correctmyphotos

I am writing this post in Elmore, SD watching Spearfish Creek rush over a small dam in front of my friend’s cabin.  Elmore is an early 1900’s ghost town in Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was the spot from which the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy logging railroad began its narrow-gauge climb up the east side of Spearfish Canyon along Annie Creek.

Elmore, SD is a ghost town that is now a community of summer homes in Spearfish Canyon

 Today, Elmore is a group of summer and year round homes and is where our friends have a “cabin”.

Bill and Mary Kay's Cabin was built on the foundation of the old family cabin

The Old Cabin that was but is no more.

My wife and I have been coming to Spearfish Canyon with Bill and Mary Kay for many years and we often hiked by an old log cabin built in the early 1900’s. After thinking I should take a picture of it I finally did this past February. It was a good thing I did because it is now gone.

Elmore Log Cabin built in the early 1900s was one of the original homes in Elmore, SD

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Resize your images before uploading to eBay

These past few days I have been learning how to sell on eBay. I finally decided to sell my Stangl Bird collection and to try eBay as the sales outlet.  If you have been following my blog you know I have written several posts on how to take photos for eBay and editing them for the best presentation using CorrectPhoto Editor.  The next step was to find the best way to present the photos of the item for sale.  I wasn’t impressed with eBay’s standard photo presentation and Craig told me about Auctiva. Auctiva is an eBay listing service that simplifies the process of eBay listings with a great photo storage and presentation feature. It also provides templates that make professional listings easy. Here is an example of one of my Stangl Bird listings. I chose a “neutral” (remember in photography neutral is black, white, or gray, not beige) background without a lot of clutter so the background doesn’t distract from the item photos.  On the eBay listing page the viewer can click on the smaller image and a full size (1024×768) image pops up.

Auctiva Listing Service Makes eBay Listing and Photo Uploading Easy

Since the maximum image size (1024×768) is generally smaller than the original or edited digital camera file you have two choices: upload the large file and let the photo service resize the image or resize the image before you upload the file. My recommendation is to resize the image before you upload the file. If you have Photoshop or Elements you can resize the photos by selecting Image/Resize/Image Size form the menu bar and entering the number of pixels (i.e 1024) for the width or the height and save the new size.

Using Photoshop Elements to Resize Images Before Uploading

I use CorrectPhoto to resize my photos because it is much easier and faster and, more importantly; the resize algorithm is very good. And, I usually do one click on the Sharpening icon to make the resized photo a little crisper. (continue reading…)

Is the Color the Best it can be?
The other day while picking up some printing a neighbor, Rich, was picking up a nice glossy photo poster of a house he is selling. Rich is a realtor and a very good one. He showed be the poster and while I was impressed with the layout and the composition of the photos I was struck with how “dull” they looked. Of course, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut and said, ‘Nice layout, but the colors are wrong.” Rich actually agreed with me (or humored me) but said he really didn’t have time (or knowledge) to do anything about it. He is like the majority of real estate professionals that use their own “point and shoot” digital camera to photos to post on the web and for promotional material. They don’t or can’t afford to use a professional photographer and, as a result, most of the  real estate photos you see on the web are not very good.  That is really too bad since the first impression most people searching for a house is made from the photos posted on the web.

You don’t have to be a pro to take good real estate photos.

Better Color Makes the House More Interesting

 Here is an typical example of a home listing in the Minneapolis area. Using CorrectPhoto with OneClick color I made the color better in less than two seconds. The composition of the photo is pretty good so I did not crop the photo. Interior shots are generally the worst both from a composition and color standpoint.  The house lights and camera flash make for a bad combination for good color.  By getting rid of the color cast and boosting the brightness and saturation a little make the kitchen much more appealing. (continue reading…)

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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