correctmyphotos

In my previous post, Better eBay Sales with Better Photos-The Photo Shoot Setup, I described two setups: indoor with artificial light and outdoor with natural light and compared the two. My preference between the two was using natural light. I also said that I ordered a light tent to use indoors with artificial light. I ordered it from OBN Photographic Equipment and it arrived yesterday. 

OBN 20” Light Tent
The light tent kit (http://www.obnphoto.com/light_tent.html) included a foldable tent, and four backdrops (white, black, gray, and blue), and a storage case.  For my purposes I selected a 20 inch tent but they offer sizes ranging from 12” to 86”. Here is a photo of my initial test set up.

Light Tent Setup-Light Tent from OBN Photographic Equipment

I chose to use the gray backdrop for reasons that I explained in my previous post and took a few test shots with different lamp positions. I also set my camera to aperture preferred (f8) instead of auto exposure for greater depth of field.  Here is an edited photo of a test shot taken with the best lamp position.

Stangl Bird Photo using Light Tent and Edited with CorrectPhoto Editor

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In my previous post I suggested that better photos could lead to better sales. While I don’t have direct evidence to support that statement it seems logical that a potential buyer would be more interested in bidding on an item if the photos were really good verses barely acceptable.  So how do you achieve better photos? Let’s start with the photo shoot set up—your photo “studio”.  I realize that we are not pros so don’t think you need to spend a lot of money and take photography lessons to get great eBay shots.  There are two basic setups; one using natural light and the other using artificial light.

Photo Studio Setup-Natural Light (left), Artificial Light (right)

The basic items you need for either setup is a digital camera, tripod, and back drop. I would also suggest a GretagMacbeth Color Checker Mini Gray Balance Card for reasons I will describe in the next post in this series—Photo Editing.

Digital Camera
You probably already have a digital camera that will work just fine. It should be at least 4 MP and have an aperture preferred mode of shooting.  Depending the on the size of the object you are photographing you may run into a depth of field issue (the front part of the object is sharp and the back is fuzzy) Setting the aperture manually instead of shooting in Auto mode on close up shots will solve this problem. Remember the higher the number the more depth of field you will have.  I use a Canon G5, a 5 MP camera that I have had for a number of years, and get very good results shooting my ceramic birds. 

Back Drop (or Background)
I prefer a neutral background (neutral is black, white, or gray, not biege or tan) Assuming the object you are photographing is small enough to be placed on a table I recommend a neutral gray flat (not shiny) background. White and black are other common choices, however a neutral gray is the best for shooting a colorful object.  I bought a couple yards of a gray fleece at a local fabric store. Before you buy the fabric look at it under natural light to make sure it is really gray and doesn’t have a little blue or other color cast. Also, you can get a smoother background with fleece than with a harder fabric. Note how the fleece is pulled away from the bottom edge of the box to make a smooth background.  If you can’t move the object you will want to remove as much clutter from around it before you shoot. You don’t want other objects to compete with the  item you are trying to sell.

Natural Light Set Up
My natural light set up is outside on our patio. This works in Minnesota in the summer, but I will either use our four season porch or artificial light in the winter. The important thing to note when using natural light is not to set up in direct sunlight. A bright cloudy day is great or wait until the area you selected is in the shade. The ideal setting would be a North facing room with big windows to bring in the natural light. (Now you know why artists like north facing studios.) The main advantage of using natural light is that you avoid shadows and glare that are difficult to avoid using artificial light unless you use a light tent.

Artificial Light Set Up
For indoor shooting I set up on the pool table in our lower level (a fancy name for basement). I have two daylight desk lamps that I position to minimize shadows and glare. You can also use a light tent and position the lights on the outside of the tent to diffuse the light and eliminate the shadows. I ordered one today so I will see how much difference that makes. Here is a photo comparison between the two lighting set ups. I do prefer the natural light approach, but the artificial light set up is pretty good.

Compare Artificial Light (left) with Natural Light (right)

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Use your Digital Camera to create a photographic record of your garden
Every spring my wife and I plan the additions and modifications to the gardens around our house. After spending a cold Minnesota winter this is a welcome exercise.  The majority of our gardens contain perennials, however, we do like to add annual baskets and pots for color. And, every year we try to remember what we planted, where we put the pots, and how well they did.  More often the not the answer to the question is, “Well, I think……”  This year I had the brilliant thought (why didn’t I think about it years ago?) to create a digital photo record of what we planted and how well the plants did.

Pat and Wayne's Back Yard Patio Garden

 This year we decided to plant more of the hanging baskets and pots ourselves rather than purchasing them from the garden centers. So, I took photos of the baskets and pots after we planted them and then yesterday I took photos to record their progress.  We planted four hanging baskets with red and white wave petunias for our front porch and side porch. Each basket contained four plants, two white and two red.  Was that enough? Here is a photo of the the four baskets after planting and one of the hanging baskets taken yesterday.  We are pleased with the result.

Use Digital Photos to Document Petunia Basket Progress

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Where do you put your digital photos when you download them to your computer?
A couple of weeks ago I posted and article on Downloading Photos to Your Computer. In the article I suggested using Windows Explorer to download the photos from the camera or memory chip (via a card reader) and putting them into the My Pictures (XP) or Pictures (Vista) folder. If you have sufficient hard drive capacity that is a good place to put them. However, you should also create a backup copy of the photo files other than on the C drive on your computer. In fact, I have gotten into the habit of downloading the photos to my external hard drive and not to my C drive. There are two reasons for doing this. One, is that my main drive is getting full and the second is that I make sure I create a backup or archive copy of the photos external to my computer.  When I go to edit the photos I will either edit them directly on the external drive or copy the photos to the Pictures folder on the C-drive.

Should you archive or create a backup file of the photos?
The answer to this question should be obvious–absolutely! But, how many people actually do that? When I ask my friends if they archive or create a backup of their photos, they  generally look at me with a blank stare. These are, of course, the same people who don’t back up their computer or back up files on their working C-drive. Think I am kidding? We get calls and emails from customers all the time that either did not backup their software file or backed them up on the same hard drive that just crashed. Duh!! (continue reading…)

Vista Image Preview
The other day while searching my photo files for images I mistakenly clicked on Open instead of Preview to brows photos in a folder. Up pops the window asking me what application I want to use.

Click on Open to select an application to priview or edit a photo

Since all I wanted to do was browse the folder I didn’t need the extra step of selecting an application. I should have selected “Preview” which would have taken me directly to the Windows viewer allowing me to quickly cycle through the photos. An honest mistake since Open is the only selection in bold. But,that made me wonder how many people don’t even know about the preview feature in Vista or know the difference between Open and preview. The Open feature is used primarily to select and/or launch a photo editing application. You can set a default application such as CorrectPhoto or Elements to always launch when you click Open by checking the little box below the selection window. However, since I use both of these programs on a regular basis I choose not to automatically launch one of them.
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