How to Take Quality Photos for Selling your Business Online

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A Guide to Selling Your Own Business

How to Prepare Photographs for Selling
your Business - Sample Chapter

We all know that a picture says a thousand words. Displaying good quality images on your Aorata Web page for “selling your business” is important in achieving a successful sale.

To display a photograph on your Aorata Web page you will first need to get a digital image on to your computers hard drive. However, you DO NOT need to use a digital camera to get digital images on your computers hard drive. A film camera can be used.

This chapter covers practical advice, tips and tricks for getting good quality photographs of your business.

Topics include:

Tips on how to take good photographs
How to transfer digital images to your computers hard drive
How to resize digital images on your hard drive
How to use the Aorata Online Web page builder to upload your images from your hard drive to your Web page
How to digitally enhance and transform an ordinary photograph into a better photograph by using computer software - for Advanced Users

Step 1: How to take good photographs

What sort of camera should I use?
Most people have access to at least one camera. If you have a choice between using a film camera and a digital camera it is generally quicker and easier to use a digital camera. However, if you don't have the use of a digital camera you can still take high quality film photographs and scan them into digital images for displaying on your computer. (More on that later).

If you have a choice, choose the best camera that you have:

Digital Camera with External Hot Shoe Flash (Best)
Digital Camera with built in flash
SLR Film Camera with External Hot Shoe Flash
SLR Film Camera with built in flash
Point and Shoot Film Camera with built in Flash
Disposable Film Camera with Built in Flash (Worst)

External Hot Shoe Flash
If you are have a camera with an external "Hot Shoe" flash then use the External Flash instead of the camera's in-built flash because it will be more powerful. The better external flashes have tilt heads that can be swivelled up and down. The main benefit of an angled External Flash is that it bounces the flash off the ceiling at an angle. This diffuses the light into the room to produce professional looking photographs.

If you have external flash with a swivel head, ensure that you make use of the swivel head and angle the flash at a 50-60 degree angle.

Prior Preparation of the Scene
A little bit of prior preparation goes a long way to getting better photographs. Ensure that the room or exterior features to be photographed are clean, tidy and clutter free. For example don't take pictures of the outside of your premises with a "Sorry we are Closed" sign hanging in your window.

Composition and Time
You can display up to 5 images on your Aorata for sale Web page. You will need to take both outside and inside photographs.

Show off your best features. Ideas for photographs of your business:

Photo 1 - Photograph of the outside of your business, usually the view from the street
Photo 2 - Photograph of product or service
Photo 3 - Photograph of customer using product or service
Photo 4 - Photograph of important equipment included in the sale of business
Photo 5 - Photograph of business premises interior

Exterior Photographs
It is highly recommended that you shoot your outside photographs on a bright, sunny day. A bright sunny day will give you plenty of light and hopefully a blue sky that always looks more appealing to buyers than a dark grey sky. Determine the best time of the day to shoot your outside images. Ideally the sun should be behind you and the building or object being photographed should not be covered in major shadows.

Common Problems with Exterior Photographs and how to can avoid them

Image taken directly into the sun	Solution: - Wait for the sun to move behind you or, if this is not possible, to your side. Sometimes a passing cloud can be used to diffuse bright sunlight.
Building hidden by dark shadows	Solution: - Wait for the sun to move behind you or if this is not possible to your side.
Cluttered photographs	Solution: - Remove clutter from the scene. For example, remove cars from the outside of the business being sold or take the photograph when cars are not parked outside. Cars in the photograph clutter the picture and can distract the buyer’s attention.
Image is out of focus	Solution: - Modern point and shoot cameras have “auto focus”. However, best results are obtained if you keep the camera still. Hold the camera steady while taking the photograph. If you have difficulty holding the camera steady bracing your body against a tree or place the camera on a fence, post, or use a tripod.

Interior photographs
To avoid dark photographs when taking photographs inside you need to ensure that there is enough light in the room. If your camera has a built-in flash, make sure it is turned on and that it fires when you take your photographs. If you have an external hot shoe flash, use it instead.

To get more light into your inside photographs, turn on the room lights. If your camera has a zoom lens, ensure that it is zoomed all the way out so that more of the image can be captured by the photograph. This is also makes the room look bigger.

Common Problems with Interior Photographs and how to avoid them

Photograph Comes out Too Dark	Solution: - use a camera with a flash and turn it on for inside photographs. Turn on room lights for additional light.
Flash Back	Watch out for "flash back". While it always recommended that you use your flash when shooting inside, some photographs may have a problem with "flash back" off reflective objects. Basically the flash bounces off a reflective object eg a mirror or window and bounces back into the camera. The end result is a white flash-back mark on your photograph. Solutions: - try taking the photograph with the flash on but from a slightly different angle that will avoid the flash bouncing back off the reflective object directly into the lens. If it is not possible to reposition the angle of the camera then turn the flash off. “Flash back” is often a problem when taking photographs of the frontage of retail shops with large glass windows.
Bright Sunlight streaming through windows	Inside photographs that include a window can be a problem on a bright sunlight day. The bright sunlight coming from the window can result in a photograph that is dark except for the sun-lit window. Solution: - combine the use of a flash and a slightly overcast day or a different time of the day to take the photograph. Or draw the curtains to block out the extra sunlight.

General Photography Tips for Better Pictures

Shoot Photographs at Different Angles
For each of your scenes, take the photograph from choice of different angles and then pick the photograph that shows your subject off the best. For example, if your premises has four corners you can usually take a photograph in each of the four corners. The same usually applies to photographs of the outside of your business. The choices are usually a photograph straight on, a photograph from the left or a photograph from the right.

Shoot Some Photographs From a Height
Most photographs are taken while standing with the camera held to the eye. The end result is a photograph with a view at eye level. You should also try taking photographs at a height with a 45 degree angle looking down. Views from a height are often more appealing. Simply get small stepladder and take the photograph from a greater height and with your camera angled down. This technique can work well inside and give a more professional presentation. If you have time, you can take photographs at eye level and another set from a height and then decide which ones you like best.

Turn Date Stamp Off
If you are using a camera that can insert the date on the picture, make sure this is turned off so the date is not stamped over your photographs.

Accommodation Business
If you are selling an accommodation business, do not take photographs of the towels folded on the beds. It is common practice in motels to position folded towels on the beds. Remove the towels from the bed for uncluttered professional photographs.

Accommodation Business - Bathroom with Spa Bath
If your accommodation business for sale has a spa bath you might want to take a photograph of the bathroom. You can make your photograph look more professional by filling up the spa bath and turning on the bubbling water. The photograph will look more inviting than an empty spa bath.

Take a Variety of Photographs and then Choose the Best
Shoot a full roll of film if you are using a film camera or take 20-30 digital photographs if you are using a digital camera. Pick the best 5 photographs. If you take a good number of shots, at least some will turn out to be great photographs.

Step 2: How to get digital images on to your computer’s hard drive

Option 1:
Convert the negatives from a standard 35mm film to a CD-ROM.

Use a regular 35 mm film camera to take photographs of your business for sale. Go to your local Photo Lab and get your film developed. For an extra few dollars, most Photo Labs can produce a CD-ROM with your photographs in a digital format. Tell the Photo Lab that the digital images are to be used for the Internet and that you only want the image size to be 680 x 480 and in the JPG File format. Also ask the operator if each image can be no larger than 200 Kbytes.

Insert the CD-ROM into your computers CD drive and copy the images to your hard drive. You now have digital photos on your computer.

Option 2:
Get your Photo Lab to Scan 6 x 4 Prints on to a CD-ROM

If you have existing 6 x 4 photographs you can go to your Photo Lab and get them to scan your prints and produce a CD-ROM. The Photo Lab will charge a small fee for doing this. Tell the Photo Lab that the digital images will be used for the Internet and that you only want the image size to be 680 x 480 and in the JPG File format. Also ask the operator if each image can be no larger than 200 Kbytes.

Insert the CD-ROM into your computers CD drive and copy the images to your hard drive. You now have digital photos on your computer.

Option 3:
Use a Digital Camera to shoot digital photographs. Download these digital images to your computer’s hard drive.

Step 3: How to resize digital images on your hard drive

Make sure your Digital Images are the Correct File Type and File Size
Digital images vary in file type and size. To display your digital images on your Aorata Web page the file type must be in either a JPG or GIF file format and the file size of each image must be smaller than 200 Kbytes.

How to determine Image File Size
Find the image on your computer’s hard drive using Windows Explorer, or search for it by using “My Computer”. Select the image and click your right mouse button and then select “Properties”. A “Properties” window for the image will appear. Look for the Window Section for “Size” section and read off the image’s file size.

If the image is less than 200 Kbytes you do not need to re-size your image.

To reduce the file size of a image try one of the below resizing options:

Resizing Option 1 - Resize your Image online using a free online resizing Web tool

There are a number of helpful Web sites with free online photo resizing tools. These sites make resizing or reducing your very large photographs easy. The big advantage is you don't need to download or install any software. All you need is the Web browser you are using to read this page and your Internet connection. The process of resizing or reducing an image will work faster if you use a broadband connection, however you can still use a dial up Internet connection to get the job done. There are numerous free online resizing tools. Try one of these:

www.shrinkpictures.com

www.picresize.com

www.snipshot.com

Resizing Option 2 - Download Googles Free Photo editing Program Picasa http://picasa.google.com

Picasa is a free photo editing software from Google that will do image resizing plus it gives you flexibiltiy to edit your photos. To use Picasa you need to first download Picasa on this web page and follow instructions. After downloading Picasa, install it on your computer. Once installed you can use Picasa to very quickly resize / reduce large images. In addition Picasa has many more useful features including red-eye removal, crop, rotate, one-click enhance, auto and manual tuning. All edits you do to your photo can be reversed. If you have taken some photographs and they are little dark then Picasa editing software can lighten the image.

Resizing Option 3 - Resize your Image using Microsoft Paint.

Microsoft Paint comes with most versions of Microsoft. Microsoft Paint will resize your images without the need to download and install any software. However Microsoft Paint is not very user friendly and lacks a lot of the helpful editing tools you want. However it will do the job.

In Windows XP it can be found under Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Paint

Once Paint is loaded the next step is to open the image you want to re-size.

Select File -> open form the Menu
From the File of Type Selection Box
Select "All Files"
Navigate your PC Hard drive to the location where your image is stored.
Select the image and click the open button.

Your Image should appear. The next step is to re-size your image.

Select Stretch / Skew from the Image Menu (shortcut Ctrl + W)
Enter a 50 into both the horizontal and vertical stretch boxes and click the O.K button and the image will re-size.

The next step is to Save your re-sized image.

Select File -> Saves As and enter a new file name. Ensure you save the file as JPEG in the "Save As Type" selection box.
Click the Save button to save your re-sized image.

Lastly check the file size of the image to ensure it is under 200 Kbytes. If it is still too large you will need to repeat the above steps but this time reduce the size more by choosing 30% instead of 50%.

Note: It is strongly recommended that you do not re-save over an image because the original will be overwritten. You may want the original image maintained. Therefore, always save a modified image with a new name.

Note: Always save your photographs in JPG format rather than GIF file format. When saving your JPG, your Imaging Editor software (e.g photoshop) may ask you what quality you want to save the JPG. Always choose the highest quality. When you upload your image the Aorata Online Web Page Builder automatically compresses the file size of your image, but you cannot upload an image larger than 200 Kbytes to start with.

Step 4: How to use the Aorata Online Web page builder to upload your images from your hard drive to your Web page

Firstly you need to have set-up a free evaluation for the Aorata Online Web Page Builder and be logged into your account.

From the "Upload Images" screen you can Upload up to 5 Images for display on your Aorata for sale Web page. Decide which is your best image and upload that image first because it will be positioned at the top of your Aorata for sale Web page. Images are uploaded one at a time.

How to Upload Your Image
Step 1
Click the [Browse.] button. A "choose file" pop up window appears. Navigate your computers hard drive to the location where your images are stored on your hard drive. Select the image you want to and click the Open Button (Remember to select your best image first). The "choose file" pop up window closes and the file path of your image appears in the "Browse Image to Upload" text box.
Step 2
Click the [Upload >>] button to upload the image you have selected. This will take up to 30 seconds depending on the speed of your Internet connection. During the upload process you should see the "Upload Status Indicator" bar moving. If the image is successfully uploaded you will see a "Uploaded Message" and in the right panel you will see a thumbnail of your image and the file name listed in the "Uploaded Images" box.

Note: During the upload process DO NOT click on any buttons. Wait until the "Upload Status Indicator" bar has stopped before uploading another image or moving to another screen.

Note: If you receive an error message when uploading ensure that your image is saved in the JPG or GIF image file format and ensure that the image file size is under 200 Kbytes.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each image you want to upload.

The above is a sample from the Guide to Selling Your Own Business.

The complete 30 page Guide to Selling Your Own Business can be downloaded as a PDF for free by Aorata clients. The guide is packed full of practical tips on how to sell your business privately for NO Commission

View Another Sample from Guide - What Exactly Are You Selling?

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