Neat photography trick

So after making my 1000 Markets shop, I decided to start with I'd list buttons and mirrors that had long since expired from my Etsy shop. Problem was, the photos were all crap so I wanted to retake them. I'd always had trouble with taking pictures of small things though; the colors would be wrong or the room just wasn't bright enough or there was too much glare...something. Anyway, I was reading all of the beginner tips on 1k markets and it was all stuff I'd read on Etsy before, blahblahblah, but I came across a tip I hadn't seen before. Take your pictures like this:

Get a small bit of very white paper (well, mine wasn't super bright white, but you should get some) and color one part of it super black (I used a sharpie and it wasn't super super black...). This way the camera can be able to tell what's white, what's black, and properly display all of the shades in between.

The colors all came out perfectly. The only editing I did was resize them, then select "auto color" in photoshop and fade it between 30% and 70% depending on the image. Couldn't be faster or simpler. I should have increased the EV by 1/3 while taking the pictures, but it's hard to tell what you should have that at before they're on the computer, am I right?

Anyway, I hope this works out for you guys as well as it's worked for me!
Btw both of those items are at my 1000 markets shop. (: