Photographing small stuff to sell online.

A simple light box setup to photograph gear to sell online.

If you have ever sold stuff on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Kigigi, or other such online buy-and-sell sites, this will sound familiar to you.

You take one or more photos of your item to sell and plug them into a favoured online sales site.  The photos may not be great, but does it really matter?  You took them with your cellphone or perhaps a stand-alone digital camera and then did the work to post them.  

The answer is, yes, it matters.

I used the above setup to photograph some camera equipment I am selling (in order to buy more stuff - yes, I'm a camera addict).  It is certainly not a professional setup, but its simplicity is outstanding and it produces acceptable results. Better yet is the fact that you can use the setup with your smartphone or tablet; there is no need for a flash, on-camera or otherwise.

In this case I used a lightbox I have had for many years and a ring-light made for cellphone videos.  I placed the ring light on top of the box and let the translucent fabric broaden out the already diffuse lighting.  Placing an item in the middle, I then took a few shots of it after making whatever camera adjustments were necessary.  A minute editing the pictures produced the desirable results I was hoping for.

I am including some of the items below in a photo.  If you click on it you should be able to bring up an enlarged edition.  I think you will find the images are good.  Not professional, but good.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com