Pictures Sell! How to Get Great Photos Economically

If you've ever looked at an okay listing and wished they had a better picture, you know how important that photo can be. And getting a good picture doesn't have to take a lot of time, or money. While my focus is on small items such as jewelry and beads, many of these suggestions can be applied to almost any item.
Equipment

Your primary piece of equipment is a digital camera - and you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars. The camera I use waspurchased on okay for about $50, including shipping! You want to look for a minimum of 4 megapixels capacity, with several zoom levels.
Your secondary important item isn't exactly equipment; it's the photo editing software you use on your geputer. It doesn't have to be a professional-level program, but it SHOULD be able to adjust brightness and contrast, and provide some editing features such as crop, rotate and resize. I found the program I use on the web, and it was a free download.
Everything else that I use may or may not be applicable to your particular needs, but none of it cost more than a dollar or two. I'll cover these as we get to them.
Setup

Again, as I mentioned, this set-up is for my particular needs in photographing small items such as jewelry and beads. For the background, I use two items - a piece of ivory-colored fabric, and a piece of black velveteen fabric - both found at WalMart in the fabric remnants box.
My second 'tool' is a light diffuser - I made mine out of a white vinegar bottle; a milk jug would also work. Light diffuserscan also be found on okay - a small 24" x 24" portable was about $22 plus shipping. Keeping it simple - my 'studio' is the front deck, and my 'equipment' is shown below!

Background
Your background is asimportant to your pictureas the item you are photographing, for a number of reasons. First, the background can distract if it's too busy; and secondly, it can affect the lighting, contrast and detail of your photo, particularly with a digital camera! I use the ivory or cream fabric because white pulls blue into the picture and distorts the color. I use outdoor lighting because flash photos under indoor lighting tend to be 'yellow' - really nasty when you're trying to photograph silver! The pictures below show the difference in the photo with a daisy brooch photographed first on black, in shade,without the diffuser, then on the ivory in shade, then in full sun under the diffuser.

The first photo is overexposed, and editing software cannot reverse the problem; detail is lost to the 'white-out' effect. The second photo isn't bad, but is in the blue color range, and actually doesn't show as much detail on the petals as the third photo. The third picture looks dark, but is very easy to brighten up - the corrected final photo is shown below.

Black can be a good background for contrast, but should be used with care. A highly polished piece will pick up the color, and end up looking deformed. The photos below are of a domed button earring in polished silver.

In the first photo, even though it was taken in the shade, the button is reflecting the roof overhang, the sky, trees, and the photographer. The second photo was taken in the shade AND under the diffuser - the dark spot in the center is me (the photographer) through the hole in the top of my vinegar jug/diffuser. The third photo shows the earring lightened up slightly, and the reflection 'smudged' out of the middle. Begeing familiar with your material will help you select the correct background - the photo below gebines black and ivory to produce the sharpest detail and contrast.

One last note on your background - give some thought to creating a "trademark" backdrop for your photos. It can be as simple as a logo or watermark (okay picture services provides you with the ability to 'watermark' your photos) or it may be a more geplex theme. My thanks tomaryinflorida for permission to use the photos from her okay store,Gems and Knots- she uses both styles. Thanks also to Rock'n'Rocksfor permission to use their photo illustrating the use of their logo. The first photo illustrates the simple watermark; the second shows the Rock'n'Rocks logo; andthethird illustrates the use of a theme, with the watermark added.

Lighting
Last but not least, lighting is a major factor in how your photo is going to turn out. For a close-up with a lot of detail, direct sun is normally too bright, but for a larger object at a greater distance, sun may be perfect - even then, certain times of day are better than others. Direct overhead sun can throw strong, dark shadows, so early to mid-morning or mid- to late afternoon are good times to photograph, with the sun behind you so shadows fall behind the object you are photographing. For detailed closeups, shade or an overcast,or the diffuser, are often your best allies. The illustration below is an example of a single item under different lighting conditions, with different backgrounds.

This is an earring with Aurora Borealis rhinestones. The first photo is in shade on cream; the second in shade, on black, which triggered the flash; the 3rd photo is also on black in shade, without a flash (still overexposed); the 4th is in shade with the diffuser, and the last is in sun with the diffuser. In this case both photos with the diffuser picked up color and detail, but the one in the sun shows more of the color from the AB rhinestones, while the photo in shade with the diffuser picked up more detail.
Thank you for taking the time to read this guide.I hope itis usefulin creating photos that will help you "sell your item".