Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
Posts tagged Photography
How To Boost Your Ebay Sales With A Single Click
Nov 2nd
With so many listings, it is vital to capture your audience at first glance when you are selling your merchandise on eBay.
Customers often become inundated with the overwhelming number of like items available for sale on eBay. Your job is to catch their eyes and pull them in. The best way to do this is, take better photos.
If you just take a little extra time to setup a simple photographer’s set, it will be worth it. The best part is that you don’t need fancy equipment or dedicate space in the house. You can achieve this by using everyday items found around the house, you will be able to sit back and watch as your eBay views and sales skyrocket.
The best part about this competitive edge is that you can create your own professional looking photo set with items that probably are already in your home. Here’s a look at how to boost the look of your eBay listings with ease . . .
• table/stool
• white sheet/table cloth
• 2 chairs
• rope – about 10ft
• light (softbox if possible)
• white pillow case
First, place your table near some large windows with one chair on each side of the table. Between the chairs tie your rope — this is used to create a white backdrop by draping the table cloth over the cord.
Use a very light table cloth that will diffuse the light from the window, but be careful not to use to thin or thick of a sheet. This could result in a gray background, or over exposure from the sun.
Then place a light/softbox in front of the table. If you do not have a softbox use the pillow case to cover the light. This will help create a soft lighting effect. Lower and adjusted lighting as needed. While shooting be sure to keep make sure only the white from the sheet is in the photo. Also keep an eye out for random shadows.
When shooting your eBay product photo, be sure to get as much light as possible on the item you’re selling on eBay. This will allow users to view small details better.
That’s it! This is a really quick and simple way to create a better product shoots with every day household materials. Once you start to post some better photos of your items, they’ll stand out in the eBay gallery and search listings.
Hope this mini tutorial teaches you about one CLICK (of the shutter!) that you’ll want to master which leads to more sales and higher winning bids!
Matt Johnson – Social media guru, with a love for connecting with people around the world. His passion for food and photography are evident in his two personal blogs BibleDogMan.com and NoGrilledOnion.com3 Must Visit Resources For The Photographer In You
Sep 2nd
Everyone is a photographer these days. But some just end up with much better photos than others. Most of the time, there’s a bunch of good reasons for that.
I had a chance to connect with Matt Johnson, who seems to have a permanent attachment to his body — his personal DSLR. And his photos look just smashing.
I asked him to share with me some of the places where he spends his time learning new photography skills, tactics and tips. Here’s a guest post sharing some of his wisdom with us.
With the cost of DSLR drastically dropping more and more people have access to better equipment, but most never take the time to learn how to use it.
Shooting in pre-sets should never be an option.
As a photographer your job is to, as Bono says, Dare to fail!
The best way to do this is to look, look, look.
As a photographer your eyes should be on others’ work daily. From photos to tutorials. From camera reviews to lighting setups.
You should be constantly pushing yourself to learn more.
Here are my top 3 photography sites for doing just this.
- Photo.Tuts (http://photo.tutsplus.com/) – With a wide verity of tutorials from Photoshop use to setup. This website has something for everyone.
- Digital Photography School (http://www.digital-photography-school.com/) – With gear reviews, photography tips, and post production techniques; this place has it all. Make sure to checkout the community forms.
- My Shutter Space (http://www.myshutterspace.com/ ) – This community offers the best of the web in one place. User’s re-post tutorials from around the web. The forum here is also a great place to learn.
Challenge yourself this week!
Pick one tutorial that is out of your comfort zone and try it. Make this a weekly goal and you will be amazed!
Matt Johnson – Social media guru, with a love for connecting with people around the world. His passion for food and photography are evident in his two personal blogs BibleDogMan.com and NoGrilledOnion.com
#1 Pitfall To Avoid When Selling on eBay
May 16th
I started this site to dish out advice that my friends and associates all seem to like and actually follow now and then.
From experience as an eBay Powerseller with over 5,200 positive feedback ratings, it’s amazing to learn some of the small things you can do with your marketplace item listings that will have real impact on sales.
Today, I plead for you all to read this one piece of advice so that we can help make the web & the world in general a better place for all, OK?
While it is true that selling on eBay can give you the freedom to “work at home in your underwear,” that catch-phrase is not really meant to be taken literally. . . Read the rest of this entry »
Get Out Of The Country! (Wait, you need a passport photo!)
Jan 3rd
If one of your resolutions for this next year is to be a jetsetter, you’d better be ready with a Passport in hand. Instead of heading over to CVS and paying them a whopping $7.99 for passport photos, do it yourself for 50 cents!
You can easily take a photo yourself with your digital camera at home.
The US Department of State website gives 7 clear rules for the perfect passport photo. Basically, you just have to take it on a clean, white or off-white background and make sure it’s a nice clear headshot.
You can also download all the Passport Application forms and avoid the long lines at the post office as well!
Now all you need is the print out the photos to the correct size. Forget about re-sizing, editing, cropping, etc.
Just hop over to ePassportPhoto.com to auto-generate perfect photos to print out!
You can upload any photo from your own computer, rotate, crop, etc and then it will auto size it and layout the photos so that you can easily print out a 4×6 photo at home or at the store.
I printed the 2 required passport photos out for $0.25 at CVS (you need 2, but the 4×6 photo generated gives you more than two)!
They looked so good that when I brought up the photo to pay for it at the register, they initially tried to charge me $7.99 for my DIY photos (that is the price of THEIR regular passport photos)!
My clerk was so confused how I could walk-out with passport photos for only 25 cents…and don’t forget that you can upload the final photo to Shutterfly or Kodak EasyShare Gallery – they both offer free prints promotionally, so it could be totally free!
Hey, once you submit your passport application, you’ll probably want to know when you’ll actually get the finished passport back, right? Usually you’ll receive it within 6 weeks, but just to be sure, the US Department of State has set-up an on-line passport application status check.
QUESTION: WHAT COUNTRY ARE YOU TRAVELING TO NEXT? (OR WANT TO TRAVEL TO NEXT?)
I love tech, gadgets and the web. Hope you pick-up a useful tip or two here today that helps you use technology to your advantage! Better yet, why not share your own expertise in a comment on a post today to help the other readers that land here for answers!