Google Street View Virtual Business Tour for House of Shaves Barbershop in Jacksonville, Florida.

Hey, folks. I was recently contacted to shoot for Jacksonville's best barbershop, House of Shaves Barbershop in the Southside area. If you're new to Jacksonville or looking for a new barber, head over to House of Shaves Babershop for some of the best service in Jacksonville. If Southside is too far, they've just open a new location at Riverside in the TIAA Building next to Arepa Please.

If you're looking to have your building captured for Google's StreetView Virtual Business Tour or if you know of any historical buildings that need to be preserved please let me know in the comments below or send me an email at hello@georgemoua.com.

An Unexpected Issue with a Recent Google Street View Virtual Tour

I ran into an unexpected issue on a recent client’s tour. There was an earlier tour at the same location that was causing connection issues with my client’s tour. The fix was rather simple; delete both tours and re-upload my client’s tour. Once we were able to get that done in roughly 24 hours my client’s tour was up and running perfectly.

This should have been simple. Locate the previous photographer and ask them to remove the earlier tour for the company that previously occupied my client’s location. Then delete and re-upload my client’s tour. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Unfortunately, the previous photography would not help -- at all. Just said they hadn’t logged into their Google Street View account in ages. So left without direct access to the previous tour we resorted to manual reporting the entire tour for the Street View moderators to review and take down. Thankfully, my client was the original owner of the previous business at this location so we still had access to the previous business’ Google My Business account. From there we reported the entire tour twice and within 24 hours the previous tour was taken down. I deleted and re-uploaded my client’s tour and lo and behold in 24 hours it was connected and working like it should have.

From start to finish, it took about three weeks to resolve the issue. Mainly it was the waiting for a reply from the previous photographer that ended up being of no help. If you ever encounter this issue, I hope you have a better response from the previous photographer or access to the previous business’ Google My Business account to report from or it’s going to take a long while to resolve the conflicting tour issue.

Google Street View Virtual Business Tour for Lighting Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida

I recently had the opportunity to capture Lighting Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida. If you're not familiar with Lighting Jacksonville, it was formerly known as Avenues Lighting. Still the same great team and owners behind Lighting Jacksonville.

If you know me, you know I have an affinity for light fixtures and light in general. There are some outstanding designs at Lighting Jacksonville, and with those designs they have a wide selection of different color temperature. I really, really, hate warm lights and sometimes it can be hard to find these bulbs.

If you're looking to have your building captured for Google's StreetView Virtual Business Tour or if you know of any historical buildings that need to be preserved please let me know in the comments below or send me an email at hello@georgemoua.com.

Google Streetview Virtual Business Tour for Ida Claire | Jacksonville, Florida

I recently had the opportunity to capture Ida Claire in Jacksonville, Florida. I was pleasntly surprized by their Americana decor. Old sewing machines, typewriters, string bulb lights, and old tchotchkes. They even have "Bring Your Own Vinyl" nights. I'm going to have to go to one of these nights with a few of my favorite vinyl records.

If you're looking to have your building captured for Google's StreetView Virtual Business Tour or if you know of any historical buildings that need to be preserved please let me know in the comments below or send me an email at hello@georgemoua.com.

ABET | All Beaches Experimental Theatre Virtual Tour

Ever wonder where the best shows are being put on in Jacksonville? They’re on at the All Beaches Experimental Theatre (ABET)! Come with me on a virtual tour of their wonderful theatre.

ABET is a not-for-profit theatre whose mission is to foster a love of live theatre within Jacksonville’s diverse community. They regularly put on new and original plays with an emphasis on diversity in all aspects of the theatre. Read more about ABET.

If you're looking to have your building captured for Google's StreetView or if you know of any historical buildings that need to be preserved please let me know in the comments below or send me an email at hello@georgemoua.com.

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Jacksonville, Florida.

I recently had the opportunity to capture the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Jacksonville, Florida. I’ve always been fascinated by religious architecture. To me, it helped early civilizations excel in technology. From the rock cut temples of India to the Gothic cathedrals of old Europe, religious architecture has always served to, either, apply or create new technologies to build bigger and more extravagant temples of worship.

I reached out to Patricia at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and asked if we could schedule a time to preserve the interior and exterior of the Basilica digitally. With the okay from Patricia and Father Blair, I was able to capture this historical Basilica in Jacksonville.

If you're looking to have your building captured for Google's StreetView or if you know of any historical buildings that need to be preserved please let me know in the comments below or send me an email at hello@georgemoua.com.

A little history on the Basilica

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception was built in 1905 to replace the second building that was destroyed during the Great Fire of 1901 (the first building destroyed by Union troops during the American Civil War). Designed by Utica, New York based architect, M. H. Hubbard in the Late Gothic Revival style. If you would like more information head over to their website.

As of 2013, it has been designated a minor basilica due to its history. It is also a parish church in the Diocese of St. Augustine.

Anatomy of a Great Interior Photo

What makes a great interior photo?

Read on to learn what goes into creating a great Interior Photo for Real Estate.

Ever wonder how good your interior photos present your listing? Whether you're looking for a real estate photographer, or are working with one already, these four photography checkpoints will help you better present your clients' homes and they'll love you for it!

1. Dynamic Range

Dynamic Range (DR) is how well the lightest areas of a photo and the darkest areas of a photo are rendered. Typically, in real estate photos you'll have windows whited out due to the limits of DR in your camera -- you don't want this. To get around this a photographer has to take multiple exposures; either in a bracket (High Dynamic Range photogrpahy) or an ambient exposure, flash exposure, and window exposure (Flambient photogrpahy). If you see any windows blasted out, ask your photographer to see if they can fix it.

2. Perspective

Quickly, look straight on at a corner in the room you're in. Now look up, and then down. Notice anything? Probably not. This is important in properly rendering an architectural or interior photograph. While looking up and down the vertical lines in the room never start converging. However, when shooting with a camera if a photographer tilts the camera up or down they'll start to see Keystoning or a distortion in correct perspective. This can easily be fixed in post-production, or can be corrected for in camera with the correct lens. If any photos delivered from your photographer have converging lines, ask to see if they can correct the keystoning or perspective -- it really shouln't take too long to do it right the first time.

3. Color Rendition

Color rendition can be tricky because, on some level, it's subjective. However, with digital photography we have tools that can help us balance our colors correctly. Some cameras lean on cooler colors while other lean on warmer colors, what you're looking for is a nice natural balance between the two. You want your whites white, and your blacks black. After that, I like to adjust the color balance to render a bit warmer to help give each photo a much more inviting, welcoming feeling (this is the subjective part). If the photos coming from your photographer are wildly out of balance in color rendition, ask them to see if they can adjust them to render the colors naturally.

4. Lens Distortion

Interior photography tends to be on the wider side of lens focal length. What this introduces is something called lens distortion; the widest of which is called fisheye distortion. All this is a bowing in the center of a photo and a stretching of the corners. This distorts reality and should easily be fixed in post-production. If your photographer is delivering photos with a mild or strong lens distortion, ask them to fix the distortion.

Understanding how these four factors effect your final photos will help you better advocate for your clients. Better photos lead to more qualified clients and leads. On average listings with professional photography sell 21 days faster than those with smartphone snaps (according to a 2016 RedFin study).

5 Major Benefits of a Google Maps Virtual Business Tour.

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You may or may not know about Google’s My Business virtual tour (GMBVT). Along with their Streetview venture, Google is working to digitize local businesses so people searching for new spots to eat, explore, and shop can have a better sense of the local businesses in their area. You may not see the benefits of a virtual tour now, but by the end of this article you'll be convinced.

So, what is a Google My Business virtual tour? A GMBVT is an interactive 360 degree imaging of a business, building, or home. You can look left, right, up, and down with full 360 degree freedom. By connecting multiple 360 panoramas you can "walk" through the business in the comfort of your own home. Try out the example below:

1. It Builds Trust

When customers are searching to a new business to spend their hard earned money, they are looking for well-established, transparent companies. By showcasing your business on a trusted platform like Google Maps, you build trust with them even before they set foot in your business. Adding a GMBVT adds to your social clout and social credibility as a business. Show potential customers you're a well-established, forward-thinking business that's here to stay.

2. It builds SEO

Because it's a Google product, the GMBVT helps to optimize your search engine ranking. Inline with building social credibility and clout, a GMBVT helps also to cement your business as a well established business in online search rankings. And in doing so, you help increase your visibility and online presence.

3. Show them what you got (as the Cromulons would say)

How do you ingratiate yourself with a customer that never sets foot in your shop? Show them what your business has to offer in the comfort of their own home. A picture is worth a thousand words, but an interactive tour of your business allows them to take in the atmosphere, decor/style, and feeling of your brand and business. This way, you'll gain a friend without even lifting a finger to welcome them. Take this charming little cafe in San Jose, California called the East Bay Cafe Depot. It's filled with nostalgia and americana, but you'd never know if you didn't walk in. Since I've captured it for Google maps, now the world has the chance to experience this warm little cafe.

4. You out pace your competition

Tech savvy customers are keen on whether or not businesses are on the latest social media. Like it or not, their judgement of whether or not to patronizes a business is tied heavily towards a businesses social clout. The more avenues you pursue, the higher the scales tip in your favor of being patonized. By being forward-thinking and accepting new technologies like GMBVT you show that you're ahead of the competition. You are keenly aware of a customer that does their research online before entering a shop.

5. Engage with customers without lifting a finger

Virtual tours can serve another purpose if customized to meet your needs. By having a standalone custome tour you can add newlayer of engagement for customers. Add interesting details about your business, add pricing for items show in your showroom or checkout counter. By capturing an online market through a customized virtual tour you can add a new stream of revenue along side Google pushing your GMBVT when you're searched online to obring more potential customers to your shop!

Now you know how a GMBVT can benefit your business and brand, let me take care of capturing your business in it's best light, and in the highest of quality. When you're ready to make the jump and have your business captured for Google's My Business Virtual Tour give me a ring at 916-832-7845, email me at: hello@georgemoua.com or commission me here.