Some Photo Shoot are ideas

[mr_lincoln]

Just a few ideas for some low cost photo shoot areas.

For small items I have a table with a piece of plywood leaning against the wall.  I have some gray plastic draped over that, width of the area is almost 4 feet.  I also use white foam board panels for smaller items, they're less then 3 bucks each at WalMart.  I have 4 lamps and use flourescent bulbs in them for white light.  I try not to use the flash, it uses up too much battery power in the camera.  we use rechargable batteries for the camera, this REALLY saves a lot of money.  We use a tripod so once the item is positioned we can simply shoot, rotate, shoot rotate, etc.  Saves time.

For slightly larger things, a really fast and easy method to get a back drop is to use the garage door and plastic or cloth.  I run the garage door up a couple feet then clamp the plastic to the inside of it.  The plastic can then be draped out to the desired length.  The kiddie car pictured is 30 inches long and easier to shoot this way ... its a little big for the other area we use.

[gymbo_limbo]

That's really nice. Thanks for sharing.

[rolenboy01]

Knowing my luck if I used that method I would be accused of the classic "you made the item look  better than it really is" complaint.

[dhbookds]

REALLY GREAT pictures.  thanks for the tips!

[candd205]

Appreciate the suggestions. Your pictures turned out great.

[siayan]

---

@rolenboy01 wrote:

Knowing my luck if I used that method I would be accused of the classic "you made the item look  better than it really is" complaint.

---

LOL. No one ever accused me of that.

[flyinhawaiiangirl]

There's this one seller here who takes AMAZING photos. I think she does consignment only, but the photographer she uses can make things look brand new. Then I get the items in, and I want to return EVERY SINGLE ITEM. She's caught me twice now, and both times were the same. I avoid her at all costs now, but dang if she still doesn't catch my eye with her pics. I talk myself in and out and in and then out again of the "this time, it IS going to be nice".

[ted_200]

Very nice!

There used to be some good photo Guides here. 

eBay deleted them. 

[mr_lincoln]

Thank you, appreciate the compliment.

[irinahat]

Nice setup. I also use a blank white poster board background but I honestly don't have the room to set up all those lights. I just take a photo with my camera, and then I open up a photo editing software, I crop the photo to crop out most of the white background to where it's mainly cropped around the item, and since I don't use lights like you do, my photos aren't as bright, but I compensate by adjusting brightness / contrast in the photo editing software. Some people might say I'm making my items look better by increasing brightness / contrast but I usually only do it to compensate for how my photos turn out dark, so I try to add brightness back into it. Over my 15+ years of selling, I've only ever had one person tell me my item looked better in photos than it did in real life, and that person didn't even want a refund or anything - they just sent me a nonchalant message saying they liked the photo better than the item but didn't want a refund and they left positive feedback, haha.

[kitchen-topia]

irinhat - does your camera not have any adjustment settings?
On my camera (cheapo digital) I open Adjust Color and go 2 steps down, Save, and I'm set. No, my photos are not as wonderful as Mr_Lincoln, I don't know what kind of camera he uses.
I "hate" my camera and hope I can afford a better one next time - but will use this one until it croaks.

[mr_lincoln]

@kitchen-topia  Thanks for the compliment on the pictures.  We have two old Canon Power Shot digital cameras.  One is the model 530 and the other is a 540.  The only difference is the screen size to view your pictures and both are fine.  They use a small chip memory card that slides out of the camera and in to the card reader on the computer and two laptops.  The cameras take 2 AA batteries and we use rechargeable ones ... that's a lot cheaper then buying standard batteries whenever they die ... which is always at the worst possible time.  The cameras have the threaded hole on the bottom for tripod mounts.  They have pretty much the normal range of settings for different picture types, sizes, lighting, etc.  The 540 we bought years and years ago for personal use.  The 530 I got at a local Auction for about $ 35 just as a spare since we have gotten so much use out of the original 540, they are pretty rugged.  New back in the day they were between $ 100 & $ 120.  The standard memory card they came with was a 16 MB which is nothing so we acquired several 1 and 2 GB chips which hold tons of pictures.

[irinahat]

---

@kitchen-topia wrote:
irinhat - does your camera not have any adjustment settings?
On my camera (cheapo digital) I open Adjust Color and go 2 steps down, Save, and I'm set. No, my photos are not as wonderful as Mr_Lincoln, I don't know what kind of camera he uses.
I "hate" my camera and hope I can afford a better one next time - but will use this one until it croaks.

---

I use a Sony Cybershot camera. I live right by the woods so there's a lot of shade and not enough light coming in through my windows. I don't know if my camera has a feature like that. I've been using Sony Cybershot for many years - I get a newer model whenever mine breaks. I just like using a photo editing software. I've been using Corel Paint Shop Pro (you can get a free 30 day trial of it on their site) for the past 15 years (basically, been using the same camera brand + same photo editing software since I started selling on Ebay) and I LOVE Corel Paint Shop Pro because they have this brightness feature called "curves" which raises brightness / contrast in a subtle way, and I have it pre-set to the amount I usually raise it on every single photo I edit, but on super dark photos, I'll do it twice to edit in the brightness back into a photo that's very much lacking.

silky_silken, I took the liberty of taking some of your pictures of your items (I hope you don't mind) and showing you the difference I just made using the "curves" feature in Corel Paint Shop Pro (It's under the tabs Adjust > Brightness > Curves) - see how much more vivid and bright it now looks? I feel like people are definitely more likely to buy items if they "pop" out at them and are bright and vivid, which is why I always edit the brightness in my photos exactly the same way I just edited these two items of yours to show you just how much of a difference that can make.

[kitchen-topia]

hi, thanks.
One issue that I fear is making items look better than they actually are.
I do have some adjustment on my editing software and a bit on the eBay listing page too. I use them with caution to avoid making items look too wonderful and having disappointed buyers.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

That's an impressive setup you have there, mr lincoln. I am far too cheap and lazy to do all that though. I use my iphone and a plastic folding photo booth unless the item is big, then it gets a sheet (hopefully not wrinkled). I shoot in natural light near a window but not direct sunlight and the pics come out to my liking, similar to yours in quality. Should the picture be too gray I used the editing software on ebay's listing form. Just suggestions for anyone who doesn't want to spend the $ for the setup. I admire that you went to such lengths to get quality pictures!