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How to take/make square pictures?

 
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seewhatifound



Posts: 21

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 11:36 am    Post subject: How to take/make square pictures? Reply with quote

I am just now getting serious about loading my shop, and I am learning lots of things! Lots of things... But I find that many, if not all of my photos crop funny when they post. When I try to crop them square in my editing program, it looks as though I need to re-take the pics with more border around the object. Vertical rectangles seem to do okay, but horizontal ones are trimmed badly. Any thoughts or advice?
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A-Better-Way



Posts: 3363

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Crop them square , try holding down ,shift, or control on the keyboard as you move mouse to keep it square.

Take the largest picture and quality your camera can do, the "resample" it down size AFTER you cropped or edited it.

I think anything above a 5 meg file won't upload, so I resample mine like 2 or 3 times, and the picture is still detail and huge.

Probably anything around 1024 by 768 size is good. and don't resample things , "maintain aspect ratio"

If you are using a phone for pictures, go buy a camera. and a tripod.
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Any thoughts or advice?


Just looking at how your pictures show up as a browser in your store. I'm not seeing any problems. They look fine and ultimately that is where you wan them to look good.

The thumbnails ecrater shows are square, but the photos can be a rectangle shape in your actual listing. Because I sell sewing patterns, for the most part I want them to be rectangles, so even though the photo may look square in thumbnails, I set them up for how I want them to look in my store. Others may have the scoop on how to make a square thumnail and a square picture in your store.
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seewhatifound



Posts: 21

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 4:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the replies! What I gather is that as long as my pics are a good size, they will reproduce properly if someone clicks thru to the actual item? Looks like I will have my work cut out for me on the ol' editing/photography board. Will first try to square the existing ones up with ABW's advice. Then just start re-taking photos. Ugh, I have over 1000 images to go through. Moon, that is helpful to know - I can go ahead and post the vertical rectangle pictures.

Thanks again for the help!
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SheilaDeesPostcards
moderator


Posts: 4614

PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wouldn't spend any time going back to get the thumbnails to appear in a square format. However, there are a few photos you may want to reshoot to make sure the complete products it in the photo you post on the item page. The photos I checked are a good size, but do keep in mind that eCRATER says photos should be at least 800px on one side, doesn't matter if it's the horizontal or vertical. If your photos are smaller, your item will show after the larger photos in the marketplace search. Google Shopping says the photos should (not required) be at least 800px on both sides. I generally try to have the photo at least 1000px on one side for all new photos.
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seewhatifound



Posts: 21

PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Sheila! I really don't have time or energy to re-shoot everything. Instead of using strictly those I edited for the bay, I may go back to the originals in some cases. My photos being too large is usually the problem, and I like to fill the viewfinder with the item. Yes, I am old - can't get the hang of framing a shot on the screen.
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A-Better-Way



Posts: 3363

PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you get a tripod you can take pictures of the same size type of item all in a row.

It's really a great thing to have, to show sides just turn or move the item and leave camera alone.

Unless you have one already
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 11:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm fortunate that most of what I sell I can do pictures on a flat bed scanner. But I do have a camera now and am learning how to do pictures for things that are more dimensional. If Amazon has a listing for something I will go with that for the big bulkier items though. I found a Monopoly Nascar game at the GW the other day. Hoping it will sell at Christmas time if not before. Glad I didn't have to photograph it! Very Happy
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prime-outlets



Posts: 4

PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just did mine which is over 2000 picture that I convert to square. I use photoshop. The software have a feature that automate the shape and size that you want. It works just like macro in excel. You record the first picture of how you would want it to be and then use the automate feature to do the rest of the pictures. So, for 2000 image of different kind of size and shape, I'm able to do it in less than 10 minutes. No cropping, no resizing.
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 3:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pehaps I'm weird, but why all this work to make a thumbnail square when it looks fine as a rectangle on your listing page.
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SammysSupplies



Posts: 1631

PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 6:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just made my camera take square pictures. It saved a lot of my time.
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cosmicray



Posts: 7286

PostPosted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 4:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SammysSupplies wrote:
I just made my camera take square pictures. It saved a lot of my time.

+1

My smartphone has a Camera option that makes the images square or rectangular.
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