Editing Your Photos-Digitally

   

Editing Your PhotosDigitally

When you're taking a digital photo or making a scan, you want to save your images in the JPG file format. This is the default file format for most digital cameras and scanners , although some devices give you a choice of other formats (GIF, TIF, and so on). The JPG format is de facto standard for Web images, and what eBay expects for your item listings; given the choice, choose JPG.

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When you're scanning compact discs, take the CD booklet out of the jewel case to scan, instead of scanning the jewel case itself.


With your photos in JPG format, it's easy to touch them up with digital photo editing software. What kind of touch up are we talking about? Here's a list of the most common photo editing operations:

  • Lighten up photos shot in low light

  • Correct the color in poorly shot photos

  • Crop the picture to focus only on the subject at hand

  • Resize the image to fit better in your eBay listings

  • Decrease the resolution or color count to produce a smaller- sized file

If you're a perfect photographer, you may never need to touch up the pictures you take. But since most of us are far from perfect, it's great to be able to "punch up" the photos we takeand make them as perfect as possible for our eBay listings.

Choosing Image Editing Software

To edit your photos, you need a software program designed to edit digital photographs. There are a lot of programs out there, some free and some tremendously expensive. (Adobe Photoshop, used by many professional photographers, falls into the latter category.) You want something in the middlea low-cost program that's easy to use and includes all the image-editing features you need to create quality product photos.

There are a number of easy-to-use, low-cost programs out there. Those that are the most popular among eBay users include

  • Adobe Photoshop Elements (www.adobe.com)

  • CorelDRAW Essentials (www.corel.com)

  • PaintShop Pro (www.jasc.com)

  • Microsoft Picture It! Photo (www.microsoft.com/products/imaging/)

  • Roxio PhotoSuite (www. roxio .com)

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You may already have one or more of these programs (or a similar graphics program) installed on your PC; check your Windows Start menu to see what's there.


Most of these programs cost around $50, and have similar features. In the next section I'll focus on Photoshop Elements, probably the most popular of these programs.

Basic Image Editing with Photoshop Elements

Photoshop Elements is both relatively low-cost and relatively easy to use. It's not to be confused with the much more expensive (and much harder to use) Adobe Photoshop; Photoshop Elements is pretty much a consumer-friendly subset of the larger program.

Editing a photograph with Photoshop Elements is as easy as clicking a few buttons . Just follow these steps:

  1. To load a photo for editing, select Window, File Browser to open the File Browser. Navigate to the appropriate folder in the folder tree, then double-click the photo you want to edit.

  2. Do a quick fix on the image's brightness, contrast, and color levels by selecting Enhance, Auto Levels.

  3. If the picture needs further adjustment, select Enhance and then choose Auto Lighting, Auto Color, or Auto Brightness/Contrast. Make the appropriate adjustments.

  4. To crop the photograph, click the Crop Tool button in the Toolbox, then drag the cursor across the picture to select the area to be cropped, as shown in Figure 19.8. Double-click the selected area to complete the crop.

    Figure 19.8. Cropping a photograph in Photoshop Elements.

    graphics/19fig08.jpg

  5. To reduce the image and file size , select File, Save for Web. When the Save for Web window appears, pull down the Settings list and select JPEG Low. Move your cursor to the Width box (in the New Settings area) and enter an appropriate pixel width. (I recommend something in the 300 to 400 pixel range.) Make sure the Constrain Proportions option is checked. Click OK, and when the Save Optimized As dialog box appears, enter a new filename and click Save.

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When editing a photo, make sure the Toolbox is open by selecting Window, Tools.


Obviously, there's a lot more editing you can do, but these steps cover the basics that work for the majority of eBay product photos. If you're using another photo editing program, you should find similar operations.

Resizing Your Pictures for Best Effect

While you're editing, you'll probably need to resize your photographs to best fit within your eBay listings. Most pictures you take with a digital camera will come out too big to fit on a Web page without scrollingeven the smallest digital photos are typically sized at 640x480that's 640 pixels wide, which is too wide to fit comfortably on most computer screens.

eBay recommends that you size your image to no more than 300x300 pixels. Personally, I find 300 pixels a little on the narrow side. I aim for 400 pixels wide, but will sometimes go up to 500 or even 600 pixels wide, depending on the item photographed and the importance of viewing item detail. I won't go over 600 pixels, however.

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Most photo editing programs will have some sort of file info command that lets you see the size of the file you're editing. You can also view the file size from within Windows's My Documents or My Pictures folder, by right-clicking the file and selecting Properties from the pop-up menu.


While you're considering the physical size of the photograph, you should also consider the size of the file that holds the photograph. The bigger the file, the longer it takes to download from the Internet. Create too big a file, and users won't want to wait to view your item listing.

The right file size is something less than 50KBand less is better. Holding the files under the 50KB level keeps the loading time for each photo down to a reasonable level.

Your photo editing software should include settings that let you reduce both the physical size and the file size for your photographs. And, of course, the two go hand in hand; reduce the physical size and you'll also reduce the file size.



Absolute Beginner's Guide to Launching an eBay Business
Absolute Beginners Guide to Launching an eBay Business
ISBN: 0789730588
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 167

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