martykovacs

Someday I will understand everything that's been said here and following the UHH forum for the very short time I have is what inspired me to look beyond photography as a mere tool for real estate to ask my question. So I now know that if I want to pursue learning the "art" of photography, it will be neither quick nor cheap but after seeing these photos & others posted here, very rewarding. My thanks to all who participated.

gessman Loc: Colorado

There's a new potential learning experience around every corner and it's a never ending process unless you pick out a very narrow subject selection and drill down as far as that subject will lead you and have the willpower to not be tempted in any other direction or genre as it leads and tempts you to be ever reaching and the only way to satisfy the urge is through devoted study, experimentation, and practice to get where you think you want to be. There are a few lucky souls for whom it comes naturally and then there's the rest of us on the "bell curve," those of us who, to some degree, have suspected damaged brain cells and a flawed uptake process, who are being dragged into and by it, some faster than others. It eats on you until you start to feel like those high school nerds who took pictures for the yearbook, dressed funny, hair disheveled, fenders hanging off your car until you see the wife or husband and kids waving goodbye every few days.

Back to real estate, I don't know what layer you float around in but in my area, a lot of the "high dollar" realtors use stuff from https://matterport.com/ about which I suspect you may be familiar. Some of them have a side business and they rent out their services for new listings to other realtors who don't want to get involved in the photography end of it and charge a handsome fee to do virtual 3d tours for those properties that deserve it. There is an investment but there are ways to spread that out.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Glad I stopped watching this post pages ago. How, in the meantime, did we go from learning the basics without spending a lot more money to changing to full-frame cameras ($$$$) or changing to entirely new systems ($$$$) ?

Far too many people seem to believe that to be a better photographer, you only have to buy better equipment ... Where in reality, if you don't know how to use your camera, it doesn't matter how much you paid for it.

martykovacs

WOW! No, I had not heard of Matterport but seen its results, or similar, before. Thank you. I have a top-end drone for exteriors, working on my FAA license (the government must intervene so it can get its $$$$), and I understand there's one that does interiors as good as what I saw on Matterport or better.

gessman Loc: Colorado

Cheers and happy shooting to you as well.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

gessman Loc: Colorado

Why did you start watching it again?

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Alan, you are correct. My apology. My mind was on another thread....... My bad.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

Saxguy Loc: Plano, TX

Lots of good responses here to your question. Without understanding your level of understanding and wanting to not spend a lot of money, looking back at my first steps was to understand what a "proper exposure" means. Each person learns their own way. One of the suggestions was to get a copy of "Understanding Exposure" which is a great read. Another way without spending a dime is to understand aperture, shutter and ISO and how they interact to the "exposure triangle". I think understanding depth of field first was the biggest eye opener. Just for fun, find your camera manual or go online to find it and put the camera in "Aperture Priority" mode. The camera will automatically take over the ISO and shutter speeds for you to adjust exposures. Go find something like a tree or stationary object and use a good outdoor lighting day, not dark. Find your widest aperture your lens can handle which will be the lowest f/stop number on the camera displayed and take a pic of that tree, move to the next f/stop or higher number and repeat at the same object. Do this over and over at the same object standing in the same spot. Offload the images from the camera to say, your PC and look at the images. File properties should show you each f/stop and look at how depth of field changes over the f/stops. This is your first understanding of depth of field and how the f/stops change them. Depth of field has its place in types of photography you do. Understand the f/stop numbers and what is happening and you just learned what happens by taking the camera off "program mode". To me, this was an instant game changer to understanding what is going on with the f/stops first.

theupcman

My 1st camera was a completely manual film SLR. I taught myself how to use it by reading photography magazines and books from the library. One of the most useful books I found was Kodak's Pocket Guide to Photography. It is a small book, but, it is full of useful information and examples for various shooting situations.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

Google online tutorial for beginners, and also search to YouTube. Tons of stuff out there. If you have any difficulty with this send me a private message, and I will help.