Which gives you the best quality and shows of the holo pattern the best?
A good photo, it’s all about the angle the card is held.
A scanner would give a very detailed high dpi image of the card but won’t capture the holo at its best.
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This isn’t my picture, but one I came across a while ago on Reddit I believe. I saved it because of how amazing I thought it looked. I am now inspired to try and take pictures of my cards in a similar fashion.
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It’s all about angles and the correct lighting. So a picture would generally always win. CoroCoro Mew is always my go-to example.
Photo:
Scan:
Sure, there are better scans and worse photos out there for any example. But for this Mew in particular, the entire card being foil is rarely reflected correctly in scans. Even when you hold the card in person in a dark room, it’s easy to miss the extent of the foiling.
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Hey I took this! I appreciate this comment 
Here’s another example against a black background
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I am very much a fan of pictures over scans- and natural lighting always wins!
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@chrisbalestra mind sharing details of your setup? Very nice photos. I have never been able to get to a place where I’m happy with the quality and lighting of my photos and have tried multiple different lights, light diffusers, light boxes etc.
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Thanks for all the advice so far. I want to get a good picture of all the energy cards made to link to my spreadsheet so I know what they look like. I wasn’t able to find good holo pictures on pkmn cards.com or pokellector. I don’t want to link to eBay or store sites because they might change the pages breaking the links. I might just have to save good pictures and find a way to host them to link to them. I want to be able to use this from my phone and I think the file might get too big if I save the pictures in the Excel file itself. Eventually I want to have pictures of the actual cards in my collection.
I actually just bought some junky light box for $6 off of ebay to show people that you don’t need much to take a good photo. They are just cell phone pictures. Here is the thread with more details and a link to the little lightbox: www.elitefourum.com/t/best-scanners-for-psa-cards/22222/1
Honestly, I like to do both. Pictures can capture the card’s holo really well but the scans can usually show any imperfections on the card that you cant normally get in pictures. If I am going to sell a card, I want to be the most upfront and honest. I had bought a “NM” card on Ebay and the pictures looked great but when I got it, I saw three creases. Pictures can be deceiving, regardless of intention too.
Photo with neon light is the best for the holo 
A photo with good lighting and some enhancing can cover up every damage to a card. Personally, I scan everything and will supply photo’s to eBay when requested. I recently bought a small photo booth on AliExpress because it I hope will give a more consistent quality then working with the light sources I have now. Maybe it’s enough to push my from scan to photo in the future.
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It’s gotta be more my camera then I’d assume. Or maybe my camera is capable just I’m using the wrong settings.
I have a Samsung Galaxy s5 but I use an old Canon Powershot elph150 IS for my eBay photos. Not sure if that is the proper choice of the two or if I made the wrong call. I’ve tried both on default settings and get similar results.
I’m gonna buy that cheap-o lightbox for the hell of it as my current setup is more bulky and I’ll compare the two. I’d honestly be perfectly fine spending a couple hundred bucks on a new standalone camera if that is my issue. Not really $800+ on the newest phone though. Potentially ~$300ish on an S7/S8 if that’d be sufficient. I’ve never been remotely anywhere near a camera buff as my eBay would likely demonstrate.
Thanks for the help!
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Your phone pictures are amazing! What kind of phone do you have? If an Apple, what photo app do you use and what settings?
Just responding to you both simultaneously. The camera likely doesn’t matter. The pictures are getting compressed anyway. I’ve had the same success with 6s as my Xr. I do not use any apps. I just use the standard editing tools that come with iphones. For “Light” I usually add some brilliance and highlight. If there is a black background then I will make the blacks darker via “black point and shadows” so you don’t see any specs of distracting shit. If there is a white background I’ll add more brightness and white for the same reason. Under the color option I will adjust the white balance via the “cast” tool so there isn’t any weird orange or blue tint. That’s about it. If you think the photo looks desaturated, you can boost the color slightly, emphasis on slightly so it doesn’t end up looking like some weird noob foodie pic.