How To Take Pro Quality Clothing Photos For Ebay and Poshmark, Beginner's Guide
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Published 2021-01-31
- The 449 best men's clothing brands for Ebay and other reselling platforms
- Each brand analyzed by sell-through rate, price and clothing category
- Use on your phone or desktop
- You decide how much you want to pay me for it
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Thumbnail photo by Igor Starkov: www.pexels.com/photo/shirts-hanging-2356344/
It took me years of rage-inducing troubleshooting to arrive at this basic protocol to take photos of clothing for reselling platforms.
If you just go with auto mode on your phone's camera, like I used to, and like most people do, your photos are going to regularly suffer from color and brightness issues. When you compensate by adjusting levels, it often winds up making the pics look blown out.
The basics:
- Get a white or light gray background
- Use two photo lights - softboxes or ring lights. Avoid umbrella lights.
- Get a phone that lets you take photos in manual mode. iPhones don't let you do this.
- Take pics in 1:1 aspect ratio unless the garment is too big for it
- Set white balance manually at the beginning of every session
- Bump ISO down as low as it can go
- Adjust the shutter speed (F-Stop) until you get the proper brightness
- Hold the phone very steady
- Adjust shutter speed as you adjust your distance to the garment
It will take some practice to be able to tell, based on the display when you're taking photos, when the pics are going to look proper. Once you get it dialed in, the pics are almost as effortless as when you were in auto mode. And they look much, much better.
When you use your phone in pro mode, it may create two files instead of one. The extra file is the "raw," or uncompressed, photo. You can toggle this feature off if you just want to shoot in jpeg, which is what I do.
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All Comments (21)
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Update a year later: multiple people have told me iPhones have manual mode now. I also don't touch ISO 99% of the time, I leave it at its lowest setting and just manipulate the f-stop. I also don't set whitebalance, I just leave it permanently on 5000k, which is the color temperature of the ring lights. Even easier.
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Thank you for making this video. I wouldn't say my pictures were trash but I definitely needed a way to make them look more professional and also not use my "wood" floor as a background. I was starting to feel it in my back. Even without the lights, my pictures are quite bright and this method also helps if it's slightly cloudy outside. Much appreciated!
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Thanks for these great tips! I just tried it with my phone - which isn't the model you're using - and the pics of my tees are 100% better. Content creators on YouTube are the best. XOXO I'm thankful for YOU!
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I have watched every tutorial on my phone which is an android LG K92 Plus to try to figure out how to take the best product photos and NONE, I mean ZERO videos explain anything more than - here is how to change your aspect ratio. THANK YOU for this! I don't have "Pro" mode but do have Manual which is the equivalent to your pro mode. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I honestly can't afford a big fancy $900 camera and was truly starting to give up on being able to take quality photos with my phone. Love your videos in general.
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One trick with the Samsung phone. Set it to take a picture when you say smile, that helps when you're trying not to shake the phone at all during a photo.
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Wow, What a great to-the-point video. I'm transitioning to soft good from hard and this is a huge help!!! I also purchased your Manifesto which is super detailed and will help me tremendously. From one Youtuber to another Thanks.
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Wow! I am so excited to find out that my Galaxy S9 phone has a pro mode. I had no idea. Thanks so much, Matt! You are are awesome and have a great sense of off beat humor. Love your vids.
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I'm still learning to take good photos for listing & your instruction made it easy to understand. Thank You!!!
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Great info and explanation in a short vid. Thanks, Matt!
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Omg you freaking saved my life! Seriously I was having so many problems with my lighting and could not figure it out at all with all the shadows and couldn't get it bright enough, I have light grey wall and have the same phone! Thank you sooooooo much like million times!! Yup I'm officially re-taking all my pics haha!
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Great info ! Lots of seasoned sellers show this but miss steps cause they think EVERYBODY know certain things. I think you hit every step 📷 Thanks
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Thank you so much for making this video. You are my hero as it made my pictures so much better. It's been a frustration of mine for so long, but nothing I tried seemed to help. Take care.
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Awesome video! Easy to follow tips using my Samsung S20 FE. Extremely rainy day so moved photoshoot to veranda and pictures look great. Stood on a stool to get a better angle. Can't wait to upload to my site. Thanks!
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Just starting to take pro photos for ebay so will try this method. Its frustrating as a novice photographer so really appreciate your video.
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Finally! I've needed this for so long. I have a Motorola e5 Supra phone and it has a manual thingy so this should work for me
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Awesome info as always! If you could ever make a video on fabric types for eBay item specifics that’d be much appreciated/educational!!
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I just listed a bunch of clothes, and this was a huge help. Commenting for the algorithm. Do shorts next.
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Thanks! I'd been fighting to stop the forced digital edits from distorting photos into absurdly cartoonish vibrancy for a couple months. Jeez, it shouldn't be so hard to get an authentic photo. This was a huge help. 🙂
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Omgosh, where have you been in my life? LOL seriously tho, thank you so much. I have been on the struggle bus with this for a long time and due to my situation, lighting is awful unless I go outside. It's nasty in the summer in Kentucky, you can swim in our humidity. Thank you so much!
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Thanks again for this. I keep coming back to it over time just to check all is OK, especially if I change phones. BTW enjoy the sun :)
