AboutOurHouse wants your visual tour to be the best it can be however, not all images in the visual tours are great shots. Here are some suggestions for taking great pictures for your visual tour.

1. The picture must be digitized, of course, to put on the net, which means you need to scan the image or use a digital camera. Most drug stores can develop your 35mm film and provide you with a photo CD. There are many formats you can save the scanned image as. However, the web uses specific types.  The images on AboutOurHouse.com must be .JPG though.

 2. When you shoot a picture, make sure the object is the primary focus of the picture. A cluttered background takes away from the object.  Choose the location for the shot carefully. Look through the lens and see the picture. Does it give the object the best look?  Or does it distract from the object?  Also watch the shadows in your picture. Shoot from the lighted side and do not shoot into the sun.  Take several photos keep the photos that flatter you and delete the ones that don’t.

3. Take a series of shots of your home. Try different angles. Front shot, both sides, from the front corners, rear corners, and from the rear. Take a picture of unique things about your home like the nicely landscaped yard or the marble shower. Look at the picture you see through the viewer, that's what the picture will be like.

4. If your digital photos are poor quality, they can turn off prospects, we've developed some useful tips for overcoming common digital photography problems.

Are your photos coming out too dark? If one portion of the house is looking too dark, your problem is probably underexposure. Often, underexposure occurs when the background light in the picture is brighter than the details you're trying to capture. You'll often run into this problem outside when the sun is directly behind the home or when you're taking a picture across a snow-covered yard. Inside, taking a photo toward a strong light or a bright window can have the same effect.

To reduce the amount or the impact of background light, try

* Taking an exterior picture at a time of day when the sun is in front of the house

* Waiting for an overcast day if snow or water glare is a problem

* Turning off bright lights inside and drawing shades and blinds

If none of those options are feasible, you can reduce underexposure problems by

* Zooming in on the home itself. If the home takes up more of the overall picture, you reduce the amount of background light that would otherwise cause the photo to be underexposed.

* Setting your camera to use spot or center metering, if it has those features. That will instruct your camera to take a light reading based on the light in the center of the frame, which is usually where the home is.

* Setting your camera to forced-flash mode, which causes the flash to fire regardless of the amount of available light. The flash will reduce the effects of a strong light in one area when you're taking pictures inside.

* Using the exposure value setting available on some higher-end digital cameras to override your camera's built-in light meter and compensate for the light.

Out-of-focus images are another common problem. In real estate photography, you often take pictures out
of windows. Because a digital camera's auto-focus feature may focus on a nearby object (a screen or tree branch) and not the intended subject matter, the image you want to photograph comes out blurry. Avoid this problem by

* Setting your camera's focus on infinity rather than on auto-focus

* Moving the center of your photo slightly to shift the auto-focus away from the object that's confusing it

It's also a good idea to check your camera's settings to be sure your digital photos are formatted for easy retrieval and electronic viewing by customers. You can accomplish this by

* Making sure you've set your camera to save images in the JPG format. This is your best option, whether you intend to e-mail photos to clients or post them on your website.

* Setting your camera to its lowest available resolution (often 1 megapixel, other times expressed as one-quarter size) and lowest quality setting. Higher values will substantially increase the file size and thus the time it takes consumers to download the pictures. And because computer monitors can display images at only 72 dots per inch, a higher resolution won't give viewers a better picture.

By ensuring that your photos are bright, crisp, and fast loading, you make it easier for buyers to properly view your visual tour.