Auction image adjustments, contrast changes, brightness, etc.

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Posted By: Kyle

Hey Everyone,

Do you think a lot of sellers on eBay adjust their images to make their items look better?

Normally I wouldn't look at many T206 cards, just don't have much interest in them. But the thumbnail images on eBay from the auction(s) below were so bright and strong that I had to see what the heck was going on.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1909-Cy-Young-T206-Sweet-Caporal-Portrait-PSA-6-EM-MT_W0QQitemZ380011363964QQihZ025QQcategoryZ31718QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Do you think sellers adjust their images, and if so, do buyers have any protection from this? Anyone fall victim from this?

I don't mean to pick on this seller, but does anything think this is going a lot on eBay?

http://cgi.ebay.com/1909-Christy-Mathewson-T206-Sweet-Caporalt-PSA-4-VG-EX_W0QQitemZ300210995519QQihZ020QQcategoryZ31718QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/1973-Topps-Mike-Schmidt-Rookie-Card-RC_W0QQitemZ380011364108QQihZ025QQcategoryZ73441QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/1933-Goudey-Rogers-Hornsby-Card-119_W0QQitemZ380011363987QQihZ025QQcategoryZ86847Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Clearly cards with such bold colors would carry a slight premium, especially of the higher end type.

-Kyle

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Posted By: dennis

imo, most ebay sellers don't,but the auction houses sure do!!!!lots of ebay sellers do poor jobs in presenting their cards. the auction houses and some sellers are very professional,they are just presenting the cards in the best way possible.the scanner tends to brighten up cards ,it can also bring out the flaws. i really do not think that this is a problem. now if the seller cleans up the dirty borders or alters the image (if a card is faded) then enhanced,or hides flaws this is a problem,but just a nice clean brite image is ok.
if you ever took your cards outside and viewed them in the brite sun you will see how wonderful they really look.

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Posted By: Tony Andrea

Hi Kyle -
I've looked at every auction you've attached closely. I really don't see a problem
with any of the photo's that would lead me to believe this seller has enhanced
his pic's. Although I do think some sellers butter up their scans some, IMO these
look fine. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Tony

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Posted By: T206Collector

I agree with what Dennis said. Altering images or fixing flaws is a problem, but I always set the tone and brightness of my scans after my scanner gets done putting the images of the cards onto my desktop. To require an auction house, dealer or collector to stick with the default image created by a store-bought scanner is asking a bit much.

The colors of pre-war cards really dazzle when looked at in the appropriate lighting, and decent software can do that for you (I use Google's free image software Picassa).

This was the seller's scan of a card I bought:



This is my scan after I had it slabbed by SGC/JSA and then properly toned through Picassa (note how in my image you can actually see the corner crease better, but the card has a much brighter hue and luster).

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Posted By: Joe D.

with adjusting brightness and such to a scan -
with one major consideration.....

the end result should be an image closer to what the card or item looks like - - - not further away.

Basically - if the initial scan looks more like the card than the brightness adjusted scan.... then I would have a problem with the adjustment.


My home scanner is strange - if I scan more than one item at a time - the resulting scan is different (brightness contrast) than if I scan items individually.
I don't know why - I guess the scanner looks at the entire image area and tries to optimize things.

I don't bother adjusting my scans brightness / contrast - unless for some reason my scan looks noticeably different than the original.


imo -
now... some auction houses adjust the brightness / contrast to improve the overall look of the item (making it different looking than the original)
heck - I know of one auction house item that had obvious doctoring done to the scan. Flaws were lightened / image tone was changed / and some of the flaws seemed to disappear altogether.
It was either a very good doctor-job of a photo.... or harry potter did the scanning .

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Posted By: Kyle

Then I guess it looks to me then that the Cy Young is just one vibrant specimen. Too bad the centering is off, it'd be a really sharp card.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

With my digital camera, about everything I photograph is lighter or darker than what I see with my eyes. May be different with a scanner, which I don't use.

As a seller, I want the item in the picture to be as lifelike as the real item, simply because the winner will be looking at in person before long. If you're fooling around with the image, the winner's going to be the first to know and I like repeat customers. I don't lighten or digitally embellish images, but would rephotograph the item if it looked bad.

The only thing that I lightened in recent times was a LOA for a football jersey, so that the potential bidders could read the text easier. The winner gave positive feedback and didn't complain that the LOA's paper was darker in person than in the auction image.

In fact, below is the offending scan.

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Posted By: Bob

Plus, not all scanners are created equal. The scans from sellers like irishhosta and markirodenko (sp) all look better and brighter than anything I could ever come up with. The one good thing about having a crappy scanner with muddy colors is that althugh the realized prices aren't what they should be, the feedback is fantastic because the cards look so much better in person and the buyers are happy

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Bob, when I saw this thread, the first seller that popped into my head was "irishosta" as well.
-Rhett

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I agree with Bob that it's better for a buyer to receive just as or better than described/pictured, than worse.

A buyer will praise the seller's virtues if the item received is just as described, because they have so much experience getting worse.