Taking Pictures of ATCs

This is something that I've been struggling with and I know I can't be the only one. With that in mind, here are some helpful tips:

1. Do not take the photo in direct light as this will bleach out the ATC's colors.
2. Do not use a flash as anything shiny will reflect the flash and distort the image.
3. Take the picture in indirect light in a room that has a floor length window. Make sure to zoom in as close as possible while leaving some background and that you're not moving before you take the picture.

Once you've taken the pictures, it's time to download it to your computer and play with it with your photo editing program. Now, if you're lucky like me, your camera will have come with such a program. I use the Kodak Easy Share camera and it does have a photo editing program. Of course, it's not perfect but it is quite good in my opinion. Here's what you'll want to do:

1. Straighten your image.
2. Crop your image to the exact size of the ATC.
3. Make sure that your photo isn't underexposed, which oftentimes it will be.
4. Adjust for color as oftentimes there will be either a blue or a green hue.
5. Make sure that your finished image looks similar to the original ATC itself.
6. Reduce the jpeg image so that it is no more than 400kb. This will make your photograph look better when you upload it to the web. If you're using Yahoo, this will automatically be done for you.