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While doing some research on how to reach more potential clients, I ran across some interesting internet search statistics. In the last 30 days, 90,500 people in and around Columbus have searched for keywords like “to sell house” or “house for selling” or even “sell house prayer”, not to mention the big hitters like “home sale”, which had over 20 million hits in the Columbus area alone last month. It’s obvious that people are searching for ways to differentiate their homes from the thousands of others available in this saturated market. Who doesn’t know someone who’s got a home for sale right now?

According to a 2008 NAR survey, 87% of home buyers use the internet to research their next home purchase. Of the buyers who used the internet, those surveyed rated photos as the single most useful element in their search for a home.

Being in the photo business, it was inevitable that a couple of our family photography clients would eventually approach us about doing real estate work for them. In the interest of serving our customers better, I started researching real estate photography around the country. One of the things I found was a fantastic article by Gar Benedick of RIS Media which explores some the reasons that real estate photos hold high value (at a very reasonable price) in the marketing of your home.

Benedick writes,

The photograph is almost always the first element in any ad that connects with the buyer. It is the handshake, the first impression, the thing that cuts through the visual clutter to capture the buyer’s attention. Everything in the marketing campaign to sell your home relies on the quantity and quality of the photographs of your home. Photographs are needed for the MLS listing on the web and in print, a website, brochures, flyers, photoboards, newspaper ads, possible magazine articles, real estate preview guides, blogs, etc. Many times, buyers will decide if they will visit a home, and agents will decide if they will show a property based on the strength (or weakness) of the photos accompanying a listing. Quality photos can and do make a difference, a big difference.

Additionally, Benedick examines the research findings on the specific impact photos have on listing traffic, days on market, and final selling price.

Point2 (point2.com) conducted a study monitoring listings over a 30-day period which clearly showed that properties which featured just one photo generated approximately five views and 1.37 leads, while listings displaying 21 or more images received over 77 views and close to 11 leads. Clearly, the listings that added 20+ photos generated nearly 10 times the number of leads and over 15 times the number of views. Another study relating to the number of photos a listing posts compares photos to the number of Days on Market (DOM). The findings show that listings with more photos sold faster.

Keep in mind that none of this data speaks to the quality of the photographs, and in most cases, the realtor is the one behind the digital point-and-shoot snapping the pictures and uploading them to the listing site. However, Benedick goes on to write,

Good quality real estate photographs are difficult to achieve and it should be clear that a real estate agent can’t be expected to have professional photographic skills. Agents should, however be able to recognize the difference between good and poor photos and refrain from posting poor photos where prospective buyers will see them. With that in mind, it is amazing to find all the substandard photos, which agents and sellers seem to be willing to accept when it comes to posting photos of your property to the MLS listings and into some of the advertising.

We couldn’t agree more. Our real estate clients saw an immediate and obvious upswing in traffic to their property in the first week that our photos were added to their listing, even when there had been realtor-taken photos with the listing before.

Interested in reading Benedick’s entire article? You can find it here.

Or click here for more information on having GroovyDoodle photograph your home.

Fair Trade Photographer writes, “They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, this one has a lot to say. It says microstock… The problem with this image is that it has that…. ‘Deja Vu’ feeling to it, and for a good reason.” They then go on to display not one, but over ten different sites where this exact same image was used, and discuss how consumers who see this end up questioning the credibility and worth of those companies based on their associations with one other. In several instances, the photo was used in the About Us section of the companies’ sites, bringing the writer to say, “I don’t believe these people really work at [Company XYZ]… so why would I trust anything else that [Company XYZ] has to say?”

All valid points, and easily avoidable by bringing in a photographer to capture your corporate photos, even if you’re using stock images to convey to the photographer the style of photos you want of your associates and organization. So kuddos to Mosaic Cleaning, KeyBridge Medical Revenue Management, Information Control Corporation, Cardinal Orthopaedic Institute and the many other organizations we’ve worked with over the past four years. Thanks for letting us capture the genuine spirit of your organization!

For more information or examples, please follow this link to the original article by Fair Trade Photographer.

First, as always, I’ll preface with the fact that having an SLR camera will make it considerably easier to capture just about anything. However, that doesn’t make it completely impossible to get a great shot with a point-and-shoot, just more challenging. The real key is that your camera allows you some amount of manual control. Things like shutter speed and ISO are important components to capturing fireworks. But if you are in the market for an SLR, some serious deals can be had on the Nikon D40 right now, which is being phased out for the new D60. Don’t let all the new bells and whistles on the D60 fool you, the D40 is one of the most successful and longest manufactured cameras due to it’s success. [ B&H Photo | Adorama | RitzCamera | Best Buy ]

Next up, you’ll need a stable place to put your camera while you’re waiting on the beast to spring forth. This can be any number of items from your standard generic tripod to something even as simple as a beanbag or sandbag. In a pinch, you can always use a ledge or a rock, but flat surfaces can pose an issue when it comes time to aim the camera because when the time finally comes to take your fireworks photos, you don’t want to touch the camera at all. Other exotic options for holding your camera steady are the MonsterPod, which sticks to just about anything, and the GorillaPod, which wraps around just about anything. Another nice thing about the GorillaPod is that you can also extend the legs and use it like a mini tripod.

Next, you need a way to take pictures without disturbing your camera.  Even the motion of pressing the shutter release button to take the photo can cause blur, but there are a couple ways you can work around this. If you have a point-and-shoot, the best way to accomplish this is probably going to be to use the timer mode on your camera. The timer/delay mode is the same mode you would use when you’re setting up a picture and want to be in it. You know, you push the button, scramble to get in the picture, and 10 seconds later it snaps the shot. The same applies here, except you’re using the delay to give you a chance to back away from the camera and minimize any shaking.

If you have an SLR, you can also use the timer/delay mode to minimize shake, but you probably have a few more options to be able to take more photos without having to wait on a timer. Most SLR cameras have some form of remote that you can either attach or use wirelessly that allows you to trigger the shutter without actually touching the shutter release button on your camera. Sometimes these remotes can be expensive, but if you have a D40, Nikon makes the ML-L3, a wireless infrared remote for less than $20, that does a great job [ B&H Photo ].  We actually use one of these ourselves on our Nikon D80.

Now then, let’s talk about your camera’s settings. You just might be lucky enough to have a “fireworks” setting on your point-and-shoot. For the no-brainer-set-and-forget option, the fireworks mode will make things a lot simpler for you. But, if you don’t have a fireworks mode, here are a few pointers:

ISO: Even though you’re going to be shooting in the dark, you want the lowest ISO setting your camera has. This should generally be ISO-100 or ISO-200.  The fireworks are going to be brilliant.  Shooting at a lower ISO will give you less noise (graininess) and make the fireworks in your photos sharper, especially if you ever want to print them.

Focus: Turn off your automatic focus. You can do it, trust in the manual focus. Otherwise your camera will be hunting in the dark for anything to focus on, and by the time it “sees” the flash and tries to focus, it’s going to be too late. If your camera has a manual focus, you want to set it on infinity. Some point-and-shoot cameras don’t have any way to set the focus specifically at infinity, but if you set the mode on the camera to “Landscape mode” (normally looks like a mountain), you’ll basically get the same thing.

Aperture: Depending on the sensor in your camera, you’ll want to start somewhere between f/8 and f/11 then adjust as needed. If the previews are looking a little washed or blown out (too much light), crank it up a few notches to somewhere between f/11 and f/16. If it looks like it’s a bit dark, back it down to somewhere between f/8 and f/5.6.

Lastly, your Shutter: This is what will determine how “long” the fireworks will appear in your pictures. The longer the exposure, the longer the streams in the photos will look. But, the longer your exposure, the more you have to play with aperture to keep from over-exposing your photo. Personally I find 1-second exposures look best, but you can get really intense groups of multiple blasts with longer exposures.

If you have an SLR and are using a wired remote, you might have even more flexibility with “bulb mode”. Bulb mode essentially lets you hold open the shutter as long as you hold down the trigger button on the remote. This can give you the flexibility to hold an exposure open the entire life of a blast instead of only getting a partial exposure with a timed shutter. This can be used fore all kinds of fun creative things that we’ll cover in a future GroovyTips article!

So, what are you waiting for? Go pack up all your goodies and get shooting!

(click for larger images)

Additional Resources:

PhotoJoJo: 11 Tips for Sparkling Fireworks Photos (http://photojojo.com/content/guides/11-tips-for-sparkling-fireworks-photos/)

DigitalPhotoJournal: Tips to Shoot Fireworks (http://www.dphotojournal.com/how-to-shoot-fireworks/)

Scott Kelby (Photoshop Insider): How to Shoot Fireworks (http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/1633)

… and, last but not least

How NOT to shoot fireworks: Lady GaGa shoots fireworks (kids don’t try that at home… or anywhere for that matter)

Sometimes you just want a light, simple program that doesn’t take forever to load and will let you do a few standard tasks. Well, here is a list of 8 simple free Photoshop alternatives under 2MB that will save you time and headache.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-simple-free-photoshop-alternatives-that-are-under-2-mb/

But before we share our first GroovyTip, let’s chat a little bit about your pictures. It really doesn’t matter if you love how your photos turn out, if you think they are just ok, or if you don’t like anything that comes out of your camera. The most important tip we can give you is to simply get out there and try new things, get inspired by others, and don’t be afraid to copy ideas from other photographers, including us! If you haven’t yet, go check out Flickr or even take a peek at the various photos on the GroovyDoodle blog.

To improve your own pictures, we encourage you to keep a folder of photos you’d like to try to recreate, or search around for pics similar to yours to see how you might improve ones you’re already taking. Make notes on how you think the photos you like were taken, how you tried to take them to match the result, then get out there and try it again! We’ll assume you’re using a digital camera of some variety, so try as much as you want, it’s essentially free. And if you see something you like and just can’t figure out how to recreate it, send it to us. Who knows? It may be the next GroovyTip!

So with that, here’s our first article…

GroovyTip: Get Up-close!

You know the pictures we’re talking about – All those pictures of flowers, or bugs, or some cool root growing out of a rock. You take picture after picture but something about your shots just doesn’t look as nice as you’d like.

You don’t have to have a super-fancy SLR camera to get close to your subject. You probably have a setting on your camera you’re not even aware of that will help you do it. It’s usually referred to as “macro-mode”, or sometimes people call it “flower mode” since the icon to use this mode on your camera is usually represented by a flower, like so: . If you look at the dial on your camera, even a point and shoot, it most likely has this setting and looks like this:

Macro-Mode

The macro-mode will usually allow you to focus with your camera physically closer to your subject than you can normally get with any of the other automatic modes. However, one of the challenges with using the macro-mode is an increased sensitivity to camera shake. Because you’re closer than you would be taking a picture of a person just sitting, any shaking you introduce from just holding your camera will be amplified in your pictures. To work around this you have two choices: use something to stabilize the camera while shooting (like a tripod) or add more light.

A tripod is a useful tool that you can use for more than just macro photography. You don’t need something super-fancy, and you can get by with something as simple as a little inexpensive table-top tripod or even a something like a Gorilla Pod or MonsterPod. The benefit of a tripod is that you can use your camera’s built-in timer, slow down your shutter speed, and really get some sharp, crystal clear images even in lower light.

Your other option for getting around camera shake is to add more light to the scene, which for most people means using the automatic built-in flash that will be enabled with your macro-mode. But you’ve got something else that will help add some light to the subject – something that’s completely free and we personally find looks better than flash for lighting macro pics anyway. Yup, that giant fireball in the sky provides all the light you need to put your macro-mode to perfect use with little worry of blur.

So now that we’ve got the blur out of the way, let’s talk about macro composition. When shooting macro, most people have the tendency to park right over the top of their subject to take pictures because they are used to standing right in front of people to take their pictures. And just like with people, this tends to result in flat looking images. Below are a couple example shots we took with a simple Olympus point-and-shoot:

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

Notice the picture on the left is taken straight on, from far enough away to get the whole flower into the frame. The picture looks ok, but not very interesting. By getting close-up, we end up with the image on the right. It looks like a completely different flower!

Here’s another example of a typical shot of a small group of flowers:

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

With the photo on the right, instead of shooting the entire cluster of flowers we got close-up and focused on just one, but still used the others as a nice backdrop.

Lastly, sometimes it’s not just getting close that makes the shot, but also playing with the angle that you’re shooting from a bit. In the photos below we’ve already isolated a single flower, but the one on the left is kind of blah. With the one on the right we got just a little closer and adjusted the angle, and totally changed the look of the picture:

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

So, now that you’ve discovered this new-found power with your camera, go put it to use! It may be too cold to shoot flowers outside, but there are lots of things to shoot inside too!

Ringlight shots are not specific to adults though. We’ve had a few seniors that wanted to give it a try and absolutely loved the really unique results:

Kids also look great in ringlight shots…

You may notice that the photos above are black & white and standard portrait orientation (If you haven’t yet, just click on the pic of your choice to see the full version). Because of the style of processing we use for the ringlight shots, they look best as black & whites and cropped vertically, but they don’t always have to be…

So that’s basic ringlight shots, 101. Just another service we can provide for you next time you’re in our studio! Don’t hesitate to ask as it only takes a few minutes and it’s included in your session time should you want to try one. Just let us know!