A Well Taken Picture Is Worth A Thousand Bids !!!!

Excellent pictures will help sell your item!
This guide will give several tipson how to achieve more professional looking photographs.
Your scanner can be a camera for some items!
For coins, especially proof strike, use your scannerin a higher resolution mode and scan the coin like you would a document. You can even scan coinsin the plastic holders they were issued in from the mint.
A high resolution scan will allow interested buyers an excellent look at the coin's strike and shimmer.
Create a portable"Mini-Photographic Studio"

Most home improvement stores carry single bulb, spun aluminum, "trouble light" shades with built in clamps (Shown Above). Purchase several and use them with the new twisted flourescent bulbs. The shades can be clamped to the back of a folding chair as a mount. Use several for plenty of clean white light.

Use a cardboard box draped with a white bed sheet or drop cloth as a table. Use a black cloth for jewelry items. You can drape the excess cloth up over the back of another folding chair for a nice clean background (Shown Above).
"Mini-Photographic Studio"in Action! (Shown Below)

Digital Camera Choice Basics.
In general, try to choose a digital camera with the highest possible megapixel count and largest lens size your budget will allow. Also, choose a camera that has a good "Macro" or close-up mode. Many of your item pictures will show greater detailin a smaller photo size when shotin a close-up or "Macro" mode.
Steady Now!
An inexpensive tripod will allow shake/blurfreeclose-up shots. You can use the tripod and the cameras timer to achieve excellent results.
Using most camera's built-in flash alone results in uneven lightingor shadows around the item. Try temporarily taping several strips of white tissue over your cameras built in flash to help diffuse the flash over the subject. Using the array of bright trouble lights from various angles helps "Wash Out" any remaining shadows.
Close up, detailed shots with a clean uniform backdrop will catch the eye of many prospective bidders!
Crop, crop!
Be sure and use your favorite photo editor to "crop" or trim any unnecessary edges from the picture. Make the edges as close as possible to the item without cutting any part of it out. If you are going to use the basic picture option when you sell, resize each photo until it's about 4.5" x 4.5" on your screen when shown at 100% zoom. If you are going to sell using thegallery or enlargepicture option be sure to save a larger copy of the item photo.
The picture shown below is the result of the setup described above.

Sort, Sort!
I find it helpful to create a set of directories on my hard drive with folder names that describe the item photos that are in it. Many camera "mounting "and "uploading" software applications will use default names for the directorieswhere itstores the uploaded photos.These default namesare usually the current date and or time. After creatingspecially named directories for each item, incorporating the item name in the folder name,you can save each set of photos there as you open andre-size them.
Some higher end digital cameras allow custom naming of each photo as you take it. Some also allow voice audio tagging of photos.
You Big Show Off!
If your budget allows, always use the gallery plus option when you submit an item for auction. This willa large picture ofthe item when it is presented inthe buying search window. Think about it, when you search to buy, which items do your eyes go to first? Which do you ignore? Usually those with clear, crisp, large and easy to see images of the product are the big attraction!!
SAY CHEESE!!!!