Pricing guide · Updated September 17, 2026
How Much Does Real Estate Photography Cost in South Florida?
Real estate photography in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties generally costs $150 to $350 for interior and exterior photos of a standard listing, $300 to $600 once drone aerials are included, and $800 to $2,500 for a full luxury media suite with a 3D tour, video and staging. Price is driven mainly by square footage and by how many services are bundled into one visit. Estate Shutter Florida prices photography from $199, the drone-inclusive Standard package from $399, and the full Pro suite from $699.
Cost by service: the market range, and what we charge
Market ranges below reflect what South Florida studios publicly advertise for a typical single-family listing as of September 17, 2026. They are ranges, not averages — the spread is wide because deliverables differ enormously at each end of it.
| Service | South Florida market range | Estate Shutter | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior + exterior photos only | $150 – $350 | $199 – $499 | Most of the market prices by square footage; a few charge by photo count. |
| Photos + drone aerials | $300 – $600 | $399 – $899 | Drone is the most common add-on in South Florida and the biggest single price step. |
| Photos + drone + video walkthrough | $450 – $900 | $399 – $899 | Bundling is almost always cheaper than buying video separately. |
| 3D virtual tour (Matterport-class scan) | $200 – $500 | Included from $699 | Priced by room count as much as square footage — a scan is one to three positions per room. |
| Twilight exterior session | $150 – $400 | Add-on to any package | A separate visit in a ~20-minute window, which is why it is priced as its own session. |
| Virtual staging, per image | $7 – $50 | From $7 per image | Wide market spread. Cheap tiers are templated; higher tiers are hand-composed. |
| 2D floor plan with dimensions | $75 – $200 | Included from $299 | Nearly free when generated from a 3D scan you are already paying for. |
| Full luxury media suite | $800 – $2,500 | $699 – $1,999 | For listings above roughly $2M this is close to standard practice. |
Cost by property size
Square footage is the single biggest driver, because it determines both time on site and editing time. These are Estate Shutter's published rates, which is also the shape most South Florida studios price in.
| Property size | Typical property | Basic | Basic+ | Standard | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1,500 sq ft | Condo unit, townhouse, small single-family | $199 | $299 | $399 | $699 |
| 1,500 – 2,500 sq ft | Typical single-family home | $249 | $399 | $499 | $799 |
| 2,500 – 5,000 sq ft | Large family home, small estate | $349 | $499 | $699 | $999 |
| 5,000 – 10,000 sq ft | Estate, waterfront, country-club home | $499 | $649 | $899 | $1,499 |
Basic is photography only. Basic+ adds a slideshow video and floor plan. Standard adds drone aerials and a 4K video walkthrough. Pro adds a 3D tour, community aerials, social reels and digital staging. Full detail on the pricing page.
What actually changes the price
Square footage
The primary driver everywhere. More rooms means more setups on site and more frames to blend and correct afterwards. Expect a step up at roughly 1,500, 2,500 and 5,000 square feet.
How many services you bundle
Drone, video, 3D and twilight each add a distinct block of time. Bought together in one visit they are far cheaper than bought separately, because the expensive part is the visit, not the shutter press.
Property type
A waterfront or gated estate needs aerial and exterior coverage a condo unit does not. A condo needs amenity, lobby and building-exterior frames a house does not. Both take longer than the square footage alone implies.
Twilight
Priced as its own session almost everywhere, because the usable window is about 20 minutes and it usually means a second trip to the property.
Rush turnaround
A common surcharge across the market. Our standard is already 24 hours, and prioritising an edit for a next-morning listing costs nothing extra.
Travel
Widely charged outside a studio's core radius. We do not charge it anywhere in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, which is worth factoring in when comparing a headline rate against an all-in one.
Access complexity
Condo COIs, elevator reservations and gatehouse vendor listing cost time rather than money — but they are the most common reason a shoot slips, and a slipped shoot costs listing days.
Virtual staging
Priced per image and the spread is enormous. The cheap end is templated furniture dropped into a photo; the higher end is composed to the room's actual perspective and lighting.
Cost by city
The rate card does not change by city. What changes is which package a typical listing in that city needs, and that is where the real cost difference sits.
Miami
Condo-dominated. Most shoots are units in the lowest sq-ft tier, but amenity, lobby and building-exterior coverage is expected and should be included rather than billed.
Miami Beach
Splits between small oceanfront units at the bottom of the range and island estates at the top. Twilight is close to mandatory on bayfront listings.
Fort Lauderdale
Drone attaches to a higher share of listings than anywhere else we shoot, because dock and ocean-access frames carry real price weight.
Boca Raton
Larger homes push into the upper sq-ft tiers, and twilight plus drone is the normal luxury combination. Gated access adds scheduling time, not cost.
West Palm Beach
Historic bungalows sit in the lower tiers. Drone availability, not price, is the variable here because of Palm Beach island TFRs.
Coral Gables
Larger lots and Mediterranean architecture mean more exterior frames and more time on site, so shoots trend a tier higher than the square footage alone suggests.
Is it worth paying for?
We are not a neutral party on this question, so here is the version we would give a friend. On a listing under about $400,000 in a market with light competition, a careful phone gallery in good light is not disastrous — a modern phone handles a well-lit room adequately. It falls apart in exactly the situations South Florida specialises in: a bright window with a bay view behind a darker room, an interior tinted green by impact glass, a property whose value is a dock you cannot see from the ground, and any listing whose buyer is going to shortlist it from another country without visiting.
The other half is licensing and access. A condo association will ask a vendor for a certificate of insurance. A drone flight over a listing requires a Part 107 certificated pilot and, in most of this region, a filed airspace authorisation. Those are not photography-quality questions — they are whether the shoot can legally happen.
You will see claims in this industry that professional photos sell homes some specific percentage faster or for some specific percentage more. Almost none of those figures trace back to a published study, which is why they do not appear anywhere on this site.
Real estate photography cost: FAQ
How much does real estate photography cost in South Florida?
For a standard listing, expect roughly $150 to $350 for interior and exterior photography, and $300 to $600 once drone aerials are included. Estate Shutter Florida prices photography from $199 and the drone-inclusive Standard package from $399, scaling by square footage. A full luxury media suite with a 3D tour, video and staging runs from $699 here and $800 to $2,500 across the market.
What actually drives the price up?
Square footage first, because it determines shooting and editing time. Then the number of services bundled — drone, video, 3D and twilight each add a distinct block of time. Then property type: waterfront and gated estates need more exterior and aerial coverage than a condo unit. Travel, rush turnaround and same-day delivery are the usual surcharges elsewhere, though we do not charge travel inside the tri-county area.
Is drone photography worth the extra cost?
On a waterfront, golf-course, acreage or gated property, yes — an aerial is the only way to show lot size, water access or frontage, and those are priced features the buyer is paying for. On an interior condo unit with no view line, it usually adds little beyond a building exterior, and the money is better spent on a 3D tour.
Why do some photographers charge $99 and others $600 for the same house?
Mostly time and deliverables. A $99 shoot is typically 15 to 20 frames, a single exposure per room and a batch preset, delivered by a photographer who needs several jobs a day to make the rate work. A $400 shoot is bracketed exposures blended per room, corrected colour, a replaced sky, 30 to 40 frames and an hour or more on site. The second one also usually includes the licensing and insurance a condo association will ask for.
Do you charge travel fees in Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach?
No. Flat rates across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, including the islands and gated communities. Travel surcharges are common elsewhere in the market, so it is worth asking any photographer for the all-in number rather than the headline rate.
When do I pay?
You only pay after you have seen and approved the gallery. There is no deposit. That is not universal — many studios require payment before the gallery is released, so it is worth confirming.
Does professional photography actually pay for itself?
The honest answer is that the widely-quoted percentages circulating in this industry are mostly unsourced marketing numbers, and we do not repeat them. What is verifiable is simpler: listing photos are the first and often only thing a buyer sees before deciding whether to click, and in a market where a large share of buyers shop remotely from another state or country, the gallery is doing the work a showing would otherwise do.
What should be included in the price?
At minimum: enough frames to cover every room and the exterior, colour correction, an MLS-sized set and a full-resolution set, and unlimited usage rights so you can use the images in print and paid ads. For condo shoots, amenity and lobby coverage and a certificate of insurance for the association should not be extras. Files should arrive ready for Miami MLS (MIAMI REALTORS / Matrix) or BeachesMLS without resizing.
Last updated September 17, 2026. Market ranges are compiled from publicly advertised South Florida studio pricing and are reviewed quarterly. Estate Shutter Florida prices are the rates charged at booking. Rated 5.0 from 61 Google reviews.