AAA Cafe' Daily Chat 04/08/2014

[NaturalClocks]

Welcome to new members, welcome back to returning teammates! If this is your first time here - this is a place to ask questions, share your most embarrassing secrets, or just chat about the slow and boring bits of your day…we want to hear from you!!

Be sure to check out the discussion board. There are games to be played and threads to explore. The more you promote your fellow team mates, the more you get promoted, so be sure to participate on a daily basis. Check out our blog and our Facebook page, as well as the other links provided below.

IMPORTANT LINKS:
* Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/301427606658253/
* Etsy Calculator: salecalc.com/etsy
* Etsyology: www.etsyology.net/
♥ Online Photo Programs: fotoflexer.com/ or www.picmonkey.com/
treasurypin.com./ and editor.pho.to/
arwmedia.net/tools/pixlr_express.php
* Etsy Craft Tools: www.mycrafttools.com/
* Etsy Gadget: www.estygadget.com
* Craftopolis -Edit multiple listings: www.craftopolis.com/#com=ee
* Etsy Banner Maker: bannerfans.com/banner_maker.php?bnew=1&pses=1a256d05

Good morning team!

RAK day was another great success yesterday, thank you to all those that took part :)

On yesterday chat the subject of photos cropped up. We’ve discussed it before, but it’s such an important part of our business that it’s useful to cover it regularly. Photos are what potential buyers see first of our shop. A good photo is what makes them click on the listing to find out more. Like Dona said yesterday to Caroline, a great photo sells your product. After all, this is a virtual world, buyers can’t pick up the item, handle it and look at it from different angles.

Let’s share some tips on how to improve our photos. I personally don’t believe that a very expensive camera is needed, but natural light away from direct sunshine is very important. Even though I use a white background, the white always comes out grey (maybe a reflection of the weather we’ve been having the last few months!), so I use Photoshop to adjust the exposure as it brightens up the white background but doesn’t change the colours of the objects, unless you go really mad with it, and to sharpen the photo a bit. I use Photoshop because Paul bought it a few years ago, but I know that there are many free programs online, 3 of them are listed above in the useful links. This is not so much advice, but more like sharing my methods with you :)

I look forward to read all your suggestions and tips!

Have a great day everybody!

[Former_Member]

Good morning !

When I started here my pictures were awful ! I have a normal camera, I haven't changed it, and I think that now my pictures are much better.
Like you Val, I always try to have a white background, and to take them with natural light.
As photo editors I use pickmonkey and fotofuze, both of them free (and fotofuze is one of the available apps we have here in Etsy).

This is not a great advice from my side, and I'm always trying to learn something new.

Wish you all a very nice day ! :)

[Former_Member]

Morning All,

Definitely photos are crucial, when I'm browsing it's always the good photographs that make me click to see more. I use a point and press camera too and bought a couple of sheets of white card to use as a background. I think my photos are ok but definitely room for improvement. My biggest problem is, as Val says, that the white ground often appears grey. I find if I use the brightness button in my editing software to brighten things the colours go all unnatural and washed out. I tend to go for the adjust the mid tones button instead which is better. I look forward to picking up some tips today.

A good day for taking photos here - blue skies and sunshine. Have a good day all.

[Former_Member]

I'm only able to share a set up for photography, it is not my idea, saw it on pinterest, there are tons of great tips!
So to create "studio" pics, like the ones with the item reflection on the bottom :
Put a table ( I use one of my oil paintings,lol, and support it with my heavy weight iron singer) really close to the window, it works only if they are at the same level/height with the glass. Use a roll of waxed baking paper, and tape the edge to the glass and roll down the rest of it on the table. Like an "L" shape. this will be the light background.
Now use a smooth tin foil, and cut enough to fit under your item, and lay it on table, place your item on it. Now cover a cardboard with tin foil, or a book, this will be reflecting the light onto the item, if you place it front of it.

I'm putting the link for a step by step instruction, it is really cheap with household stuff! I suggest to edit these pictures for the studio results, and instead of picmonkey, use IPICCY! The same as picmonkey, but the effects and tools you have to pay for on picmonkey, they are FREE!

the step by step : http://www.handmadeology.com/studio-quality-product-photography-with-a-12-set-up/

I've only tried it with my blue leather wallet, as you can see the tin foil was a bit ruffled, but it's okay, the item looks great.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/162353990/leather-wallet-in-electric-blue?ref=shop_home_active_22

Hope I can help someone!! : )

[Chockrosa]

Morning everyone, I have been trying to write up a little guide as I told you I would do yesterday. If you have any questions just ask and maybe I can answer them. I will be checking back on this thread during the day.

http://i.imgur.com/4kdi5w9.jpg
This is my setup for smaller things like my card wallets or tampon holders. As you can see I have a big A1 (?) paper as background that I bought from a shop that sells office supplies. It’s a little bit glossy so I can take macro photos without seeing any fibers from the paper.

I managed to find two lamps at home that were the same and two stools that were almost the same height. You take what you have haha (books). I obviously turn the lamps on when I take the photographs and it look like this, http://i.imgur.com/iUEBs0b.jpg

I then take a “white balance photo” so I can get the right white balance on my photos. Otherwise they might turn out blueish.

One thing to keep in mind is to have a higher aperture, this means you will have a longer depth of field (if that's what you want in your photos). You can read more about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture. Mix with the aperture until you get a good f-number for your photo.

When I have taken the photos, imported them and I still don't feel like the background is white enough I whiten it up in Adobe Lightroom. There might be free programs to help you do this but because I used to take 10k+ photographs per year I have Lightroom. I also crop the pictures there. Then the photos is ready to be uploaded.

And here is the end result: https://www.etsy.com/listing/185425620/minimalist-slim-card-wallet-business

As I said, if you have any questions, ask! :)

[TheEclecticInterior]

Good morning and great topic since it is very important! In my previous house, I used a complete photography set up, white backdrop, lights,.....and photoshop to edit the pictures after. I have a dsl camera, but it's still very helpful to have a great setup. My pictures turned out really great because I had some room to set things up properly.

Now in my new house, I have lots of sunlight, but not a good place to set up to take pictures. I'm still searching for just the right spot so my pictures can be as good, in not better than before. I know what needs to be done, just don't have the same space to set up properly. I know I'll get there, it just may take some time.

Just remember that pictures are very important for sales, to get the customer to click on your item(s) and want to not only know more, but ultimately purchase.

Have a great day!

[DerBayzVintage]

Good Morning All,

When I first opened my pictures were awful to be completely honest. Then my husband bought me a light box set off Amazon, for the smaller items it works great! For large items I am still using a white table cloth and my fireplace and the pictures are not that great. I use fotofuze on those when I can but I find that on silver or shiny items fotofuze does not work well. I look forward to seeing what everyone else uses, maybe there is something better that will work on shiny items.

[CinderellaButtons]

This is a very useful thread. My picutres range form being bad to ok. So I will mark this thread for great ideas. I know my daughter always says to take picture in natural light or if not use a light box. I would like to be able to have a setting, whic is what I need to work on as well.

[Former_Member]

Good morning, everyone!

I missed yesterday's chat, but did do four RAKs.

I invested in a photo setup from Amazon.com, which consists of a 30" light cube that's made from a white nylon fabric, two lamps with LED light bulbs, various color backdrops, and a tripod. I don't use the latter. It's more for a point-and-shoot camera, and I prefer to use my sister's Pentax dslr. I stuff my totes with a towel and a small blanket, to give them dimensionality. I use a white backdrop for all the totes except the white ones. For those I use a black backdrop. That works well. After taking the photos, I then use Photoshop to crop and brighten them.

The only problem with this system is I haven't figured out how to collapse the bloody light cube! So it takes up a corner in the dining room, lying on its back with the opening on top, to discourage the cats from wandering in.

I've gotten a lot of complements on my photos recently, for which I thank you all, since I started using this system.

Talk to you all later. Hope everyone has a great day!

[Former_Member]

I also use a light cube. I use a nikkon cool pix camera set for close ups.
I find the tripod a necessity as the aperature preferred set up slows down the shutter speed so any movement makes the image blur. Indirect light is key. Wood turned items are difficult to photograph, if they have a gloss finish in particular. I use a black background for most everything except pieces which have a lot of dark woods like ebony. I don't consider myself enough of a photographer to give advice or evaluate photos. I can tell you that the camera sees the world in an entirely different manner than the eye. Learning what works best for your items will be a trail and error process. Stay positive and experiment until you get the result you want.
Good Luck and make it a great day!

[beckyspillowshop]

I love my Nikon camera, but I am going to take a class next week Adobe Photoshop Elements. It's a software where you can actually go in and white out the entire background, and do lots of other things that I still haven't learned yet. The whiting out looks great, but can be a little tricky to do. A friend gave me an older version and I used on my old computer. I haven't tried downloading it yet, but will wait until the class to get advice about if I should download it again or if I need to purchase a newer version. :)

[Former_Member]

Good morning -

Great topic today! My photos have been ok but it is always a work in progress for me. I always use a white background but have found with some of my wood projects, it is better to show it differently. It will be interesting to see what everyone says about this topic throughout the day and hopefully learn more along the way as well.

The new Coyote dream catcher is now in my shop:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/185500304/dream-catcher-7-inch-coyote-dreamcatcher?ref=shop_home_active...

Have a great day!

[ItsSewYouDear]

Good morning all!
Great topic. I am enjoying reading and learning.
Right now what I do is set up a white poster board on my kitchen counter which has a lighting fixture and take photos. I think they are Ok but I would like them to be better.
I am curious about using the light box-I have one-, how does someone use it?

It is raining and I am off work of my night job lol, so I think I am going to spend some time creating in my studio.

Happy Tuesday all!

[KrochetKingdom]

Good Morning Team,

Photos, photos, photos. Such good advice and suggestions from everyone.
My pictures are ok, not nearly as they should be. I just aim, snap and choose the best ones. I like taking pictures outdoors also and would hang a scarf on the fence on a tree branch etc. Now I will look into the fotofuze and pickmonday as mentioned here today in an effort to improve my pictures.

Thanks all and have a good day.

[Former_Member]

Good morning, all!

I enjoy taking photos of my items. I always take them outside. I like the natural light and a little touch of the outdoors in the background.
I understand that many believe a white background is the best way to go. And, Etsy seems to agree with that. That seems to be the dominating type of photos they use in the features, etc..
So, basically, I most likely will never be featured on Etsy's front page. I'm ok with that. ;)

[DCArtandPhotography]

Morning everyone!

One would think with the word Photography in my shop name I would have expensive equipment and everything, but honestly, I feel its all in the angle, the subject, and the photographer, not the equipment. Some of my best photography was taken with my cell phone camera. I dislike the hype that you have to have $3000 cameras and a bunch of fancy equipment to be a good photographer. I do have a small digital camera, but I rarely use it. I dont have much photography on Etsy yet, but I have some examples on mmy website at dcartandphotography.yolasite.com. If you visit the site, on the photography tab, the winter pictures, were all taken with an old verizon sliding phone, one of their cheapest phones they had out years ago.

Lighting is key for a clear photo, and you would want to have the best picture possible. I have had to shift gears a bit since I was mostly doing landscape photography, and now I am focusing more on photgraphing jewelry. My biggest problem is shakey hands or finding a way to photgraph the crystal beads and it still do them justice. I have 5 crystal necklaces that I have yet to post specifically because the crystals just dont show up so well in the light.

I used to use CS4 for editing pictures, now I use GIMP, its a free program with all the tools and such as CS4, and its easier to use. Usually the only thing I have to edit is the brightness of the picture, and maybe crop it so the sizing is just right.

[Former_Member]

What kind of light box do you have, Candi? Mine's just a big cube of white fabric. The backdrop hangs from the back top and comes out in an "L" to cover the botton. The lamps go outside the box, on either side, and the tote goes inside, toward the back. Does that help at all?

[CraftsByKeri]

I also use a light box. Since winter here is so long it's almost impossible to do photos outside. My preferred editing program is Lightroom and I always use my tripod. I redo my photos often because I'm never happy! :)

[910woolgathering]

I use and ivory table cloth for now, need a bigger whiter one perhaps. But we are planning on moving, so I will wait and see what my new surroundings will allow.

I auto upload to Google Plus and use their editor. There is a center focus tool that allows me to brighten the back ground with out changing the item focused. OR actually vice versa as well.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/180624058/hand-knit-spring-shawl-triangle-scarf?ref=shop_home_active_1

[Former_Member]

My photo's aren't great. I get a many search hits a day, but no sales. So I'm guessing it's my photos that are preventing sales (anyone can confirm that?)

I plan to work on this tomorrow, so marking this thread for ideas. Thank you all!

[RedRiverValley]

Good Afternoon everyone,

What a great topic. Sounds like a lot of people have photos that are a work in progress. Mine are also a work in progress. I have redone some of mine and am happy with some and know many need some work. I have switched between colored backgrounds, white background or a wood background. Right now I tend to like the wood. I try and use a door for all of my door hangers I feel like that gives customers a good idea of how it will look. I have considered a light box but my items are all different sizes and I worry about having enough storage space. My Etsy stuff takes up a lot of room in the house as it is.

[NaturalClocks]

Hello team! One of those busy days I'm afraid, I'm just popping in to say that I've read all the great suggestions given and I'm marking this thread for future reference! I love that foil trick Demy!

[NatalieOriginals]

Afternoon everyone!!
I love the topic of photography!

I've played with taking pictures for years of my eggs for juried events. One thing I've learned is that you need good lighting and a neutral background. I've always used a light box for taking pictures of my eggs because there I can control the light and shadows. A tripod is an absolute as I'll be working to get as much detail as possible.

We've now switched to using LED lights as they are a bright white. Usually we have two to three lamps over the light box, depending on the egg we're photographing and the angle.

We've played around with different backgrounds, but always end up coming back to the grey, neutral background, as it doesn't take away from the product.

One thing we found out, quite by accident, when you're taking the pictures, especially with a light box, you need to wear a neutral colored shirt. Otherwise the color of the shirt will reflect back onto the background.
An example of this are these adapters:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/152039445/funnel-adapter-rings-for-eggers-helper?ref=shop_home_active_4


The background is grey, but Karen was wearing a pink shirt while taking the pictures. One of these days, we'll get around to re-shooting this one. :-)

Also, something I've noticed with some of the other shops. Always take all 5 pictures!!! Takes close up of your jewelry clasps, of the pendants, show your scarves in different drapes, show the front, back, underneath, give us everything you can think of when taking your pictures!! Detail, detail, detail!!

[COLDHAMCUDDLIES]

Sorry to be a bit late today, but for some reason I lost part of the top row of the Etsy page and couldn't access the Community button all morning. Finally gave up and got my Techy guys on the case, and they finally sorted it (whatever "it" was) several hours later. Then I was deep in sewing a new Cuddly - a Big Koala, a speculative job, which may yet turn into a firm order! Thought I'd lost the customer, but he came back last night, and I sent him another suggestion! Somehow he seems to be mixing Koalas up with the size of Grizzlies and/or Brown Bears. Gently suggested that as another name for a Koala is a Tree Bear (since the spend most of their time up eucalyptus trees in their native Australia!), they actually aren't THAT big, and the size I'm suggesting is not far off the REAL DEAL! Interestingly my "crafty" daughter - as in handmade things! - told me the reason why they move around so slowly is because many of them are spaced out on the eucalyptus fumes! How many of you knew that, I wonder? Makes sense though, when one thinks about it!

Interesting topic today. I'm with Marion - definitely a hold up and click photgrapher, taking lots of pics, choosing the ones I like and discarding the rest. Thank heaven for digital cameras. Would never cope without one now.

I do have a mini-studio and have used it on occasions. Trouble is I don't have a proper table on which I can place it in my apartment without doing an awful lot of furniture re-arranging, and quite frankly the bother puts me off. The mini studio has two lights, white top and sides, and several different colour back grounds in the form of plastic sheets. However, they seem to crease easily, and I've not yet figured out how to get the creases out. Ironing them really doesn't seem feasible! Result can be creased background - which does somewhat defeat the objective.

I tried Fotofuze when I first joined the team, but couldn't control my arthritic fingers/hands sufficiently when doing the backgrounds, and ended up killing the subject in the process. So gave up the unequal struggle! Am planning on taking a lot of outside photos - especially now I've got no canine friend to consider and it looks like the weather might improve sufficiently for me to go into our lovely grounds - where there are all sorts of suitable nooks and crannies which could prove useful backgrounds. However, the ground needs to dry out a bit before I can do it as I want to.

Meanwhile, have got plenty of other stuff to get on with - and have finally managed to take some indoor pics to enable me to list the new Rabbit - which will have to be tomorrow, as it's now getting up to my bedtime. After Zumba this morning, may have to have a bath to unstiffen myself!

Till the morning!

[LamplighterJewelry]

Hi Everyone,

Great topic and lots of useful info in the posts so far. I am constantly working on improving my pics and reading what others have found works. I take all my photos outside...try to pic an overcast day but timing doesn't always work that way. I use a light colored piece of scrapbook paper...ranging from white to cream. Some of better pics have been taken with the cream paper. White often gives a gray background and when I adjust light (use Windows live photo gallery) the jewelry, especially all silver gets lost. The angle of the camera in relation to light hitting object seem to affect the outcome. Last week I bought white watercolor paper (heavy duty), I took a bunch of pics, most were okay, some were really good and needed no adjustments. My best pic on cream is below along with last weeks test.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/112603863/washer-earrings-copper-coil-midnight?ref=shop_home_active_1

I sold one of these the day after I loaded this pic (previous pic was aweful)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/113864055/reversible-bullet-necklace-silver-rose?ref=shop_home_active_2...

This one was modified in photofuze
https://www.etsy.com/listing/95976081/hammered-sterling-silver-necklace?ref=shop_home_active_9