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It’s Manufactured Housing photo time

May 22nd, 2011 Leave a comment Go to comments

HowDoIDoThatVideos.com logoManufactured Home and Land Lease Community operators and owners, and retailers take note: if you’ve been waiting for the right time to photograph those installations, properties and communities, now would be the time.

In many parts of the country, you’ll need to wait out the rain to get a clear day to photograph those homes and communities, but it will be worth the wait.

Be sure to get plenty of photos when the sun shines so you’ll have a lot to choose from when you post them to your website or Facebook fan page.

You may need to re-size or enhance your photos before uploading them to your website. There are a few tools that I’ve used to do this that will cost you absolutely nothing to use.

If you have Mac, your computer came with iPhoto. iPhoto makes the job of adjusting, enhancing and resizing your photos a snap.

But if you’re using a Windows or Linux powered machine, there are a couple of tools here that can help you get the job done in style.

First, there’s the Open Source application the GIMP, that runs on Linux, Mac or Windows. the GIMP can do pretty much anything that Photoshop can do – but saves you the $700 that Photoshop costs. There are installers for each. The Mac version requires that the X11 X-Window system be installed. It is installed on OS X 10.5 Leopard and newer by default. the GIMP for Linux and Windows can be downloaded at GIMP.org.

Here’s a video showing how the get started with the GIMP:

Although it’s free, the GIMP has a learning curve like any other sophisticated software. The video above is from a 23 video tutorial set that can get you using the GIMP like a professional in just a few hours and provides ongoing support for as long as you need it.

The video tutorial set is called Create Stunning Graphics Using the GIMP and is available at HowDoIDoThatVideos.com.

If all you need to do is resize images, PixResizer for Windows will do the trick. You can download it from bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm Here’s a short video on how to use it:

The long and short of this is get out there now through June to get the best images you’re going to get. So go get them, then use one of these tools to enhance them or resize them and put them to work for you.

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  • Ben Roche

    Your write up on taking photos of homes and communities sparked my interest. I have been taking photos of homes for factories and retailers now for over 15 years and I am constantly providing tips to the retailers I serve on posting quality images of there homes on the web.nnOne tool you did not mention but I use religiously is Google’s FREE Picasa photo organizing and editing tool. It does not replace the occasional need for Photoshop or Gimp when you want to get serious about your photos, but it does plenty with a very short learning curve. Straighten, brighten, contrast, crop, saturation, and other basic effects are just a few of what it can do.nnWhat I particularly like about Picasa is the ability to batch process by re-sizing, renaming, and watermarking. There are also plug-ins that allow you to upload directly to Facbook or other photo sharing sites. The collage creation tool can also be a fun way to make marketing pieces for your business.nnIf you have not given this free gem a try I highly suggest you do, it is how I organize and view all my photography.nnI even blog about it: http://bensviewpoint.blogspot.com/2008/10/photo-euphoria-with-picasa-3-beta.htmlnnBen RochenDistrict Sales ManagernPalm Harbor HomesnMillersburg, ORnnu00a0

  • http://BobStovall.com Bob Stovall

    Thanks for the great comment, Ben. Picasa is certainly a good option for anyone looking to enhance and resize their photos. And you can add those photos to a web album and link to them directly from Picasa. http://picasa.google.com/