I remember seeing the movie The Birds as a kid.  It had to be one of the scariest movies I had ever seen.  I live in the part of the country where bird migration funnels through on their way to and from South America.  There are times of the year where trees are filled to capacity and power lines sag from the weight.  This photo doesn't even begin to show how many birds are in this area to spend the night.  When they take flight, it darkens the sky.

Frank LLosa of FranklyRealty.com has created a video where he recommends a few compact digital cameras for real estate. Frank and I don't agree on all points, but we do agree that ultra wide is necessary for interior real estate photography. I would add a couple Panasonics even through they are only 25mm. I figure if you aren't hiring a professional to shoot the listing, then you don't really care how good the photos are anyway. (That last comment was designed to get things stirred up.)

Some days the shoreline just churns with breakers and other days the gulf is so calm.  This was one of those mornings where the gulf was very calm and the bay was like glass.  Just looking at these photos reminded me of how calm it was giving me a calm spirit.

After building this sandcastle one afternoon at the beach (South Padre Island, TX), I went to the house to get cleaned up and realized I had no photos of the creation.  I grabbed my camera, tripod and flashlight and headed out.  When I got there I was surprised that no one had knocked it down yet.  It's something about sandcastles that makes it too tempting to smash.  I took a series of photos using a 30 second shutter and ONE flashlight.  I think it made for some pretty interesting photos.

There are a series of videos with Scott Hargis, a renowned real estate photographer, which show Scott’s lighting techniques for a typical real estate shoot. These videos are a series of time laps photos showing Scott at work with explanations along the way. Do you take this much time with your listing photos?

At the end of 2007, I began a series of discussions on the best compact digital camera (sometimes called point and shoot cameras) for real estate. At the time I was using what has been termed a prosumer digital camera (between a professional and consumer camera often times larger and more complicated than a compact, but not a DSLR). I noticed a couple of years ago that the prosumer style camera had almost died out and I finally understood why. The prosumer camera usually had a price point of around $1,000 and DSLR’s where well above that, but now one can purchase a DSLR for under $1,000. Why by compact camera when for the same money one could have a professional camera? You can still find some very advanced compact cameras these days such as the Panasonic Lumix LX3 (my personal favorite), the Canon G11(touted my many professional photographers) and Nikon P6000(with built-in GPS for geotagging photos), but all are around the $500 price point. I’ll put together another discussion on DSLR’s soon.

I mean duckS

Taken on the River Walk in San Antonio late this summer.

Man, am I getting sour in my old age or what?  It's just that I don't understand why we have so many posts of "GREAT SHOTS" in the Photography Group when they should be posted in the GREAT SHOTS group.  Great shots in the photography group would be just fine if those who posted them would post EXIF data and information on how they took the picture so the rest of us could improve our PHOTOGRAPHY.  Most of us have no problem identifying a great shot, nor do we have a problem admiring said great shots.  I thank all of you who have posted for the eye candy.  They look great, but I want to get as good as you.  Please help!