Coffee Break Computer

Software Steps to Optimize Your Online Auction Photos

Once your product photos are taken and transferred to your computer, you’ll need to take steps to optimize them for using in your online auction listing. Here are some suggestions on how to approach this process.
Notes:

• There are many different software programs available for photo editing. How you actually do each step will depend on your software.
• Don’t save over your original file; keep it as a backup in case something goes wrong or gets messed up while you are working on it. Delete only after you have successfully optimized and posted your photos. Remember that sometimes you won’t see a problem with a photo until after you’ve listed it.
• Have a folder that you save all your completed photos to. That will make it easier to find and upload them.

The steps for working with your pictures:

1. Do any straightening. Do any color adjustment now, but try to avoid this by setting the white balance on your camera correctly.
2. Crop. Get as close to the item as you can.
3. Resize. The following are all typically in the Resize box:
• Be sure to resample if that is an option.
• Keep the widest dimension at 400 pixels or less. This can be either width or height.
• Use Maintain Aspect Ratio or Constrain Proportions – when you set one dimension the other will be set automatically and correctly. This will keep the item’s perspective correct.
• Reduce the resolution to 72 pixels per inch. That’s all the resolution needed to display on a computer screen and will help to keep the file size down.
• Save as jpeg and compress. Adjust the compression percentage to get the file size to about 50k or under, while keeping the image clear.
4. Use a consistent pattern to name your photos so they will be easier to organize and work with. File naming tips:
• Use a name relevant to the item first in the file name, and then use any descriptors, then the shot angle. For more than one picture of the same item, you would use the same file name, just change the shot angle.
• Use underscores or dashes ( _ or – ) in your filename instead of spaces for easier readability and greater reliability for linking.

For example, rather than:
     blue item 1.jpg, blue item 2.jpg
try naming them:
     item_blue_frontview.jpg, item_blue_topview.jpg

• By having the item listed first in the file name, sorting your files by name will automatically group all the photos of the same item.

This may seem like a lot of steps at first, but once you go through the process a few times it will get easier and feel more manageable.
For more information on taking listing photos, see Taking Product Photos for Online Auctions.

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