My Photographer Hat

As a small (make that tiny!) business owner, I wear a lot of hats. Jewelry artist, bookkeeper, marketing specialist… And on and on… But one of the more important hats as an online business person is Photographer. On Etsy, you only have 5 pictures to show your products to their best advantage.

My journey as photographer has had it's ups and downs. I started with a video camera that also had micro stills capability. It was a little cumbersome but it took great close ups. Now I have a Canon that I couldn't live without! It takes great shots of everything, from earrings to polar bears at Sea World.

My next challenge was the setup. I think I started on the walkway to the front door of my house, using natural light. Challenge: I had to keep the camera angled so I didn't get the street, foliage or other houses in the background. I moved onto a PVC pipe frame with a white bed sheet thrown over it in my workroom. Challenge: yellow walls, which made the colors weird and hard to fix on the computer. Now I have a lightbox that I love. I set it up on sunny afternoons near my front door:
 

My light box is from Cowboy Studio, through Amazon.com. It comes with several backdrops but so far I’ve only used the white. And even though I don’t let the kitties near it, I have to keep a roll of tape nearby, to remove cat hair!

I just got the small black table so I could have a mobile workspace if I want to watch a movie on my computer, where there isn't really a lot of flat space. Before that, I had the lightbox on the floor--ouch, my back!

One other thing that I've changed is one of my key props: I used to use a wine glass to hang earrings. If you look at the glass, it looks clear but I suspect there's really a lot of very subtle green in it. I used to think it was picking up color from the yellow walls but even when I switched out to the living room, I was getting strange color, so I bought a white mug with pretty details around the rim and that's worked much better.

So, now, there are items that I want to reshoot because as I look through my Etsy pages, it's painful to see some of my earlier photography. Here's a prime example:

 

BEFORE

AFTER

 

I better get to work, rephotographing some of my earlier pieces so I don’t have to cringe when I go through my Etsy pages!

 

Do What You Love!

 

http://www.bearchick.etsy.com/

http://www.bearchicksundries.etsy.com/

Life on Etsy Tuesday

*sigh* Photography, for me, is an ongoing learning experience. I’m still working on improving the pictures I take but here’s some observations about pix for Etsy:

1. No blurry pictures! I cringe when I look at Etsy items sitting on someone’s floor or sofa, blurred with no detail--and only one picture!

blurry

2. Dark or bad color. I’ve re-edited or totally retaken photos when I’ve realized that the image is either too dark or the color is too blue or green. Maybe it’s just my camera or setup but sometimes it does that odd color thing and I don’t notice until it’s on the site.

blue tint

3. Different viewpoints. I try to include one “artistic” shot--an interesting angle or close up of a detail--sometimes to use as the primary shot to draw attention to the item when they’re being seen in listings.

close up

4. Use as many pix as possible. With some of my simpler items, 2 or 3 can suffice. But buyers (me included) like to see lots of angles, details and even the backs of items. I never understand when someone only uses one picture.

back of the pin

5. Consistency. This one I get very low marks on. I’ve tried to come up with a consistent background for my photos-neutral colored fabric, different papers--and I haven’t found anything that works for me as a signature “look” for my shop.

I love the new feature on Etsy, that allows you to upload all 5 pictures at once, like Flickr, instead of one at a time, like we’ve had to. And it’s also easier to arrange them in the order you want them seen since it’s now a drag and drop system as opposed to clicking arrows to move pictures individually. Hooray, Etsy!

Are you going to go look at my Etsy shop pictures now? I blush because some of my older items are not as good as the newer ones. And, like I said, I’m still working on perfecting the images every time I post a new piece of jewelry. All I can do is Keep on Tryin’!

Do What You Love!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

Tuesday Fave Etsy Shops

This week, I discovered Edart on the Etsy Front Page.

This is what I saw:

The Husband loves VW buses (he has a '79, the last of the buses before the Vanogans took over) and dogs, so this definitely caught my eye. Adorable!

Here's a couple more.

Yes, this is a chairholders meeting!

Wonderful photographs!

He creates this silly artwork and photography, plus prints and postcards, from his home near Rotterdam, Netherlands, which are carried in his Etsy shop. He has some drawings and other artwork on his website that don't seem to be on Etsy but are totally worth taking a look at. Maybe if there's something you want there, he can list it for you on Etsy.

Do What You Love!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com