I have to admit that this is the hardest part of reselling for me. It’s been tough to find the best time of day and the best area to take photos, and I have a hard time taking really good pictures, especially when the items I’m photographing are a dark color. I’m still learning. I found this video from Will Simpson – Exploring Photography on YouTube which taught me a lot. He shows you how to create a simple lightbox for about $10. I haven’t yet taken the steps to create an actual lightbox, but that is my goal for the future.
You do not necessarily need a digital camera to take professional-looking photos. If you have an iPhone, they take amazing pictures. Just use whatever you have. I have an iPhone so that’s my preference at this point.
I finally dedicated one space to taking photos, and that helps a lot. If you have to set up and tear down your equipment every time, it makes it harder to get motivated. You don’t need a huge area for this. I have about a 10-foot-square space set up about 8 feet from my window.
I bought a children’s art easel at Ikea and I prop a huge canvas (48” X 36”) on it. We happened to have this canvas at home, but if you don’t have anything like that, you could use plywood or anything flat and sturdy. If you go the canvas route, they’re not cheap, so it might be a better idea to check your thrift store to see if they have a large painting, then you can paint it white. I hammered a nail into the top, and that’s where I hang my clothes to photograph them. I’ve heard that it’s best to have a solid white background. That way, if someone searches for something on Google Lens, your item can be pulled up in their search results. Free advertising!
I’ve wrestled with natural light versus electric light. I take all my photos in the basement, so there isn’t a ton of natural light, but I do feel like photos turn out best when I take them as near to a window as possible. Mine is a south-facing window and I try to take my photos around 9:00 a.m. when the sunlight isn’t too harsh yet. I bought these LED tripod lights from Amazon and they work very well. For about $45, you get three lights on tripods and color filters. To date, I’ve only used two of the lights and two are plenty. I’ve never experimented with the color filters. One thing I’m still struggling with is photographing dark items. Often the color isn’t true and the white background turns yellow. Say it’s a black dress. For some reason the dress turns gray and the white background turns yellow. I’m looking for a digital photography class and will update this if I ever figure out what I’m doing wrong. It’s very frustrating and I know it looks unprofessional in my listing.
I found that, if you’re selling clothing, it’s tough to take the measurement photos at an angle, so I also bought two of these stools from Ikea. When I’m done taking all of the photographs with the clothes hanging up, I lay the canvas down on these stools and take the measurement photos flat. I measure the item from shoulder to hem, and from armpit to armpit (“pit to pit”). You’re probably thinking that this is an extra step and I could be taking all the photos flat like this. You could be right. For now, I feel like the clothes look better when they’re hanging naturally than when I try to style them laying flat. But I’m new at this and may change my mind in the future.
After taking the photos, I can access them on my laptop from the cloud. I know this is very old school, and most people list from their phone (and automatically access the photos on their phone), but I just haven’t gotten that brave yet. I make any necessary edits to the photos (rotate them, circle flaws, etc.). Every week, I save last week’s photos to an external hard drive to keep the storage on my phone and laptop under control.
Take lots of photos! eBay allows you to upload 17 for each listing. It’s rare that I have that many, but I do take as many as possible. Take photos from all angles and take them of all logos, tags, measurements, and flaws (stains, tears, missing buttons, etc.). I also take close-up photos of sleeves, cuffs, hems, and anything special about the item. Then they are ready to be listed!
That’s my current unsophisticated photography process. Please send tips to let me know what I’m missing!