Trying to get quality pics for web sales.

[Dazed and confused]

Hi all, my wife and I are thinking about starting a web store to sell products we made and some other gift type stuff.I'm having a hard time getting good photos.Here is a sample can you please give your opinions and or suggestions for improvement.

Thanks for looking
Mark
Camera: Pentax K20D
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/180)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Fired

File Size: 309 kB
File Type: JPEG
MIME Type: image/jpeg
Image Width: 757
Image Height: 497
Encoding Process: Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample: 8
Color Components: 3
X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Software: Adobe Photoshop 7.0
Date and Time (Modified): 2009:08:28 07:00:34
White Point: 0.313 0.329
Primary Chromaticities: 0.64 0.33 0.21 0.71 0.15 0.06
YCb Cr Coefficients: 0.299 0.587 0.114
YCbCr Positioning: Co-sited
Exposure Program: Manual
Date and Time (Original): 2009:08:27 18:38:56
Date and Time (Digitized): 2009:08:27 18:38:56
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
Color Space: sRGB
Sensing Method: One-chip color area
Custom Rendered: Normal
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Focal Length In35mm Format: 82 mm
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Contrast: High
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Hard
Subject Distance Range: Macro
Gamma: 2.2
Compression: JPEG (old-style)
Global Angle: 30
Global Altitude: 30
Copyright Flag: False
Photoshop Quality: 12
Photoshop Format: Standard
Progressive Scans: 3 Scans
XMPToolkit: XMP toolkit 2.8.2-33, framework 1.5
About: uuid:ea4e2a44-93c1-11de-97b3-a37b8573b452
Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type: D50
Measurement Observer: CIE 1931
Measurement Flare: 0.999%
Measurement Illuminant: D65
Color Transform: YCbCr

[JFSanders]

Mark, check out the "Strobist" website. And get as much reading material you can find on still life photography. It will help a whole bunch.

[inkista]

Basically, undiffused on-camera flash is not good for this--you need the light to come from a different direction. You'll want to google "DIY Lightbox" to get a bunch of different setups for diffusion--and you can do this with lamps or flashes, but flashes will let you control the amount of light output. You just don't want to be using a built-in pop-up flash. You just have to be careful that your lights are the same color, so you can do white balancing in post-production.

I recently shot one of my beloved fountain pens by simply using an Ikea recycle bin and two flashes, crosslighting the pen from the left and right.

[kencaleno]

Just needed a bit of contrast......

[kencaleno]

Originally Posted by Dazed and confused

Hi all, my wife and I are thinking about starting a web store to sell products we made and some other gift type stuff.I'm having a hard time getting good photos.Here is a sample can you please give your opinions and or suggestions for improvement.

Thanks for looking
Mark
Camera: Pentax K20D
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/180)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Fired

File Size: 309 kB
File Type: JPEG
MIME Type: image/jpeg
Image Width: 757
Image Height: 497
Encoding Process: Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample: 8
Color Components: 3
X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Software: Adobe Photoshop 7.0
Date and Time (Modified): 2009:08:28 07:00:34
White Point: 0.313 0.329
Primary Chromaticities: 0.64 0.33 0.21 0.71 0.15 0.06
YCb Cr Coefficients: 0.299 0.587 0.114
YCbCr Positioning: Co-sited
Exposure Program: Manual
Date and Time (Original): 2009:08:27 18:38:56
Date and Time (Digitized): 2009:08:27 18:38:56
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
Color Space: sRGB
Sensing Method: One-chip color area
Custom Rendered: Normal
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Focal Length In35mm Format: 82 mm
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Contrast: High
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Hard
Subject Distance Range: Macro
Gamma: 2.2
Compression: JPEG (old-style)
Global Angle: 30
Global Altitude: 30
Copyright Flag: False
Photoshop Quality: 12
Photoshop Format: Standard
Progressive Scans: 3 Scans
XMPToolkit: XMP toolkit 2.8.2-33, framework 1.5
About: uuid:ea4e2a44-93c1-11de-97b3-a37b8573b452
Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type: D50
Measurement Observer: CIE 1931
Measurement Flare: 0.999%
Measurement Illuminant: D65
Color Transform: YCbCr

Contrast adjustment.................Ken

[Dazed and confused]

Thank you guys it's nice to get a clue.Funny you should use a pen as an example that's one of the things I do.If you saw this pic would you look further?

[inkista]

No, but that's because the only pens that turn my head are fountain pens that are at least 50 years old.

It's a pretty good shot. I still think the light could be softened a bit, and it looks a little overexposed/low-contrast and soft (focus? or possibly the attachment resizing), but it's a good product shot.