How to make the best photos for eBay sales

The nicer the photo of the item you wish to sell, the better probability there is you will find a buyer.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A digital camera, it's not necessary to have a fancy one.
• Good lighting is important.
• A clean background without distracting elements.
• Inexpensive lights can be purchased at a home center.

1. To make the nicest image of your product, you need good lighting, and a clean non-distracting background. A white sheet can serve really well.
   Good lighting is very important. The better your lighting is, the sharper your image can be.
   A very inexpensive digital camera will make a totally acceptable image for the eBay website.

2. 
   Put camera as close as possible, make subject as large and clear as you can.

   Set the digital camera on a stable platform, or tripod if you have one.
   Put your lighting (two floodlights, available at a home supply store, with 60-75 watt bulbs will work fine), at 45 degrees to the subject, one on either side.
   Adjust the white balance on your camera for Incandescent or Tungsten light source. This makes the camera adjust for the color the bulbs will produce to give accurate color of your subject.

3. Most important of all, TURN OFF the built-in flash on the camera. This is often an easy control function found on a button/dial on back of the camera.
   Set your camera's self-timer to take the photo. This prevents camera shake which could occur if you press shutter button yourself. And, it keeps camera steady for the slow shutter speed used with the floodlights on the stands.
   Set your camera's image size (resolution), and quality for the lowest setting offered. EBAY only wants small images so they will load quickly to their website. They will still look fine.

Tips & Warnings

• All digital cameras have menus which allow adjustments for color (commonly called "White Balance", Image size (often called resolution), and quality (which determines the size of the JPEG file your camera will produce)
• Use of a camera support or tripod will prevent camera shake, guaranteeing the sharpest photo.
• Use of the self-timer will also prevent camera shake which results from abruptly pushing the shutter button down.
• This article addresses photographing smallish size articles. Generally not much larger than a basketball. If you are photographing outside, with the adjustment for White Balance still an important consideration, and a tripod is still useful. Bright sunlight is not often the best choice for outside photos. A bright cloudy day will often give a nicer result and you can adjust most cameras for a color adjustment for cloudy conditions.

[khorseshoe2]

on 8/16/2009 good article, I will use this for sure!