Photograph Troubles

[YellowDaisyPaperCo]

Hello! I'm new to Etsy. I opened my shop in July. I have really struggled with taking good photos. I have an older Olympus camera and very limited space to take photos. I tried building a light box out of cardboard and tissue paper but everything looked a bit yellow and I didn't have much luck fixing them in Photoshop.

Now I'm using GE reveal daylight bulbs without a light box. I just have them laying down on my work space and am getting very mixed results based on the color of my cards.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks :)

[heartsabustin]

I will say, the lighting is a bit harsh. You've got some really hard shadow edges in some of your shots. Either you need to move the lights back from the product a bit, or you need to use natural daylight to shoot if at all possible. I open my front door and shoot on a piece of white poster board with no flash and the macro set.

[Former_Member]

Okay - I'm not an expert but....

1. Do NOT post a photograph that is out of focus.

2. I understand about white box issues - I received one for Christmas last year but the artificial lights cast a yellow hue so I ended up having to go back to natural sunlight. So... go to an art store and buy a big sheet of white foam board. Then go outside - best would be a bright overcast day but second best would be a full sunny day. Place all your items on the white foam board and use another board (or cut the first one down) to try and reflect the light back to your item in order to lessen the shadow. If you want to have something other than a white background then use a cream or grey background - neutral but not too dark - it can be a sheet of tag board or construction paper, also from the art store. I used this technique for a long time and it isn't the best but it will help get you well lit, clear photos.
3. Use ALL YOUT PHOTO SLOTS to full advantage. That means show the front, back and inside. Show it with an envelope. Show it standing up near something for perspective. Show it framed on a wall if you want. Remember your customer is not in a brick and mortar card shop where they can pick up your card and open it.
4. Same with your gift tags, show front, back, and on a well wrapped gift.
5. Lastly, check out your competition. There are many card shops on Etsy and you can find out what works well by looking at shops that are successful. Look at how they photograph their cards.

good luck.

[Former_Member]

Oh - and one more comment. Download PicMonkey a free photo editing software available on the internet. It is very easy to use and you can do all the basic photo manipulation with it: crop, resize, sharpen, and exposure are the basic ones I use but other options are also available.

[Former_Member]

I too am new to having a shop but have a few thoughts that might help.

Since you have a lot of white and brown card items, I think your better pics are when they are against the opposite color for contrast. Placing your white based cards on a brown cardboard backdrop, and the brown based cards on a white backdrop.

Perhaps all with a slight tilt to show a slight angle, and include the contrast of the edge of your card against the backdrop. We all know it's likely to be rectangular, so cropping corners at a tilted angle is nice. You might want to choose a preferred tilt and keep all the single card images tilted the same direction for consistency. The multi tag images will break up any repetition.

You've got the idea here, but the image is blurry and the finger is distracting. Place the card flat and take a pic straight down? Less shadow since it's thin.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/160206775/happy-halloween-spider-web-card?ref=shop_home_active

Here you have the opposite color combination and it looks better.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/157448234/happy-40th-birthday-cake-card?ref=shop_home_active

Hope it help! Best of luck with lots of future sales!

[YellowDaisyPaperCo]

Thanks for all of the advice - I need it! OK I tried picmonkey and it's much easier to use than Photoshop. Thank you!

I also tried a different background and adjusting my lights etc, as recommended in postings above. Here's what I have now... Is it too dark?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/160197847/happy-halloween-mummy-card-with-googly?ref=shop_home_active

[Former_Member]

Not too dark on my monitor but too busy a background