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Editing
your auction photos to conceal product blemishes and defects is
a serious no-no. In the long run, it will only result in
negative feedback and product returns from angered buyers.
However, improving the image quality of your auction photos with
image editing software is a great idea. Bright, crisp images
will enhance your listings and make you look like a pro. The end
result: More bids! With that in mind, here are some basic tips
on using image editing tools to improve the presentation of your
auction images.
Editing
Software
No matter if you use a digital camera or scanner to create your
digital images, some backgrounds won't come out right. Also, the
lighting can be poor and detract from the representation of your
item. (See our tip on taking
better photos.) Thanks to image editing software, though,
you won't have to reshoot images, saving you time and money.
Photo editing software such as Adobe's
PhotoShop will run you more than $500. Fortunately, to clean up
the presentation of your auction photos you don't need such a
robust program. Shareware and freeware products will serve your
needs just fine. Try the shareware version of Jasc Software's Paint
Shop Pro 3.11. There's also a retail version for around $75
(version 6.01).
Before you begin, remember to compress
your images. Most buyers do not want to wait for large photos to
load. They also don't want tiny thumbnails that make
verification problematic. Select the happy medium between
massive (1,280 by 1,024) and miniscule (320 by 200). You can do
this in Paint Shop Pro 3.11 by selecting Resize from the Image
menu. If you make the image smaller, use the Sharpen effect.
This will improve the clarity of the image as you decrease its
size. Another trick: set your camera image quality to medium, as
opposed to fine, to reduce the byte size.
Fine
Adjustments
No matter how many auction photos you've taken with your digital
camera, an image or two will come out too light or dark.
Happily, you can correct this by adjusting the image's
"Brightness/Contrast." Brightness will brighten all
the color tones in the image, or "shift the entire
historgram," revealing detail that may have been too dark
to see. Be aware that you will have to increase the Contrast, or
range of luminance, after increasing the brightness to darken
areas that have become too bright.
Another useful feature in most photo
image editing programs is the Red Green Blue function. This
allows you to individually increase or decrease the amount of
red, blue, and green in your image--the three primary colors of
projected light. This can draw out an object's strongest colors,
which might not have appeard in the digital image. In Paint Shop
Pro 3.11, the features Hue/Saturation/Luminance and
Highlight/Midtone/Shadow are also useful for fine adjustments,
in order to better represent the true object. In essence, both
allow you to lighten or darken a region and emphasize highlights
and shadows.
Back to Auction tips &
tactics
by Vendio Services
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