Happy belated Valentines Day. Hope you're doing well and avoiding all the nasty bugs going around. I am trying to get over a really bad cold...doesn't help that we went from 80+ degree weather to cold and windy...oh well, I should be glad I don't live on the East Coast with their current weather woes.

Since I've been spending a lot of time indoors lately and have done a little browsing on eBay, I thought some tips on how to sell on eBay might benefit us all. So how does that relate to digital photos? Simple. The photo(s) you use on your eBay ad can greatly influence whether your item sells and what price you get for it. So let's take a look at what you can do to maximize your sale.

Let Your Photos Sell Your Items for You on eBay
What the Heck is White Balance?
Digital Photo Software Sales/Promos
Digital Photo Printing Services Sales & Discounts

Let Your Photos Sell Your Items for You on eBay

Selling on eBay has become a national pastime. What better way to get rid of things you don't need and make some cash at the same time? The old saying about a picture being worth a thousand words is certainly true when selling on eBay.

A great picture goes a long way in selling your item. Research shows that merchandise with attractive photos sell at better prices. People are naturally drawn to appealing images. Viewing pictures is the best way for potential buyers to make a decision on whether to bid on your item. In fact, according to eBay, items with two or more picture are 9% more likely to sell. It's also a good idea to get the 30-cent gallery listing upgrade which will display a thumbnail photo next to your item in the search results. EBay says that thumbnails are shown to increase the final price by an average of 11%.

But if you have crummy photos that are blurry or have bad lighting, or photos that don't show your item to its best advantage, then you could be headed to Goodwill to get rid of your stuff instead.

Using your digital camera, take several photos of your item from different angles. Take enough pictures so you have several clear, bright photos. The brighter and clearer the photo, the better your item will appeal to potential buyers.

Proper lighting is key. To show your items at best advantage, you can rig an inexpensive tabletop "studio" using a sheet of non-glare white plastic and a PVC pipe for support. The important points to remember are having a uniform background behind the object and even lighting, using your flash and either shop lights or natural sunlight (through a window-—it's best to shoot indoors). Be careful not to wash out your subject. You may need to adjust the white balance on your digital camera, which is easy to do on most new cameras. Then you can watch the auction bids rise on that electric guitar you're trying to sell.

What the Heck is White Balance?

I mentioned white balance in the above eBay article. But just what is white balance and why is it important?

Light has a color temperature. A high color temperature shifts light toward the blue and a low color temperature shifts light toward the red. So a photo taken indoors under incandescent lights may come out with an orangey-yellow cast, while an indoor photo taken under fluorescent lights may have a bluish hue.

White balance helps maintain natural colors under different types of lighting. Fortunately for us, we don't have to carry around light meters like many people did in the "old days" of film cameras, because our digital camera can automatically adjust the white balance for us to accommodate most situations. In addition to an "automatic" setting, most digital cameras also have specific settings you can use for various lighting. Examples are:

Fine - for direct sunlight

Incandescent - for taking indoor pictures under incandescent light

Fluorescent - for taking indoor pictures under fluorescent light

Cloudy - for taking pictures outdoors under overcast skies

Speedlight - the white balance adjusts to match light produced by flash

Most cameras let you "fine-tune" the white balance by highlighting the desired setting, such as "cloudy," and then making incremental adjustments from -3 to +3. A higher white balance setting gives images a blue cast, lowering it makes photos slightly yellow/red.

Check your camera's manual for specific settings for your camera. By making a simple adjustment to the white balance setting you can go from orangey indoor shots to rich, real life color in a heartbeat.

Digital Photo Software - Sales, Rebates

Here are the current sales/promos on digital photo editing and organizing software. At $19.99 Corel Photo Album 6 Deluxe is a super bargain for some very good organizing software. My motto is, never pay full price when you know it is going to be on sale. Note: prices are as of 2/15/06; they can change at any time.

ACDSee 8 PHOTO MANAGER is $49.99 direct. Download a free trial

Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 is $79.99 at Amazon with free shipping. Software that automatically removes redeye as your photos are offloaded from your camera -- what more can you ask for!

Adobe Photoshop Album 2 is $44.99 with free shipping at Amazon.

Corel Paintshop Pro X is $54.99 after $30 rebate and free shipping at Amazon.

Corel Photo Album 6 Deluxe is $19.99 at Amazon after special rebates and free shipping.

Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 is on sale at Amazon for $89.99 with free shipping. PLUS get a $30 rebate, bringing your final cost down to $59.99.

PhotoImpact 11 - photo editing software is $89.99. Download a free 30-day trial. This is an excellent photo editing program and easy to learn. With your purchase, get FREE Pixmantec RawShooter essentials 2005, an award-winning package that lets you preview, adjust and covert RAW image files from your high-end digital camera.

Digital Photo Printing Services - Promos and Discounts

SNAPFISH: 12 cent prints all the time.

Save 20% on All Photo Gifts for Valentines Day, use coupon code FEBAFF20

20 Free Prints + FREE SHIPPING on up to 10 4x6 prints. Coupon Code: VALE1006. Valid through 02/17/06

20% Off All Photo Gifts for Valentines Day. Coupon Code: FEBAFF20. Valid through 03/17/06

Go to Snapfish.

SHUTTERFLY: prints are 19 cents

Get 1 FREE Greeting Card - create a card on Shutterfly. Use Coupon Code: AFF2-CARD (Expires 2-22-06)

Save up to 30% on photo greeting cards, mugs, photo books and more thru Feb 22.

Go to Shutterfly

PHOTOWORKS: prints are 19 cents; get 25 free when you join Photoworks (membership is free).

Save 20% on personalized Photo Calendars and Photo Books. Enter code C489-38-5182-91 during checkout. Thru Feb 28. (Photoworks has great calendars--really nice layout options.)

Go to PhotoWorks.com

KODAK EASYSHARE GALLERY: has 15 cent 4 x 6 prints every day.

SAVE 50% on each Photo Calendar you order (in same order) thru Feb 25 - use coupon code CALSAVE at checkout.

NEW: Mini 5x7 Photo Books. Save 25% on Mini Photo Books thru Feb 22. Enter Coupon Code: MINI25OFF

Go to Kodak EasyShare Gallery

That's it for now.

Valerie Goettsch
www.digitalphotos101.com
How to get the best from your digital camera

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