Selling Online: Successful Auctions Require Quality Product Photography

I spent some time over the holidays cleaning out closets and finding items I no longer need, but could be of use to someone else. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, as the saying goes. I’m not one to make a crude snap with an iPhone, preferring to make the items I sell appear as nice as possible and providing potential buyers the best possible representation.

I had a couple old cameras I haven’t used in years that were still in quite nice shape. I sent them out for service and now that they are back and in tip-top condition I decided to make some first-class pictures in order to sell them on eBay.

I used a full-frame Nikon DSLR with a 105mm macro lens and a pair of Nikon speedlights, bounced out of white 45″ umbrellas, to make these pictures. The background is simply inexpensive poster board clamped to the back of a chair placed in the middle of my kitchen table.

Product photography has many potential uses beyond just auctions; any business that manufactures goods and maintains a website as a catalog in order to sell their products online; art galleries need quality images of both 2D and 3D artworks, for display online as well as press releases about artists they represent and upcoming shows; Restaurants could certainly benefit from accurate representation of the dishes they prepare and serve. The key is a quality macro lens, even off-camera lighting, consistent exposure, spot-on focus and adequate depth-of-field to sufficiently represent the product.