merblog

Tips for Taking Great Home Marketing Pictures

One of the most critical elements for preparing any effective real estate marketing effort is pictures.  Home buyers want to ‘shop around’ using the pictures they’ve seen, even if they have seen the actual house; and many buyers won’t even consider looking at a house if there are not any ‘pre-view’ pictures available.  Attractive pictures will help get a “SOLD” sign on the home quicker, make the client happy, and put a commission in the agent’s pocket.

Here are five quick tips for getting attractive pictures to include in your marketing campaign to get that home sold.

1)    Get a decent digital camera.  You’re in a profession with high dollar stakes involved, and the images you use should reflect that.  You do not need to invest thousands of dollars in a high-end SLR camera; however, your camera phone just doesn’t cut it to take professional-grade photographs.  Purchase a decent camera that takes shots with at least 5.1 megapixel capability, with storage cards for easy ‘reloading.’

2)    Take a lot of pictures.  And I mean a lot.  Hundreds if necessary.  Try them with and without the flash.  Take pictures from a variety of angles, even if it means just moving a few inches over.  There’s no additional cost involved if you bought the right camera in choosing which pictures to use, so give yourself plenty to choose from.

3)    Only take outside pictures on a sunny day.  Outdoor shots should be bright and cheerful, not with the sky dark and gloomy.  Wait a few days, the weather will change, and you can do the outside shots at any time of the day – but make sure you do so when the sun will be behind you, and make sure your shadow isn’t showing in the pictures!

4)    Use your flash unit sparingly, if possible.  The glare that can come off of surfaces you hadn’t even thought of can ruin a shot.  Be sure to take shots in rooms with lots of windows and mirrors on angles so the bounce-back from the flash doesn’t show up.

5)    Buy a decent image editing program.  This software is available at anywhere from $99 to thousands of dollars, but you do not need to have the high end software for your purpose.  You can create contact sheets with even the lower end software and involve the client in choosing which pictures you will use.

If you follow these basic pointers on taking photographs instead of snapshots, you will put in your arsenal an important tool for selling homes more effectively.  A picture says a thousand words, so the adage goes – and it’s true!

It's a Special Priviledge being the Photographer for your Niece's Pre-Kindergarden Class

I get to be the Class Photographer for my Niece's Nursery School on Monday. It is quite an honor. I was asked to put together a package. So I decided to keep it simple and just have my sister give out these order forms to the parents:

 

It was nice being able to use the photo I took of my niece a few months back on the form. She is going to be a model some day with all the practice she gets around me.

It is going to be a unique experience and I am very happy to have this opportunity to share in this part of her life.

Anti-Aging Photography made simple.

As you age or put on weight, you don't have to avoid having your photo taken if you have the right software techniques. Most of us are familiar with Photoshop where you can work on getting rid of your wrinkles using the Healing Brush or the Clone Stamp Tools. But I recently discovered Picnik which is linked to my Flickr account and with only a few clicks I can use their Wrinkle Remover, Insta-Thin, Sunless Tan, Mascara or Highlights tools. I will have to get to work now on a few of my Facebook photos...

Ways to get free lessons in photography

Photography is an expensive hobby or profession with so many new toys and must-have's on the market it's nice when you can find ways to save a few dollars here and there, which I am finding often comes in the form of free training. Of course nothing is ever free and there is still the overhead expense of Internet, computer and possible appleTV to consider but it's all going to pay off when you get that perfect photo someday - right?

Today is Sunday and I have spent my day listening to Podcasts though my appleTV. Some of what I have learned are that part of being a good photographer is connecting with your subjects. I learned this through listening to Episode 13 of the http://digitalphotographylife.com/ podcast called "How to Make People Like you in 90 Seconds or Less" by NicholasBoothman.com. I also now have a great new way to describe focal length from watching Episode 1 :: the Camera Obscura by The Art of Photography. Of course my Sunday is not complete without an episode of Photography 101 by Scott Wittenburg. Today's lesson 25 was on Flash Photography (http://photooneoone.blogspot.com/).

The other ways I learn are through Camera store workshops, photo clubs, author websites, meetups.com and by volunteering or shadowing professionals. I'd write more, but it's time for bed...

5 Innovative Photo Services

I always enjoy finding creative uses of photos. I take so many photos it is nice to find ways to use and display them apart from the traditional photo frame. Some of the ways I currently display photos in my house are with photo coasters, with scrapbooks, and with my appleTV. 

Here are a few web sites I recently came across which offer some unique services for photos:

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Sweet Images Ltd is the innovator of this direct reproduction process onto confections. The company reproduces photos/logos/any graphic or text onto confections such as various cookies, chocolates, rice krispie treats™, lollipops and more. With over 10 years of experience in this field, Sweet Images maintains a technological and product advantage over others in this field. They continue to expand their line after significant consumer testing. Their corporate slogan, "We have great taste in pictures," truly exemplifies what they do. Their attention to detail is seen in the products, packaging, and customer support.

This is one of their products which I like, it is called the Chocolate Card -

Small Chocolate Card:
Business card size milk chocolate. Ideal for giveaways and gifts. Individually wrapped and decoratively tied.

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My Life Designs supplies Solid Sterling Photo Jewelry that you create online using your favorite photos. My Life Designs is the leading designer and manufacturer of solid sterling photo jewelry and gifts. Your photos are reproduced and permanently sealed into beautiful pieces of solid sterling jewelry, making them guaranteed to be completely waterproof.

I thought these photo necklaces would make a cute gift for Grandmothers:

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Magic Portrait Studios™ is an innovative digital imaging company servicing professional photographers as well as on-line and retail clients in the digital photo-processing industry. Magic Portrait™ is a hi-resolution digital composite photo that takes the subject from a customer's digital photo can seamlessly merges it into an imaginative background. Magic Portrait Studios™ utilizes leading edge photo compositing technologies and proprietary photo enhancement techniques, along with libraries of the company's copyrighted imaginative backgrounds to create the customized Magic Portraits™. The resulting studio-quality portrait can be repeatedly used by the end customer to encourage customer retention. 

I like this idea, and I would love to expand upon it some day:

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New Digital Celebration Photo Greetings have been designed specifically for use with today’s digital labs. Our new greetings seamlessly blend customer photos and greeting-card art, for an updated look your customers will love. We have popular, traditional templates plus new, art-quality designs not previously available in the photo-greeting market. Most greetings include horizontal and vertical formats and room for personalization

I've always been fascinated with the idea of goal boards and visualization. What a great way to help yourself in that area by getting a photo print out of yourself on the cover of a magazine:

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PhotoTidings provides digital templates to photographers, studios, and photo labs for printing photo greeting cards, borders, announcements, calendars, sports cards, magazine covers, and many other products. Celebrate baby, graduation, engagement, wedding, Christmas, seasonal holidays, and more.

It's interesting to me that this web site is where you purchase and download templates individually so you can create your own photo magazine covers service.

Social Media - it all used to be so simple.

It used to be that I had my job, my work friends, my personal life, my family, my social groups, my hobbies. All in separate areas of my life. Now with the abundant amount of Social Media tools available they are all getting mixed together.

I started using Facebook about two years ago to connect with friends from school. It was fun finding out where people ended up, share old photos and stories. Then came my current friends, then some co-workers and some family. Now it is difficult to keep track and put in perspective who I am sharing what with. I appreciate that Facebook has improved it's security model. I am able to create Lists and set permissions. But now there is Twitter, and Flickr, and youtube, and everything else all uniting with Facebook Connect. Monologues are transforming into dialogues and the average person is moving from being a content readers to being a publisher.

And soon to complicate? or facilitate? there will be Google Wave.

accuracy of iPhone app 'whoshere'

Paul and I are only sitting a foot from each other but according to this app we are 3 miles from each other.

What's up with that?

-- Post From My iPhone

On Vox: Visualization vital to making goals a reality.

I just really liked this passage from a book called 'Finding your soul mate' by Russ Michael redwheelweiser.com publishing (pg 77). Hopefully they don't mind me quoting it here:

"Every wise teacher involved with training individuals to achieve success in life will make his or her students aware of the vital part that visualization plays in making a goal become a reality.  A picture is worth more than a thousand words. Visualization means we use thoughtful imagination, that fantastic image making faculty of our minds, to create something in our lives. Through the Art of Visualization, we stretch our consciousness beyond the limits of time - present. We look forth and see the end from the beginning. We hold a clear mental picture of the end results we desire. We never waver from that focus for a moment. When doing so we are able to arrive at a point in the future to find that our imagined picture has turned into a full bloom reality.
The power of your mind, or any mind, is so incredible that it defies belief. What we can imagine, we can make an experienced reality. Napoleon Hill popularized this exact same idea when he coined the phrase "What we can conceive and believe, we can achieve"."

Originally posted on mermedia.vox.com

On Vox: Open Source Business Intelligence Software

Open source business intelligence software, hmmmm, I like the sound of that! It's free, and even better, it works on a Mac! Not that it is the right solution for everyone, but it helps the smaller organizations that can't afford the Cadillac. Applications such as this one where they are Bringing Medical Records to Developing Countries--OSS Style are inspiring. I am definitely trying this one out...

Pentaho

Originally posted on mermedia.vox.com

In memory of former Cognoid Nancy Hensley

Unfortunately I was not able to attend the funeral of Nancy last Wednesday but I have thought about her daily since her passing two weeks ago. She was one of my favorite teachers/mentors/bosses and a fun co-worker and friend. She helped me adjust to the transition I made in 98 moving to DC to work for Cognos. She taught me my first class in Impromptu (I believe it was 3.5). It is shocking to hear of her passing at the young age of 40 on February 5, 2009 in Roswell, Georgia. Here is a link to her Obituary in the Arizona Paper:

http://obits.nj.com/AZCentral/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=124124827

And here are a few of the photos I have of her:

Find more photos like this on Unofficial Cognos Alumni Network