Guide To Property Photography

Use a good digital camera preferably with a wide-angle lens. Set the camera at the highest resolution for example 2560 x 1920 at minimum 5 million pixels.

Take as many photos as possible using JPEG format and then select the best. JPEG or JPG is a standard digital format.

• Try to ensure the rooms are tidy and clear of any belongings.
• Try to take interior shots early in the morning or before dusk.
• Try to use long shutter time without flash.
• Switch on all lights in room to avoid shadows created by flash.
• Avoid reflections or flash in mirrors or windows.
• Use net curtains to avoid glare.
• Keep Bathroom toilet seats down.
• No dishes in sink.

Before any image reduction, copy the selected photos to a new folder and rename files. Do not move your originals photos, as you will lose them.

You can use either XP or Adobe Photoshop Elements to edit your photos to reduce the file size of the pictures you are sending.

This procedure works only if you are using Outlook or Outlook Express as your default mail program.

1. Open My Computer and navigate to the folder containing the pictures you wish to upload or email to us.
2. In the toolbar menu at the top of My Computer, make sure Search and Folders are not selected so you can see the tasks panel is displayed to the left of the directories and files list.
3. Select the group of files that you wish to email. Use Shift or Ctrl to select additional files.
4. Go to the tasks panel and click on E-mail the selected items under File and Folder Tasks. The Send Pictures by E-Mail dialog box will appear.
5. Select Make all my pictures smaller.
6. Click Show more options...
7. Select small option. 640 pixels (Horizontal) by 480 pixels (Vertical) with 72 dpi.
8. Click OK.
9. A status bar appears as Windows resizes the files, then a new message is opened in your default mail program with your pictures attached.
10. Right Hand Mouse Click on each photo attachment and save to new directory, renaming the file.
11. Check the properties of these files. They should now be less than 60 KB.

If you're using Windows classic folders, you won't have a tasks panel so go to Tools > Folder Options > General > Tasks to verify or change your preferences.

This is suitable for doing batch jobs.

1. Go to File, Batch Processing.
2. Select Source where photos that you want to convert are stored.
3. Convert File Type, select JPEG Medium Quality.
4. Image Size, select 640 width, with resolution 72 dpi. Ensure Constraint Proportions are ticked.
5. On Output Options select a new directory for the reduced files to be saved. You may also want to rename the files.
6. Press OK.

After job has finished, select the files you want to use and rename them before uploading.

You can also find free photo editing software searching the web or from

http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/imageediting/tp/freephotoedw.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bitmap_graphics_editors

http://mashable.com/2007/06/23/photography-toolbox/

If you are already sharing photos, you photo share software should be able to handle these task without any problems.

All photo editing software will have a command for changing the pixel dimensions of an image. Look for a command called "Image Size," "Resize," or "Resample."

When you use this command you will be presented with a dialog box for entering the exact pixels you wish to use.

Select either low or medium quality for the image reduction.

Now you need to reduce the photos to 640 pixels (Horizontal) by 480 pixels (Vertical) with 72 dpi.

Keep Constrain Proportions or Keep Aspect ratio options enabled. This prevents the image from being stretched and distorted. When this option is enabled, you only need to enter one value--height or width--and the other value will adjust automatically.

Remember to save file with new name in new folder, in order not to over write the original.

The file should reduce in size from 2mb to below 100 KB.

You will now be able to upload the photos.

For more effective presentation of your home or property, please try to make the external photo the first to be uploaded. This will then be the default first photo.

Please label all uploaded photos in the box provided. You may find it useful if you have already labelled your photos with their room names. To do this please find the appropriate photo file found under My Computer and rename it remembering to leave the .JPG extension.

To select and add the photos you would like to include, click on the "Browse..." button to the right of the space provided. A window will appear that allows you to search the files on your computer, on a floppy disk, or on a CD. Once you have found the picture, highlight it by clicking on it. Then click "Open" to add it to your listing.

If you have any problems do not hesitate to email us at or call Celcee on Skype.