An important part of listing items for sale is the pictures. But what makes a good picture? What's the best way to take one? How many should I have of my item? It can be a little confusing for the beginner, so let's get the basics right out there.
First, you don't need a fancy set up. Just an area free of clutter and a digital camera. I would recommend at least 5 mega Pixels. No need to go wild and spend $800 on a new DSLR. It's not the camera that makes great pictures, but rather the photographer and the set used. I would go out and get either a flat white sheet, or white poster board to use as a back drop. You are also going to want a white base to match. The best lighting is of course natural light, but if that isn't an option, then spend $50 and go to Home Depot and pick up a couple clamp lights and a couple daylight CFL bulbs. That's about it for the set up.
What you are going for is a nice, crisp image with very little shadows. Set your lights at a 45 degree angle to your object. Next, you are either going to use portrait mode or macro depending on the size of the item. Don't be afraid to test different settings as not all cameras are equal and you will get different results from different cameras. Be sure to play with the white balance. You want to make sure you get a pure white and not the yellowish or blueish tint. Also make sure when you are taking pictures to fill the frame as much as you can with your image. Get as close as possible. This will save you time by not having to crop every image. You will have to crop some, but not all.
So now that you have your camera settings, you are going to want to get the best angles of your object. Take a lot of pictures, making sure you capture every side of your object. If there is a flaw, make sure to get a close up of that flaw. I will normally take a front, back, each side and top/bottom when available. Clothing can be a challenge due to the nature of the item. I will normally take a shot of the item folded, then front, back, close up of the pattern/texture and the tags. It is very important to get a picture of the size/material tags. If someone files a claim saying you listed the size incorrectly, you will win that battle with an image of the size tag in your listing. Now that you have your images, it's time to edit.
I use Picasa from google as it is pretty easy to use and you can batch export for the right sizing that ebay likes. Open Picasa and click the import button. It will connect to whatever medium you have your images on. Click the import all button. It will take a few minutes to get them all imported. Once imported, picasa will switch back to gallery view and your images will be there. Double click the first image, and you will be taken to the editing section. One button that can be very useful is the I Feel Lucky button. It will normally do a great job of correcting the image, but not always. Use your best judgement on this. Make your edits and click Return to Gallery.
Now you are going to resize all of your images. Click the first image, and then while holding down the shift key, click the last image. This will select all images in that folder. Click the Save button to save your edits. Once it finishes saving your images, click File - > Export to folder. Select the folder you want to save your images to. There is also a box for the size of your images. I would recommend 1600 pixels. Enter than and click Export. Picasa will open your saved folder once export is finished.
Voila! You now have your images for listing.
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