Assembling Your Photography Space
by A.B. Russell
eBay Staff Member

In this month's column, I'm going to give you some real nuts and bolts information you can use to make better photos. We're going to take some of the materials we've talked about in earlier columns and do some photography. If you have a place you can dedicate to your photography, that's very good. If not, you can still use this technique, setting up and tearing down each time you need to photograph an item.

First, set up your background. You may have stands to use, or you might drape your background over a couple of chairs. The main thing is to remember to keep it simple and uncluttered.

Next, set up some sort of frame and attach your tracing paper to it. Wooden dowels or metal rods make an excellent frame, as does PVC pipe or conduit. Of course, there are other ways to do this do what works best for you. You'll want the tracing paper at a 90-degree angle to your background, and between the light and your subject. Have your light shine through tracing paper, toward your subject. You may want to try shining it directly on the subject (without the paper) at first to see the shadow, and the difference between the finished photo and direct lighting.

Still, one side of your subject will be in shadow. To brighten the shadow side, you'll want to put your reflector on the shadow side of the subject. Move it closer to and farther from the subject, and you'll notice that it makes a big difference how close the reflector is.

Next, you'll want to place your subject just the way you want it. Place it so that you're giving the bidder who's looking at the photo the most information possible. If the subject has more than one important side, place it at an angle to the camera so that two sides can be seen at once. Not only does this give more information, it's often more attractive.

Finally, you'll want to place your camera. Get it close enough to show good detail and eliminate anything that doesn't belong in the shot. Use your viewfinder to be sure that the subject takes up most of the space in the photograph. One mistake many beginning photographers often make is giving way too much background, making the subject appear small in the photo.

You may want to use a tripod or other camera support. If you're lighting with bulbs and using film, you'll need to use a slow shutter speed. Keeping the camera absolutely still is a must to keep your image sharp. I actually like using a camera support for most still situations, although I do prefer to work without one for things that move (like children).

Once you have this set up, you may want to move the light forward and back, and vary the angle of the light to the subject. This way, you'll be able to see subtle differences in the shadows. You can also reverse the positions of your light source, tracing paper and reflector.

This will give you some things to work with until next time.