One of the challenges of selling online is showing your product in the best possible light! Bad photos can keep you from getting sales, so it’s worth your time and effort to get it right.
We asked out Facebook Friends to share some tips with us on how they take their product photos. These aren’t professional using super-fancy-dancy cameras…these are real, non-trained Etsy sellers! Here’s what they had to say…
Nicole Andrews – Crazy for Crochet
Do I have a fancy camera?
No, I use my 14 year olds camera, a Fujifilm, Finepix A805. A simple point and push digital camera we picked up at Wal-Mart.
Do you use photo software?
I use Corel Photo Album 6. This is the software that came with my computer.
Do you have any other tips?
I find my best pictures are those taken outside. You just can’t beat natural lighting. Plus, the lighting in my house is poor.
Jodie – SprinklesInTime
I’m just a mom at home and I use my husband’s Nikon D40 SLR camera. We bought it for travel originally. However the picture quality is so amazing! I use the photo editing software that came with the Nikon D40. And the best tip I can give is NATURAL LIGHTING. We have a spot in our office that for 4hrs a day gets great direct light. So I set up a few items, photograph them, and edit later that day or in the evening when I have some time to just “look” at the pictures and decide what looks best to me or Rose (My mom and vintage partner =))
Lisa –The Empty Nest
I use a light tent and three special light bulbs – they are “natural light” bulbs you can get at Home Depot for about $6 each. I use a Nikon Coolpix digital camera and always have my macro lens on. I also make sure my lighting source on the camera is set to “incadesent” when I’m using my light tent.
I don’t use alot of photo editing, but when I do I use www.picnik.com – it is free and very easy to use. I like to use lots of props, things that are unusual and will grab someone’s attention. I try to pair my props with what I photographing but sometimes I use birdseed, stones, sticks, plants, etc.
As far as tips, I guess I would tell people to use editing software they are comfortable with and take pictures at different angles – I find those items that I use different angles for seem to sell more rapidly than others do.
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Do you have a tip to share? We’d love to hear it!
~Kim
Great tips!! Love this site!
I am no expert and really don’t think my photos are that great, but I am always reading about photography (online mostly) and trying other angles/backgrounds.
My husband and I got son a camera for his bday last yr so I inherited his old Sony Cybershot 5.1 (yeah that old)
I agree with natural light. I was told that flash is evil (makes pics yellow), also turn the Macro feature on (indicated by the little tulip.)
I use Picasa for editing, it’s free and user friendly. Also do not use the zoom, instead bring the camera close to the item.
Like I said I am not an expert either, I just try to read a lot about it.
.-= Rose Kute´s last blog ..Crochet Flower Applique in Purple =-.
I agree with all the above mentioned.
As a semi-professional photographer I would suggest to avoid ‘hard shadows’.
So if you take you photo’s outsite, not when te sun is shining, and you’ll get nice soft light and soft shadows.
I use the outdoors too, even use trees as scarf stands, and I even have taken some shots in -10 (celsius) after a snow storm…
The hardest challenge I’ve had was to get my alpacas in the background… However I have noticed that all the items I had with alpacas included in the pictures, have sold!
Thanks Kim for a great tip article 😉
.-= Sophie Grun´s last blog ..Woman necktie- fashion scarf- wool scarf- brown- white- turquoise =-.
I’ve had many troubles getting my photos to look just right. I bought a new camera, so I couldn’t blame it on the equipment any longer. I found I just couldn’t get the resolution right against plain backgrounds, once I changed backgrounds with a “deeper” field of focus my pictures started looking better immediately.
.-= Tracy´s last blog ..Hand stamped sterling journey in faith necklace =-.
I love taking photos of my products! I take lots (just ask my son) and then I have plenty to choose from for my final 5 Etsy photos. I use a Canon Powershot A470 and always shoot near a window with indirect sunlight.
.-= Lana´s last blog ..PAPER BIRD soldered charm necklace with vintage ribbon =-.
Great advice!! Can I submit mine??
http://alililly.blogspot.com/2010/07/photo-boxing.html