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Are Your Product Photos Looking Their Best?

January 22, 2015 by CreativeIncome 4 Comments

One of the most important aspects of having a handmade business is making sure your products appeal to the eye, especially when you’re selling online. Remember: the customer can’t handle your handmade goods in person while deciding whether or not to make a purchase the way they could at a craft booth or small shop. You’ve spent hours adding details to your products, but do the photos you post do them justice? Do they reveal the texture of the yarn, paper, or fabric you’re using? It is imperative to make sure your customers can glean all of this information by looking at your photos.

That’s why I spent some time talking with Creative Income’s photographer, Tom Krawczyk, in order to put together a list of photography tips for new business owners.

 product photography

Glossary of Important Terms

K: Kelvin

Aperture: A hole that can adjusted to different sizes in order to control the amount of light reaching your camera’s image center.

Shutter: A device that controls the amount of time that light is allowed to reach the image.

Depth of field: The distance between the nearest and farthest object in the photo



Setting Up Your Space

The lights  3200K gives off a warmer, more natural light, compared to a  higher K which gives off a colder hue. You can buy lights like these on Amazon.com. The bulbs can be found for under $15 each, and the clamp lamps/reflectors run for about $12 each. We improvised by clamping our lights to a step ladder and a tripod–how’s that for DIY? The white backdrop is held up with a backdrop support stand, which can also be found on Amazon for approximately $40. There are various backdrops you can choose from, but in product photography, it is best to use a neutral backdrop.


Sharpness

Notice how in the photo on the left, the texture of the yarn is a bit ambiguous. Yes, the yarn looks soft, but when you take in the photo on the right, where the fibers of the yarn are sharply in focus, there’s no arguing which image would better entice a customer looking to buy a cozy scarf or sweater. In order to obtain a crisp, detail-rich photo, we would suggest using a tripod and a high shutter speed. With a fast enough shutter speed, a tripod may not be necessary.

  


Exposure

The “exposure” of a photograph refers to the amount of light being let in through the lens of the camera. It is determined through shutter speed and aperture settings. The photo on the left is underexposed and the photo on the right has been exposed properly. Yes, the photo on the left is in focus, and the background is neutral, but the skeins of yarn appear to be darker in color than they actually are. This is something that is easily looked over if other aspects of the photo look right. It’s important to make sure the images in your photos look as closely as possible to the way they look to your naked eye. Customers who can’t trust a product to look as it did on your website will be inclined to leave poor reviews.

 


Depth of Field

Perhaps you’re taking your product photos in your craft room and have never thought about how supplies, materials, or tools hanging in the background may distract from your product. Remember: this photo is on your site to encourage sales. You want as much attention as possible put on the product. If you cannot take pictures of your products with a blank, neutral background, make sure your camera is set to ensure a small depth of field. This can be observed in the photo on the right. Notice how, in this photo, the skeins of yarn “pop” right away–i.e. your eye is drawn straight to them. To establish a small depth of field, you want a small aperture.

Photos and advice credited to: Tom Krawczyk

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Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: Kayla Stroner, photography, product photos

Comments

  1. Jenny says

    January 22, 2015 at 10:57 am

    Do you have a link for the lights you mentioned?

    Reply
    • Aisling says

      January 24, 2015 at 3:19 pm

      The clamp lights can be found at just about any hardware store. They’re often used as work lights. The bulbs can be found on Amazon.com by typing in “3200 K bulb”. Hope it helps!

      Reply
  2. SS says

    January 25, 2015 at 7:25 am

    Thanks for the great tips – I’ve been having problems with getting the right color. I can’t wait to try the exposure tip!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Spring Cleaning Checklist: Recharge Your Etsy Shop for The Rest of 2015 says:
    March 6, 2015 at 8:43 am

    […] Photos are crucial to success on Etsy. Each item listing can only have five photos, so choose them wisely. Go through your oldest pictures first and assess what to improve. Are they blurry? Are there more detailed views you can add? Can you photograph your product next to a ruler or another object for scale? Also consider how sellers of similar items are taking their photos. Don’t copy them exactly but instead pick up on what yours are lacking. For example, if you sell wall decals and most other Etsy sellers creating decals are showing full room shots, that might be the way to go for your images. […]

    Reply

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