Digital photography is one of the best overall tools for real estate that has ever been invented. However, you need to be "photo smart" and take into consideration some of the most famous pitfalls when being your own photographer. There is a large divergence between agents and their ability to take good pictures on their listings and those that don't. Those of you that fit the great photography profile, congratulations! You are one of the few that understands that great photography sells homes faster. Those of you that are of the "my photography is fine" group may not understand that your photography may be costing you commissions and future listings. Either way, I want to shed some light on some common pitfalls that I see daily at www.ProHomeSites.com .

To set the record straight, I'm a professional photographer that has been shooting architecture for over 25 years and I was a broker owner of two major real estate franchises for over 15 years. I've done thousands of virtual tours over the years, and I'm the one responsible for the marketing program found at  www.ProHomeSites.com , so I think I have the right credentials for evaluating photography that I have seen in an attempt to sell homes.

The single biggest problem that I see in trying to market a home is lousy pictures. Face it... crummy, out of focus, small dark pictures will not sell a house. Nor will they generate enough interest from a buyer to even click into the presentation. As it turns out, those crummy pictures will actually cost you more money by having the house not sell, and the possibility of your losing the listing.

Time and time again, I've had agents tell me that the house isn't worth their investment to have a professional photographer shoot the property, so they will shoot it with their brand new pocket camera. If you cruise any site that has postings about camera gear, you'll find that the most common cameras are those that are small with narrow field lenses, 24mm and greater, don't have any manual adjustments, and don't have a sufficient flash to light anything more than 6 feet away. They are point-and-shoot cameras and are not meant to stand up to the demands of real estate where you find lousy lighting and small hard to shoot rooms as a rule. Point-and-shoot  cameras are meant for family vacations, landscapes and parties.

Hey, taking pictures of a home is an art form. When I enter a house, I can be carrying as much as $10,000 worth of really high quality gear, and sometimes that isn't enough to take on the diverse lighting and room conditions that I find in the field.

If you are planning on taking your own pictures, you need a camera that can handle the job. Think of the camera as an essential piece of your marketing program. You need a DSLR, Digital Single Lens Reflex, camera, a really wide angle lens, think 10mm here, the largest flash unit made by the camera manufacturer, a tripod with an adjustable head, and a remote trigger. Nothing less will do the job properly.

I also strongly recommend that you only purchase matching equipment from the manufacturer of the camera. Canon and Nikon have some great medium priced cameras with a full lineup of matched accessories that will do the job perfectly.

I'm not going to get into which camera gear is better. When purchasing a camera, it's just as much about personal taste and your budget as it is about the capability of the gear. For real estate I shoot the Canon 7D with a Canon 580EX2 flash and the Canon 10-22mm wide angle lens. I use a Canon RS-80N3 remote trigger with every shot because you want every shot to be made from a tripod with some sort of pistol grip to level the camera.

I'm sure somebody will take the opposite side here and say that third party equipment is great, and I can agree to a point, but by purchasing everything that is matched to that camera, you will shorten your learning curve to getting really great pictures, and when you have a problem, and you will, getting the right advice to fix that problem will be far easier.

The next part is a bit more time consuming. You really need to learn how to use your camera. Purchase a guide book from "Magic Lantern Guides" that is specific to the camera that you purchased and read it. Read it to the point of memorizing it. Then read the manual that came with the camera and virtually memorize that as well. By accomplishing this you will know how the camera works and will be able to at least understand how to achieve some of what you are looking for, but you will still need to go to a photography class to really understand how to get the shots that you are looking for.

A class will teach you the basics of lighting, shutter speeds, ISO settings, and the difference in the mode functions that each camera offers. Knowing how to use the mode settings of (M) Manual, (AV) Aperture-Priority, and (TV) Shutter-Priority will give you much better results than by using the automatic settings of the camera.

A class will also teach you about how to compose the shot you want. Homes are difficult to showcase, however, keep in mind that you don't want to have the shot hand held with you standing up while looking down at your subject. This will make the whole shot be out of perspective, especially in small areas like bathrooms and kitchens. You want the shot to be parallel with the vertical areas of each room. Doorways, cabinets, windows and closets will give you a great reference to align your shot with. Just don't point your camera down. I've seen enough chipped sinks and toilet bowel shots to last a lifetime. Use a tripod and get the camera down to cabinet level. Yes... you will have to bend over, but your shot will be well worth it. Staying low is one of the secrets that the pro's use all the time and your pictures will be instantly better.

A class will also teach you that taking pictures with the camera on edge is a no-no. On edge shots are for portraits, and flower arrangements. The shot should always be made with the camera held in a horizontal position for one really important reason. All of the pictures you are taking will most likely be posted to the listing and to the internet by means of a virtual tour package like those found at www.ProHomeSites.com . These sites show your pictures on a template that is designed to display your pictures with a specific width-to-height ratio. So when you post a picture that was taken with the camera on edge, the site you post your picture to will automatically squish the height of your picture to fit their site. This will definitely not produce the results you want.

That same class may even teach you how to process the pictures you take. Learn to use Adobe Photoshop, or one of the other photo processing packages as soon as you can. Many pictures you take will be dark. Digital cameras naturally take pictures that are dark for a good reason. If a picture is too light you lose data in the picture that you can't recover because it is lost in the brightness, but dark pictures have full data that can be successfully lightened up and nothing is lost.

I know real estate agents have a really strong tendency to try to do everything when it comes to their listings and I understand that saving money is essential. However, I also believe that the Dirty Harry, "A man's got to know his limitations", approach is better suited here. If you are not willing to have really good equipment and learn how to use it, you are most likely better off hiring a professional photographer to take your pictures for you. You are going to get better pictures and you will sell your listings faster because the presentation is more appealing to the buyer.

A professional photographer may actually make you more money. They will cost you less to shoot your listing than you will pay for a high school year book picture and they will showcase your listing that just might convince others to list their home with you. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the statement "Oh, I'll do my own pictures because the seller isn't paying me enough", or "this listing doesn't warrant paying for professional photography". Face it... if you think the pictures you take are only sufficient, you might be missing the big picture here... getting to the closing table.

At www.ProHomeSites.com , we collect data on how many people view each page of the presentation, and also on how much time they spend on each page they viewed. It has been proven time and time again that people viewing listings spend more time on each site that has been professionally shot than those that are offering just agent photography. The data also shows that homes sell faster when they have professional photography and professional presentations.  We've been tracking this data for over seven years and have also learned that those agents that have professional photography, and presentations get more listings. So you be the judge.

Invest in your business by getting up to speed. Get really good camera gear, take a couple of classes, learn how to PhotoShop, and build a professional presentation at www.ProHomeSites.com to show off your new found skills and you will definitely be rewarded.