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I post a lot of photos on Ebay and sometimes get good photos but sometimes get rubbish results particular when photoing very shiny soundboxes , these 3 photos of a 5A soundbox were very frustrating , any ideas?

soundgen wrote:I post a lot of photos on Ebay and sometimes get good photos but sometimes get rubbish results particular when photoing very shiny soundboxes , these 3 photos of a 5A soundbox were very frustrating , any ideas?

You need to use soft lighting. No hash lighting. If you do a lot of small parts then it would be a good investment to buy a photo box. They can be found on Ebay pretty cheap. Use daylight bulbs of around 6000k but do not direct the light source directly on the object being photographed. Also use a tripod to mount the camera if possible and shoot manually with a shutter speed of around 1/60 sec so it will allow you to use a higher F: stop which gives better dept of field showing the entire item in focus.

Thanks for that I'll try a light box , the camera is problematic though i only have an old digital Fujifilm Finepix 8.3 not a " proper camera " so no f stops or timing as far as I know

soundgen wrote:Thanks for that I'll try a light box , the camera is problematic though i only have an old digital Fujifilm Finepix 8.3 not a " proper camera " so no f stops or timing as far as I know

The Fujifilm will do just fine in Auto mode. Just make sure you have lots of lighting outside of the light box.

Weather permitting, I obtain the best results using a tripod outside in good light, but not direct sunlight.
My eleven year old Canon PowerShot can disable the flash and has a micro setting, ideal for photographing small items such as needle tins.

You can also use a bounce flash--or failing that, direct the light from your flash bulb up against the ceiling or the inside of a light-colored umbrella, for example.

A judiciously taped index card may even work.

I would say that the second picture you posted is good enough; if interested I would definitely purchase confidently an item advertised with such photo.

Marco Gilardetti wrote:I would say that the second picture you posted is good enough; if interested I would definitely purchase confidently an item advertised with such photo.

Yes probably but it looks really dull and the soundbox is shiny !

soundgen wrote:

Marco Gilardetti wrote:I would say that the second picture you posted is good enough; if interested I would definitely purchase confidently an item advertised with such photo.

Yes probably but it looks really dull and the soundbox is shiny !

I second Marco. Pic 2 looks fine for a shiny object. I too would buy in confidence. It shows that you did take that picture in indirect light. If outside in the shade or indoors where at an angle where the reflection does not bounce back directly to the camera lens.

Not only will the photobox give a nice soft lighting, it will control the annoying busy reflections in the shiny object.