Example of a good photo...
Happy Friday faithful readers! Did you find any great treasures last week? I hope the tips helped!
I have had many people over the years ask me how to place ads on Craigslist. It is actually surprisingly easy. The most important part (in my opinion) is a good description, and good pictures. This requires a decent digital camera, or a good camera phone. I believe there is an app called Craigslist Pro for those of you who are smart phone savvy… as for me, I’ll stick with the dumb phone for now, and a good digital camera. Read on for my photo tips...
I have had many people over the years ask me how to place ads on Craigslist. It is actually surprisingly easy. The most important part (in my opinion) is a good description, and good pictures. This requires a decent digital camera, or a good camera phone. I believe there is an app called Craigslist Pro for those of you who are smart phone savvy… as for me, I’ll stick with the dumb phone for now, and a good digital camera. Read on for my photo tips...
First, take your item… let’s say it is a chair. Grab your camera and find a good spot to take a few shots. I like to make sure that there is good lighting, so I will often take things out onto my porch for a good setting. Snap a few shots at different angles. Try taking the same photo twice, once with the flash, once without. I recommend taking more pictures than you think you will need, that way you can pick and choose the best angles. After you have a sufficient amount of pictures, transfer them on to your computer (I have a laptop that has a port on the side for a memory card, so transferring the picture to the computer is as simple as taking the memory card out and putting it in the computer… the laptop does the rest!).
Once you have transferred the photos to your computer, it is time to edit them. My HP laptop runs Windows Vista. To get to my photos I simply click on the startup menu (the little Windows icon to the lower left of your computer screen) and choose the “Pictures” option to the right of the menu. This will open up an assortment of folders of photos. On my computer, they will be arranged by the date that I took them, until I rename them otherwise. In this instance, I will click on the 2012-6-29 folder and voila! There are my freshly snapped photos!
Now that you are into your chosen folder, double click on a picture. This allows it to be enlarged. From here, there is a tab at the top left of the screen that reads: “Edit, organize, or share”. Click on that… this allows you to edit your photos using Windows Live Photo Gallery. From here you just have to select (double click) what photo you want to edit (I usually choose the first one because you can follow the icons at the bottom of the screen to move to the next picture, and the rest will come up in order after you edit the first one). You can crop the picture, adjust colour and contrast, tint, exposure, retouch… or if this all seems like too much you can simply click auto adjust. I personally like to play around with the photos myself.
Just a few tips in regards to posting photos… Make sure you have decent, good quality photos. If the item (in this case our chair) has any imperfections, highlight them. I use the “macro” setting on my camera frequently (the icon of the little flower on most cameras). This helps to take detailed close up shots of the good and/or the bad. It is also great for taking pictures of jewelry, or signatures or stamps on small items. If there is a name or logo, post it. If there are any chips, cracks, stains, or blemishes of any kind, show them. It shows that you have nothing to hide, and helps the buyer to know exactly what they are looking at, and to decide before they even knock on your door.
Once you have transferred the photos to your computer, it is time to edit them. My HP laptop runs Windows Vista. To get to my photos I simply click on the startup menu (the little Windows icon to the lower left of your computer screen) and choose the “Pictures” option to the right of the menu. This will open up an assortment of folders of photos. On my computer, they will be arranged by the date that I took them, until I rename them otherwise. In this instance, I will click on the 2012-6-29 folder and voila! There are my freshly snapped photos!
Now that you are into your chosen folder, double click on a picture. This allows it to be enlarged. From here, there is a tab at the top left of the screen that reads: “Edit, organize, or share”. Click on that… this allows you to edit your photos using Windows Live Photo Gallery. From here you just have to select (double click) what photo you want to edit (I usually choose the first one because you can follow the icons at the bottom of the screen to move to the next picture, and the rest will come up in order after you edit the first one). You can crop the picture, adjust colour and contrast, tint, exposure, retouch… or if this all seems like too much you can simply click auto adjust. I personally like to play around with the photos myself.
Just a few tips in regards to posting photos… Make sure you have decent, good quality photos. If the item (in this case our chair) has any imperfections, highlight them. I use the “macro” setting on my camera frequently (the icon of the little flower on most cameras). This helps to take detailed close up shots of the good and/or the bad. It is also great for taking pictures of jewelry, or signatures or stamps on small items. If there is a name or logo, post it. If there are any chips, cracks, stains, or blemishes of any kind, show them. It shows that you have nothing to hide, and helps the buyer to know exactly what they are looking at, and to decide before they even knock on your door.
Would you buy this ring based on the picture? Great example of a photo NOT to post with your ad...
Please please please do not post blurry pictures! Do not post pictures sideways. Try to take a clear picture with nothing in the background to detract from your chair. Even though your fluffy little pet wants to know what you are doing, try to keep them out of the picture. This makes for a clear idea of what the potential buyer is looking at, and it means you can avoid adding clutter phrases like “Cat not included.” in your listing. This includes kids, too. Do not put a picture of your child sitting in the chair, or holding the chair… you may think it is cute, but it detracts from the item for sale, not to mention it is potentially dangerous (there are a lot of creepy people out there, believe me I have met my fair share…).
I know this all sounds like a lot so far… but we haven’t even started yet! Once you have all your photos to your liking, it is time to place the actual ad!
Next week: The actual ad!
I know this all sounds like a lot so far… but we haven’t even started yet! Once you have all your photos to your liking, it is time to place the actual ad!
Next week: The actual ad!
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