How many members actually date stamp their photos? Are there clients out there who do NOT require date stamping?

We always do this to prove when the work was done and I would never dream of doing it any other way so I'm concerned about what I've been seeing lately.

Several months ago, I hired a husband & wife team in Idaho who, even after all of the guidelines I gave them and stressed how important date stamping would be and that there would be a penalty for not doing it, they still didn't date a single one.

I ended up having to date stamp every single photo they sent me and charged them back for my time. I don't like charging anyone back for things like that and I shouldn't be forced to. But I can't sit around here all day editing photos either. I have far better things to do with my time.

I thought they were the exception to the rule but it appears fewer and fewer PP vendors are turning in photos this way.

I get about 50 to 70 e-mail requests a week for either training or subcontracting work from me in other states. Those who are requesting work are required to send 2 photo files of their most recent jobs.

Roughly 90% of the photo files I've received don't have a date stamp on them.

This just totally boggles my mind. Anyone else see this as a problem? Or is it just me?

Linda

BTW ~ I terminated the Idaho team after a few jobs due to their constant delays in getting me the photo files and turning in incomplete work. They ended up costing me far more than they ever would have made me.

Ultimately, I hired a trainee who was able to follow directions ~ and did a much better job with just instructions via e-mail and phone. If anyone needs a PP vendor in the Boise / Meridian areas, let me know.

AS A REALTOR:

HA Im lucky to find a contractor with a computer? I had one contractor present me a bill and a disposable camera for payment. He explained that he did not have the money to develop the film?????? HE knew up front I needed digital photos emailed to me. I certantly was not going to scan 40+ pics.

Time stamping has never been an issue to me (or my clients) when submitting photos for payments. Most of the time thought I am the liason between the AM and the Contractor.

Linda, how do you stamp the pictures?

I thought that this was something done by the camera and could not be altered by anyone.

Yikes, REODayton! If a sub did that to me, I'd replace him immediately. Did you pay him his full fee or did you deduct for the time and cost to develop? And how did you ever manage to get the photos to YOUR client? Were you able to convert from print to a digital format during the processing? Imagine if it were over 200 photos! The thought literally makes me shiver.

For this business, you have to AT LEAST have a digital camera. One that date stamps photos is even better. Other equipment you might be able to fudge or improvise to get the job done but your photos are what get you paid.

FL_Agent: Not all cameras are created equal, even in the higher priced range. Some date stamp and some don't. My son paid over $300 last Summer for a really nice camera that takes exceptionally clear photos. It wasn't until he did a couple of jobs that he realized the camera didn't have the necessary date-stamp capabilities.

I ended up going to Wal-Mart and picking up an HP for him so now he has a company camera and and doesn't have to use his personal one.

I bought several HP camera/photo printer bundles and that's all we use. The camera itself date stamps the photos and I never have to edit anything.

But, yes, photos can be edited and a date stamp put on them. It takes awhile, tho. Too long for me to have to go through it again, that's for sure.

Linda

I have never had to date stamp pictures for reimbursement. Typically I show the "Before" and "After" shots on the same page in a word document, make a print for my file and scan the print with a copy of the check and invoice to a .pdf to submit for reimbursement.

FL _Agent: Yes, the camera can do it for you but since you can set the date on the camera I'm not so sure it is foolproof.

I've only worked for 2 asset management companies in the past. They both required date stamps so I figured everyone else did, too.

Actually, I'm surprised more of them don't since a good portion of the work we do is on a 24 to 72 hour deadline. The photos show the date completed, which proves to the bank we performed the work on time.

I don't think it's a habit I want to break at this point, though. At least the date stamp shows we did the work within the deadline and I've been able to prove it in order to get paid on several occasions with the AM.

Linda

Maybe we should start making videos of all the work we do. That way their will be no question that the work was done, and make sure to get a picture of the days newspaper with a nice close-up of the date. While were at it we should write an affidavit declaring that we infact performed the work on the date specified, have it notorized and blessed with holy water. Yeah that might do it, maybe then the banks will feel better about working with all of us lying, cheating, overcharging, degenerate, ex-con contractors. Or maybe their just searching for reasons to hold their cash. I think the latter is more likely.

I never date stamp my photos, and in truth, I don't think my camera has a date stamp feature; however, I can always tell when a picture was taken by reading the exif file recorded with the image data for each shot. If I ever needed to date stamp an image the Finepix Viewer software that came with my first digital camera can put this on a photo.

I can understand why you would want to date stamp PP photos, and some people probably do it for BPO work or REO work as well, but I think it looks really cheesy for an MLS photo.

Neudot ~ I can definitely see where the photo wouldn't look right in the MLS.

I guess there aren't as many clients requiring date stamps as I thought, from what I see posted here.

JustMott ~ From this and several other posts it sounds like you might be burning out. Being [or feeling] ripped off by the AM is never a good thing but don't throw in the towel yet. Just find more baskets to put your eggs in.

The only way to stay in the game is to take the bad with the good. I, myself, have far more in receivables than I have money in the bank right now and business is slow this month. It can be uncomfortable and frustrating but things change.

On the bright side for me, things have slowed down enough to enjoy reading and posting again, which is something I haven't done in awhile except on rare occasions.

This slow period has also given me enough time to do things I haven't had the chance to do in awhile like cleanup my website, add the PP board to my Business Forum, create a business profile at MySpace, add to my profile @ ActiveRain, find new places to advertise, move about 2,500 job files to an external drive, and many other things.

At first, I fought that urge to panic when work cut way back. But now I'm enjoying my time off immensely. At the same time, I'm also gearing up and getting ready for next year, which I think may be even busier than this one.

Hang in there. It really DOES get better.

Linda

Heck no he did not get paid. I told him when you could deliver everything electronically like he promised then he would get paid. It took a couple days but I got what needed.

In reality I had the before photos already so after he left I took my own after photos. I submitted everything just to get a headstart on reimbursement processing, but I still make him honor his agreement.

Thank goodness you had the before photos, REODayton. I can only imagine the outcome if you hadn't. Good for you!

Linda

If I were Linda's trainee...I'd intentionally not datestamp the photos...and I'd take any boats left at the property and not tell her about it.

LOL. You would, too, wouldn't you, Shana?

That's okay. Just remember I can give as good as I get. For the record, though, you can have the boat if you promise to date stamp the photos.


Linda

I have a $700 SLR digital camera with all sorts of extras...........and it does not time/date stamp.

I have one agent that prefers to have all photos date stamped and watermarked with his logo in the lower left corner of each photo. Pretty cool! No complaints after 5 years from any AMs. I can't imagine covering your butt without adding the date stamp.

Well, I NEVER date stamp my photos. Not until today, that is. I did an interior a few days ago where the subject was vacant, heat off, power on, all faucets left dripping intentionally by someone to prevent freezing, a boiler system for heat...and a cold snap that had frozen and burst a pipe in the finished basement that was actively leaking as I arrived. This was a nice house, about to be ruined by flooding/freezing/mold damage. I immediately contacted my AM, who notified the bank. I don't know at this point if someone was dispatched to deal with the problem. I just date stamped the photo that shows the pipe actively leaking. If the house gets wrecked, it won't be on my conscience. My camera doesn't date stamp pictures, but I have software that will add this to the image.

Hi Neudot,
My cameria also does not date stamp. I hope you will share the name of the software/suplier of the software.

My camera (SONY Cyber-Shot) has a date stamp feature but I keep it turned off. Haven't needed it and I think it "clutters" the picture.

My sony cybershot date stamp is on almost all of the time. The date stamp has saved my bacon more than once. I turn it off for some pics though as it does clutter the photo when it is not needed.

The software I use to date stamp photos is Finepix Viewer, that came free with my first digital camera. Although the camera is long gone, I continue to use this small software program when I download photos to my computer. It lets me easily file the photos where I want them, I can pick the image quality, crop and rotate. For fancier editing I use Photoshop. Discovering I can use it for date stamping is a recent discovery. I don't do it often, but I'm glad to know that I can.

I don't like the software Microsoft supplies with XP. Maybe it's just because I don't use it much, but it seems like it wants to download every picture on the card to a file named by the date downloaded. That's not the way I want to do it!

For my BPO work, I have a computer filing system...Files by company names, files within those files with assignment addresses, photos within that subfile with all the photos for a particular order.

FinePix Viewer puts photos exactly where I want them.

I, like neudot, file my information in folders, subfolders, etc. Rather than doing by company at the top level, I do it by location. A folder for each county I work in, a subfolder for each address I have worked in that county, sub-subfolders for different assignment relative to that address.

There is a screen (I'm using WP Professional) where I can show the original date of each file (such as the date a picture was taken) and in an adjacent column the date of the last modification of that file (for example if I use software to lighten, darken or crop a picture).

Though I have never been asked to date stamp a 'photo, I see no reason why that screen wouldn't provide the requested information since it would show the same file name as the picture.

A digital photo comes complete with a file known as an EXIF file, which can be accessed in the future (unless you've modified your photo so much that it's not recognizable). Assuming you've got the date set correctly in the camera, this file give accurate information as to when the photo was taken. This is the info read by FinePix Viewer and probably other programs out there to enable date stamping. You can right click on an image, go to Properties, and read this information.

PhotoDater.exe

Google "Photodater" its a free software program. It resizes and dates pictures.