Taking Photo Question...

Are there any tips or tricks for taking a photo for a vendor ad? I see lots of close up shots very clear and nice. Mine are okay and I try to get as close up as I can. Lighting sometimes is a mess but I was just wondering the best way to do pics for a vendor ad. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

My 2L worth:

*If it's clothing, and it's expensive, I want to see it from all angles.
*A plain white or colored background is preferable to a busy one so it's easier to see the item.
*In a shop I prefer to see similar pictures on all the vendors... not necessarily the same pose, but the same general layout.
*I want to see the item, prims, permissions and price on the ad.
*You can make yourself a quickie "photo studio" with some lights attached to it, to help your pictures all look similar.

make sure you use the "High Resolution" snapshot function.

Learn to light your object/model so it is nice and clear

Put your graphics setting as high as you can before taking a pic

Take your pics against a neutral background colour and then learn how to mask them in your graphics program so you can place several pics over one background.

To see clothing examples go see what I mean at my store - KC Fashions (excuse the plug)

Your ad is Very important when selling so do as good a job as you can - practice, practice & practice some more

Excuse me if you know these things already:

For an ultra-closeup, use ctrl-0 to flatten the depth of field. Use ctrl-9 to restore the normal depth of field.

Any old prim can be a light - face lights are just transparent prims with the "light" feature set on the build menu. So, you can make a bunch and set them around your model as you need to.

There are "photo studios" inworld, with pose stands that rotate etc. stocked with a bunch of poses, many different backgrounds builtin, and full sets of lights and effects (e.g. fog). If that interests you, a couple of venerable models include the Photosphere and MadameG Zagato's N30. (By the time you really learn how to use an N30 thoroughly, you'll probably just want to make your own, LOL!).

You probably want to NOT put the price on the picture, in case you want to have a sale.

Do NOT photoshop the pic to make it look nice. I never trust shops that photoshop their vendor pics.

Always include a (nomod) copy of your promo pic in the box with the item, in case someone has a big inventory and needs to be reminded of what it is.
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I agree with Nika, do not put a price on a picture in case of future sales! You lose a lot of linden doing so.

I have to disaggree, I like seeing the price on the vendors, especially when there is a sale. Then i know it is a sale. I always put the price on my vendors, they are all uniform in the background and have different angles, your most welcome to come and check them out inworld anytime . But whatever you do , dont fix them in photoshop, people get upset when the end product is not the same as the vendor pic.

Here's a few links you should check out for getting some nice vendor photos:

http://juicybomb.typepad.com/blog/2008/09/gogos-lighting.html

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Torley_Linden/Snapshot_tips

Hope this helps.

My sales went up dramatically when I took the prices off the vendor graphics. I did it ot make price changes easier, but it boosted sales. I think it is because people click on your vendor to check the price, and right there it becomes an impulse buy. This is particularly true if your prices are reasonable, and are uniformly reasonable.

I take all my product photos at 2880x1688 (or something like that), basically double my screen size. I then mask off and resize in photoshop. I photograph everything against a tan backdrop set to full bright that is very close in hue and value to the parchment texture that is the background for my product shots. Very easy to mask them off. Full bright prevents shading gradations, so the color selection tool masks perfectly in two clicks.

I keep a bunch of lights rezzed in my studio, with the range kept low. I slide them in and around to provide local lighting to best show off the details of my products. Leaving yourself at the mercy of the global light is a mistake.

Your point about impulse buying is interesting. I have always put prices on my vendor textures but hadn't ever thought of that angle. Personally, I find it annoying to have to keep clicking on things to find out how much they cost. After a few minutes of it, I get disgusted and leave the shop. We're all different, though, so who knows?

One thing I do that hasn't been mentioned is to incorporate multiple poses in all of my photos so that a buyer can see what a dress looks like from different directions and can see, for example, how it flows if she's dancing. That's especially important if the dress has attached bows or other features that might not be obvious in just one pose.

I think most people in SL, if things are rationally and logically priced, just buy what they want, within reason. I never run around clicking on everything to check price... I only check the price of what I'm interested in buying, and 9 times out of 10, if it is less than I expected, I buy it, even if the difference is minor.