Photographing your items

[Former_Member]

Hi everyone,

I'm getting a little depressed about my woeful efforts to photograph my items. Obviously, I don't have a great camera, and can't afford one. I was wondering what people use to photograph their items and if they alter the images in any way? If so, what software are people using?

Thanks!

[Former_Member]

I would love to know this as well. All my photos don't do the item I have up any justice. Kinda depressing.

[Former_Member]

I use a light box to take my photos and then use Photoshop to get a clean white background.

[Former_Member]

Pictures are like a never-ending battle with me. My camera is definitely not the best camera, and my hands are sooo shaky. I take mine next to a window that a lot of sun comes through. I don't use Photoshop or any of those, though, because no matter how many times I try, I just can't figure them out!

[Former_Member]

My photos aren't great either, I just use a Panasonic point and shoot. I used to use a light box but got tired of constantly taking it down and setting it up (no room to leave it up).

[Former_Member]

I'm not a great photographer, but I've figured out a few tricks in photographing small objects that help me out. I get the best light outside on a slightly cloudy morning. Sunny days don't work at all, even in shade, and when the cloud cover is very thick, the colors are gloomy. So I do a lot of photography when the right weather rolls around.

In art school, they tell you to photograph everything on a stark white or 20% grey background. White doesn't work for me either(I don't have a grey). The contrast is too high, and the colors are dark & burnt even with photoshop to compensate. I tried draped fabric with mixed results. The least little wrinkle appears huge and sometimes the fabric reflects light more than you want it to. My best results are photographing small objects against a wood crate. The contrast and color need very little tweaking, and the wood grain makes a nice subtle background.

I use a couple-years-old digital camera and Photoshop 7, which is like ancient. There's a program called GIMP that is very similar to Photoshop that you can download for free online. When tweaking photos, I only really mess with contrast and/or color balance. Editing anything more than that is time consuming and makes me feel dishonest.
Hope this is helpful!

[FlowertownOriginals]

I am definately not a photographer. I use a hand-me-down Kodak point and shoot camera that used to be my daughters. I downloaded GIMP but can't for the life of me find the time to figure out how to use it. I find it best to take pictures outside on a slightly overcast day. I have also tried taking them on a white background, but that doesn't work for me. I usually just put my items on my wood deck, although I don't feel like they are very professional looking. I would love to find a better alternative.

[Former_Member]

I know what you both mean about the weather! I get very mixed results with my pictures, and I'm sure it is to do with the light outside and the time of day. I used to use some cotton cloth as the background, but found the macro function preferred to focus on that rather than my objects! I'll look out for the next slightly overcast day! Thanks everyone.

[Former_Member]

I rephotographed all of my items recently. I like to have a little texture going on in the background, but not so much that it's distracting. I also want to have it fit the item. I have a lot of post-apocalyptic items, so instead of taking pictures of them on a white background - which wouldn't mesh at all, I used backgrounds like an ammo crate, old leather jacket, or an old book. And I try to get pretty close up for the first picture, so it will be easier for customers to see when they're scrolling the search pages.
BeaKez, I love your shop! Your earthy necklaces are so pretty!

[jangeisen]

Camera exposure meters try and make everything an "18% gray", so the exposure needs to change based on what you are photographing, especially the color of the background. I don't own a point and shoot camera, so I am not familiar with the degree of exposure adjustments they have. If your camera lets you alter the exposure, try underexposing. Use a couple of different setting.

For cleaning up photos I use a free, open source, program called The Gimp. I would recommend downloading it from Gimp's site: http://www.gimp.org/

It is a powerful program, which unfortunately isn't very intuitive. I did find a great book on Amazon that I used to learn how to use it - Beginning Gimp by Akana Peck. The tool I use to correct exposure is Colors>Levels, which allows you to change the exposure on light and midtone areas independantly. This helps make the colors pop. I also use Filters>Enhance>Unsharp Mask, which contrary to the name will sharpen images.

I also use Microsoft Office Picture Manager that comes with Windows PC's running XP and Windows 7, for minor exposure correction. Its Brightness/Contrast editing feature does have a function for changing just the exposure on the midtone ranges of the photograph.

[Former_Member]

I use a pop-up light box on a sunny windowsill with the items sitting on a piece of black perspex. I've just bought a new bridge digital camera but most of my shots were taken in macro mode on an old point and shoot (using a tripod). I've been using Picnik (free online photo editor) to adjust the contrast and colours.

[Loopsanddots]

Hello Everyone,
My son, has told me, on a simple to use, FREE, program, made by Google, which is called, Picasa, the website is,
www.picasa.google.com
It is easy to use, can easily fix Brightness, Improve Shadows, and Much, Much, More!, I am going to try it out and you should too, Good luck

[Loopsanddots]

Me again, I just downloaded and installed PICASA and it's really easy to use. It maid a library of all my pictures and I just had to click the pic. I want and the "tuning" section had ways to fix highlights, shadows, etc. I am going to fix a lot of mine.

[PixieHearts]

For me, I use a solid white piece of paper to place my earrings on. I do have a nice camera though, but in my opinion, photography is 30% shooting and 70% photoshopping. I don't mean manipulate your items' total appearance, but rather, enhance the appearance to make them stand out. I used to use my iPhone camera and that worked wonders as well, so buying an expensive camera isn't necessary as long as you have Photoshop and know how to use it. There are tons of tutorials online and on YouTube.

- Katrina

[PixieHearts]

I also forgot to add: I use a regular lamp which I shine directly on my items since I don't get much sunlight in my work space. There is really no need for expensive tools!

- Katrina

[yaelsplace]

A fter many frustrating days with my camera and many internet hours researching, this is what I came up with:

for relatively small object:

1. Use the macro shooting option
2. shoot against a white background. A3 white paper works for me.
Take your pictures with 2 lights directed at the item.
3.I use to take pictures outside but I got mixed result and the overall look of my shop wasn't great.
here are some problems you might have when shooting against a white background and how you can fix them:
When you shoot indoors the artificial light can make the picture come kind of yellowish. Almost all cameras have a function of indoor shooting. This will eliminate the probleme.
When directing lights on an object yo get shadows. To fix this you need to "soften" your lights. Which mean the light goes trough something before it gets to your item - this is what lighting box is all about. A parchment paper will do the job... You don't need to by a lighting box. I made one by my self. It's very easy.
Here are 2 links that can help you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--wO67tpj8I

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent

This will fix the shadow problem.

When shooting against a white background sometimes the picture come out darker. This is because the white background "fulles" the camera to think there is more light than there really is, so the camera gets less light in when taking the picture. in most cameras there is an option of "white balance" that will fix it. my pictures with this function didn't come out so great so I don't use it. Having 2 lights directed at the object and having the indoor shooting function on, does the job.

4. Fix your pictures! This is very important. The picture show every little imperfections that you wouldn't see otherwise.
I use picasa. it's very very easy to use and....it's free. You can fix the light if the picture came out too dark and you can use the retouch to fix little things...
Hope these advises will help, and that the english was clear (not my first language:-) )

I will be happy to hear your thoughts on the pictures in my shop and how can I improve them:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/yaelsplace?ref=si_shop

Yael

[playsculptlive]

wow, great advice folks. My 2 cents, try using red as a background, for jewelry it makes them pop out.

[quisnam]

Picasa is really easy to use and performs simple fixes (cropping, brightening etc) really well.

I recently bought a new olympus camera with a supposedly good macro but have been very disappointed in the results.

I have found shooting my jewellery on an open vintage book (black text on slightly faded white background) has yielded the best results.