Shutter speed is a really versatile setting to experiment with. You should find this setting labeled with Tv or S on your digital camera.

Adjusting the shutter speed is exactly what it sounds like — deciding how long the shutter will stay open, which dramatically changes the look of your picture. A faster shutter speed can freeze the motion of a hummingbird’s wings. A slower shutter speed can create a whole new world of motion and light.

You’ll get better result from a slower shutter speed in most cases by using a tripod or monopod. The slightest movement can blur a photo when you’re using a longer exposure time. (Tip: if you find that even snapping the picture on your camera causes a little wobble, you can get around this using the two second delay timer. You aren’t touching the camera by the time it takes the photo.)

If you’re trying to capture a unique look for a house, one that will stand out in a sea of similar listings, try taking the exterior pictures at dusk. Experiment with exposure times to find one that brings the house to life. You’ll get a sky rich with gradient blues and each light will bloom with a warm golden glow. It’s easy to imagine yourself going home to such a welcoming house after a long day. The fact that it’s obviously a little different from the average listing photo helps an online buyer slow their browsing enough to take a good long look.

The photos in the Real Estate Show below are City Lights and August Nights by Teresa Boardman, Clark County Fair After Dark, Shutter Speed Indoor Test - 1 Second and Shutter speed Indoor Test - No Flash by Dale Chumbley, Long Exposure Fourth of July Fireworks and Long Exposure Fourth of July Fireworks by Jeff Turner and Dancing Lights by Tall One and A Matter of Time by myself to illustrate some of the different looks you can achieve by adjusting the shutter speed on your camera.

Also in this series, see Learning Photography: Light Sources.

Real estate agents are in a multi-faceted profession. It’s hard to be naturally fabulous at each of the roles you need to take on in order to do your job well. This career takes a lot of on the job training and a desire to keep learning and growing.

I am currently trying to relearn photography skills I’m sure I once had. In high school I used a manual 35mm Nikon and knew the basics. Then digital photography came along and for years I only had to point a camera in the right direction, push a button and *poof!* — there would be a picture of what I was seeing.

That’s not enough for me anymore. I hope it’s not enough for you either.

I’m guessing part of what you appreciate about Real Estate Shows is the emotional connection you can create between the viewer and the home. The moving images combined with the music and your text … it’s nearly magical. People feel an attraction and want to learn more. Your pictures are the most vital ingredient. Make them count.

I’d like to share what I’m learning with you. If you have a camera that will allow you to manually select options, I hope you’ll find this helpful. If not, I hope it will still help you to think about how you’re setting up each shot to make it the best it can be. And don’t worry, I believe in keeping things super simple. Really.

*****

Our first lesson will be light settings. Digital cameras normally come preset for daylight conditions. If you really are outside on a sunny day, this will be perfect. If not, your pictures may be less than ideal.

Your camera will probably let you select from light sources such as sunlight, tungsten, overcast outdoor, fluorescent and flash. Peek in your camera’s manual so that you know how to find this and choose the setting you want. (It’s OK, manuals aren’t all that scary — just a peek!)

Here are a couple pictures I took to illustrate how my camera (Canon Powershot SX100 IS) sees light. Both pictures are of a glass paperweight lit from below with a night light bulb. When I use the Auto setting (remember, preset for daylight) the light is very yellow:

When I adjust my light settings to tell my camera the light source is a tungsten bulb, it will automatically correct the light to be truer to what my own eyes see in real life and expect from the photograph:

Remember that you do NOT have to use the setting that corresponds to the light source just because your camera says it’s right. Taking a photograph of a cozy family room using the sunlight setting will add yellow and give the light a warm glow. This incorrect setting might present exactly the feeling you’re trying to share with your viewer. But in the same home, you may want a photograph of the kitchen’s gleaming stainless steel appliances and glossy granite counters in very crisp, true to life lighting. In that case you may want to use the tungsten setting to add a little blue and provide balance. I am giving you permission to experiment with the settings and find what works for you — it is really OK to play here!

One of the most fabulous features of your digital camera is that you can take and delete pictures over and over again. Don’t be afraid to try it and see what works. Take MANY pictures of your listings — you can upload all you like to the Additional Photos section of your Real Estate Show!

Next lesson, shutter speed. It’s more interesting than it sounds. Trust me.

In recent days, we’ve had several emails sent to our customer service department about Adobe Flash upgrade failures. Our sense of what has happened is that the latest Windows update, which has occurred for most users sometime within the last week and a half, is making Flash not work on some Windows machines.

Here is what is happening:

• Windows is upgraded to the latest service pack
• When viewing a show on our site, a warning tells the user that they need the latest version of Flash. This is almost assuredly not true — the correct version of Flash is installed in the majority of cases, but the browser is not recognizing that it is installed.
• When the user goes to Adobe’s site to try and install the latest version of Flash, the site tells them that it is installed. (Likely installing the exact same version they already had installed.)
• When the user comes back to our site, the warning still tells them that they need the latest version of Flash.

The problem appears to be mainly confined to Vista users so far, although one XP user has experienced the same problem.

This is not a problem with RealEstateShows.com, but with the installation of Flash. Everyone who has experienced this problem has been to go to the following page: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/welcome/ to see if it showed that Flash was installed. For all of them, it indicated that Flash was NOT installed, despite the fact that just minutes before, they had installed the Flash player.

At this point, we are not sure if there is a workaround. It is impacting very few users, so we are instructing those who are experiencing this problem to contact Adobe through the Adobe Support page and register the problem. The more people who contact Adobe and tell them that something is up, the more likely they are to come up with a solution sooner rather than later.

7/14/2008 Update

Thanks to Keith Lutz at LovingCharlotte.com, we were pointed in the right direction for a fix that seems to work predictably.

1. Go to this page, and download the appropriate uninstaller file: Download Uninstaller  Note: you should close all browser windows before running the uninstaller file.
2. Go back to adobe.com, and reinstall the Flash Player: Download Installer

This should resolve the problem.

Recently in some training with other Real Estate Shows employees, we talked about communicating with people in they way they prefer. I have been realizing lately how vitally important this is, yet how easy it is to overlook.

I can see it in my own life. All day long I am in touch with friends who text, tweet (talk to me on Twitter) or send me little emails. All day I’m hearing from people – except my husband. So by the end of the day, while he’s been working away from a computer, I feel like he’s been ignoring me. He has not – he just had no idea that it might be important for me to hear from him in this way. Now that he knows, he texts me during the day just to say Hi, and I feel better.

I have a teenager. She doodles on her arms and even lets her friends write on her. I remember doing that with my own friends, it’s just a way to bond and show that you belong in this group with these friends. When I had something I wanted to say to her recently, something that I really wanted her to SEE … I wrote it on my arm.

Message received. She won’t forget it because I said it her way.

It’s a good idea to pay attention to the way people like to hear from each other. In business, it pays to let people know you are listening and to communicate with them in the way that reaches them best.

That’s why we offer so many choices in sharing your Real Estate Shows. The Shows themselves can be customized with additional photos, maps, floorplans, panoramas and video. You can embed them in blogs and websites, create flyers to share online or in print, publish directly to a variety of sites such as Google Base or Zillow or get code to take to Craigslist and Ebay. A couple clicks and they’re on your MLS and Realtor.com. You can even burn CDs (or have us do it for you) to have something tangible to hand to someone.

We offer so many different ways to say it because your intended audience has a variety of ways they’re predisposed to best hear your message.

And if you need help with any of it, you can call us at (888) 580-7627 or email us at Info@RealEstateShows.com. We’ll soon have a live chat feature for our help desk, because we want to communicate with you in the way you prefer.

When I recommended the Kodak v705, I did so without reservations.

It took a long time for me to find a point and shoot camera that I felt comfortable recommending to real estate agents. There were several criteria that needed to be met and the Kodak met all of them.

• Cost: Must be less than $400.
• Portability: Small enough to carry with you at all times.
• Simplicity: Works right out of the box without reading instructions.
• Ultra-Wide Angle: Not your basic 28mm wide angle lens, “extra” wide for capturing small rooms.

Lots of you purchased the Kodak v705 based on my recomendation. So many, I wish I were making some form of commission, that’s for sure. But the Kodak v705 has been discontinued and no replacement has been announced.

Enter the Panasonic Lumix FX35.

The Panasonic Lumix FX35 was announced in January, but was not officially launched to the public until last week. Mine arrived yesterday and I tested it this morning. For me to recommend a camera for the average user, it has to do one thing very well, take a great photo right out of the box without changing a single setting. Why? Because I know most people will never take the time to learn how to use all of the feature of any camera. So, if a camera doesn’t allow you to take a good photo with it’s basic, default settings, I can’t recommend it.

How does it compare?

• Cost: $239 - $349 online.
• Portability: It is slightly smaller than the Kodak v705.
• Simplicity: The photos below were taken using the default settings.
• Ultra-Wide Angle: The Panasonic Lumix FX35 has a 25mm wide angle lens.

You must not underestimate the importance of a really wide angle lens.

It took me a long time to find a replacement for the Kodak v705, mainly because most of the “wide” angle lenses touted by camera makers are 28mm. The Kodak was 23mm and really showed off rooms in a home. A 28mm lens doesn’t come close enough. The Panasonic Lumix FX35 touted a 25mm lens, so that caught my attention. As you can see from the photos below, it gets very close to the viewable range of the Kodak, but with better color quality.

House shot from sidewalk: click on photos to view large originals.

The photo above on the left was taken with the default settings on the Kodak v7o5, the one on the right, with the Panasonic Lumix FX35. As you can see, the Kodak caught a slightly wider angle, but the Panasonic has much richer, truer color. This was shot near sundown. No question, the Panasonic does a better job of capturing this shot. Changing the settings would improve the Kodak shot, but that would not be a fair comparison. Also, the slight difference in viewable area between the 23mm on the left and the 25mm on the right, is not significant.

Room Shot With Curtains Closed: click on photos to view large originals.

Again, the Kodak is on the left and the Panasonic on the right. There is a slight difference in viewable area, but not enough to make a real difference. The real difference is the photo quality, again. It is noticeable and relevant. When you view the photos at their original size, 5.o megapixels for the Kodak and 10.1 megapixels for the Panasonic, you will see the difference even more clearly. The Panasonic Lumix FX35 wins on this test as well.

Small Bathroom: click on photos to view large originals.

This is a very small room and the difference in the wide angle lenses is noticable, but not significant. And the photo quality of the Panasonic Lumix FX35 is superior once again.

What’s missing?

The Panasonic Lumix FX35 does not have the ability to stitch a panoramic shot in the camera. This is a nice feature for real estate. However, I have found myself using my Autostitch software more often than in-camera stitching. Mainly because aligning the shots in camera is a bit of a hassle. Using a tripod with stitching software can achieve superior results.

The addition of High Definition Video

The Panasonic also allows you to shoot in high definition video. Here you can see a direct comparison between video shot with the Kodak v705 and HD Video shot with the Panasonic Lumix FX35. The quality difference is readily apparent.

If you’re looking for a new camera to shoot real estate, this one will do the trick.

I’ve spent the day out and about with the FX35. I really like the Intelligent Auto Focus on this camera. It can sense faces, scenes and proximity to subject and adjust the settings automatically. And it does a good job of it, as you will see in this photo of ice in a glass. One of the complaints about the Kodak v705 was not knowing what setting to switch on to get the best shot. There is less need to know that on the FX35.

I’ll be posting more photos from this camera on Flickr. You can find them in this Panasonic Lumix FX35 Tests photo set. Every photo in this set will be shot using the Intelligent Auto Mode, and the comparison shots on the Kodak v705, or any other camera, will be taken on the default setting.

So far, I am very, very impressed.