Photography Thread

[#1]

So a very savvy fellow Etsian a.k.a Alex from http://www.etsy.com/shop/woodenaht suggested that I start this thread. He likes my photography I suppose.

I will try my best to help everyone out, so shoot away!

Rich

[Former_Member]

Great pics! Critique please?

[Former_Member]

/starts slow clap.


(this was all awesome info - thanks, guy ! :)

[Former_Member]

For Kelly and Adam from Colourscape
I myself use a 6mp Nikon D40 which is the lower end Nikon DSLRs. All camera's available now have at least 8-10 Mps including point and shoots so one will have to try hard to find a camera with low megapixels.

The basic problem that I have seen with phone camera's is that if there is a white background, it will darken everything including the product....conversely if you have a darker one it will overexpose everything.
To learn photography these are excellent however in the competitive world that photography has evolved into... with everyone using a phone camera you need an edge.
Folks who want advise in buying a camera to replace their professional photographer will definitely need to invest in hardware as a point and shoot or a phone cam will not do justice or give professional results.
Once again, this is a product photography and you got to do what it takes to get the a better pic than the millions out there.

[Former_Member]

Ewe from TheWanderingEwe
http://www.etsy.com/listing/112486377/yarn-skein-barrette-knitters-grey-hair

So I see that you

[GrowingUpWild]

Any recommendations for a paper to put under my son when photographing? I am currently using posterboard as it was the least expensive thing I could find. He is quickly outgrowing the board though! Putting two together I get a seem. Currently I am just cropping right at the edges however then I have rectangular photos that crop funny in Etsy thumbnails. Here is an example:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/91656963/happy-camper-unisex-organic-bodysuit
I have seen photo backdrops for sale but they are SO expensive. Are they really worth it?

[Former_Member]

Continuing for Ewe from TheWanderingEwe

It looks like you have taken the photos outside- sun - outdoor pics..which is GREAT.

But remember, these pictures tend to have almost always harsh shadows and contrast. To get a more soft and even lighting in the sun you may want to use a white sheet between the sun and your product. This can be a fabric or something like butcher paper or cheesecloth material....needs to be translucent and someone will need to hold it .

Many of the pics are out of focus and blurry and this is not cool. To sell, you have to have each and every picture dead on. I took an example of the above pic. The third picture is totally blurry. Please fix it and show it to me then :)

[Former_Member]

Abby from LilBlondiesBowtique

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LilBlondiesBowtique

Abby, you portrait pictures are beautiful. I like the use of your depth of field.

Taking this photo;
http://www.etsy.com/listing/107458330/halloween-spider-hair-bow-clipclippie

For the above pic, you may want to play with the saturation and contrast a bit more to highlight the product.

Overall though, great colorful and eye catching photography !

[Former_Member]

Kelly Engel from GrowingUpWild

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GrowingUpWild

Kelly you can buy 3- 4 yards of opaque white curtain backing that is used to stop light from coming in. If you don;t get this, you can also use 2-3 yards (or how much you may need ) of white fleece.

Photo back drops are expensive so if you MUST need them, try Craig s list. But in my opinion you really don't need them. Nature, opaque whites, fleece should do the trick!

Happy growing baby!

[Former_Member]

Dewdrops from DewdropsLuxeStyle

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DewdropsLuxeStyle

I am going to send you a picture that I took, of similar items like yours and....white background.

First, it is goof idea to use black back ground as they don't show well on white back ground. When using black ground, I noticed you have used denim or black fabric. These tend to absorb light and reduce the natural sheen on the jewelry.

2. My recommendation - please take a walk around the house to find objects (such as silverware, black vase ) that are dark and shinny and use these as props. I am sending a picture ( that I took) as I mentioned to give you an idea of what I mean. Although, I would have loved to attach it here so everyone could see what I am talking about.

3. Once you take the picture, play around with the big 3's - saturation, contrast and sharpness, especially the sharpness because you want the stone / jewel to stand out.

[Former_Member]

* good *

[Former_Member]

Thanks a lot for the feedback.
I never thought Silver ware could work great for Jewelry.
I just modified one listing using the silver ware background.
I feel it looks great compared to the way it was before.
Here is the listing I modified. The first picture is with silverware. https://www.etsy.com/listing/112426018/dangle-earrings-sterling-silver-antique
Please look into it and give some feedback. So that I go ahead and try photography for other items too with this background.

[Former_Member]

For Kelly and Adam from Colourscape
I myself use a 6mp Nikon D40 which is the lower end Nikon DSLRs. All camera's available now have at least 8-10 Mps including point and shoots so one will have to try hard to find a camera with low megapixels.

The basic problem that I have seen with phone camera's is that if there is a white background, it will darken everything including the product....conversely if you have a darker one it will overexpose everything.
To learn photography these are excellent however in the competitive world that photography has evolved into... with everyone using a phone camera you need an edge.
Folks who want advise in buying a camera to replace their professional photographer will definitely need to invest in hardware as a point and shoot or a phone cam will not do justice or give professional results.
Once again, this is a product photography and you got to do what it takes to get the a better pic than the millions out there.

--

I get that :) What I was trying to say though is that anyone who has a lesser MP camera than that shouldn't feel they need to rush out and purchase a "newer" camera on the premise that it will automatically make their images better. Learning how to use White Balance settings is far more important than the piece of gear. How to use the available light to them etc etc

While we're at it... my partner started with a Nikon Coolpix 5700, and I started properly with a D50.. so we're no strangers to low end MP camera's ;) Quite a few of those D50 images are in our shops but you'll be hard pressed to figure out which ones they are!

[AkitlaFlair]

Thank you Rich! You are so good at seeing the problem right away just by looking at the pictures. I will follow your advice to re-take some pictures. Thanks again!

[Former_Member]

Thank you! I'll go back and redo and try not to have them be blurry!

[Former_Member]

Excellent tips! I feel like I'm battling my photos at the moment. :/

[Former_Member]

I get that :) What I was trying to say though is that anyone who has a lesser MP camera than that shouldn't feel they need to rush out and purchase a "newer" camera on the premise that it will automatically make their images better. Learning how to use White Balance settings is far more important than the piece of gear. How to use the available light to them etc etc

While we're at it... my partner started with a Nikon Coolpix 5700, and I started properly with a D50.. so we're no strangers to low end MP camera's ;) Quite a few of those D50 images are in our shops but you'll be hard pressed to figure out which ones they are!

Sure that's what I always thought, there is no need to buy an expensive camera..hence the camera I use. A lot of folks ask me what camera I use ....I tell them that its the lighting not the camera and not even the megapixels. A lot of folks on this thread are being receptive to the tweeks that I mentioned using their current equipment.
I'm not surprised about the D50 quality...my D40 has given me a lot of value!

[Former_Member]

Dewdrops from DewdropsLuxeStyle says
Regarding the picture, I think you want to keep the closer ear-ring in focus as I see the further one in focus. Also with jewelry its a good idea to "sharpen" the pic a bit (use your discretion). I would increase brightness/contrast too.
Also for this picture try taking the pic from a low angle..so that one earring is much closer to you than the other. Also try taking pics of partial areas of the earring(s)....all pics no not need to have the entire earring in them. ...you can also crop to get a partial earring.
I hope this helps
thx

[Former_Member]

I have a canon rebel CSI (thank you, circuit city.) I am trying out different stuff with my photos, but haven't had any feedback, yet

[Former_Member]

Hey Rich,
I'm having issues with getting my indoor lighting right... But with two bulbs, it seems like I'm only getting partial light, way too many shadows.
I have two daylight bulbs, but I'm thinking about doing four... one for each side of me so there are no shadows... Is that too much or should I just go for it?
I don't like only being able to take photos during daylight times and then if the sun isn't shining or if it is, the lighting is so different... grr! So... am I crazy to add that much light? Or is it better? Should I add even more? yikes!
Please help!

[Former_Member]

Such a amazing tips... tips that I can definitely use to improve my photos! Any other tips?

[KeepsakeToys]

Hi Rich,

Thank you for what you are doing. We have struggled with pictures and after taking thousands and modifying several hundred of them using a photo editing software (pixlr), we are still far from desired results.

We tried taking pictures outside in our tiny patio, which is shaded from all sides, but they were turning out too dark. We found that they required way too much modification in the area of contrast and brightness - to the point when the colors of the item were no longer true to the item itself.

We then built a lightbox, bought three lamps, and tried again. We played around with settings in our camera and got this:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/110742334/wooden-teether-waldorf-baby-toy-natural

Then, we moved the lamps around and changed settings on the camera and got this:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/110907655/wooden-push-toy-wiener-dog-natural-baby

In both cases, artificial lighting made out toys appear yellowish, which they are not. In the first case, the background was way too dark in the original photos to try to make it white or even light gray. In the second case, the background was light enough, but we could not get rid of the light pink hue that appeared after we finished adjusting brightness and contrast.

We are considering going back to the natural light. Out goals are to:
1. Have photos that reflect true colors of our wooden toys
2. Have white or light gray/blue background that would be flattering for our items and that would highlight our products in the search results, so people could easily see them

Would we be able to achieve these results by taking our light box into direct sunlight? What if the day is slightly cloudy? Should we remove the light box then? I would appreciate any suggestions before we go out a spend many hours before we realize that our pictures are still not good enough.

By the way, we have a Nikon DSLR. I would appreciate if you could recommend the right settings for taking the pics outside (or in a different setting with natural light).

Thanks!
Lisa

[MyDistinctDesigns]

Absolutely great tips and ideas.

If you have time could you take a look and give me some pointers. Pictures have been a struggle for me.

Thank you.

[Former_Member]

Jo from wasataylor

Jo, I had edited the picture and sent it to you. Did you take a look at it? If you like the edits that I made, then you are doing well with taking pictures. You HAVE to photo edit them to get the even tone, contrast, brightness

[Former_Member]

Oh Rich, I loved what you did! In taking new photos of other pieces I am having problems with my indoor lighting. I kept getting to many shadows or dark spots. I would really like to not have to do so much cut and pasting, brightening, contrasting, and adding saturation with the photo... I understand editing, but I really don't want to have to redo the whole photo each time because the color of things gets distorted and when I change too much, I lose the quality of the photo. How do I get that happy medium?

In playing around, I took the following photos with three bulbs... But the glare is showing on the resin so I want to try it with a "diffuser" on it but... I have playing around to the point my camera battery is dead... so I'm waiting for it to recharge. I think the shadow problem is better with three bulbs, but I gotta take care of my glare issue... I'll let you know how it turns out in a few hours...

What do you think? Am I totally off?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/113319730/wooden-snowflake-bracelet-bangle-black

[Former_Member]

mego from StellarBoBellar http://www.etsy.com/shop/StellarBoBellar

What is going on here? What is this??
//www.etsy.com/listing/112884095/cute-green-plaid-flannel-velcro-bow-tie?ref=v1_other_2

There is a LOT to be done here.

Why are your photos side ways? What is going on? Why are they not straight? there doesn't seem to be any consistency through out your shop.

too much sepia I think. But that is something you may like and are trying to portray. I would brighten them and edit them.

Please smile in your pics!