FAQ

The sooner the better. If you want a very specific date and time of day, then booking in advance is imperative. During normal season 2 to 3 days in advance is adequate, but during high season we get booked up quickly.

As long as we are notified of the cancellation and/or need to reschedule the day before your booked appointment, we will be able to cancel and/or reschedule without charging you the cancellation fee.

We must unfortunately charge a cancellation fee for last-minute/same day cancellations to compensate our photographers for their time. Our photographers receive their schedules at the end of the previous day. When an appointment is cancelled at the last minute, it leaves a gap in the photographer’s schedule because we do not have enough time to book an alternative appointment. As photographers plan their day around these appointments they are generally on their way to the property or already at the property when we get the cancellation notice, which means that we get billed for their time regardless of the cancellation – and it is why we are forced to charge a cancellation fee.

Charging a cancellation fee is not something we like. We understand that most of the cancellations happen due to circumstances beyond your control. However, as we must pay a cancellation fee to our photographers, we have no choice but to charge a cancellation fee as well. As a gesture of good faith, we will cover half of the cancellation fee for your first last minute cancellation.

Yes, you can, but the availability of the appointment date and time will be limited to that photographer’s schedule.

The GTA including as far East as Ajax, as far West as Mississauga/Oakville and as far North as Aurora. Outside of this area, a nominal travel fee may apply.

The service agreement clearly establishes the expectations you have of us and we have of you. It also contains the preferred method of payment, which is kept on record.

Different services have different turnarounds. Please refer to the service you are inquiring about.

Unfortunately, this is not possible. Each photographer is booked for appointments all day and only gets a chance to upload photographs at the end of each day; this process can take several hours and the photos generally go online overnight. However, if requested, we can send you the exterior of the property first thing the following business day.

Depending on the brochure type, the normal turnaround time is 2 to 3 business days after the day of the shoot. Brochures that require copywriting require more time since the writing is outsourced. Reducing the turnaround time both increases chances of making mistakes resulting in loss of the final product quality.

We prefer payment via a major credit card like Visa, Master Card and AMEX, but we also accept cash, certified cheques, bank drafts or payment through your office if you have such an agreement with your office.

Our photographers use higher end DSLR cameras with a wide angle lens. None of them will photograph with entry level DSLR cameras such as the EOS Rebels, etc. Photographs are taken with multiple exposures to ensure better dynamic range when blended in post.

Foremost, it’s a question of liability. There’s always a risk involved in moving objects around. Photographers are also time limited during their photo shoot and are not familiar with the property and the different objects on site. Some things could break if moved or get damaged. There is also the possibility of the property getting damaged as the result of an object being moved or of the photographers getting hurt themselves. They do however remove little distracting objects like towels on the stove, etc. Also, each client has a different opinion of what looks good or not in a photograph. Our photographers are trained and paid to shoot beautiful photos – not to stage the interior of a home.

Yes, but please do so prior to the photo shoot otherwise the photographer will photograph the property in a systematic way to ensure that it satisfies most of our client needs. Photographers will shoot the principal rooms showing as much space as possible at angles that will show it best. They will not photograph any specifics or detailed shots unless instructed to do so prior to or during the photo shoot.

Yes. We can provide you a contact sheet with all the photographs taken. We need to know at the time of booking if you’d like to do so to avoid having our graphic designer enhance the wrong photos.

Imaginahome Inc. will never release your photos that you paid for to any third parties without your authorization as expressed in a signed waiver.

HDR (High Dynamic Range Imaging) is a set of techniques used to greatly improve the dynamic range of luminance between the darkest and lightest areas of an image that are otherwise limited by cameras. Imaginahome has been using this technique for a long time for night photography due to the great contrast of the scene at night. The technique greatly improves the quality of the photograph. Different methods are used to achieve exceptional end result. HDR photos are also useful for day photography on bright and sunny days as they bring a lot of details into the end photo.

If your property is backing onto a lake, a golf course or sits on a large lot, taking a picture at ground level will only show the immediate surrounding of the property and will barely give you good sense of how beautiful the premises really are. By taking the photo from much higher up we can capture a property’s surroundings in a single shot. It makes the house and its grounds look very impressive and will give the viewer a very good idea of what the property is about.

The telescopic mast can reach an altitude of 60 feet, but photographs are usually taken at about 45′ to 50′ depending on the property, terrain/soil the mast is standing on and wind conditions.

If you are listing a beautiful and large property or the property itself sits on a fantastic lot or has wonderful surroundings, you might consider getting elevated photos to ensure you get the best shots. If an image is everything, you might want to consider getting the best image possible.

A Standard brochure is an elegant but simple brochure that is quickly produced. It is printed on lightweight paper and requires no trimming since it has no bleed. An Elite brochure has a more elaborate design, making it look upscale. Graphics and photos extend to the edge of the page. The brochures are printed on larger sheets of papers than the standard brochures, which are cut down to allow for the graphics and photos to reach the edge – what we call bleed. The paper quality is also thicker allowing for better reproduction of rich background colours.

Our wired booklets come in 3 sizes: Vistino, Estate and Villa. The booklets are bound at the spine by twin loop wires. They offer many advantages over the Elite brochures. For instance, they allow for a horizontal spread which works well for landscape photos when taking the full page. Wired brochures make is possible for each photo take the maximum space without having to compete for available space.

Even though we prefer that you book our photographer since they work under our directives, we do accept photography from third parties. We recommend that the photos be sent at the highest resolution possible to ensure the best print resolution.

We do offer a small discount when you provide your own photos for the whole project. However, should you wish to add your own photos to those taken by our photographer, we will be more than happy to incorporate them into the finished product. For instance, your photo shoot might happen in winter and you want to add some summer photos previously taken of your home.

Yes, please let us know your preferences and we’ll be more than happy to make these changes for you.

Absolutely. Simply let us know which photos you’d like to use for the brochure once you receive them. We only request that you let us know at the time of the booking that you’d like to select photos once you receive them.

Yes, simply let us know prior designing the brochure. It is better to leave the initial layout to us since we’ll determine what’s best to keep a certain workflow. You are free to make changes once you receive the first proof as it will give you a better visual of what to change.

We do offer professional copywriting for a nominal fee. Please refer to our service section. The Estate and Villa brochures come with professional text included. Our custom brochures also include this service at no extra charge.

Absolutely. However, you need to ensure that the grammar is correct since we don’t send it to our copywriter for revisions. We do however go thru the spell checker prior printing, but it doesn’t cover syntax or grammatical errors.

As per our agreement, we sometimes showcase work we’ve done to promote our services. Your brochure might be used to showcase our work, but never will your brochure be used to promote someone else’s listing without your written consent – for instance, in the event you loose the listing. The brochure belongs to you and can only be released to someone else by signing a waiver agreeing to release the brochure and photographs taken.

A virtual tour will remain active indefinitely unless asked to have it removed.

A WebLink is simply a link to a web page that hosts the photos, brochures and any additional information on our website allowing you to host the link on any other website you’d like. For instance, you can set the virtual tour in your listing to link to our web page to showcase any additional photos and the brochure. The WebLink’s photography is of better quality than the 20 photos found on TREB and are not restricted by any quantity. The WebLink is simply an extension of the photography and other information that’s not directly on your listing. Our web links conform with TREB regulations.

Yes, absolutely.