[Mitch Gallant]

Originally Posted by ajholland

Does anyone have a free, quick, easy to use program I can use to watermark our photos with our Logo?

Try out Paint.net, its a free program easiest compared to Photoshop. It's got some image enhancement options and you can blend in your logo however/wherever you'd like.

I haven't used it in a few years but if you're looking to watermark a logo and maybe touch up an image or two it should do the trick... and the price is right!

www.paint.net

[mattwatson81]

Originally Posted by Mitch Gallant

Try out Paint.net, its a free program easiest compared to Photoshop. It's got some image enhancement options and you can blend in your logo however/wherever you'd like.

I haven't used it in a few years but if you're looking to watermark a logo and maybe touch up an image or two it should do the trick... and the price is right!

www.paint.net

I agree on this. I use Paint.net almost everyday for something. It rocks.

[JoePistell]

Originally Posted by amart41

We have a small dealership in MA I do the photos for all the cars. We found the best way to get around overexposed cars or sun flare or any of those issues is to shoot inside. This will require some extra lighting some times but we come up with great results. .

DOH!
The floor, the floor... all I see is the floor! someone turn off the floor, I can't see the car!

[AutoArchitech]

Originally Posted by ajholland

Does anyone have a free, quick, easy to use program I can use to watermark our photos with our Logo?

We started stamping photos in 2000. The easiest way is this program. watermark picture shark freeware image gallery protect
Free but we did donate some since we were using it for business. You can stamp just the 1st one or every one. Once you have the settings correct you can have it pull the photo out of a folder, stamp it, and put it back in the same location so you don't get out of order.

If you try it and have any questions on setup I can walk you through it. I have nothing to do with it, I just used it flawlessly for years.

[AutoArchitech]

Originally Posted by Blake Arbogast

I . I really don't think you need to hire a vendor who charges $15 per car. You can do it yourself better and cheaper.

I have to disagree, cheaper, maybe. Better? Doubt it. My employees take an average of 700 photos a day, every day. You can't teach that kind of experience.

[ajholland]

Originally Posted by AutoArchitech

I have to disagree, cheaper, maybe. Better? Doubt it. My employees take an average of 700 photos a day, every day. You can't teach that kind of experience.

I haven't seen the work from your employees, but I think of what I have seen in general, well trained employees do take better photos (aside from your company possibly). I spent over two years at ATC and the photos from some services were obviously just taken to get them done quickly, not with the mindset of how will these pics help sell this car. I think it all depends on the company you work with, the employee of that company you get, and how much you choose to interact in telling that person exactly what you want and not settle for less.

[Alex Snyder]

Originally Posted by AutoArchitech

I have to disagree, cheaper, maybe. Better? Doubt it. My employees take an average of 700 photos a day, every day. You can't teach that kind of experience.

Just because someone takes 700 photos a day doesn't mean they take good pictures. But I'm not going to get into that hypothetical argument.

I will argue that a dealership who takes anything seriously can do that thing better than any vendor. And the dealer can usually do it for substantially less money. This is especially true in the vehicle pictures game.

[Jeff Kershner]

Originally Posted by ajholland

Does anyone have a free, quick, easy to use program I can use to watermark our photos with our Logo?

Used this for years! FastStone Photo Resizer - Powerful Image Converter/Resizer Posted about it a long time ago..Spice up your Vehicle Inventory Photos.


Our in-house team uses the Sony Cybershot DCS-T90 and they shoot in 3mb. They use MS Picture Manger for resizing. Not sure if that's the best way to go about it but it's what they use and like.

Someone mentioned the old Canon A70 - I used one of those for years set on VGA - no resizing and always had great photos..good enough for web.

[AutoArchitech]

Originally Posted by ajholland

I haven't seen the work from your employees, but I think of what I have seen in general, well trained employees do take better photos (aside from your company possibly). I spent over two years at ATC and the photos from some services were obviously just taken to get them done quickly, not with the mindset of how will these pics help sell this car. I think it all depends on the company you work with, the employee of that company you get, and how much you choose to interact in telling that person exactly what you want and not settle for less.

I will agree with that statement. I guess my biggest difference is how I train my guys. I have been doing this since 1995 with stickers and photos since 1998. I personally teach all photographers, and our mindset is "help you sell the car", I don't have a set number of photos per vehicle and charge you if you want/need more where other vendors charge $x for 12, $Y for 16, etc. I don't want my guys counting the number of photos, I want them to concentrate on presenting the car for sale.

I also have the same person take the photos for a dealer group so they all look the same instead of dividing my guys up by location.

It all comes down to communication between us and the Dealer.

There are 2 things that drive me nuts in photos, the paper mats left in the car (usually crooked) and the steering wheel not straight. If I ever pull up a photo and see either one of these from my guys it cost them $100, I have never had to pay it though

[AutoArchitech]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kershner

Our in-house team uses the Sony Cybershot DCS-T90 and they shoot in 3mb. They use MS Picture Manger for resizing. Not sure if that's the best way to go about it but it's what they use and like.
.

Jeff,

You use Homenet don't you? No resizing needed, it will do it automatically. We shoot at 3mb and load them in.