Need picture taking advice

[chichick]

Hello. I am new here and need some help. I am an assistant to a few Realtors and part of what I do is take pictures of homes and do visual tours. I want to have the best pictures I can but I am not very knowledgable about taking the best pictures. I am working with a Panasonic Lumix 12x Optical Zoom and I also have a Canon PowerShot SD450 Digital Elph 5.0 Mega Pixels.

I am having the most difficult time taking pictures inside homes where the sunlight is coming through windows and then the room comes out to dark.
How can I take great photos inside with the views of the outside? I live near the beaches and water and often need to capture the view from inside the homes. I have tried adjusting things on my camera's but not sure what I am doing. If anyone has any suggestions or advice I would grealty appreciate. I love my job and want to bea able to show my bosses how good I am at photographing their homes.

Thank You :hail:

 

[JIP]

Well buying a new camera might be a good start. Something like the D40X is a decent budget DSLR to get without going too overboard....

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/494401-REG/Nikon__D40x_Digital_Camera_Kit.html

 

[chichick]

I had a feeling someone would say that. The Lumix camera is my bosses and it looks like the one in the Nikon link but I am sure it doesn't do what that one does. The Canon is my own personal camera but I usually use the Lumix because I thought it was better but am not sure. Thanks and when I get rich enough I will invest in a better camera. Thank You

 

[JIP]

While the Lumix may look a little like the Nikon I assure you it is nothing like it. I can tell you at one time there was a person on this forum who posted a site with some good instruction on real-estate photography I do not remember the link but mabye someone else can. Another thing you might try is Amazon there are tons of books out there to help you with the type of photography you want to do. You also might check with you local library I know the system in PGH is an excellent one and I recently did a search for this type of photography and got tons of books.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_g...as=aps&field-keywords=real+estate+photography

I actually got the first 2 books on the link at my library.

 

[Patrice]

chichick,

Does the Lumix have a flash hot shoe on it? You might not have to buy a new camera if it does.

 

[chichick]

Hi Patrice,

I am not sure if it does but it has a Lens Hood and Hood Adapter. Is that the same or different?

Also Thanks JIP for you advice.

 

[gpimages]

You may be able to address the problem with the equipment you have. First you need to equalize the light inside and outside. You may need to shoot early in the morning or late in the day after sunset. Turn on any lights inside the room. You may need to add some simple portable lighting. Now with the lighting equalized a slow shutter speed is probably in order so a tripod would be a big help. Do not use the on camera flash. Hope this helps.

 

[Patrice]

Lens hood and hood adaptor are not the same as flash atachement. The flash atachement or hot shoe is usually on top of the camera, lloks like a couple of metal guide rails about 3/4 inch long and about 1/2 inch apart. There will be some electrical contacts between them. Not all Lumix cameras have them.