Three years and FINALLY

[Former_Member]

Before I set up shop on Etsy I was a professional freelance photographer, but I swear, NOTHING has challenged me more than photographing products. Its a whole other beast!
I've tried lightboxes, natural lighting, my editing software and while my photos have been "passable".. they aren't up to what I'd like them to be... that is, until last night. I know this was a fluke because I was in a hurry, in a darkened room, on a cloudy day, with a makeshift white box and a studio lamp. But I'm so proud of these two I just had to share! Input highly appreciated.

The way things USUALLY look :
https://www.etsy.com/listing/122517677/tissue-case-in-hot-pink-burgundy-and

My two new "babies"
https://www.etsy.com/listing/129703843/hammered-copper-beaded-necklace

https://www.etsy.com/listing/129737894/dicrhoic-glass-and-swarovski-bead-silk

Now I just have to figure out what I did and repeat the process LOL

[ShadyLaneDesignz]

Wow! What a big difference and I can't believe you were in a dark room. Very exciting stuff! Congrats!

[decembermoondesign]

They're perfect.

[Former_Member]

They look nice! The usual ones don't look half bad either, though! I think jewelry and fabric and stuff that's not super shiny or a tricky color and unmodeled lends itself well to being photographed indoors and without natural light. I shot all my notecard photos late one evening while I was bored, put them on a sheet of gray cardstock (should have used white in retrospect, but haven't got around to reshooting yet) and flashed away.

[CreationsByCarrieD]

They do look great! Hopefully you can recreate the magic again when you need to photograph. You are so right about it being hard. I have had three rounds of photographing and I fail every time. It is one of the major issues I have with my shop yet. Congrats on the great shots :)

[kidsstore]

They look great. Also, thanks for this thread. It makes the rest of us feel better knowing that even professional photographers have issues with taking photos of their items. LOL

[Former_Member]

I have found depending on the object, I can use the "highlighting" feature on ipiccy and turn it up and it will white the background really nicely. Works for my bows - but not all of my listings unfortunately. Depends on what I'm photographing.

You can see the highlighting turned up here. I think it works better on darker yarn creations and not lighter - maybe the same for your jewelry? :)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/122599850/crochet-bow-hair-ties-crochet-bow?

[Former_Member]

Are you using a tripod and setting the ISO high... If find this helps a lot!

[Former_Member]

I wish I could sort out my pictures. After I take them I think, OK you look alright, but my jewellery looks so much nicer in real life.

Argh the struggle!

Well done! They look fab. Now tell us how you did it!!!

[Former_Member]

Agree with Katie, please share how you succeeded!

[Former_Member]

Photography is my biggest struggle. I agree with Katie Joy that my stuff looks so much better in real life. I did get a great tip about checking my camera's white balance, and that has helped a bit.

Congratulations on finally solving the mystery!

[Former_Member]

I took an online course for photographing merchandise--it was three days and I was exhausted. They typically spent 10-15 minutes setting up a shot and mentioned that usually it takes hours. Like we can spend hours setting up a shot!

That said, op, your photos look GREAT! Hope you figure out the key (and when you do, please share :)

[Former_Member]

Well, I watched a video on youtube and was trying to recreate the process the photographer used (if you're interested in the link please contact me, i don't want to violate policies by posting off site links) and I bought a white tri-fold project display like they use for school. But I got frustrated trying to get the lighting right, as it was already late and like I said, I was in a hurry.
I don't use photoshop anymore because I couldn't afford the upgrades, but I've had PaintShop Pro forever so I use it for all of my photo editing. When I pulled the image in, I tweaked the color balance, the curves, and the brightness and contrast. I'm so thrilled it turned out good. It is very frustrating trying to photograph when there is bad lighting all the way around. I do keep my ISO set fairly high, but I didn't use a tripod.

[Former_Member]

I keep my white balance set fairly high too. I use a custom white balance using a stark white sheet of paper as my initial photo. I use an old camera, a canon Rebel Tsi from years ago LOL

[SweetAngelVintage]

Great shots! I once read on an etsy blog for jewelry photography, it is good to have like a clip lamp on a board or so, but have one on EACH side.....
Maybe this will help somebody....I have yet to try it.....I don't sell alot of jewelry as of yet....

For my products, natural light works fab....sounds crazy, but some of my best shots are taken right inside my vehicle with all the 4 windows around me and the main sun off to my side behind the object....if no sun, still works nice....

Not saying to work in your car, just thought I would share...otherwise, I am now a morning person at home to catch the before noon natural light through my windows...but of course, there are still challenges and variables, depending on the item.....

I try to edit my photos right as I take them, like if I don't like it I delete it right away, and only get the 5 satisfactory photos already lined up for etsy, this saves time, because I don't have a home computer now for editing.

Heidi

[RubyRobinBoutique]

I did a photography course before Christmas and my tutor recommending blacking out a room and using 2 lamps at 45 degree angles and a light box to get really good shots. I haven't tried it yet, need to get my hands on some natural daylight bulbs first...