The VHT Blog

This week on my free photo editing software tip, I thought I’d take a look at the free site Photoshop.com, which is Adobe’s attempt at a free photography management and editing tool.  You can access the website from anywhere that you have internet access, making it conveniently portable.  You do have to sign up for an account with the site but the sign up process is pretty quick and painless.

After getting set up, you will find the upload tool on the My Library screen.  Here is where you would upload the images you would like to edit.   When you get your image pulled up, below you will find the “Edit” tab.  There are 3 Categories of Edit tools:  Basic, Adjustments, and Advanced.  Just like with Picasa, the Advanced tools are used to make more flashy/artistic edits.

The Basic category will do for most edits one will need.  Here you will find the Crop/Straighten tool, the Auto correction tool, and the exposure tool, among other options.  The Adjustments include Highlight, Fill Light and the Sharpen tools.

The cool thing about this site is that for most edit options that you select, the site presents you with multiple versions of the edit, typically 5 or 6.  This is an interesting concept because it allows for subjectivity. Some people tend to like images cooler (more blue) and others prefer warmer (more red/yellow-ish).

• The crop and resizing tool worked easily.  The Crop tool was nice, in that, there was no restriction on the give and take of cropping out parts of the image.  Some tools that have a crop option only allow you to crop so much of the photo.

• The “auto-correct” can also be useful.  It does most of the work for you.

• The Exposure button is pretty nifty.  It acts like the exposure dial on your camera.  Plus, the site offers you   6 exposure options; three of the exposure are darker and three are lighter than the original.

• There is also a resize tool that offers some template sizes or allows you to custom size the photograph.  This comes in handy when you need to size your photos to put up on the web, which there is a template selection for website sized photos.

• The Highlights and Fill Light can brighten up some of your darker exposures.   Be careful not to go overboar

Here are two photographs, from a DIYer,  that I edited using Photohop.com.

This is the original.  It appears dark and look at those dust spots.

TaDa! The kitchen is now ready to be cooked in!

You can barely see this beautiful bedroom.

Voila! Now you can see.

There is one thing I failed to mention that I think is my favorite option on the site.  The “View Original” button allows you to go back to your original image and compare that to what you have edited thus far.  At any point you click that button it will flash the original photo, letting you see what great work you have done!

Overall, for free software, Adobe did well.  It’s definitely no Photoshop.   It is nice that this tool is online.   The photos are available for access anywhere (you have internet access) at anytime. The downside to being online is that it’s a little slower than a desktop app would be since it’s not hosted on your machine; therefore performance is based on your internet connection.

Check  out Photoshop.com and tell me what you think.

This week we chose to do an overview of Picasa, the Google based free photo editing software. Picasa is better known as a photo organization software than it is an editing tool; however, Picasa offers some great editing functions for the amateur editor or the editor with basic needs!

There are 3 main editing categories: Basic Fixes, Tuning and Effects. Basic Fixes and Tuning is what I suggest most agents will need, while effects may make photos look cool/flashy, they might not be for real estate photography. Basic Fixes include functions such as Crop, Straighten, Auto Contrast, Auto Color, and the coup de gras, “I’m Feeling Lucky.” The Tuning Tab allows you to adjust the Highlights, the Fill Light and Shadow Depth.

• Crop allows you to crop out unwanted areas in your photos, especially for getting rid of anything on the edges of your photos that might be extra junk or eye sores. On the “Export” tab it provides the option to change the size of the photos by using the slider bar or just typing in the # of pixels for the width.

• The straighten function allows you to straighten your crooked photos from your wobbliest of days or from that off kilter camera. It is a pretty simple tool to use.

• The ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button is my favorite feature of Picasa. It is a quick auto correct tool that adjusts the lighting, the contrast and it also deepens the bright and dark colors. For most of your photos this is the only edit tool you will need. I suggest combining the I’m Feeling Lucky button and the Fill Light slide bar that lightens the foreground of your exposure that may be darkened by brighter backgrounds.

• Another suggestion is to use the Highlights slide bar to adjust the bright spots of your photo. You might be most interested in using this to make white walls or white fixtures/appliances appear more vibrant.

Overall, Picasa is a pretty nifty program for those who have basic editing needs and especially for the DIY real estate agent/photographer.  Below is the before and after of a Front View I edited in Picasa:

Before editing the colors look a bit dull

After editing in Picasa the photo is looking brighter, sharper, and has more contrast

On this one I used the fill light and I’m Feeling Lucky tools. For those of you who have had a chance to use Picasa let me know your feelings on this program, otherwise check Picasa out and see what you think.

Shooting a darker room, especially with a bright window in the room, can be a little tricky.  If not done correctly the room can appear very dark, with the main focus being on the bright window instead of the room itself (creating a ‘cave’ look), which is not the most effective way to showcase a room.  Here are some tips on how to avoid this:

• Make sure your camera’s flash is on.  Most cameras’ flash is indicated by a lightning bolt .

• Make sure to turn on all lights.

• Try to avoid focusing the camera directly at a large window.

• Point the camera away from the window then press the shutter release button half way.  Once your camera has set the exposure (you will feel the cameras lens move and in some cameras a light goes on to tell you it’s ready), re-frame your image and continue pressing the shutter release button until the camera takes the shot.

• If you’re using a tripod and your camera has exposure options, use the Night Mode .  This will give you a longer exposure which will allow you to get detail in the shadow area. 

Following are 3 sets of photographs to serve as examples.  The 1st photo of each set is an actual photo taken by an agent.  VHT contacted those agents and re-photographed the listing…the 2nd photograph of each set is the resulting VHT photograph.  In addition to the above tips, VHT also used the 3 tips posted on November 20th when shooting these photographs.

This agent-shot photo is very dark-- you're unable to really see the room at all, just the balcony opening and a shadow of the chair in front of it. As you can see, they seemed to be shooting directly at the window.

VHT re-photographed the listing. Though the window is still in the shot, the camera is shooting more toward the wall and the corner of the room.

This agent shot photo is again pointed directly at the large window and no lights were turned on when taking the photo.

VHT re-photographed the listing, shooting more toward the corner of the room (as well as turning on a few of the lights before taking the photograph)

This one is again shooting directly at the window with no lights on. It gives a clear shot of the view from the window, but doesn't do anything for the kitchen or breakfast nook that potential buyers would probably also like to see.

VHT re-photographed the listing, turning on the lights and pointing the camera more toward the wall and corner rather than directly at the window