The saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but in online sales a good picture could be worth a thousand dollars. Like it or not, picturing your sale offering is simultaneously one of the most nerve-wracking and rewarding parts of the online sale process. Showpig.com caught up with Sarah Weisinger of Weisinger Farms to get her tips for taking the shot. Photos are just as important in online sales as your first impression is during a job interview, according to Weisinger. To make that first impression perfect, the work starts weeks in advance.

The Weisinger family loves to have potential buyers walk through the prospects in the chip barn. Not only does it give folks a chance to see the prospects in person, but Weisinger says this interaction really mellows their prospects. This added interaction, prepares the prospects for the added sights and sounds of picture day. Besides exposing your sale offering to new people, a new place needs to be prepared for the picture pen. Weisingers prefer a 10-foot by 10-foot pen that’s clean and well-lit. They even add extra lighting over this area to combat the often poor lighting found in barns. This extra lighting can decrease the time needed to expose each shot, and a quicker shutter means your photos will be crisper and clearer. If you’re picturing bred gilts or boars, Weisinger suggests heading outdoors either mid-morning or mid-afternoon, when the sun isn’t directly overhead. To take a winning shot of their stock, she uses a Nikon with a 24-70 mm lens, but Weisinger stresses it’s not always the camera that makes the shot. “A fancier camera does not always mean you’re going to have a better picture,” she says. “The most important is that you know how to use your camera.” The Showpig.com team would agree. Practice makes perfect in photography – as in life. When it comes time to get the shot, Weisinger goes to her go-to prospect pose: the three-quarter shot from the hip. She feels it really allows buyers to see the pig from back to front. It usually takes her between 5-10 shots per pig to get the perfect one. Weisinger also recommends doing a quick photo sort from the back of the camera, to make sorting on the computer less time consuming and confusing.

“Just take your time,” she says. “If they don’t work, put them back and try another before bringing them back another time.” After the offering is pictured, she uploads the photos to her computer to crop the photos and enhance the lighting if needed. During this time, sale managers suggest you rename each photo clearly to correspond with the lot you’re offering to make posting your sale a breeze. At the end of the day, a good photo most often comes from good livestock, Weisinger adds. “Good livestock photo well,” she says. “The easiest way to sort structure is picturing. If they can’t set, then they’re usually off somewhere.”