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Old 3rd January 2013, 10:16 PM
AlanJones AlanJones is offline
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Default How does one get a half decent photo to go on ebay?

I am sure that there are some of you out there who sell items no longer needed on this or other sites. In my case, it is an opportunity to find space for more film stuff that I want. I do find it strange that even with photographic items the standards of photographs are so poor and I am looking excellent results here.

Sadly, I don't think my 35mm gear is going to be of much use here, but I do have an Olympus E420 and the two kit zoom lenses included when new. (I was not pleased with the digital results so film remains my area of intense interest as I enjoy the darkroom work) Even with OM prime lenses using an adapter to the E420, Olympus T10 ring flash or a mains powered LED ring illuminator the results are still poor.

Sorry for what may be a digital question, but any help here?
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Old 3rd January 2013, 11:17 PM
DaveP DaveP is offline
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Ideally you want two diffuse light sources, one on your right, above and at 45deg to the object, and another in a similar position on the left.

Ideally you'd use two flashes with umbrellas, but failing that use one light source (flash if you've got it or stick camera on a tripod and use a desk lamp) with some kind of diffusion (like hang a white binliner in front of it or a sheet of paper, and then on the other side use a white or silver object to try and throw some of that light back to the object. You can generally get decent results like this, just remember to white balance properly, and if you're using a white background then you might need to increase the exposure a stop or so on top of what the camera thinks is the correct exposure.

Or failing that, shoot outside on a totally overcast day - shouldn't be to long of a wait!
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Old 3rd January 2013, 11:42 PM
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Xpres Xpres is offline
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I suppose it's not really a question for here... but since you ask... I just use a bounce flash off the ceiling, placing the items on some white lino. Seems to work OK. As long as the people can see clearly what you're trying to sell the shots don't need to be perfect. I'd use your longer zoom at the short end and an old flash on the hot shoe (the 420 will take up to 250v) with manual settings.
I wonder if the novelty of making a listing illustrated by clearly film originated black and white photos would add to the value of the sale? I might try it!
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Old 4th January 2013, 12:44 AM
alexmuir alexmuir is offline
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I use a Fuji compact with its own flash, but I put it on a tripod. Sharp focus and good depth of field are most important so that the viewer can clearly see details. I also try to make the object as large as possible in the image. Alex
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Old 4th January 2013, 05:30 AM
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Argentum Argentum is offline
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It is pretty easy to create very good quality images for ebay with a 35mm setup.

the following was done with 35-70 zoom lens with macro capability.
No flash. Tripod used. Black card background infront of window with bright direct sun coming in window. Curtains used to reduce light level except for a small gap. Little vanity mirror on left used to direct sunlight onto back of vase giving good illumination from rear. Only dim room front lighting. Used spot meter assuming 8 stop colour film range(never used this film before). Developed at local minilab and scanned by me.

First is full frame which doesn't look anything special but shows setup.
Second is crop from first and has some brightness and contrast adjustment with a little colour desaturation. Nothing special at all.

Also you may want to use a white background which should be highly illuminated and then use some side lighting on your subject to put some shadows into it (contrast)

It just requires a little planning to get it plenty good enough without any specialist equipment save for a spot meter. N.B. glass isn't easy to get 3 dimensionality but with some thought on lighting it's not that difficult.

Also read the google docs on image sizes so that they don't do any resizing of larger versions.




Last edited by Argentum; 4th January 2013 at 05:36 AM.
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Old 4th January 2013, 02:25 PM
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one point to consider is that you don't need to fill the frame. When you scan the neg assuming its scanned at around 3000 spi, you will get an image of around 4500x3000 pixels. well that is way bigger than you need. Something more like 900x600 is plenty big enough so you can crop out all the extraneous stuff and downsize the image to a final size of around 900x600 before upload to ebay.
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Old 6th January 2013, 02:11 PM
AlanJones AlanJones is offline
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Default Ebay photos:

Thank you all for your help. I have to admit that I have not done this sort of task before and did not know quite how to get started.

Most of the items I plan to sell are small items. A couple of Minolta cameras, developing tank accessories, lenses, filters and the like.

I guess that I will go for the out door shots to start off with and will give B&W film a try first now. I do have a 35-70 Zuiko zoom, as well as extension tubes for my OM gear.
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Old 6th January 2013, 02:40 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Alan,

I know that this is a film forum but I must say, when I put bits onto ebay, I do actually use (in whispered tone) a digital compact....

It is so much easier and quicker = honest!

I leave the film taking and processing for when I have more time and want to have some fun! :-)

Terry S
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