greetings and the neverending photography question

[Former_Member]

hi! i have been a member for awhile, but have just recently implemented daily communication via team forums. i am connecting and learning a lot and love it! so i plan to be active in this group and help out!

my question/help request regards photography. i am a longtime darkroom and digital photographer, so i thought product photography would come easily. haha! i used to pride myself in my "artistic" product photos, but i have come to realize that they are oftentimes using too extreme depth of field, blurry, not showing enough of the product, color is not clear, etc etc.

i now want a clean, stark, fresh, glossy, professional look.

i feel i have two options. hire a professional but have to pay a lot of money and not be able to credit my shop as mine entirely (i didn't do all the work). and also, i'd have to re-hire him/her for future pieces. second, buy a hard photo lightbox. i currently have a soft one. the hard one i am thinking will produce much better brighter photos. but, it too is expensive (180 or so), and what if it doesn't work like i think it will?

anyone having any experience on what i've mentioned, i warmly welcome your two cents! in return, i'll gladly critique your shop or something. i've got a good eye! thank you!

[Former_Member]

I use natural light, not direct light and white posterboard. I use my macro setting, and sometimes, depending on the light, I'll open the aperture up a bit. That's pretty much all there is to it - we don't have to be fancy shmancy. I used a lightbox for a while with my jewelry, but I went back to just natural light through my front door. Seems to be working for me - my three shops look pretty cohesive.

[Former_Member]

thanks for writing, erin! i looked at two of your shops, and yes, your photos are beautiful AND cohesive!

i have tried natural light, inside, outside, front yard, back yard.... i don't know if the light is different in florida, but most days are so bright it washes everything out, seemingly even with the aperture and macro setting. i have taken good pics on good cloudy days, but we don't get many of those. :) haven't tried the white posterboard though--- i will definitely try that!

thanks!

[PICFiberArts]

I also use a macro setting for some things but normal for larger pics. I use a piece of white flannel in a natural light setting but then I photo out some of the background. I think the black on some are over welming some of you beautiful pieces. Sometimes if I have so much harsh sunlight I take a shower curtain and cover the window I am taking photos near to defuse the light. Makes it softer.
I also have to sharpen a lot of my photos with my program that came with my computer.
Hope that helps!

[Former_Member]

thank you for taking the time to write, patricia. :) definitely a few tips there i have not tried. your quilts are beautiful! yeh,i want to make the switch to white backgrounds too. white just ended up creamy yellow in the light box.

thanks and have a great day!

[Former_Member]

I'm still in the learning process for all my photos...
So this thanks for this thread Arielle! ;) I'm sure I'll find some good advices here! So far, I'm also working with natural daylight... The hardest thing is to take pictures with my little model! She's always on the move, and I think she likes to play a littl game called "how fast can you take off your headband!" Haha!!!

I was planning to retake pictures of some of my listings, I'll definitely try the macro settings, don't know why I haven't thought about that sooner! ;) Thanks guys!

[LaLindaArtStudio]

I too thought I was a pretty good photographer until I tried doing these product shots. It has come to the point that taking photos are my least favorite part of Etsy. I have the same problem with the sun being too bright here in California. I find myself getting up super early trying to get my shots outdoors on my deck before the sun fully rises. My windows are all low E- so they are tinted which distorts the color of the light. I find myself having to edit almost every shot I take in Photoshop. I feel like it is so much time wasted that I could be using to create new merchandise. There has to be an easier way.

[shadowjewels]

I use a soft light tent and 4 cheap home depot shop lights with GE reveal bulbs. I'm in california too, outside shots looked washed out and green from my patio roof, inside i only had one window to work with, that only gets good light at certain times of the year if it's clear in the morning. All that was holding me back! I'm glad i got my photo studio set up the way i like it now. It takes up a lot of space in my bead room, but not having to drag it out to set up makes things much easier.

[shadowjewels]

Remember to wear a white shirt when you take photos! The camera sees reflected colors that your eye can't see.

[shadowjewels]

Everybody needs to watch this workshop. It's the best.
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/make-it-work-an-etsy-success-photography-workshop/

[Former_Member]

I wound up trading work with a friend who luckily for me, is not only local, but a fellow Etsyian. She has a digital SLR and takes great pictures. And the sad truth is, my stuff requires a macro setting that my crappy little Sanyo couldn't handle contrary to it's claims of having a macro setting. She's also simply a far better product photographer than I am. My resin stuff requires far more effort to keep glare from happening, and my rings have a super high detail that only her camera can capture.

So ask around, some photographers might be willing to trade like mine was, she actually gets credit on my "about" page as a team member and I've provided a link to her shop in return for all her hard work.

[BethWold]

If you use natural light, make sure that it isn't direct sunlight. Photograph on a cloudy day, or in the shade. If you can't do it in the shade then make yourself a light tent. This can be done with so many things - thin white paper, thin white fabric, white flour-sack towels, etc. Put the white fabric/paper between the sun and your product to diffuse the light. It doesn't matter how strong the sun is where you live, just diffuse it.

You will pretty much never see a professional product shoot done in direct sunlight - it's just too harsh. You'll have distracting shadows, and harsh highlights. Sometimes you can get away with it if it's really early or late in the day - within half an hour of sunrise or sunset, but generally speaking you will want diffused light.

Arielle - it looks like some of your photos are too orange/yellow - I'm guessing you used a light that had a typical light bulb? If you want your photos to be properly white balanced you have to set your white balance on your camera to tungsten or use "daylight" light bulbs. I'm not sure what kind of light box you have - but if you can take it outside - just position it so the sun is going through the diffusion material and not the end you shot from. This should light everything enough to photograph but without the harsh highlights and shadows you would get if the sunlight directly touched the jewelry and background.

[Former_Member]

I'm still working on mine, but got great tips here. So far, I've moved to indirect light, on white paper. Discovered freezer paper on my own, I use the shiny side, seems to make a difference with shadows. The only problem is the short amount of time I have the right light, combined with my family of 6. Never enough time in the day!