How To Best Photograph An Album Page

Preparing a stamp for an auction or a sale seems to be a straight forward task. Dark background, high resolution scan and a leveling tool to have the stamp's perforation line parallel to the borders of the picture and we're done.

As I found out - taking photographs for an optimal representation of album pages is much more difficult. During the last 2-3 hours I was struggling in what felt like an epic attempt to have one of my pre-designed albums photographed for sale.

Here are the results thus far. Any remarks, comments and compliments are more than welcomed.

Seahorse, I think if you insist on using a camera (as opposed to a scanner) you should consider photographing your pages straight on, or as close to as possible. This would allow for optimum viewing of the entire page, without the distortion of perspective. Also lighting is important. If you don't have good photo lights, and most people don't, try shooting them outside on a clear day. You'll have to experiment of course, not too much glare and such, but if you've got a decent camera, it should compensate some for exposure.
Just some thoughts.

Looks nice but I can't see the stamps which is what I would be buying, unless your just selling the actual album (stamps not included) I imagine you have already looked at other companies like lighthouse and subway stamps for picture ideas. Looks good to me what you got up there.

I am NOT a good photographer, but I have learned a few tricks from photographing my own collection.

1) Do not use the camera's flash. Use soft, artificial light.
2) Try to situate your light source(s) to the sides of your pages to prevent glare and shadows.
3) Use a camera mount if possible. It's really difficult maintaining a steady position above your pages and a swing-arm or small tripod really helps.

Good luck!

If you are mostly selling the album, the first picture looks nice. As said before, if you are mostly selling it for the stamps, a scan or photo of the pages straight on might work better.

Hi Guys,

And thank you for your comments. Just to clarify these pictures were taken to best represent the album pages which are for sale.

I was using a camera mount. Lighting is something to improve. I took many many pictures with different light and these are the best I got - there is still a way to go until I'll get it right.

As for straight album page - I wanted to avoid it. I might add to the sale an album page straight from the computer file to give a less artistic and more of a "proper" representation.

Again - thanks for the remarks. Would love to hear more.....

Trying to Look at the pictures from a prospective buyers point of view, they seem out of focus and fuzzy, not good.

I would keep the same angle of viewing but tighten it up a bit to the right. (Move the camera to the right slightly so it is more over top of the page but not completely.)

Also change the key light (brings out the details) to shine from the upper left hand side and it needs to be warmer looking, use incandescent bulbs, or daylight as suggested. The pictures look kind of cold and exact and scientific, which, now that I wonder about it, is maybe the way you wished to show them.

I think though that they would sell better when viewed in a warm and friendly way.

The idea is, I think, that you want the person looking at the ad or pictures to easily visualize Their stamps on the page and when I look at My stamps on a page then the Page is mine in my mind. Subtle sales.

But you want the page to be readable or text clearly in focus. That is what a person is looking at, the details of the borders and text and any filigree elements you might have.

The actual album binder or rings and such are background elements and can be a bit out of focus if need be.

Your photos look pretty good to me. Nice contrast and sharpness - maybe a little too much unsharpmask as I can just slightly start to see halos around the black edges. I think the level adjustment in the second shot is a little inconsistent with the first shot though I like the brighter highlights in the second shot anyway.

Perhaps try more powerful lights so you don't have to shoot with a 1/4 sec exposure time, that might be able to help make your images a little sharper. If you open up your aperture a little bit also (I see you're shooting at f25)it will also help to speed up your exposure time. I know you want to maximize your depth-of-field but you may be able to keep everything in focus even shooting through larger aperture. Some lenses also typically perform better when they're not shooting at their minimum or maximum aperture settings.

Also, I would try shooting with a longer lense (I see you are using a 55mm lense). I would try 105-135mm or longer if its practical for your space or at least 85mm (you'll have to move your camera back obviously). I think it will give your images a more professional look to them.

As for color temperature I would say, if anything, you may want to check your white balance as it looks a little warm to me - in the top photo I can see a definite yellow cast to the blue background. I assume you're using incandescent lights for your pages.

You may want to move the lights around a little to experiment a bit.

A good start overall, feel free to experiment until you get your vision to really come through.

Also when it comes to advertising consider that you might want to use 3 or 4 different shot from different angles and with different focal points in a montage rather than a single one-sized-fits-all shot.

Puzzler and Panda,

Thank you for your remarks. I am a click and go kind of guy as far as photography is concerned so I will try to make the most out of your remarks (after deciphering them ) and charge again trying to improve the results...

There are a number of sites online that discuss photographing book pages. They might help you. I found a bunch with a search on "photographing book pages."

I agree about the more photos from different angles. Then you can see what's what.

Far away and close up.

The more than one picture in ebay (or elsewhere) the better chances of selling.

If your Camera has it, use the Macro feature you will love the results.

Hi seahorse

Instead of using a single light try using 2 lights, one on the left and one on the right. Try to angle the lights about 45 degrees. If you look at a photographic copy stand picture you will see what I mean. The method gives more uniform lighting.

Jerry B

Thank you all for your searching tips and advices - I'll experiment further trying to use your tips and ideas.

Cheers,

Avi

Seahorse, I like the angle you have chosen, but I agree with other comments that a variety of angles would improve the presentation, including square-on. Also agree with comments about white balance. When shooting under artificial light, I use a custom white balance setting (select this option on your camera, if available). Also, I think you have dust on your sensor or lens (the dark spots on the photos).