The Essential Guide for Better Product Photography

A crash course on product photography and the use of simple studio equipment. As eBay Traders, we all know how good looking photographs can make or break a listing. We also know how dark, blurry and out of focus photos can make our listings look unprofessional and tacky. Hopefully this guide will help you make your listings look better.Here's a quick checklist of equipment that I use and would recommend if you're serious about getting the best out of your images- A Camera (it doesn't have to be a top end Digital SLR with a Macro Lens but you will need settings like "exposure compensation", "white balance" and if possible a good "macro" mode and "manual exposure"- A Tripod and Cable Release (camera shake is the cause of blurred photos - a tripod will allow you to take sharp photos each and every time. The cable release prevents any shake from pressing the shutter button. The self-timer function will also work)- A Light Tent/Softbox (these diffuse light and provide a clean background to photograph against, most people haven't seen them before but they are a staple of product photographs. They areavailable on eBay )- Lights (we recommend using Daylight Corrected lighting to avoid orange/green/blue colour casts - they areavailable on eBay )