Need help taking better photos for Craig'sList

[grandmagail]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the forum and I'm hoping someone can help me to take better photos of items I am selling on Craig's List. I often need to make a lot of adjustments (level, brightness, contrast, white balance, color correction) and by the time I am done, the photo still doesn't look good. I usually get a color cast and have trouble adjusting it to look natural. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements or Corel Paintshop Pro X to edit the photos. I am using a Canon Powershot A2000IS.

I don't have these problems taking photos of people or nature. They come out looking great.

Can someone suggest what settings to use when taking the photo so I won't need to edit so much in the first place? For instance, what should white balance, ISO, flash, etc. be set at for this type of photo? Should I have macro on for closeup of 1 item? Primarily, I am taking photos of small, handmade items for babies and kids such as items of clothing, little purses, etc.

As you can probably tell, I am a novice at this and would appreciate any help you can give me in laymen's terms.

Thanks alot,

Gail

[Wallpap3r]

One thing that would help is to give some examples of what you have tried (post pictures). Try using natural window light if youre getting color cast too

[grandmagail]

OK, will do. Thanks.

[Joe Ravenstein]

IMO for craigslist images just about any P&S camera has adequate resolution to make acceptable images.

[Big Hands]

Make one of these. . . .

http://photos.imageevent.com/johansen01/pixelpeepersdelight/odballii/light%20tent_001a.jpg

So you can take pics like this. . . . .

http://photos.imageevent.com/johansen01/pixelpeepersdelight/forsale/IMG_0984.jpg

or this. . . .

http://photos.imageevent.com/johansen01/pixelpeepersdelight/forsale/IMG_1188.jpg

I just used a cardboard box and cut out from the top and sides. I covered the cutouts with sections cut from a white plastic trash bag. I have white card stock in place for the BG and have it curved as you can see in the first pic. I use various desk lampsto shine light in from the top and sides and then an auxillary flash like my Canon HF-DC1 to kind of blowout the BG. All pics taken with my SX100is. Works nicely and it only took a few minutes of experimenting to find settings that worked best for me and my camera.

I use the "P" setting with the built in flash and the additional HF-DC1 (usually held just under my SX100is). The built in flash seems to go off more powerfully in "P" mode than in "auto" (green square) mode. The aux flash is really helpful in blowing out the white BG.

For the items you are talking about, you might want a somewhat bigger box. The one shown is pretty tight for anything much bigger than a camera lens.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Jeff

[richarddd]

I usually use a tripod, don't use flash, use tungsten white balance (i.e., incandescent lighting), get close to the subject and use a small aperture (big f-stop number).