Taking photos - Comprehensive guide needed

you guys should setup some sort of training to show us how to take realy good selling photos, what camera is best, what sort of lighting etc.

The secret in taking a good pic is the software you use to edit it afterwords. All you need is a basic digital camera, some idea about lighting, but that can all be manipulated in post production really, that's why it gets back to editing software.

Of course I'l talking about a super impressive pic, but so long as you have even light. The best light is a balanced light for just a general shot, so if shooting outside, an overcast day can give you the results.

Yes, overcast. Bright sun can be quite harsh, but a gentle overcast sky acts as a filter, and provides a softer more balanced light. Just keep an eye on for shadows, shooting inside or out, ensure you have the right setting for the display and just you average digital camera will produce a decent result without editing at all.

If you want to get creative, then composition is an area you can focus on, and that's all about framing the image to get the best artistic result, but doubtful most would need that for a display image. Keep the item in the centre of frame and that should take care of the composition for most lol

Smaller objects, you will need a good macro function to allow you to shoot in detail. Camera's without Macro may struggle to stay in focus, just depends on the size of the object.

There you go, taking good pics 101, all in one easy lesson : )

You might also want to check out the following guides -

Link hidden: Login to view
Link hidden: Login to view

I've passed along your suggestion/request to Alice:)

Cheers!

I wuv alice, she so beautiful

I would suggest that you buy a SLR camera with a 50mm +f1.8. It's should be sufficient enough for a start. What kind of shots are you doing? Protraits or products? How big are they?

Regards
Murphy

Just products, people talk about light boxes?

You definitely need soft boxes because you cannot shoot your flash directly at your subject (the product). The photo will look flat and out of depth. You will need 150-300 watts strobes. For maxiumum flexibility, you will need about 3 strobes.

If your products is not too big, the softboxes can be about 60cm-80cm long and wide. Have you tried photography with SLR? You will need quite a bit of manual configuration to get the lighting effect.

You can also consider a product box as well if you want a plain background for your shots.

Regards
Murphy

where can I get them? also

OK, found a tutorial on the net that tells you how to build a basic one for a few dollars.

what software do you recomend Marc?

Your software requirements will be driven by your photographic equipment really. Don't confuse the advice that myself and Murphy are giving you as being the same.

Murphy is giving you good advice on how to take a great pic up front, in regards to equipment needed. My advice is aimed at giving you options to make an ordinary pic look great when you are using just everyday photographic equipment.

Essentially, Murphy is speaking to pre-production methods and I am speaking to post production methods. You can obtain the same result with both.

Now if you are wanting to publish in a world class mag, then you need both equipment to give you the best pic to start with and then the best software to finish with, but you're not doing that.

You're talking about taking pics of second hand items for eBay, so you can choose one of the other, but you don't need both.

Good camera equipment, good technique and you will get good pics that will require little or no post production work. Average pics taken with average everyday photographic equipment will require more reliability on post production to create the quality.

You have to work out which best suits you, getting the best pic or making it the best pic after you've already taken the shot, but you don't need both for eBay.

In regards to seriously good software, hard to go past Adobe's Photoshop, but Corel have a decent enough editor called Photo Paint. Neither are cheap, and will require some level of knowledge in getting the best results from them.

That's no different than choosing to take the quality pic to start with option, still a level of knowledge there to obtain before you will turn out perfect pics every time.

It's comes down to what makes you more comfortable I think. Personally, I'm very much into editing because I enjoy the manipulation side of it, where as you might be more into the up front artistic side in getting the right shot up front.

That's a choice you would have to make.

The software programs I have suggested are good and as such are costly, but there are plenty of options out there, some free.

OK, what size box would you guys recommend?

Link hidden: Login to view

Cleocat, you state using a SLR, I have a $70 camera, will that suffice for now until my finances come up a bit?

OK, made my lightbox, now to dig out the camera, and lights for each side, I think I am getting kicked out of the house into the garage.

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I don't know what your $70 camera can do. For indoor product shoots that make use of sunlight, your camera should be capable of opening its aperture to f2.8. Ideally you should also have a off-camera flash.

Regards
Murphy

geez this is exciting, me building the light box and I will start to use it monday, anyway, why can't I setup like a web cam infront of the box to get the image on the screen and then snap it via the puter??

Of course you can! But the photo would look amateurish; It's definitely not what you want for selling, right?

Regards
Murphy