| p>The photos you put in your professional home | | | | Be mindful of these digital camera basics. We're all in |
| staging portfolio are among the most important | | | | hurry these days, but when you're shooting images |
| photos you will ever take. Your portfolio is used to | | | | for your portfolio, slow down a bit. Pay attention to |
| show your prospective clients what a talented home | | | | how you're holding your camera and be sure that |
| stager you are, and whoever is looking at it is | | | | you have it straight and you aren't covering the lens |
| expecting dramatic transformations to justify | | | | or flash with your finger. Don't move after focusing |
| investing in your home staging services. | | | | or while you're shooting the image - move into |
| Even great home stagers can detract from their | | | | position before you shoot and stay still. Avoid |
| portfolios (and in turn their own image) by simply not | | | | shooting towards a window because everything will |
| having the basic digital photography skills to make | | | | come out too dark if you do. |
| their photos fabulous. A good portfolio shot should | | | | If you can change the resolution setting, put it on |
| demonstrate your home staging skills. A great photo | | | | the highest or next to highest setting and see what |
| will compel people to look at it because it says | | | | size the image will be. Usually an image size of 1 MB is |
| something. It should be well lit, straight, in focus, | | | | sufficient quality for anything you'll need in a portfolio. |
| interesting and free of distracting details. | | | | (You'll use more memory at higher resolutions, so buy |
| The following tips should improve the quality of your | | | | a larger memory card or even a second one so you |
| photos dramatically: | | | | won't be stuck with insufficient memory when you're |
| Think before you shoot. Get to know your camera. | | | | on your shoot.) You will get a crisper more detailed |
| Take the time to set up some practice shots in your | | | | image at higher resolutions, and you can always |
| own home and experiment with shooting the same | | | | reduce the resolution later. If an image is shot at a |
| image from slightly different angles, with and without | | | | low resolution originally, you can't make it higher later. |
| the flash, with the lights on and off, with and without | | | | This is a problem if you want to make a printed |
| a wide-angle lens, and even try standing on a chair or | | | | image larger or if you need to supply images to the |
| ladder to see how the shot will turn out. You can also | | | | media. |
| try different resolutions settings. Before shooting | | | | In part two of this article series, you'll learn about the |
| your image, make detailed notes to remind you what | | | | importance of your attention to detail and capturing |
| you did. When you load the images on your | | | | strong staging stories when taking photos for your |
| computer and look at your notes you can compare | | | | home staging portfolio. |
| what they look like on screen and when they're | | | | For help putting your portfolio together, the Staging |
| printed. You'll start to learn how your camera works | | | | Diva Ultimate Portfolio Guide can help you determine |
| and what can be accomplished by doing a couple of | | | | what to include in your portfolio and it has an entire |
| things differently. | | | | chapter devoted to photography in staging. |