“Why you want to shoot RAW.”  Talking about exposure mistakes.

While my kids played at the park this unbelievably pleasant-temperatured Wednesday afternoon, the ice cream truck arrived.  (As usual.  Sigh.)  I realized a few minutes later, I had a child sitting almost completely still, sitting on a bench in nice, even light!  Since I’d had the idea for this series for a few weeks, I grabbed my chance.  So apologies for the somewhat uninspiring sequence below, but the chance to capture this many pictures of my child, with the only variable being the shutter speed, well, that is a rare gift, indeed!

The following images illustrate pretty well why I consider shooting RAW to be, among other things, a great insurance policy against exposure mistakes.  Assuming the center images, shot at f/4, ISO 800, SS 1/400 sec, are the “correct” exposure, look what you can do in Lightroom, doing nothing more than adjusting the exposure slider to add 3 stops of exposure (for the top images) and take away 2 stops of exposure (for the bottom images).

In fairness, there were still a few spots of unrecoverable highlights on my son’s shoulder even in the overexposed RAW images; but otherwise, both the adjusted RAW images are completely usable (except, perhaps, for fine portraiture).  In contrast, both the underexposed and overexposed JPEG images on the right are “worthless” (a technical term, not related to sentimental value).

For additional perspective on these above images, here is the complete set I shot, including the straight out of camera images I used above.  From start to finish, these were all shot in under two minutes, and the light appeared consistent throughout.  Notice that, while the colors are more saturated in the JPEG images, there’s a richness of detail in the RAW images that’s lacking in their JPEG equivalents. Not for nothing are the RAW files called the “digital negatives.”  Again, all images are ISO 800, f/4, straight out of camera.

(On a side note, neither the RAW file nor the JPEG file were even remotely recoverable when overexposed by 3 stops.  In digital imagery, you lose detail in the highlights much faster than in the shadows, leading many photographers to believe it’s better to slightly underexpose than to risk blowing highlights.)

But, you say, the whole point is to get the exposure right in the camera, not in post-processing.

Ah, too true, my friend.  It will not do to assume shooting RAW means it’s okay not to properly meter before your shot.  Still, mistakes happen.

For example, in the same trip to the park this afternoon, I looked up to saw a ball land at my children’s feet. a tiny poodle followed the ball, which surprised my daughter, who knocked over my son, and then plopped herself down in his lap.  I just wanted this shot, and unfortunately, the cloud cover had lessened considerably since I’d been taking pictures of them just five minutes earlier, resulting in a picture that was quite a bit overexposed.

In Lightroom, I brought the exposure down about a stop, recovered some highlights (because the light was pretty harsh there, parts of the picture were blown beyond recovery, like the poodle’s back).  I finished my edit with this:

Is this an award-winning picture?  Naw.  But it’s now a decent lifestyle image of my kids being so typically my kids, you know?  My daughter’s trust in my son, my son’s suspicion of that dog….

To conclude, I will concede that there is a downside to shooting RAW.  Namely, it’s more expensive than shooting JPEG.  It’s like the book, If you give a mouse a cookie….

If you want to shoot RAW, you’ll need a camera that can shoot RAW files (I believe all dSLRs can, and a few point-and-shoots).
If you buy the new camera, you may as well buy larger memory cards (RAW files are big!).
To get those pictures off the memory cards, you’ll need a program that can read RAW files, like Adobe Lightroom (which is awesome, so you probably want it anyway).
As you start filling up LR with your images, you’ll realize you need a bigger harddrive.

See?

There’s also a convenience factor.  RAW files are not processed, so you can’t stop off a CVS with your memory card to print a bunch of 4x6s for a scrapbook for grandma.  And the iPhone doesn’t shoot RAW files (yet), so it takes quite a few steps to post to Facebook using Instagram.

So shooting RAW isn’t going to be the right decision for everyone.  But if you’re reading this, I assume you probably want to take the absolute best images of your family that you possibly can, and shooting RAW is, I believe, an important part of that!

Not convinced?  Wait until next week for Part II of this series. 

It has to be said: I really don’t enjoy the idea of going to see Santa in a mall.  I’m not anti-consumerism, per se, but the way the kids are rushed through just doesn’t seem quite in keeping with the Christmas spirit.  On a tip from a friend, I decided to go ahead and try the Santa Clause at Mazza Gallerie this year, though –  heard there was no line and parents could take their own pictures!  Camera over my shoulder, lists to Santa in hand, my family set off to check it out Saturday morning.

I think most parents can relate to what happened next.  My kids entered the car perfectly happy, excited even; and after a few hiccups finding a parking spot down in Friendship Heights, this was their general attitude about the whole outing.

I was in “breathe, and don’t get frustrated or we’ll definitely not get happy pictures” mode.  Breathing a lot.

Breathing stopped a moment when we realized it was only 11:30 am and we hadn’t checked what time Santa would arrive (noon, in case you’re thinking of going!).

More deep breathes — we’d just go and take some fun pictures in front of the Christmas tree to kill time.  Right…

My daughter was actually pretty into it.  Not posing-into-it, but that was okay — she was having so much fun, just awed by the sheer size of the Christmas tree (reminded me of the book Mr. Willoughby’s Christmas Tree).  Her Christmas list was in the rolling teddy-bear bag, and she was holding tight!

Meanwhile, my son’s opinion of waiting to see Santa hadn’t changed much.  I thought he’d be giddy with excitement.  Maybe he was hungry.  Clearly he felt tired!

Still I remained undeterred.  We were first in line, after all, and now it was only 5 more minutes (see left pic?) until Santa would be arriving!  [Please, I prayed, let Santa be a punctual sort with no unexpected bathroom breaks for the reindeer....]  We read back through my son’s list, and he was clearly feeling a little more enthusiastic, as a little smile broke out.

Meanwhile, my daughter was lost in thought again about Santa’s imminent arrival.

Finally, the doors opened, and Santa Clause came out!  Oh my gosh, my son was so excited — Santa put his hand up for a high-five and my son confidently whipped out his Christmas list.

Meanwhile, things were a little trickier with my daughter.  She might have been in a better mood in line, but she took one look at Santa and burst into hysterical, terrified crying!  Luckily, she let her Daddy hold her so I was able to continue to take pictures, but my hope of a picture of both kids sitting on Santa’s lap didn’t seem likely.  But after watching her brother talk to Santa and even sit in his lap, my daughter eventually agreed (tentatively) to sit there with him, too.

Though I’m not sure I’d call her “happy” to be there, she shoved her list in Santa’s face like a pro, while my son looked on with that worried expression he gets when he thinks she’ll cry.

But in the end, the David Madison Photography, the awesome photographer who was letting parents take their own pictures, too!, got this last shot of both of them sitting together with Santa, and I just love it.  No, they’re not smiling, but you know, they didn’t smile sitting with Santa.  They did engage with him and talk about it for the rest of the day, and I think this photo really captures that!

Merry Christmas!

- Danie Smallwood, Chevy Chase MD Family Photographer

I had this amazing idea earlier in the school year to bring in a couple of my cameras and let the kids see what it’s like to use use an SLR camera, while I used my third camera to take pictures of them doing it.

It was an awesome idea, I thought.  Planned it out.  Told the teachers.  Then wondered, would insurance cover two four year olds colliding on the playground, shattering lenses?

But I needn’t have worried.  It was a great time, and I achieved what I considered my main objectives:

• to give the kids a sense of what it feels like to hold such a heavy camera (even with fixed lenses on there, the Nikon D300 and D700 are heavy cameras)
• to show the kids how to put their eye right up to the viewfinder and take a moment to see what they were going to be taking a picture of
• to teach them the proper grip for the camera (aka, left hand wrapped under the lens, bearing the weight, fingers carefully not blocking the lens; right hand, 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers wrapped around the grip, pointer finger on the shutter button)

I’ve seen many adults shoot with a poorer grip than these kids had!

Here’s another look at a great grip (this one’s my son!).  As you can see, the grip was very important, because these kiddos were too little for the strap to be of any use!

Aside from a fun time, an unexpected benefit is that I now have dozens of pictures of myself, with camera in hand.

So, if you ever need pictures of yourself, just grab your nearest preschooler….

(A couple of these kids have a pretty good sense of composition, too — or else, seriously good luck.    You can see some original-crop pictures on my Facebook Page.)

A huge hug and thank you to the preschool teachers who facilitated this and so many other fun and new activities for these eager little minds!

- Danie

Getting fun pictures of my kids at the park sometimes seems like such a drag.  Been there, shot that.  I mean, seriously — we go to these parks all the time!  How many “new” pictures am I going to find?  So I went on a mission to look for little holes around the equipment to use to frame my daughter as she played.

Among the many shots I tried out that morning, these are a few of my favorites.  Framed just by that slide-climbing-structure-thing my daughter is obsessed with.  And yeah, it’s not the easiest thing to get a moving kid in focus whens hooting through a 1″ hole.

Photography Tip #2:  Make lens distortion work for you by watching your angles.

If you’re working with an SLR, you’ll appreciate that I was shooting with a 35mm lens (having planned just to take pictures of the inside of my son’s camp, so my mom could see how amazing it is!).  Since I had no other lenses with me, distortion was going to play a big part in the photos I was shooting.  No way around that!  So, I figured, gotta make it work for me.

Are you hungry yet?  After the park, my daughter announced that she was hungry (I think that’s just her new favorite word, but I find it impossible to ignore the “I HUNGWEEEE, Mommy!” call), so we ran over to the newly renovated McDonald’s over on River Rd. in Bethesda (which, incidentally, looks like it should be a Cosi, rather than a child-friendly fast-food restaurant, but that’s another story entirely).  I was determined to get some pictures of my daughter without the guy reading a newspaper in the background.  So to eliminate the distractions, I casually stood up on the bench next to my daughter’s high chair, and grabbed a picture before they asked us to leave.  (I did get a few weird looks, but hey, I love the picture, so it was worth it.)

Then back to Glen Echo Park to pick up big brother.  Since the kiddos were dragging their feet walking back to the car, I gave up the fight and let them play in the dirt, figuring I’d see what I could get laying my camera on the ground and shooting up at them (since I was uncharacteristically wearing a dress that day, this meant shooting blind, camera on ground, me not on ground!).

There is something just so precious about shots looking up at a child.  Don’t get me wrong — they don’t usually look great.    But when they do, it’s like you’ve placed yourself in their world for just a moment, where they’re constantly looking up at you.  And then, of course, sometimes, it’s just a little fun. 

So, what do you think?  Worth taking the time to break out of the more traditional playground pictures?!  (Which I also took and will share our full lifestyle session — aka, Mommy and Daughter morning — soon….)

- Danie Smallwood, Bethesda, MD

RAW images straight out of the camera (SOOC) tend to be very flat, lacking the color boost that the camera adds when it creates your JPEG files.  The advantage of the RAW file comes when you edit, however.  Had I shot JPEG, the details missing in the sky in the original image would likely have been lost completely, but with the RAW file, I was able to bring back all those incredible colors, and still have a well-exposed Mommy and Doggy. 

Shooting RAW — if you have an SLR or even a few types of Point-and-Shoots, you can shoot in RAW.  The downside is that you’ll need to process the images after you shoot (no popping over to CVS to print on your way home — but then, if you’re going to print at CVS, you don’t need to shoot RAW, anyway!).

On a side note, this edit is from a shoot last Fall; the client wanted a few additional images from her session.  As it’s over 100 degrees here in Bethesda today, it’s been a little hard to look at the sweaters, lol.    Hope you’re staying cool,

- Danie

The rest of this article assumes that you want a basic point-and shoot camera.  Some point-and-shoots have so many features they start to approximate the control of an SLR (for example, lots of photographers love the Canon G12, which allows you to shoot in RAW and manual exposure, minimal shutter delay, etc.  That said, personally, I am not at all in love with the Canon G-series, but that’s a whole different series of articles.)

So, onward!

Second: 4 features parents will want in a point-and-shoot

Minimal shutter delay

(aka, how fast can you take a picture). This might be the most critical feature when you’re dealing with kids, and it’s where an SLR clearly wins because, well, there is no real delay.  But I’m writing this for the point-and-shoot audience.  With a point-and-shoot, find out the shutter delay, both shutter lag (how fast the camera can take a picture after the shutter release is pressed), and next-shot delay (how fast the camera can write the picture to the memory card and be ready to take another picture).  Since the delay can range from about 1 to 5 seconds on average, shutter delay will make or break your chance to “get the shot”, in particular with fast-moving targets like kids.

Some point-and-shoot cameras can minimize the delay by allowing you to “pre-focus”—press the shutter halfway and hold it; the camera will then focus, and when you press the shutter the rest of the way, the delay is minimal.  You definitely want that feature!

Related to this, burst mode can be found on many p&s models (and all SLRs)– you hold down the shutter button and the camera continuously takes pictures.  Great for action sequences, and “cheating” when you don’t know when the best part of the action will happen.  Down side – most models cannot continuously focus while shooting like this, so latter shots may not be in focus, plus it’ll fill up your memory card really fast!

Image quality

Don’t pay more for more megapixels!  6-8 mps well exposed will still get you great 11×14 prints.  If you take a lot of pictures in specific lighting conditions (how many times do we try to take pictures in the relatively low-light of an auditorium where you can’t use a flash, for example), look for cameras that can still take good pictures under those conditions (and be sure the camera you want doesn’t struggle to focus in low-light!).

Flash

My point and shoot camera has two flash options:  Auto and Off.  Ideally, you want the third option:  On, so you can use the flash to fill in shadows on the face from high-sun on a sunny day.

Zoom

If you need to stand far away from the kids (for example, in a sporting event where you have to remain on the sidelines), make sure your camera can zoom far enough for your needs.  If you’re trying to preserve image quality, look only at optical zoom on a point-and-shoot camera—digital zoom is more or less equivalent to cropping the image on your computer, so image quality is diminished (though it might save you time editing…).  Some point-and-shoot cameras offer as much as 20x optical zoom (but remember – your flash will be useless more than a few feet in front of you!).  SLRs show zoom as the focal length of the lens—a lens that goes to 200mm will get you a pretty good close-up.

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Third: Some more {fun} features

It sometimes seems the sky is the limit these days when it comes to fun extra features in a point and shoot.   Here are additional features (from the merely practical to the pretty fun) that you may want to consider (in no particular order).

• Batteries: I like rechargeable batteries, in particular because they are lighter.  But nothing beats the convenience of good ol’ AA batteries when you’re on vacation and you forget your charger!  (Note: if you like rechargeable batteries, you can usually order an extra battery just to have in your bag.)  Additionally, look at differences in battery life between models.
• Second LCD screen:  You can get a second LCD screen on the front of the camera, to make it easier to take self-portraits.
• Swiveling LCD screen: for tricky angles, some cameras have an LCD screen that can tilt out/up, etc.
• Wi-Fi:  Some models connect to the internet by wi-fi, so you can send /upload pictures immediately (I’m salivating over that feature – perhaps I wouldn’t rely so heavily on my iPhone camera!).
• Shooting in RAW (instead of JPEG):  Some models allow you to shoot RAW (this gives you more flexibility in editing later).
• Panaromic shots:  Most (?) models allow you to create something like a panoramic (super wide) photo.  If there is something you wish your camera could do, go to a dedicated camera store and talk to the associates (see next point).
• Waterproof/shockproof.  These features come with a lot of quality compromises, but I personally chose to accept those since 1) I shoot primarily with an SLR so my p&s is just for fun and 2) my kids have been known to throw my camera (shockproofing!!!), including into the water (wish my iPhone was waterproof like my Sony!).
• General fit/feel.  It’s your camera – there’s nothing wrong with choosing the camera to buy because it just feels right in your hand, or you just “get” how the menus are organized (though if you find a point-and-shoot with well layed out menus, drop me a line, okay?!).
• Wide-angle lens:  Even if most of your pictures are of your kids, if you do a lot of interior or landscape photography, look for a point-and-shoot with wide-angle capabilities.  Something equivalent to at least a 28mm – 12 or 18mm is even better.  The smaller the number, the more of the room/landscape you’ll see.  Unfortunately, you’ll also see a lot of distortion (if you’ve ever looked at a realtor’s photos of a bathroom and thought, no way is it that big – that’s a wide-angle lens at work).

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Fourth: Locating the right camera

The sales associates in a dedicated camera store (here in the DC area, I recommend Penn Camera) are generally very knowledgeable and may be able to recommend the perfect camera as soon as you tell them the features you want.  General electronics stores like Best Buy or Radio Shack may have a knowledgeable camera sales associate, but their selection is less and their expertise probably less…expert, so I would stick with a dedicated camera store.

To get the most out of your trip to the store, I recommend first going to sites like Dave’s Picks and Amazon.com to see what other moms and dads, “momtogs”, and other users have to say about the camera.  Consumer Reports is also a fountain of user-friendly information (they usually have a special edition each year dedicated to digital cameras).  These are great for your initial research, but I don’t think they replace getting to actually touch and try out your camera of choice.

Before buying, go to the store and take a few test shots (your camera store should allow you to do this). Where you ultimately buy the camera is up to you.  If you feel a sales associate in a store was very helpful, I happen to believe that service is worth the higher cost of purchasing the camera in a store (plus, I’m terrified of losing my local buying options!).  Wherever you buy, always make sure you know the return policy (you can probably expect a restocking fee if the package is opened; and limited time period during which returns are accepted).  Also consider whether you want an extended warranty (weighing the speed with which digital technology is changing against the ease of getting your camera fixed instead of learning a whole new system!).

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Conclusion:

There is no perfect point-and-shoot camera (even SLRs aren’t PERFECT, after all!), but I hope the above suggestions will start you asking yourself (and your local camera store sales associate!) questions that will help you find a great camera for you!

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A few resources:

http://www.penncamera.com My recommendation if you want to actually check out a camera in store – generally large selection, and very helpful/knowledgeable sales associates.  If you’re interested in higher-end equipment, several of the branches allow you to rent cameras/lenses.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/WB/WB.HTM Dave’s Picks.  To the right, you can choose “kind of user”—including “family” and “mom” to see one reviewer’s suggestions of cameras that might fit your needs.  The site as a whole contains detailed, professional reviews of hundred of cameras.

http://www.consumerreports.com You need a subscription to access a lot of their information, but I think it’s worth the price.  Or you can check your local public library for the most recent print edition reviewing digital cameras.

http://www.amazon.com Tons of customer reviews!   Highly recommended.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com For purchasing photography equipment.  If you call them, their sales people are often extremely helpful.

http://www.clickinmoms.com An online forum of amazing women (and a few men) for whom photography is a passion, and in some cases, a profession.

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Choosing the “momtog” camera

Yes, yes, it’s the photographer that takes the picture, not the camera.  Still, if your camera has a 2 second delay before it finally deigns to take that picture, well, that’s starting to be about the camera.  If your flash completely blows out all features of your child’s face, well, the best photographer in the world might not be able to combat that one!

This post is dedicated to helping you pick a camera that will give you, your family’s official photographer, a little more of a fighting chance to get the picture you’re looking for!

After all, as parents, we love to take pictures of our kids.  We need lots of pictures so we can stay in touch with out-of-town friends (or complete strangers) on Facebook.  Okay, or make a family album.   Yet our littlest family members in particular don’t seem to understand how important it is that they hold perfectly still and smile sweetly….  (As if we’d even want that picture!)  So on to the camera choices….

First: Choose Point-and-shoot v. dSLR

To oversimplify greatly, point-and-shoot cameras perform almost all functions automatically, which makes taking pictures easy, but gives you little control over the results.  They also tend to have dramatic delays in taking the pictures.  Still, point-and-shoots tend to be small (you can find models that fit into your pocket, and almost all will fit in a purse or diaper bag), so they are easy to always have with you “just in case”.  And the camera that you’ll actually carry around is worth a whole lot m

SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras tend to be larger and correspondingly pricier (though there are models for under $500 now), and usually feature some kind of “auto” mode—but you have dramatically more control over things like what parts of the shot are in focus or whether you “freeze” action or let the scene look a little blurry to show the motion.  Perhaps most importantly for parents, however, SLRs take the picture with no detectable delay.  As your budget increases, you can buy better and better lenses that will produce crisper pictures.  Of course, the more expensive the equipment in dSLR world, the heavier it is.  (Kind of goes against our thinking about electronics these days, doesn’t it? J ).

So which do you choose? It really depends on your budget and your willingness to learn to make the most out of your equipment.  If you buy an SLR and leave it on auto, your pictures may be sharper than with a point-and-shoot, but you’re wasting most of that investment (remember, it really is the photographer taking the picture….).

Since taking pictures is pretty much what I do when I’m not taking care of my kids, I have a couple SLRs and a host of lenses that I use for most of the pictures I ultimately will print.  But I’m not just a photographer — I’m a mother to two adorable children, and I lug enough of their stuff around with me that for general use, I almost always rely on my iPhone camera or my SONY waterproof point-and-shoot!

So, I’ll end part one with a quick look at some pictures I took at a friend’s wedding recently.

Exhibit 1:  Point and Shoot

My point-and-shoot allows me to choose where I want it to focus (alternatively, I could have focused and recomposed, but that’s for another post), allowing me to take this picture with the flowers in focus, but the gazebo in the background out of focus.  (As a side note, this was a fun picture to take, because these flowers are actually about 6 inches off the ground.  Never trust a photo!)

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Exhibit Two:  D700 dSLR

This picture would have been challenging, if not impossible, with a point-and-shoot, because the camera would have been unsure what part of the photo to properly expose.  Plus, I was shooting this at 10,000 ISO, and while it’s a bit noisy (almost grainy), it’s still pretty usable! I don’t know of a point-and-shoot that can shoot at that high an ISO.  Love the low-light capabilities of Nikon’s D700.

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Exhibit 3:  SLR – Macro lens

While many point-and-shoot cameras have a “macro” feature (that is, they allow you to focus very close to your subject; I was actually using that feature in the first photo in this series, with my p&s), that is no substitute for an actual macro lens on an SLR camera. Of course, hand-holding while shooting macro is not ideal, but I chose not to travel to Mexico with my heavy Manfrotto tripod!

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Exhibit 4: Point and Shoot with flash turned off.

Probably not about to win any awards, but finally learning to turn off the flash on my point-and-shoot was its own reward with this shot.  Just having some fun at the reception.

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Exhibit 5: Point and shoot, on the airplane

I have to admit, I love how the scratches on the window added texture to this photo!  This is one of those moments where the point-and-shoot wins because it’s the camera I could reach when I looked out my window on the flight home and saw the sun reflecting on the water, and the tip of the airplane’s wing just visible….  The perfect shot to close the vacation.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of this post:  4 Features Parents Definitely Want — plus more {fun} features.

- Danie Smallwood, Photography by Danie

Are you shocked?

Here are a few examples of times I’ve forgotten my camera (haircut), not been able to find my camera after the move (sleeping on the rug), not been able to get to my camera in time (baby raiding the diaper bag), or just plain didn’t want to drag the big camera to the park (baby enjoying the afternoon!):

In the years since I started studying photography, an interesting phenomenon has occurred.  First, friends started showing me pictures of their kids — and in the same breath, apologizing for the quality of the pictures.  Then, I found that _I_ would qualify my non-professional-looking pictures of my own kids by saying the same kinds of things — didn’t have time to grab my “real” camera, etc. etc. etc.  (That said, please remember I took the above pictures with my phone….just kidding!)

The truth is that “snapshots” — those pictures you took because you wanted to remember something about that particular moment in time — are probably the most important pictures you’ll ever have of your family and friends.  You hire me to create beautiful portraits that still capture your child’s personality — but I see you just for a sliver of time and you alone are there to capture those other millions of precious moments.  In the end, it doesn’t really matter if the shot is a little out of focus, or someone walked right into the background — if that picture has meaning to you, never apologize about the technical qualities!  Just enjoy your beautiful memories!

And Happy Friday!

- Danie

But you’re not a photographer? Ha, you don’t need to be a professional to get this done!  Your own point-and-shoot camera and some basic photo editing software will get the job done nicely.

Rule #1: Fill your frame with your subject.

This is usually true when you’re taking photos– you want your subject to dominate the picture.  Compare the following two pictures:

What's my subject? The desk? The room? The wall color?

Now it's much clearer that the desk is for sale (okay, and possibly the chair).

The difference between the above pictures is nothing more than cropping the photo.  [As a side note, I took the photo as part of a series to illustrate what our den/office looks like, so the room was, in fact, the original subject. But I digress.]  Not sure how to crop a photo?  Mac users should check out iPhoto — very simple photo editing software.  PC users might like Photoshop Elements.  There are dozens of other photo editing programs, from free to expensive (read: Photoshop), easy to complicated, but that’s for another post.

If you really don’t want to learn how to crop your pictures, either zoom closer to the subject or just plain get up and walk closer to it.

Final note: if your subject is small, say a watch, you might not be able to get close enough to fill the frame.  Try to place such an object on a solid color background, perhaps a black cloth, so that it is still clear you are selling the watch.  Then learn how to crop!

Rule #2:  Consider the setting.

Here’s where you get to be creative.  Perhaps you like having a few things on the desk above, as well as the chair, the garbage can — it all makes it easier to visualize the desk in use, perhaps in its new home?!  Personally, however, if I were really selling that desk, I would clear it, possibly move the chair, definitely remove the garbage can….

I recently sold a quilt on Craigslist and one picture I was sure to include was the quilt on my nicely made bed (I had to pull the quilt out from the closet and remake the whole bed to accomplish this, but it was worth it!).  Compare the quilt on the bed example to someone who set the quilt on their hardwood floor, possibly still folded up, and took a quick picture….

Another example that comes to mind — a set of chairs.  Sure, take some pictures of just the chairs, but if you can swing it, put the chairs in “a room” — perhaps around a kitchen table.  Even if that isn’t how you usually use them, it’s easier for your customer to visualize them in a lovely, well-lit room.  (Even if you have to “borrow” that room from a neighbor or friend!)

Rule #3:  Bend down to take the picture.

Cannot stress this enough.  Unless you truly want to show something with the “looking down from standing height” shot, bend your knees and take a picture of the front of the item.  My above example of the desk is, in fact, a lousy example of this rule.  A better picture would have resulted from lowering the camera until it was literally right in front of the desk.

Rule #4:  Use more than one picture.

If you’re selling a coffee maker, perhaps a shot from the front is fine, unless there are special elements you can show in a picture.  For example, when I sold that quilt, I had the picture of the quilt on the bed, but also three other “detail” pictures of the pattern and the shams.  Another time, I sold a desk that had a scratch on the side, and I included a picture of the scratch, hoping to save myself the time of getting email inquiries to the tune of “Just how bad is the scratch?”

Now, one of the great limitations of Craigslist is that it only allows you to upload four, pretty small, pictures of the item.  Most items need only two or three pictures (okay, maybe even just one), but what happens if you’re trying to sell a whole collection of Duplo legos? You might well benefit from individual shots of parts of the collection (house-related, farm-related, school bus, people, etc.) and it’s not hard to need more than 4 pictures.  That’s when people start putting a link like “see pictures at http://mypictures.com”, which leads me to…

Rule #5:  Embed your photos.

If you don’t know what “embed” means, don’t stop reading yet!

Basically, the idea is to display your photos right in your classified ad, rather than as those four little attachments at the end.

To do this, you need to upload your photos to an image hosting site that will give you an HTML code.  I like to use SmugMug — but there are free sites, like PhotoBucket, that will give you the code after you upload and save a picture.

To use SmugMug (though the latter instructions apply as long as you have the HTML code for your photo):

1.  Create your account (you can create a trial account for free).

2.  Follow the instructions to upload photos (they also have great “help” support if you’re not sure what you’re doing!) to a new gallery.  I recommend creating a gallery specifically for Craigslist sale items.

3.  Go to your new gallery.  You should be seeing a screen that looks something like this.

4.  Click on “share” (found in the upper-right hand corner of the screen).  You should get a version of the following drop-down menu (unless you password protected the gallery, in which case you won’t be able to share photos like this unless you take the password off).

5.  Click on “get a link” to see the following.

Notice at the top of that screen, there are four categories of links. “Photo Links” is darker than the others.  You want to click on “Embeddable Links”.

6.  Click on “embeddable links” and you’ll see the following:

7.  Under “blogs”, click “copy” next to the size you want the photo to be (aka, LARGE and eye-catching).

8.  Now, when you are typing your craigslist ad, wherever you would like the photo to appear, “paste” that link you copied right there.

9.  Click “continue” at the very bottom of the screen (you don’t need to use “add/edit images”; Craiglist will show your listing with “img” after it, just like “pic”, and also recognize those pictures when people search only for ads with pictures).

Your beautiful large pictures should now be displayed!

My screen was too small to show more of the ad. Little laptop....

10.  Continue to publish your craigslist ad as you would have before (but note how beautiful the above posting is, and how disappointing a “normal” posting would look by comparison:

A traditional Craigslist posting, with 1-4 pictures at the end.

Happy Spring Cleaning, everyone — and remember, as a local consignment shop sign says, “Your junk is another man’s treasure!”  So don’t be afraid to TRY to sell it.  Price it right, and someone just might want it!

- Danie Smallwood | Photography By Danie, temporarily operating out of Charlottesville, VA

[Credits: thank you to Small Notebook for a Simple Home for first introducing me to the idea of embedding your photos in a Craigslist ad!]

Professional organizer Jody Morse Al-Saigh, of Picture Perfect Organizing (http://www.pictureperfectorganizing.com/), Washington, DC metropolitan area, posted the following set of suggestions for taking better pictures — a very succinct set and excellent tips!  Thanks for sharing, Jody!

Note: the tips were apparently scanned from a magazine ad for Buitoni pasta

Jody specializes in organizing photos — you may enjoy her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/PictPerfectOrg

- Photography By Danie | Danie Smallwood
Bethesda, MD Photographer