A successful online sale usually includes a good photograph too. Once you have all your sale items ready its time to set some time to do your photographs – making your items look good is simpler than you think!
The basic equipment you need is:
1. Camera and Lens (or a good quality compact with a macro function)
2. Background
3. Window Light
Auction sites are a great way to get a little financial boost just before Christmas and are also a good way to get rid of unwanted gifts. We know now that having a good personal photo means you can sell your goods for the best price, but what rules do you need to stick to?
1. Keep it in focus
If you have lots of items to sell you may rush though the photography quickly but it’s important you stick to your basic photography principles! An out of focus, blurry shot helps no one, especially where detail is important.
Remember you want your product to look good – even if it isn’t an inspiring item, it fills the buyer with more confidence if they can see what it is they are actually buying. Use flash if you need to (but watch the reflective areas)
Auctions sites or classifieds are both extremely popular ways of getting rid of the things you have in the house taking up space, as well as unwanted gifts and old antiques. It’s a great way to raise a little (or a lot!) of money and you have the whole world potentially looking for just what you want to sell. The most popular auction site on the web is eBay, although there are also other options for selling goods, like Yahoo Auctions or Craigslist.
Whichever site you decide to use is entirely up to you – read around, know what the policies are, what the rules are and what back up the site has if things go wrong.
Amateur photographers quite often raise the same kinds of issues as they are trying to find their feet with photography. Here are more common questions answered.
How can I prevent overexposing pictures?
Learn to read the environment or situation you are in - light items or areas (such as snowy scenes) tend to overexpose because the camera thinks that something that something that is white has a lot of light on it.
When you are starting out in photography, it’s natural to want certain questions answered. Here are more common photography questions that people often ask.
How do I stop red eye?
Red eye is caused when flash bounces off the subject’s retina. This can happen when you take pictures of people or animals – it’s quite common in children and also people with lighter eyes.
Quite often, photographers want to have the same questions answered. Here are more common questions that new snappers like to ask.
I see cameras being sold for cheap online, but can I trust them?
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Every budding photographer has questions they would like answered. Here are some of the most common queries that people have and some possible suggestions.
I am new to photography so should I use Auto or Manual settings?
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When it comes to landscapes, the sky is one of the most important features. If the weather is lacking in sparkle, then so will your shots. However – that doesn’t mean you should stop altogether. Here are some ideas on how to get great images even when the weather isn’t up to scratch.
Got your website up and running? Managed to get visitors coming to see your work day to day and want to make some money out of it? Affiliate marketing could be for you.
Affiliate marketing is when a website helps to promote an online store by promoting their shop on their own website and getting commission from any referrals that come from their store. As a photographer, you will want to get affiliate links to websites that (for example) sell Photography equipment, books or perhaps online courses and home study courses. Affiliate links should always be relevant to your site.
Many photographers have websites and if your only attracting a few visitors, you may want to think about ways of using PPC so that you attract more visitations. PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click - it’s a paid way that you can advertise your site and services on the Internet. You pay each time someone clicks on a link to your site - its a way to get more traffic and therefore more exposure and you can monitor how successful your campaigns are.
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