Your photographs represent your brand. Yes you are creative,
you are talented and you can have a beautiful business growth. But if you are
not putting you best foot forward in photographing your handmade treasures you
are harming your business more than you are doing good.
A beautiful picture has a greater impact on the minds of
your prospecting customers. Your pictures speak volumes of how efficient you
are. A bad picture may put off a person and a good picture will earn you
benefits. You may wonder that you are not a photographer and do not have a
great camera or props to style your pictures, worry not! I have compiled some
tips for my lovely readers for photographing their crafts. I have picked up these tricks over the years
of my blogging and have figured out what works best.
1. Keep it natural.
The natural sunlight is best for any picture to stand out. I
do not mean to picture your item in scorching sun but use the natural light. Natural
sunlight will always give you best photo no matter what camera you use. Indoor
pictures with artificial and dim lights may put yellow cast on the picture or
may make look your product look lifeless. The colors too don’t look good.
2. Keep it indirect.
Again I don’t say the item has to be in sun, in direct sun
too the picture will look less appeling. You got to be indirect. As long as natural light is hitting your
item, you are in good position to capture a beautiful picture. I actually take
most of my photos for use here on the blog and in my crochet patterns on
the floor of our verandah.
Work with what you’ve got, I say!
3. Use lights if needed.
If you are working late in night and cant photograph in
sunlight than you can use a lighting kit or the light in the room must be very
bright so that picture will look good. Dim light will make your picture look
bad. Also the source of light must not be angled at any position and no shadows
must be cast on the item.
4. Photograph with more than one camera.
If you can, and if you have then why not experiment with
various cameras and make sure which one works best. Whatever works good, use
that.
5. Take multiple photos.
Never be satisfied with just one picture. Always take
multiple shots in different angles and positions at varying distances. Sometimes
the photos I end up using in a blog post or on my Pinterest account are
the photos I thought wouldn’t turn out well at all.
You do take many selfies before you are satisfied with one
so why not with your product. Remember it speaks volumes about your business.
6. Use a backdrop.
Backdrops or backgrounds are essential for any picture to
stand out. You don’t need any fancy charms or ornaments. Use what you have.
Keep your background simple and minimal. Don’t overcrowd
with things that may deviate the attention from the subject. If you can’t
purchase a professional backdrop than you can always use a white sheet, your
marble or wood flooring. Or maybe a simple cement surface. All looks good with
good light and good angle. Don’t use colorful and patterned surfaces of quilts
or blanket.
7. Stage, stage, stage!
How you stage (place) your items makes all the difference.
For example, if you are selling a jewelry than take picture while wearing them
but take care of your messy hair and make sure you look good. selling crochet
mitts? Take pictures while wearing them and while not. Do try to make a difference.
See how they ( big giant bloggers and crafters) do it. Take inspiration from
there.
Try to showcase all aspects of your product. Color, size,
style etc.
8. Use Props.
When you take a picture of your product, use any good props
like flowers, leaves, charms etc that will make your picture look better. But don’t
overdo it. For example if you are selling a blanket, drape it around a chair. Put
a coffee cup near it or some magazines may be. The look and feel will make people
feel good about it.
9. Use a free online/offline photo editing tool.
Use any free online or offline photo editing tool. You can
use photoshop if you are well versed with technology. Otherwise picas works
fine for offline editing. Canva or picmoney are best online editing tools. Play
store too offers various photo editing tools. You can adjust brightness,
contrast, shadows and highlights in these editing tools. Just don’t use any
dramatic effects as a professional doesn’t do that. Don’t unnecessarily blur or
vignette your pictures. That is for kids, you know!
10. Use your logo!
I can not stress the importance of using a watermark or at
least adding your name to the photos you post online. If you make gorgeous
items (which of course you do!) those images will be shared. Once they are, it
is out of your control. At least give people seeing it a way to find you if
they see that shared photo on Facebook.
Canva has a
great text tool that you can fade out to create a watermark on your photos –
and for free!
If i have missed any tip, kindly mention in comments.
I hope this piece of article was helful to you.
