HOW TO INCLUDE PICTURES OF ITEMS
IN YOUR ONLINE AUCTIONS
Everything You Ever Needed or Wanted to Know....

PART TWO

This is Part Two of a three-part article. Part One covered:

PART ONE

What is a Pic?
The Electronic Formats of Pics Explained
Why Should Pics be Included For Items in Online Auctions?

The first part only described the basics of a pic.... Everything you ever needed or wanted to know about how to include pictures of items in online auctions will be fully covered in this Newsletter and next month's Newsletter. In this Newsletter and in Part Three you will learn:

PART TWO

Equipment Used to Create Pics
Guidelines for Editing Pics

PART THREE

Where to Store Pics on the Web for General Viewing
How-to Put Pics on the Web
How-to Point to Pics From Your Item Description
Technical Aspects For Including Pics in Online Auctions

EQUIPMENT USED TO CREATE PICS

You may already own, or may be interested in purchasing, one or more of the pieces of equipment needed to create pics of your auction items. This information will be helpful in determining which type of equipment is right for you. The common equipment used for creating pics in digital format are:

Scanners
Video Cameras
Video Capture Devices
Digital Cameras

Film-to-Digital-Image Services

Even if you do not own any of these types of equipment, you can take photographs with a regular camera and get them converted to digital pictures. If you do not own a camera, you can buy disposable cameras at your local grocery store, department store, or pharmacy. Disposable cameras are affordable and come in a variety of film types for taking photos in sunlight, close-up photos, or with a built-in flash bulb.

Digital Image Services such as Kodak PhotoNet, can produce digital pictures for Web use from a standard roll of film. Along with your regular prints, you can receive your photographs in digital format on a CD ROM. This service is available on the Internet, and at most of the major chain pharmacies that have film developing services.

Scanners

Take photos with a regular camera, and then use a scanner to scan your prints and directly transfer them onto your computer in electronic image file format. Another method is to place small items that lie flat onto the scanner such as; books, jewelry, stamps, baseball cards, etc., and use the scanner to create pics of them directly. This method only works with flatbed scanners.

If you don't have a scanner, copy centers such as Kinkos or mail box centers such as Mail Boxes Etc. can do the scanning for you, at an affordable fee. They can provide your scanned pics on CD ROM or floppy disc.

Unfortunately, using a scanner to create digital pics can be time consuming. If a scanner is the only equipment you own, it is workable for creating the pics you need for your auctions until you can purchase another type of equipment. This is the method I used when first starting out at selling items in online auctions. I would directly scan smaller items like books and videos, and photograph items such as clothing then scan the prints after they were developed. Eventually, I was able to afford a digital camera.

Video Cameras and Video Capture Devices

You can transfer pictures from your video camera or VCR tapes using a video capture device and software. With this type of setup, you can create still visual pictures from the moving images of video. Video capture devices come in two basic types; A computer card that gets installed in a desktop computer next to the other computer cards like the sound card, Ethernet card, modem card, etc. When the video capture card is installed, there will be special jacks that allow a video camera or VCR to be connected using special cables. The other type of video capture device is an external machine that attaches to a computer with a USB cable. Then a video camera or VCR can be connected to this machine. This is a handy device for laptop computer user's since they do not usually have the option of installing additional internal cards.

Some of the newer computers come with a camera that people use when chatting online using a video conference program. This type of camera can also be used to take pics of your auction items when attached to a video capture device. The newer Web TV units have video capture cards built into them, and a video camera can be attached to create pics in electronic format. So even if you are a Web TV user and don't own a computer, you are still able to provide pics of your auction items.

Special software is installed along with any video capture device which allows you to record a moving video image and/or create still digital images from a video camera tape or VHS tape. To use a video camera of any type to "take a picture" of your auction items you point the camera lens at the item - focus - you do not need to move the camera - and hold down the record button for a couple of seconds. The software that accompanies the video capture device you are using can create a still image, a pic from that brief amount of video.

Unfortunately, using a video camera and video capture device to create digital pics does not allow you to take detailed close-ups of your items, and pics will not have the clarity that a scanner or digital camera can provide. There are a couple of tricks to get by these disadvantages. For close-ups or small items, use the zoom feature of your video camera. Zoom in, focus, and shoot. To get the best clarity, always use lots of light from all angles (except from behind the item which will only create glare). Use lighting from sunlight and incandescent light, and try to avoid using light from florescent lights.

Digital Cameras

A digital camera is by far the best and easiest way to take clear photographs in electronic format. Digital cameras look and operate like any of the popular "insta-matic" type cameras that take pictures on regular film. They have an automatic mode, so all you have to do is point and shoot, and the camera will automatically focus on the item you are photographing, the flash will go off automatically when needed, etc. As long as you remember to take the lens cap off, or don't put your finger in front of the lens, it is hard to take bad pictures with a digital camera.

The best news of all, is that digital cameras are very affordable. They range in price from approximately $100 to $1000 (dollars). Any camera in the price range of $100 to $400 (dollars) has the features adequate for taking pics of auction items. I recommend that you choose a digital camera with these features:

A macro feature
A built-in flash
2x to 6x zoom
USB connection

The macro feature on any type of camera allows you to take pictures of an object only 2-6 inches away from the lens of the camera. You need a special and very expensive lens for regular cameras, but any digital camera with the macro feature does not need a special lens. The macro feature allows you to take extremely clear and detailed pics of very small items such as jewelry or vintage postcards, or a small section of an item such as a maker stamp or serial number. If you currently have a digital camera, but do not have the macro feature, you can get the same effect by placing your camera about 4-6 feet away from the object or section of an object you wish to photograph and use your zoom feature to zoom in appropriately.

Most digital cameras have a built-in flash. The flash is a great feature to have when photographing large objects within poor lighting. Try not to use a flash when taking pics of items less than 6 feet from your camera because the light from the flash will create unflattering reflections and glare on the item.

A zoom is handy to have if you are taking several pics of one item. With a zoom you can set up the camera within a fixed distance from the object you are photographing (using a tripod), or place your body within a fixed distance from the object while holding the camera. You can then zoom in or out in order to capture the object you are photographing within the frame area of the camera, versus physically moving the camera forwards and backwards for each pic you take of the item. A 6x zoom is the same as moving the camera a maximum of 6 times closer in distance to the item you are photographing. Any camera with a zoom feature indicates its maximum zoom distance with an "X" preceded by the maximum distance number. You can zoom in within this maximum distance and anywhere in between.

USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus". This is one of the newest type of computer connection ports because it is fast at transmitting digital information from one piece of equipment to another, faster than any of the older types of connection ports. The USB port is a special type of jack on a computer in which a special cable plugs into, called a USB cable. This allows you to connect your computer (a PC or a MAC) to another piece of equipment such as a digital camera or video capture device. With this type of connection you can quickly transfer your pics from a digital camera to a computer. Most digital cameras have a USB connection and come with the cable needed to attach it to your computer. The newest computers manufactured today have a USB port built-in as a standard feature. Your digital camera will come with any special software needed to use the USB connection in order to transfer your pics from the camera to a computer, along with directions in the manual and telephone/Internet technical support.


*USB Port*	*USB Cable*

Types of Digital Camera Storage Media

Digital cameras save or record the pics you take onto various types of removable electronic storage media. The information about these various types of media is a bit extensive and will require a bit of research on your part in order for you to make a good decision about the best digital camera you need. But here is a brief explanation of the most popular types of storage media that will give you a basic understanding and point you in the right direction in purchasing a digital camera that is right for you.

The first digital cameras ever produced, and the cheapest digital cameras available today, store the pics you take internally within the camera. The only way to transfer pics from the camera to a computer is to use the USB connection ports. If you do not have a USB port on your computer, this type of camera will not work for you.

There are various digital cameras that save pics onto a storage media that is removable. Some cameras save pics on common 3.5" floppy discs. A digital camera that saves pics onto floppy discs are the most universal because all computers around today have a 3.5" floppy drive, so pics can be easily transferred from the digital camera onto any computer. Floppy discs are cheap, but have a limited amount of storage space (up to 50 pics maximum). Another minor disadvantage of floppy disc cameras is that there is a few second wait while the camera records the photo onto the floppy.

The other types of popular removable storage media that current digital cameras use to store pics onto are: CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Memory Sticks. These types of storage media are small in size (usually about 1" long by 1/2" wide, or smaller in dimension), and can store a heck of a lot more pics than the conventional floppy disc. Many of the newest printers have built-in slots that read these types of media in order to edit and print the pics taken with a digital camera. Some of the external video capture devices have slots that read these types of media. Best of all, adapters are available called "floppy disc adapters". A floppy disc adapter allows you to insert one of these types of storage media into it, then it can be put into any computer's floppy drive in order to retrieve the pics from the storage media and save them onto the computer.

GUIDELINES FOR EDITING PICS

Now that you are familiar with the various types of equipment that can be used to produce pics of your auction items, and relevant types of electronic image file formats, you may want to learn some fast and easy methods of editing your pics. Any type of equipment used to create pics will come with a free and easy to use program that you can use to edit your pics. These programs are usually abbreviated versions of the full-featured program that can be purchased at a computer software store or on the Internet. Most of these free programs have all the features you need to edit pics for items you want to sell in online auctions such as;

Saving the image in JPG format
Automatic enhancement
Image rotation
Image cropping
Resizing the image

You may wish to purchase an unabbreviated version of a photo editing program. Any of the programs that come with all the features you need for editing auction can be purchased in the price range of $30-60 dollars. My favorite program is ArcSoft PhotoStudio 2000, which is easy to use, and has plenty of powerful features for editing auction item pics. ArcSoft also makes a program called PhotoBase, which will interface with all types of electronic image equipment such as: scanners, video capture devices, digital cameras, etc. Free 30-day trial versions can be downloaded of any of these programs. Try out any or all of the popular programs listed below, and decide which one works the best for you before purchasing.

Popular Photo Editing Programs

Free 30-day Trial Download Sites

Saving the Image in JPG Format

At this point you should have all your pics stored on your computer in JPG format. If the program used to capture and transfer your pics to a computer has not given you the option to save them onto your computer in JPG format, you can still do so with any photo editing (or pic editing) program when you edit your pics.

Your first step is to create a folder on your computer where you will save all edited pics of your auction items. This folder will contain all recently edited pics of your auction items saved in JPG format, named in a way that you can understand what they are, but not yet put on the web for general viewing. If you do not know how to create folders or give files specific names on your computer, you must insert the version of your Windows Operating System installation CD into your CD ROM and choose "Windows Tutorial" which teaches you these basics for the version of Windows you are using.

When you have completed any editing of your pics, choose "save as" in the "file" pulldown menu of your photo editing program. A small window will appear that will allow you to find the folder you created to save all your edited auction pics. This small window will also have a box where you enter the name you want to give the pic, and the type of electronic image file format you wish to save the pic as. Choose JPG from that list of electronic image formats, and the "dot JPG" will be automatically added to the name of your pic file.

The "Save As" window

Proper File Naming

Use only lower-case letters and numbers when naming your pic files. Do not use spaces or other keyboard characters such as the dot (period), ampersand, pound sign, percent sign, asterisk, comma, question mark, brackets, quotation marks, etc. Spaces and keyboard characters other than numbers and letters, can make your pic files unviewable to others on the web.

The reason it is so important to save your pic files in JPG format is because this is the ONLY format most online auction sites accept. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, pics in JPG format are the standard and most popular format found and used on the Internet.

Automatic Enhancement

Most photo editing programs have a feature called "automatic enhancement". This handy tool will automatically brighten, sharpen, properly adjust tones and hues, with one click. The automatic enhancement feature is usually located in the "enhance" or "edit" pulldown menus in photo editing programs. Try this tool when editing your pics, and if you think it makes your pics look better, use it all the time.

Image Rotation

Sometimes your pics will open in your photo editing program and appear in a sideways or upside-down position. Use the rotate tool (usually found in the "edit" pulldown menu) to turn sideways pics 90 degrees right or left, and to turn upside-down pics 180 degrees.

Pic Before Rotation

Pic After Rotation

Image Cropping

When photographing your items, always try to fit the object within the edges of your viewer. Even when you make this a habit while photographing your items, you may find that some of your pics will have lots of extra space around the object you photographed. The crop tool will allow you to get rid of this extra space so only the object photographed is represented in the pic.

First, use the rectangular select tool to select the area of the pic you want to keep. When you have this rectangular marquee positioned the way you want it, use the crop tool (usually found in the "edit" pulldown menu) to remove the area of your pic outside of the marquee.

Pic Before Cropping

Pic After Cropping

Resizing the image

Picture file size should be under 50 KB (kilobytes). This is especially important for auction items that have more than one pic. Auction pages should download quickly, and potential bidders will not wait around for auction item pics to appear. One way to make the file size of your pics small is to set your digital camera, scanner, or video capture device to the lowest resolution setting, about 150 dpi (dots per inch) or less.

The visual size of your pics should be no larger than 400 pixels in length or width. A pixel is the smallest unit on a computer screen. All computer screens are divided up into a matrix of thousands, even millions of pixels which you can't individually see because they are so small. If you set your monitor to a low resolution such as 640 x 480 (pixels) and look closely at your screen, you will probably be able to see the individual pixels.

People that view pics of your auction items, may only have a computer screen with a 640 x 480 pixel resolution. So if your pics are larger than this in pixel size, they will not be able to see the whole pic at once within their computer screen. Many auction sellers have the misconception that if they make their pics smaller than 600 pixels in height or width, that potential bidders will not be able to see the detail of the item photographed. This is not true! Actually, potential bidders will not see the detail of the item if they have to scroll up and down, back and forth to view the whole pic. I argue this point with some of my auction seller friends, and point out the fact that I am a trained and experienced graphics designer/web master and they are not. These friends may be better auction sellers than I am, but I know what I am talking about when it comes to graphics, and auction pics are a type of graphics!

Some auction sellers go to the other extreme and provide pics of their items that appear on a computer screen at about the size of a postage stamp. Why bother to include pics of auction items that are so tiny. With small pics like that, potential bidders cannot even make out what the item is in the pic, much less see any detail. Pics this small are usually called "thumbnails" and meant to be a small representation of a larger pic. It is ok to provide thumbnails on your auction pages if you provide hyperlinks in them to view the larger pics.

Reducing the pixel size of your pics also makes the file size smaller. This is the last step of the pic editing process. Use the size tool (usually found in the "edit" pulldown menu) of your photo editing program, choose to resize in pixels (not inches) and change the largest dimension (height or width) of your pic to 400 pixels or less. When I include multiple pics of one auction item, I make all my pics 300 pixels in width, so they look neat and tidy on the auction page.

Examples of Good & Bad Auction Item Pics

GOOD: good lighting, non-distractive setting

BAD: poor lighting, setting makes item unclear

GOOD: item is centered, proper cropping

BAD: item not centered, too much extra area around item

Don't miss PART ONE and PART THREE of this article....

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HOW TO INCLUDE PICTURES OF ITEMS IN YOUR ONLINE AUCTIONS Everything You Ever Needed or Wanted to Know....