Which images best show off our properties?

Get some feedback on your site or ad from other rental owners and techies. Also a library of online resources so you can make DIY improvements to your web presence.
User avatar
SherborneCottages
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:27 am
Location: Sherborne, Dorset
Contact:

Which images best show off our properties?

Post by SherborneCottages »

Hello all,

I have looked at these photographs so many times I can no longer tell which ones look good and really show off our properties the best.

Most of the pictures can be found on our Flickr page and the three properties are divided into 'Sets' so you can click on the set for the relevent property and then if you'd like to tell me which show off that apartment the best I would love to know!!

Our Flickr is www.flickr.com/SherborneCottages and the three properties on there are Flat 3 Printers Court, Flat 2 Printers Court and Teachers Cottage.

Thank you in advance!!!!
User avatar
kendalcottages
Posts: 2474
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:08 am
Location: Kendal, between the Lake District and the Dales
Contact:

Post by kendalcottages »

As an initial "here's us" shot... I like this one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherbornec ... 593213538/

...although I'd be inclined to crop out the building on the left more (and possibly even a bit more of the road).
Kendal Holiday Cottages Ltd., Kendal, Cumbria - between the Lake District & the Yorkshire Dales.
User avatar
SherborneCottages
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:27 am
Location: Sherborne, Dorset
Contact:

Post by SherborneCottages »

Thanks! I think you're definitely right about cropping out that building a bit more as well!
User avatar
Cassis
Posts: 1080
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 10:44 am
Location: Normandy/Pays de Loire border
Contact:

Post by Cassis »

Agree - need to tighten in on the property that is yours - especially as it's prettier!

I like Image

and this

Image

espec. if you can take it again at a time of day when sun is on the balcony, and set the table for coffee or drinks.
I would at least crop the bottom;

and this

Image

and this:



Some of the interior shots are rather dark; I know they're taken with the bedside lights etc. on, which is good, but I would try them with flash as well to see what they're like. I tried messing with brightness/contrast but the light and shade contrasts are too high. Great for a "mood" picture but perhaps not ideal for showing off the rooms to best advantage.

Compare these bright ones
Image
Image

with this one

Image

I think your rooms look much more welcoming in the shots where there is more light, and even look bigger.

Also in that last shot the blinds are set so they look a bit like bars on the window!

As ever, just a personal view. I'm no photographer and probably shouldn't even express an opinion. :lol:

Phil
Last edited by Cassis on Wed May 26, 2010 3:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Real name Phil
Moved to France in 2004
Likes ducks, nature, gardening, furniture restoration, DIY, rugby, blah, blah.
User avatar
SherborneCottages
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:27 am
Location: Sherborne, Dorset
Contact:

Post by SherborneCottages »

Hello Phil!!

Thank you for your comprehensive and ever so useful response!!

It's funny, I must have looked at that balcony pictures dozens of times and I never noticed how offputting the bottom of it is with so much of the rather dingy veranda floor.

Thanks so much for your advice, as soon as we get a few hours spare between lets I plan to go in and retake the shots and it's a great idea about having lights on AND using the flash.

Much appreciated.
User avatar
Cassis
Posts: 1080
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 10:44 am
Location: Normandy/Pays de Loire border
Contact:

Post by Cassis »

I think I was editing to add another picture when you replied. I like the gate!
Real name Phil
Moved to France in 2004
Likes ducks, nature, gardening, furniture restoration, DIY, rugby, blah, blah.
User avatar
Jimbo
Posts: 3582
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:41 am
Location: Charente Maritime

Post by Jimbo »

Robert Schuller wrote:
Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.
This feels like the digital equivalent of a stranger dumping 100 slides in 3 or 4 bags on your lightbox box and saying ‘OK, let me know which ones work – I’m off to have breakfast’. Exteriors jostle with interiors and views, too many shots are too dark to assess properly and there are too many repeated images.

An initial sort by the photographer to sequence sets logically, lighten the dark images, remove excessive similars and give each picture a simple code rather than a lengthy description would be a great help to the poor old reviewer. That way, time could be more usefully spent commenting on pictures rather than presentation. And the reviewer would have time for breakfast too!

Jim
User avatar
SherborneCottages
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:27 am
Location: Sherborne, Dorset
Contact:

Post by SherborneCottages »

This feels like the digital equivalent of a stranger dumping 100 slides in 3 or 4 bags on your lightbox box and saying ‘OK, let me know which ones work – I’m off to have breakfast’.

Yes, it pretty much IS just exactly like that!! Sorry, I thought that was sort of what this part of the forum allowed you to do. Didn't mean to burden anyone! :)


Basically, I realise there are about ten million and one images of the same thing but Flickr is just sort of our online cache where I store the pictures and can easily access them from whatever computer I may be at. What I'm wanting to do, is choose the best ones so that I can put them in a Gallery on our website and I was hoping for a little outside help at choosing which shots work best.

So, for example, I realise that this http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherbornec ... 583813008/

and this http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherbornec ... 583812400/

are virtually identical pictures but I am wondering whether people would rather see the sofa bed or the dining table, if you get what I mean.

Oh dear, when I say it out loud it all sounds a little ridiculous and pinickity doesn't it..!!


But what this thread has definitely shown me (which is really very obvious now that I look back at the pictures) is that the shots really are too dark. Blame my deep seated hatred for flashes!! So maybe if anyone has any suggestions of which shot compositions or angles are best then I could retake with better lighting.
User avatar
Jimbo
Posts: 3582
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:41 am
Location: Charente Maritime

Post by Jimbo »

Sorry, I thought that was sort of what this part of the forum allowed you to do. Didn't mean to burden anyone!
No reason to apologise; making a bunch of images into a more digestible package isn't necessarily obvious and photographers are frequently not the best judges of their work because they tend to equate the amount of effort put into a particular shot as having a direct correlation with the value of that image to their enterprise - which isn't always the case. Sometimes, it's the quick reaction shot that does it best. So what you are offering on here with your extensive portfolio is an interesting and valuable contribution to website building. More thoughts to come!

Jim
User avatar
Don Ciccio
Posts: 481
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:39 pm
Location: Trapani, Sicily

Post by Don Ciccio »

Another trick is to use photoshop or paintshop pro etc to soften the focus on non important surroundings, which has the effect of making the parts you want people to focus on subliminally more noticeable...

here are three versions of one of your pics with a very quick shoddy attempt just to demonstrate it. I applied a 60% Soften effect to to the image.

Original image:
Image

Just the 60s building softened:
Image

Everything that isnt in your garden softened:
Image
User avatar
Jimbo
Posts: 3582
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:41 am
Location: Charente Maritime

Post by Jimbo »

SherborneCottages wrote:
Blame my deep seated hatred for flashes!!
From Lord of the Rings:
Lady Galadriel gave Frodo a phial with the light of the star Eärendil captured inside.
So many people seem to hate flashguns, but they are your own Earendil to light your journey into dark places. Even a modest one with a swivel/tilt head seated in your hotshoe will markedly extend your range but by using a dedicated flash (does the calculations for you) that can be taken off hotshoe and fired remotely by cable or slave, even the dread places of Mordor will hold no fears.

Use as main light, supplementary light or subtle shadow fill-in. Add correction gels to match to any interior light source and avoid colour casts or coloured gels for a funky effect. Use it direct for dramatic lighting or bounce it off walls and ceilings for a softer light - or add brollies or softboxes for a similar effect. Put the camera on a sturdy tripod after dark, turn off the lights and you can light an entire factory interior with repeated flashes. And on and on ...

So don't despise the infinitely adaptable flashgun. Along with a tripod and a camera with manual controls, these are your own fellowship of the ring.

Jim
Hells Bells
Posts: 13173
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:42 am
Location: French Alps
Contact:

Post by Hells Bells »

JImbo, I love your analogy !! :D
User avatar
Jimbo
Posts: 3582
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:41 am
Location: Charente Maritime

Post by Jimbo »

… what this thread has definitely shown me … is that the shots really are too dark … if anyone has any suggestions of which shot compositions or angles are best then I could retake with better lighting.
Your ‘dark’ pictures are technically sound and respond readily to editing and straightening in photoshop. This process (below) took me about a minute. So, no reason to re-shoot many of the interiors which are good images. Perhaps if you lightened the dark images and re-submitted to Flickr, members might then take another look at the compositions.

Image

Image

Jim
Post Reply