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Last Post Jul 18, 2005 2:07 PM by: deirdre@ebay.com
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deirdre@ebay.com
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:52 PM
Welcome and thanks for joining us today!

We love workshops to be interactive, so please feel free to ask your questions that directly relate to this topic.


Cheers,

Deirdre
eBay Community Development

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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:54 PM
Hi everyone and thanks for coming to the workshop.

I've been a regular on eBay since 1999, mostly specializing in selling photo equipment. From the first, I realized that not only was it important to know my products, but also to present them in clear, professional-looking auctions. That meant really good photos.

Fortunately, I had been an avid photographer for years. My only formal training was in the Army, where I was an aerial surveillance camera operator. Afterwards, I turned pro for a while, doing magazine illustrations and product photography for some ad agencies and companies in the Philadelphia area.

I got out of that business years ago, but when I finally discovered eBay, I also discovered a new outlet for my interests in both photo equipment and photography. Not only do I regularly take photos for my eBay listings, but I also participate in eBay discussion and chat boards about photography, sharing what I know and learning from other ebay photographers.

If you haven't found them already, I would recommend you visit the eBay Photos & HTML and Photography discussion boards. I thought I knew photography when I got here six years ago, but these people have helped me learn much more. I'll be using some material regular board members have contributed in this workshop.

I'll take questions shortly, but first I want to post some info I've prepared about practical photography for eBay...
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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:54 PM
Product photography is one of the most demanding things you can do in photography. While anyone can take a snapshot of a person or an item with an automatic camera, it requires special care to make a static object look its best.

This doesn't mean the average person can't do a good job. It just means you need to understand the available tools and a few simple techniques. The basic tools are your camera (and its support), your lighting, your background and your subject. How well you use these and combine them is what makes a good product photo.

First, the camera...
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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:54 PM
For ebay use, you don't need a high-resolution digital camera. Almost any digital camera can make a 640x480 pixel image at its lowest resolution setting, which is large enough to fill a standard VGA computer monitor, or about 2/3 of a 17" monitor.

If you use eBay Picture Services, the standard picture size is just 400 pixels wide and even Supersize pics are only 800 pixels wide. That's less than 1 megapixel, - so you can see why a low resolution camera setting is all that is needed for eBay.

If you also want to make prints, you'll want more resolution. As a rule of thumb, you need 3 megapixels for good 8x10 prints. That is also the entry level camera these days.

Regardless of the maximum file size of your camera, you can shoot with almost any camera at the 1 megapixel setting, which will give you plenty of room to crop your photos. Anything more will just take up more room on your memory card and pretty much be a waste of pixels.
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caresmile
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:54 PM
Hi My pictures always come out too dark or too light
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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:55 PM
For an "ebay camera," you want...

1) Good macro (close focus) capability. Limit your search to cameras that focus to within 4 inches or less. This is close enough to capture important details or get frame-fillling shots of small items.

2) Ease of use. This means the camera controls are logical and it's easy to access manual override functions. For some, this also means an easy method of transferring the photos from your camera to your computer, such as the docks sold with some cameras (I'm not a big fan of these, but to each his or her own).

3) Comfortable handling. Get a chance to handle a camera before buying it. All the best reviews in the world won't help if the camera feels awkward in YOUR hands.

Among the current entry-level models I like as "ebay cameras" are the Fuji A330, the Nikon 3200 and the Canon A510. All of them focus close and they can produce outstanding results. The Fuji is the cheapest. The Nikon focuses closest. The Canon offers more manual control options and is probably the one I'd choose if I had to buy right now on a budget.

However, you can't go wrong if you stick to the major camera manufacturers (Fuji, Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Olympus, Pentax, Sony) and pick a camera which focuses close enough.
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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:55 PM
I can't stress enough how important it is to know your camera and its controls. That means you'll have to read the instruction manual. Here, thanks to Photos & HTML board regular shipscript, are some basic controls you should know how to set on your camera...

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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:55 PM
I've already discussed why you want to set the camera resolution low for ebay pics and the importance of close focusing (that macro setting). But what about those other settings?

The reason you want to disable the built-in flash on your camera is because it is just about the worst sort of light for product pics. Direct flash makes your objects look 2-dimensional and it also glares back at you from any shiny surface.

The white balance actually controls color temperature balance. Every type of light has a color temperature and almost every digital camera also has an automatic white balance feature, to try to adjust for this. That's fine for snapshots, but product photos are more demanding, so you'll need to learn how to preset the white balance to match the type of light you're using (daylight, shade, tungsten, fluorescent).
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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:55 PM
The EV or exposure compensation control can be very important for an accurate exposure, especially if you are shooting a predominantly light or dark subject.

Photography board regular dainisjg explained the problem very well with this demonstration (no political agenda intended by the subject)...
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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:55 PM
"A camera meter tries to set an exposure setting based on an evenly balanced scene of lights and darks. If there is too much dark in a scene, it will overcompensate and the image will be too light; if there is too much white in a scene it will overcompensate again and the image will appear too dark.


The following image was shot on a half black and half white background using the same amount of light and auto exposure:"




"The meter sees equal amounts of light and dark, is happy and you get a good exposure and photo."




"The meter sees too much black, thinks, 'Whoa, way too dark. I had better lighten up a bit' and you get a too-light photo, overexposed."




"The meter sees too much white, thinks, 'Whoa, way too light. I had better darken down a bit' and you get a too-dark photo, underexposed."

"There is no such thing as your photos are too dark because you don't have enough light. You could have tripled the amount of light on that last photo and the meter would still think 'Whoa, way too light. I had better darken down a bit' and you would still get a too-dark photo. I have taken photos in extremely dimly lit situations where I had to leave the shutter open for several minutes but still got a good photo."

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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:55 PM
Thanks, dainisjg.

The photos above used the camera's auto exposure, but the results varied
dramatically because of the ratio of dark and light in the scene. The remedy for those overexposed and underexposed images is the EV or exposure compensation control. If the photos look too dark, set this control for a positive (e.g., +1.0) value. If they are too light, set the control for a negative (e.g., -1.0) value.

A simple tool which can help you get more accurate exposures is an gray card. Such a card is printed to a precise and neutral value of 18% gray (white = 0% and complete black = 100%). Here's one in use on my ebay table...



With a basic digital camera, you can take a closeup photo of such a card with the camera on its auto exposure setting. That will give you a perfectly exposed shot for your particular lighting setup.

Even most basic digital cameras will then let you find out what combination of shutter speed and lens aperture was used for that image. That info isusually displayed when you review your picture.

You can then set the camera in its manual or semiautomatic mode for that same combination of shutter speed and aperture. After that, every shot you take with the same lighting will be exposed exactly right.

Which leads us to that other very important tool for eBay photography, your lighting...
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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:56 PM
Lighting is nearly as important a tool as your camera.

It may be strange to think of lighting as a tool, because it always seems to be there. After all, you can take a snapshot almost anywhere, with either available light or the light from a built-in flash which turns on automatically. In fact, you are always choosing your lighting, even if only by default and it is shaping how your subject appears.

The key to effective product photography is lighting and the key to effective lighting is control. Once you understand how, you can control the strength, size, position, color and number of lights you use. And, each of these controls changes how the subject looks.

However, let's take it one light at a time...
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camerajim
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:56 PM
If I had to choose just one light to use for product photography, it would be the light coming from a bright, non-sunny window. That's because this light is both large (which is what makes it diffuse and soft) and it is directional, which can help show off the shape and texture of my subject.

Here is probably one of the most basic ebay photo setups, right next to a bright window. In this setup, a sheet of white posterboard is clamped to a small table, curved up and clamped again to the back of a chair.



Notice that my camera is on a tripod. A solid support for your camera is another important tool, because it will avoid subject blur due to camera motion. Most "out of focus" shots aren't really that at all. They look blurry because the camera moved a tiny bit during the exposure.

Notice also that while the window throws a nice soft light on the little bronze rabbit I'm shooting, the left side of the rabbit is pretty dark...
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bobbieraye48
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Member Workshop: Practical eBay Photography - Monday, July 18th

Jul 18, 2005 12:56 PM
How do I enter the workshop?
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