Trying to get your item photos to stand out from the crowd is a goal many artists find challenging to achieve. Although, I’ve learned a few things, I still struggle to find that perfect picture now and then. While having a professional photographer on call would be nice, hiring a camera person can be quite steep, especially when you’re starting out. Now, I’m not a professional photographer but I’ve been learning through trial and error, researching and just looking around. I do find the process of product photography just as playful and artistic as creating the piece itself though. Here are a few tips to get you on your way to turning those “blah” item photos into works of art themselves. This can be fun for you too!
In this how-to, I will be referencing jewelry and art because that’s what I’m familiar in taking photos of, but these tips can help any crafter or designer to take better photos of their products.
Rent a book on photography (get one on digital photography especially if you’re unfamiliar with this technology advancement) from your local library and read up on the basics. Understanding shutter speeds, different settings and lighting are, oh, so important for you to get the right basic components in your photos. (Reference these books)
The Etsy tutorials have loads of photography basics to give you a good start on how to use your camera and how to set up your mini-photo studio.
Practice taking pictures of anything. Load them on your computer and look through them. See what you like or don’t like and take notes. Pay attention to background and lighting. Play with your camera, settings and all, to get familiar with the device.
According to Maire Loughran’s book “How to Start A Home-Based Jewelry Making Business,” (A review on this very helpful book to come.) for jewelry/craft photography, it’s best to have at least 72 ppi (pixels per inch) for PC usage and a resolution of 1024×768 pixels for internet uploading. Maira suggests a white balance feature, exposure control feature (Maira suggests jewelry photography exposure is best set at +1 to +2) and auto-selection turn off feature.
It’s best to use natural lighting. Find the perfectly lit spot in your home where sunlight pours in from the proper windows depending on the time of day. Midday , say 10:30am to 2:30pm , is the best time to do your photography. If it’s not convenient for you to take pictures at that time, getting “natural light” light bulbs and one to two of those plug-in clamp lamps that you can pick up at any hardware store. Using a light box helps control lighting conditions. Etsy has a how-to on building your own makeshift light box in their tutorials. I use a folding display board, like the ones students use for science or other school projects and a poster board for the bottom because it’s easier to store away when not in use. It’s common to use white background to get the proper color tone of the jewelry. I do like to stick to this rule when I can.
In the last tip, I say “when I can” because if you search through listings on Etsy.com, you will see a plethora of handmade artists who break that rule to have such creative backgrounds that compliment their items. Many of these artists are very innovative in their photography and it all chalks up to “playing” with your background setting. Just surf around the Etsy items and you’ll see the talents. Pay attention to what photos attract you to a specific item and study why.
I play with nature as background, like grass, stones, leaves on trees, the tree trunk or branches, flowers or flower petals, sand, shells. Perhaps the sky has a gorgeous array of clouds or the sunset just looks amazing.
I also look for spots around the home; in a pretty bay window with lovely landscape, a stone fireplace, your hardwood floors or a nicely stained wood table could make pretty background. Tile, brick, granite, marble are all lovely choices.
Fabrics can be fun to use too. Sheer fabrics over a white surface or a pretty colored and patterned table cloth or blanket.
I’ve been known to use plates, drinking glasses, coffee cups and flower vases to hang a necklace or earrings on as background. I’ve seen books and picture frames used as well.
Fruit can make a cute background addition, especially if you are someone how makes, say natural beauty products and have an apple flavored body lotion you are selling. Or a cinnamon bun for cinnamon flavored lip balm.
Considering models? Use yourself and ask friends and family to participate.
Easy and simple background that comes in a vast variety of colors and graphics are scrapbook pages. You would not believe what they print on these pages now; bridal scrapbook pages, nature ones like the ocean, even grass. And what’s great is you can get a hard cover scrapbook page storage folder to keep them flat and put away nice when unused.
I do have a display neck and bracelet display that I use on occasion, but I feel it sometimes limits that fun you can have with background.
Once you’ve figured out what you want to use as background, play with the photography angles. Remember on Etsy you have five image slots to fill, so take close-ups of details and move the item around to get different sides. Turn the camera diagonally to get a unique, funky angle. Maybe you have an elegant clasp you want to feature in one of the image uploads.
This is where you upload and edit your photos. A photo editing program and knowing how to use it is a must. This is another area where you can chose a picture to upload and play with the photo software features to get the hang of what the program can do. For now, I use the editing software that came with my camera for basics and use Infranview because they are free and work well for the moment. Eventually, you may want to upgrade to Photoshop when finances allow. Really though, if you use the proper lighting, camera settings and practice taking good photos, your photos shouldn’t need much retouching except for maybe some cropping. It’s when you want to make photo banners, internet ad layouts and specific avatars that a photo editing program comes in real handy. That endeavor, I will tackle for you another time.
The common thread in this guide is to “play.” Play with your background, play with the camera features, play with the lighting, play with the angles and play with the photo editing software. Happy shooting!
