correctmyphotos

Why don’t eBay sellers title photos?

As you know if you have been following my postings on Better eBay Sales with Better Photos I am new to selling items on eBay.  After posting a few of birds from my Stangl Bird Collection on eBay it occurred to me that it might be helpful to add the name and catalog number to the photos. This might be particularly helpful for items that are identified both by name and number as is the case with Stangl Birds. I suspect I am not the first one to think about adding a title to an eBay photo, but when I checked the listing of Stangl birds on eBay there were no photos with titles. Maybe it is because most people don’t know how to add a title to a photo or they think it is too difficult or time consuming.

Add a title to eBay listing photo

How to Title Photos

It really is easy and fast to add titles to photos if you have the right tool. If you know how to use Photoshop Elements it is relatively easy to add text to a photo using the text tool. And, you will have a lot of flexibility in font selection, size, spacing, and special effects. But, it can be a bit time consuming and if you don’t have a good working knowledge of Elements it will be frustrating.  Here is a link to a tutorial on adding titles to photos using Elements. http://www.alibony.com/pse/20090519text.htm 

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So far in this series of posts on Better eBay Sales with Better Photos I described the various photo shoot setups for photographing items for sale. I have been using my Stangl Bird collection as examples because they are representative of the items many people are selling on eBay and because I plan to start liquidating my bird collection. In fact, yesterday afternoon I photographed 20 birds using the light tent. I took about 5 or 6 shots of each of different views (side, back, front, base, etc.) so the potential buyer can see the characteristics, quality and flaws, if any, of the item.  As I look at other birds for sale on eBay I find that most of them are poorly presented and one would have difficultly deciding if they are worth buying.  If you have followed this series of posts you might recall the example I used in the first post comparing a bird photo I “borrowed” from an eBay listing with a photo I took of a similar bird in my collection. Here it is again, however, with a new photo I took using the light tent configuration with artificial lighting. 

Which Stangl Hummingbird would you buy?

UseMultiple Views for Greater Sales Impact
One of the benefits of digital photography is that you can easily take many shots of an item making it easier for the prospective buyer to make a buy decision. Taking mutiple photos of an object is real easy once you have the photo setup. Here is a composite of photos of the bird from different angles. (Note: the composite photo is for illustration only. You will want to show individual photos in your listing.)

Use Multiple Photos to Show Off Your eBay Listing

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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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I have a Stangl Bird collection that I am thinking about selling. So I did a litte research on eBay to see what was being offered. Since I have never sold nor purchased anything on eBay I really haven’t spent any time looking at how items where being presented. I was somewhat surprised (maybe I shouldn’t be) at the quality of the photos people posted to sell their stuff. For the most part the quality ranges for poor to terrible. In particular, the colors of the items (in this case ceramic birds) were dull and washed out. Okay, so I am more sensitive than most when look at photo colors, but how can anyone purchase a Stangl bird where color is very important by looking at a dull lifeless image? Here is an example of what I mean.

eBay Photo Example. eBay photo on left. Color Corrected with CorrectPhoto on right

 The photo on the left is a photo of a listing on eBay. I color corrected the photo with CorrectPhoto’s OneClick (I clicked on the gray concrete background and adjusted the brightness and saturation.) The colors are certainly better and the dullness has been reduced making it a better photo.  Even with better color the photo still is not very good.  The cracks in the background is distracting and one could argue that the perspective of the shot could be better.

How do you take better eBay photos?
That is a question I spent a little time on this weekend and I think I have come up with a simple approach that should work for almost everyone that wants to sell an item or product online. And, it won’t break the bank. I will layout the approach in upcoming posts, but here is an example photo of the same Stangl bird that is in my collection.

Wayne's Bird Photo

Okay, so this post is a teaser. The next post will tell you how you can take better photos for selling online.

Wayne  www.correctphoto.com