It's the difference between This and This!
I will include instructions for both a digital camera and (most) phones, as well as some general tips.
GENERAL TIPS:
1. LIGHTING! Most indoor incandescent lights are very yellow, and can do weird things to some figures. Don't worry, it should not be a problem - just keep it in mind. The absolute best lighting you can have for a quick shot of most toys is outdoor sunlight, as most machines are really built for that. If the toy looks as yellow as Bart SImpson, then try different lighting!
2. BACKDROP: You don't have to get fancy about your backdrop. A brown carpet, white sheet of paper, or black t-shirt will do MANY wonderful things. The idea is that your backdrop should not clash with the figuresw or mess up the lighting in the picture. This may seem intimidating, but it's really easy - just take a shirt you own, put it down, and set our toys on top of it. Ta-da! YOU WIN!
DIGITAL CAMERA:
1. Learn to FOCUS! About 99.95% of digital cameras have a very simple way of doing this: Hold the camera roughly medium length from the toy (say, about three-to-six inches if it's a MUSCLE), and hold the button halfway down. See if it focuses on the figure. If not, move the camera back a little. When it looks clean, take your picture. If you really want to, you can set a macro lense or make it take a series of photos while you hold the button down, but like I said, this is a simple guide. Half-press the button, hold to focus, then full-press to take.
2. Learn to RESIZE! This is not difficult. You do not need photoshop. Just open MSPaint, open your picture in it, and click on "Image" and then "Resize/Skew." Anywhere from 20%-40% will be good, depending on the size of the figure in the pic. I cannot stress this enough: Digital cameras take BIG PICTURES, often so big that if you upload it raw, the folks here cannot make out a single toy in it! You want your photo to be big, but not overwhelming.
CAMERA PHONE:
1. Learn to FOCUS! Camera phones are not very good at toy photography, and even smart phones have problems! In this casde, hold your phone a little further back than with a camera (about 8-10 inches), and take a few photos. When previewing on your phone, zoom in a little to see how the details look. If one seems good, then...
2. Send to YOUR COMPUTER! This is heavily important! Older phones ahve ways of sending their multimedia to your e-mail, and smartphones make it easy. Do this, then take another look at the pic. Is it still clear now? If so, good! if not... bad. And does it need to be resized? Again, this is easy to do!
And there you go! It's really very simple, and will help you get those weird toys IDed a whole lot easier! Remember: Thes tips will only cost you about five minutes of your time. That isn't much, and it makes it possible for other people to identify your toys for you!
Now enjoy, and happy identifying!
Edited by Ridureyu, 03 May 2012 - 04:47 PM.