Find a location that has plenty of light. Don't use a background that's too visually complex.

Use two lamps on the object, one on each side.

It may be tempting, but don't rotate the camera to take portrait shots. For layout consistency, we require all photos have a landscape 4:3 aspect ratio.

Mount the camera to a tripod if you can. Most of today's cameras work great for taking guide pictures. All of the guitar pictures were taken using a Canon PowerShot S410.

It certainly helps to hook the camera up to your computer after your few initial shots to see how they look on a bigger screen.