Have you ever spent all day taking pictures?

[sin-n-dex]

So we have snow, and I opted to stay home and take pictures instead of driving to my partner's town for a visit this weekend. It was overcast (because it's snowing) and that's perfect weather indoors for taking pictures. (I don't like unnatural lamps to be on, it changes how things look).

So on Saturday I took pictures of 89 stamp lots. It was good to look at each one as I was photographing and try to get in mind a price to sell them at. Those should be listing pretty soon.

Today I decided to work on the closet of basement junk I have here (stuff I moved from my old house because I didn't have time to go through it when I moved). I had beanie baby plush toy cats... there were 7 in total, and these are from 1996-97 era which means getting $5 is not out of the question. (Better than zero). Do you know how darned hard it is to take a nice picture of a plush toy? I kept rotating it and moving it about to try and get a bunch of different angles but the face of the cat liked to fall down away from the camera.

I also found a whole bunch of gemstone chips I bought from a supplier years ago at $1 a strand. Well $1 is par for the course for some of it, but others are worth $3.50 a strand. I decided to go wholesale and sell them all at once (separating the listings by type of stone). And the casino playing cards I collected that are listed individually... well there's little interest unless someone wants some for some type if memory of a trip to Nevada, so I thought it be best to group them all and list them for one price.

Last I found trading cards... they belonged to my ex-husband and he didn't want them in the divorce, so I ended up with various boxes of complete sets (this is from comic series, not the type of cards that everyone goes nuts over). He also had some incomplete sets. I got on the phone with him to ask him if he wanted to split the money with me because they were his, and I'm going to sell them (or do you want me to ship them to you instead), he said he'll think about it for a few days but he thinks I should take pictures and get ready to list.

I'm going to tackle the computer parts next time I get a chance (these computer parts are from 2007-2010 time frame and are industrial use type of parts). They're listed as singles, but some should get grouped so I can offer a great price to get rid of them all at once. (Organized by part). The last person who bought one earlier this year donated it to a museum of historical computer technology (that should tell you something). My partner and I still laugh about this.

And best of all, my handbags that came back from the shop that had them on consignment were in a bin in the basement and I went through, first picking anything with a tag (I'll sell non tagged ones later if this works out), and taking lots of various pictures of them. I want to see if having a tag helps the item to sell. Lots of people make purses, but from what I've seen on other sites, a lot of hand made ones don't come with tags. My tags say "made in Canada" on them.

So it was a productive weekend taking pictures. Now all I have to do is hit up the mail room at work for more pieces of cardboard so I can keep photographing stamps. I have some 150 lots left to take pictures of, but I need a cardboard for each one to keep it somewhat rigid when shipping. My mailroom gets lots of extras in various boxes of reports they receive and they've been saving them for me for the past two years.

C.

[buyselljack2016]

Do you know how darned hard it is to take a nice picture of a plush toy? I kept rotating it and moving it about to try and get a bunch of different angles but the face of the cat liked to fall down away from the camera.

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I feel your pain.   Getting an item positioned right for the pic is sometimes a challenge.

I do most of my photos outside to get the color right in natural light.

Sometimes sun can be a problem.

I often use small rocks, or sticks to support/position items. I don't like to have my hand in the photo. I don't like to see listings for items with someone holding an item.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

Certainty sounds like you were busy but a good busy! It's amazing what you can find in deep dark corners and closets of basements! Wish I had one and some snow too!

[chapeau-noir]

We have snow so seldom here, and then it's usually only about 2", that when we get a really good snowfall I suddenly have snowshoes magically attach to my feet and must spend all my time outside.

But photo'ing and going through the house definitely sound like cozy snow activities.  It's raining steadily here (no unusual thing) and it has that cozy feel.

The last time I went out east to visit relatives they had 4 feet of snow on the ground and snow piles the size of small houses.   They got all kinds of house things done because they were trapped.

[a_c_green]

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

Do you know how darned hard it is to take a nice picture of a plush toy? I kept rotating it and moving it about to try and get a bunch of different angles but the face of the cat liked to fall down away from the camera.

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I feel your pain.   Getting an item positioned right for the pic is sometimes a challenge.

I do most of my photos outside to get the color right in natural light.

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I always photograph indoors on a tripod, using incandescent lights (or LED lights designated as Soft White, not Daylight) and setting the camera's White Balance to Tungsten, so that it will correct images for the orange-y glow of incandescent lighting.

Your digital camera or smartphone is by default trying use an Automatic White Balance setting to correct colors for what it "thinks" is white lighting, and it doesn't always guess correctly, so it's best to lock it in to a setting for a specific type of light, and then use matching lights of that type to illuminate your item.

As for photographing things with faces (e.g. stuffed animals or dolls), try to get at least one photo where the animal or doll is "looking" right at the camera. The effect, when you get your camera in just the right spot, can be pretty riveting, so use that shot for your gallery photo. 

[calntom]

I can only handle about 5-6 items at a time and taking 40 to 60 pics for those items. I get those listed and start the process over again. I have a hard time sorting through the pics if I take any more than that. Seems to cost me time if I try to do too many listings at one time.

[gadgetmans_attic]

Do you know how hard it is to take tons of pictures to find out the card reader won't read the sd card, put the card back into the camera which it can see them just fine, okay plugged the camera into the computer, and still nothing buy another card reader still nothing put a brand new sd card in the camera the card readers and the camera can see the pictures I took on it so all those other pictures were a waste of time.

[southern*sweet*tea]

I hate taking pictures ☹️ 

My lighting is terrible and I think that my camera is dying. Don't know why, it's only about 15 years old. 😑

I did take a few with my cell phone the other day. Took forever - all my pictures looked like they were taken during an earthquake because I can't hold it steady like I can my camera - but hey, the colors looked good and there weren't white lines running through the picture.

That's okay though - I have five shoeboxes crammed with smalls that I can scan.  That I don't mind as it only takes a minute to scan both sides and rotate if necessary.

[shipscript]

@southern*sweet*tea 

Cell phones take pretty good photos if you can get that screen button within grasp. There are methods around camera shake if you don't have a tripod. They all rely on stablizing either the camera/phone or the hand that is holding the camera/phone.

• For distance shots hold your camera with your arm, wrist, or hand pressed against a wall or door jamb.
• For closeup table shots, place a stack of cans, boxes, or beans to get the right height and set the camera/phone on that.
• Or pull a straight backed chair up to the table of items. Straddle the chair and hold your camera on the back of the chair with both hands.
• For downward shots, use the chair-back to brace your camera and shoot downward over the back of the chair. The camera eyeball is in one corner of the camera. Remain aware of the eyeball location.  Sometimes holding the phone upside down will get the best angle for that eyeball and the photo can be rotated later.

[lamber9347]

I have an eBay room in my house. In a corner of that room I have a small photo studio set up. There I have my lights set up and the same background that I use. I tend to save up my items needing to be photographed and wait for when I am feeling up to it. Then I can easily spend four hours taking photos, from different angles and moving my camera around. I only use my Iphone and I love how the photos come out. 

You spent your time correctly and will have a good payoff for your efforts. Best of luck to you.... 

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@shipscript wrote:

@southern*sweet*tea 

Cell phones take pretty good photos if you can get that screen button within grasp. There are methods around camera shake if you don't have a tripod. They all rely on stablizing either the camera/phone or the hand that is holding the camera/phone.

• For distance shots hold your camera with your arm, wrist, or hand pressed against a wall or door jamb.
• For closeup table shots, place a stack of cans, boxes, or beans to get the right height and set the camera/phone on that.
• Or pull a straight backed chair up to the table of items. Straddle the chair and hold your camera on the back of the chair with both hands.
• For downward shots, use the chair-back to brace your camera and shoot downward over the back of the chair. The camera eyeball is in one corner of the camera. Remain aware of the eyeball location.  Sometimes holding the phone upside down will get the best angle for that eyeball and the photo can be rotated later.

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Thank you, those are some great tips!  My camera is a lot chunkier than my phone, so it's a whole lot easier for me to hold.  I really don't want to have to go out and buy a new camera. I rarely use my phone camera and it's been hard getting used to it.  I will definitely try the chair back tip, I bet that would work just fine!

[divwido]

every Monday after a Sunday Antique Faire I am sitting at my photo desk taking pictures.  Then the next week or three is all about cropping and writing up listings.

[shipscript]

@sin-n-dex 

In the early days, the forums were full of discussions by new camera owners of inadequate camera lighting in the dark of winter, so I was happily amused by your preference for cloudy days. There is rarely inadequate light for a camera. The overkill of flash can wash out an item or create harsh black shadow lines, while an overcast day, or open outdoor shade, can provide one of the best and softest product lighting scenarios when the correct camera setting is used.

To prove that point, I used this north facing room and placed a bowl on the sofa. The blinds are closed, leaking only a little light, and the room is quite dark -- a rather taxing photo setup.

Set for natural outdoor shade, with the flash turned off, this is how the digital camera compensated 15 years ago (as would today's cameras).

Pretty good for a darkened room with only filtered light. Imagine if the light had been more evenly distributed.

Smart phones were originally best for people photography, rather than for product photography and did poorly on closeups, but they have come a long way and I like the ability to touch the screen to set the focus or brightness.

And as @a_c_green alluded, using only one type of lighting (one color of light) is the best way to get your camera or phone to select the best color filter for the shot. Mixing different types of lighting in one scene can create all kinds of color issues. When only one type of lighting is used, the camera can be set to compensate. I've seen my phone change colors dramatically with a slight shift in angle, as it attempts to determine the best "white balance" filter to set for the scene when a room has a window and an overhead light, supplying two different types or colors of light sources.

[jewelbiz]

Although I own a very good Nikon camera with all bells & whistles, I never use it at all as it’s packed away somewhere...

My iPhone takes the brilliant pix in maybe 30 seconds.  
Easy Peasy.  And it’s always In my pocket...

Sometimes I buy an item & on way home I stop in some public place take some pix & list.  
Boom!