Airbnb photography in Batumi: apartment photos, video and drone

Airbnb photography in Batumi can be ordered on its own or together with launching the listing. The photos do their job twice: in search results next to the neighbouring apartments, and at check-in, when the guest compares the apartment with them. They have to sell the view and the layout without promising anything the apartment doesn't have. How to create the listing itself and link the calendars is covered on the page about listing the apartment on the platforms.

What you get after the shoot

The finished set has 20–40 edited shots: the rooms, the view from the windows and the balcony, the bathroom, the kitchen and whatever facilities the building has. A studio usually needs just over twenty, while a two-bedroom (2+1) apartment with a terrace needs closer to forty. The shots are horizontal, in a size that Airbnb, Booking and local sites accept, plus a few vertical ones for social media and messaging apps.

Along with the files we send the order of shots for the listing and short captions: which room it is, which way the window faces, what you can see from the balcony. Everything arrives as a link to a folder, at full size and reduced for the platforms. If we run the listing, the new shots go straight in place of the old ones.

The shot list: what we photograph in each room

Before the visit we draw up a shot list for your apartment. Without one, a set can easily end up with five almost identical shots of the living room and not a single one of the washing machine, which is the first thing a guest will ask about.

We photograph the view in three shots: straight ahead from the balcony, to the side if the sea is only visible at an angle between the towers, and from the room through the glass. The third shot is the most honest one. It tells the guest whether they will see the sea from the sofa or only once they step out onto the balcony.

Getting the apartment ready for the shoot

A few days before the visit we send a preparation list. After a tenant or after the winter, the apartment needs a more thorough clean than usual before the shoot, like a deep clean by our cleaning service: the windows, the shower glass, the air conditioner filters.

• the windows and the balcony glass are washed on both sides wherever you can reach;
• the beds are made with the linen guests will get, and steamed: creases show more in a photo than in real life;
• the magnets are off the fridge, and the bottles, sponges and dish rack are off the worktop;
• there are no bottles in the shower, and towels of one colour are folded the same way;
• cables, remotes, chargers and the router are out of sight;
• every light is on, blown bulbs have been replaced, the air conditioners are off and the curtains are drawn back evenly;
• the balcony furniture is dry, with no covers or ashtrays.

If the apartment is short of textiles or almost empty, cleaning isn't enough. Then we bring in cushions, throws, a rug and table lamps for the shoot, and that is a separate job: home staging for photos and viewings.

Light, weather and time of day

We time the visit by the way the windows face, so that the sun doesn't shine straight into the lens. In a corner apartment we sometimes split the shoot in two and photograph each room at the hours when its light is even.

For apartments with a sunset view from the window we suggest an evening shot. It is taken at dusk, with the lights on in the room, while the sky is still blue. This shot often ends up as the cover photo, but it needs a separate visit: you can't photograph the apartment by day and in the evening in one go.

We check the forecast a day or two ahead. On an overcast day the sea comes out grey, so we move the view shots to another day rather than paint in a blue sky during editing. We don't erase cranes or the building site opposite either. The guest will see them from the window anyway, and the complaint about the photos will stay in the review.

Seasonal shots and reshoots

Different people book the apartment in summer and in winter. In July a guest is looking for the sea, the pool and the balcony, while in January someone coming for a month looks at the workspace, the heating and the kitchen. So we take the summer set early in the summer, as soon as the building's pool has opened and the courtyard has turned green, and by autumn we change the first shots: the living room in warm light and the desk go on the cover. It is convenient to change the cover at the same time as the seasonal price grid.

A reshoot is worth doing outside the change of season too: after new furniture or textiles, after the walls have been repainted, when a building has gone up opposite and changed the view, or when guests write in reviews that the apartment doesn't look like the photos. A reshoot of one or two rooms is priced by the amount of work.

Video tour, drone and 3D tour

Photos are enough for most listings. The rest is ordered for a specific purpose:

• an edited video tour of 1–2 minutes, walking from the front door to the balcony: for social media and for a long-term tenant choosing an apartment from another country;
• drone aerial footage: the building, the view from the upper floors, the way to the beach, and for a house, the plot and the terrace as well;
• a 3D tour or 360° panoramas: people can walk through the apartment on their own, which helps with a sale or a long-term let without a viewing.

We agree a drone flight over a residential complex with the building's management company in advance, and check the restrictions for the area before take-off: Batumi airport is very close to residential districts. We keep the neighbours' windows and balconies out of the frame.

Photographing an apartment for sale

A buyer looks at an apartment differently from a guest. They want to see the layout, the condition and the view, and throws and baskets of coffee for guests only get in the way. So a set for a sale has more wide shots, separate shots of the windows and the balcony, close-ups of the kitchen and bathroom, the air conditioners and the water heater, the building entrance, the courtyard and the parking. The bed and the sofa stay, while personal belongings and house rules signs for guests are put away.

There is a separate package for a sale, which adds video and listings to the photos. For a buyer abroad, the video often takes the place of the first viewing. How the sale itself works, from valuation to completion, is described in the section on selling property in Batumi.

How much Airbnb apartment photography costs in Batumi

Professional photography costs from 330 to 480 ₾ per apartment. The price covers the preparation list, the shot list, the shoot and 20–40 edited shots of the interior, the view and the building, ready for Airbnb, Booking and local sites. Cleaning, textiles and minor repairs before the shoot are not included in this amount.

Video, drone and a 3D tour are added to the same visit as separate lines: an edited video tour costs 480–720 ₾, a drone aerial shoot 600–780 ₾, and a 3D tour or 360° panoramas 570–840 ₾. Creating listings and the sale package are also priced separately, and their prices are in the table.

The price moves towards the top of the range with a large floor area and many rooms, with shots of the pool, lobby and courtyard, with an evening shot on a separate visit and with a house outside the city. A studio or a one-bedroom (1+1) apartment that is ready for the shoot on the day we arrive comes out closer to the bottom. The final price is set after we have looked at the apartment in photos or on video and agreed the shot list.