christopher Columbus during his journey to find the New World.  Armed with little other than a dream, Columbus was passionate about his vision of an undiscovered land.  This passion allowed him to push on despite months of travel with no land in sight...and despite the fact that almost everyone thought he was crazy to try.

Having your own business requires just this sort of determination - especially the sales part.  Like I said earlier, I know that when I am calling for a new area, I need to make about 100 calls in order to book two or three tours.  What that means is that I am going to get no one on the phone or get told NO about 97 times a week.   I got an email last week from a business that said they were interested in doing a tour but needed to pass for now.  I exclaimed my disappointment and Greg said, “I think sometimes you think everybody that shows any interest is a Yes”.

I realized at that minute that there’s a reason that he’s the photographer and technical guy and I’m the salesman.  He’s right...I absolutely believe that everybody that I talk to would benefit from what I am selling because before I call, I have researched their websites to see if a virtual tour would be a good addition to their marketing efforts.  I know the value and quality of our tours so I am absolutely flabbergasted every time someone tells me “No”.  If I did not think that way, I would become overwhelmed by the 97 No’s I get and I would want to quit making the calls.
But like Columbus, even though I may not see dry land, I have a clear vision of where I am going and I know without a doubt that if I put in the hours on the phones, the results and my destiny are guaranteed.  There are many things you can’t control when you own your own business but you ARE in control of your actions and your attitude.

















Greg and Paige Mitts
Quincy Illinois Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a virtual tour: 404-863-9769

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