Improving my photographs - You Tube Videos

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anya752000
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Improving my photographs - You Tube Videos

Post by anya752000 »

There has been a few posts recently about photographs and we all agree that they are really important.

Early on I decided that I wanted to take my own photographs but I am very aware that they are obviously not as good as professional ones.

http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/accommodation/p8134888

The internal shots seem to be dark compared with other properties (the windows are fairly small) so I am wondering whether to buy an inexpensive soft light box kit or do I need to just learn how to adjust the pictures afterwards with a bit of software?

As usual, any and all advice is appreciated.
Last edited by anya752000 on Tue Aug 04, 2015 12:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

All you really need is to download Google Picasa. Its free and remarkably simple to use once you get your head around what its all doing.

For example, the following took me 10-15 seconds to achieve in Picasa, but then another 3 minutes faffing about to upload it here:

BEFORE:

Image

AFTER:

Image
** Richard
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
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French Cricket
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Post by French Cricket »

Or for a bit more control, try Photoscape. Free to download and lots of possibilities, whether you want a one click fix or you want to play with curves.
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anya752000
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Post by anya752000 »

Thanks Richard and FC, I have spent the afternoon playing with Picasa but got a bit distracted and made a video instead!

The new Owners Direct format allows a link to a You Tube video that was surprisingly easy to create.

I'm sure I'm light years behind the times but I am feeling rather proud of myself this afternoon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB5SspCWbJg
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French Cricket
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Post by French Cricket »

Lovely video, anya752000 - very enticing!

Can I ask what you used to make it - I've never done anything like that but might give it a go having seen yours :wink:
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anya752000
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Post by anya752000 »

I used Picasa to make the slideshow then uploaded it to You Tube and added the music - using their own library of copyright free tracks.

I spent the most time choosing which photographs to use and putting them in order. I'm not massively happy with all of the captions but making changes now would be a pain so it will do for the moment.

I had thought about doing one a few months ago but I thought the music (and copyright) would be more complicated. As it is you just need a google account and there are loads of tracks you can choose from and just add on using You Tube, you can narrow your music search to tracks that are the right length which makes it easier.

I've added the link to my owners direct ad but it needs to be approved so don't know how long it will be before it goes live.
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Jimbo
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Re: Improving my photographs

Post by Jimbo »

anya752000 wrote: The internal shots seem to be dark compared with other properties (the windows are fairly small) so I am wondering whether to buy an inexpensive soft light box kit or do I need to just learn how to adjust the pictures afterwards with a bit of software?
A pro photographer would probably seek to boost the light levels in dark areas but, such is the quality and flexibility of modern digital cameras, that much the same result can be achieved by careful application of photo editing software.

The key for problem interiors is first to even out the lighting across the frame and then to gently boost the contrast levels until the desired effect is achieved. It's important that bright highlights and dark shadow areas retain some tone. Always work from a copy and file the original safely for future use.

Photoshop is the premier editing software, of course, but it's very expensive and comes with a steep learning curve. Several good suggestions from members for free editing software; another free software that you might consider is GIMP.
Jim
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greenbarn
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Re: Improving my photographs

Post by greenbarn »

Jimbo wrote: Photoshop is the premier editing software, of course, but it's very expensive and comes with a steep learning curve.
But Photoshop Elements isn't expensive and has a huge amount of the functionality in PS (not sure of the details!) The learning curve can also be pretty steep, but to make "simple" changes such as exposure, white balance, contrast etc it's fairly intuitive. For anything more there are some very good idiots' guides available.
Jimbo wrote: Always work from a copy and file the original safely for future use.
Sound advice - DAMHIKT! :oops:
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

There's a setting in Youtube which will stop it playing the next random video after yours in finished. This prevents the watcher being distracted and moving onto some other subject entirely.
When editing the video, click on the settings cog under the video and turn off autoplay.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

That's interesting kev; does that apply to any video you upload to your you tube channel? Anya, you've sidetracked us, as you did yourself! I created a video for my choir a couple of years ago, but keep meaning to do one for the holiday homes. At the moment all I've done is take a short video on my iPhone but then can't upload it anywhere from my computer as iPhone videos crash the computer. Some known problem I read loads of others have, so no idea how to get round it!

I need to set up a YouTube channel just for business and then maybe I can do it direct from the phone. Another thing on my to do list!
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Post by kevsboredagain »

Nemo wrote:That's interesting kev; does that apply to any video you upload to your you tube channel?
Yep, if you can edit it then you can change that setting from the default
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Post by SandyBeaches »

More sidetracking I know, but I would also be interested in finding out more about setting up a youtube channel. I've done a few little videos on the facebook page and they've been really popular.
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

SandyBeaches wrote:More sidetracking I know, but I would also be interested in finding out more about setting up a youtube channel. I've done a few little videos on the facebook page and they've been really popular.
This was about the easiest guide I could find.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-YouTube-Channel

I would start with a Google account just for your property, then make a Google+ page and Youtube channel. The whole lot is tied together and it keeps changing, so is very confusing.

I had videos on Youtube before they combined it all with Google and had to jump through burning hoops to get them transferred to a new channel, so it's worth starting out on the right foot. If you put the videos in a personal account, you can't simply just move them later.
SandyBeaches
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Post by SandyBeaches »

Thanks - that's really useful.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

I did start with a Google page just for my property and then Google came along and created me another one as a local business. I have to merge the two pages now. I also had a second you tube account created for me when Google bought out you tube. It's all such a mess, it's why I don't tend to make headway as too many things are duplicated or incorrectly linked.
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