Product photography - the bane of my existence, Part I

Most people will tell you that the most important element of selling online is GREAT photos of your work. It's obvious, right? Because people can't see your item in person, can't pick it up, play with it, try it on or test it out, they need to rely on your photos and description to give them the full story and make them comfortable with parting with their hard-earned cash to buy it.

I started selling my work online about 15 months ago, and that was my biggest struggle. I had never taken pictures of objects before, only snapshots of people and places when I was on vacation. And I never particularly enjoyed it, but I liked having a photographic record of the things we did and places we went. It was more enjoyable when we got dogs because they do all sorts of cute things if you just pay attention and catch the right moment. I assume it happens even more when you have children :)

I quickly learned that good product photography was another skill and an art. The best photographs I've seen are like still lifes, works of art in themselves. Now, Rome wasn't built in a day, so I aimed to just improve my photography enough so that it looked true to my work. I wasn't really going for the "artistic look", just something "good enough" so that people would realize my work is nice, and actually buy it.

Easier said than done. My first photos were similar to the necklace shot above (which, incidentally, is the first necklace I made). I also had some that were all washed out because I used the flash, or all weird and yellow-toned like they had a bad case of jaundice, blurry, or just plain too dark.

For a while I really thought I'd never get it and that it was an art form only for "real artists". But since I am a book learner, I thought I'd read everything I got my hands on. All kinds of people sell stuff all day long on EBay and other sites, and manage to get decent pictures of their items, so I figured I could at least learn how to improve a little bit, right?

The Etsy forums were invaluable for this, as was my local street team, and of course the good old Internet. Now after a year, I think my photos are much better. Not quite tiny still life-quality, but at least they don't actively deter people from buying my work.

So I'm starting a four part series to talk about each of the elements that helped me improve my photos. I was going to just write one post but I ramble and it got too long :) So today's topic is:

Lighting

The number one thing I learned was to never use the flash because it is too harsh and washes out the colors on your items. On shiny jewelry pieces it often gives you a weird glare, as well. Turn off that flash! Now obviously, without flash, your photos are going to be darker, and maybe they are coming out way too dark.

This is where great lighting comes in. Some people swear by only natural light and photograph during the day by a bright sunny window, or take their items outside for pictures. Unfortunately, I live in the cold, grey Northwestern US which gets about 20 days of sunshine a year. Also, I have a full time job outside of my craftiness, so when I come home from work in the winter, it's really dark. I can't rely on Mother Nature here to provide me with adequate photo conditions.

So I did a few things. I found instructions online to make a very cheap lightbox, out of a cardboard box and white tissue paper. For jewelry you don't really need a very big one, so this was an easy project and the small cube I made even stores easily. You don't need to buy the fancy setup on Ebay. You just need an Exacto knife, some tape, tissue and a small box. Google it and be amazed.

The lightbox helps with your lighting because the white interior reflects the light and spreads it around. I'm sure the awesomely talented photographers here have a technical term for that so this is their cue to chime in. The box will lighten up your photos just because it's white inside. It's also a way to get that "all white" background, if you so desire.

But like I said, I can't just rely on my trusty cheapy lightbox and the ever-elusive sun, so I bought some cheap halogen desk lamps from Home Depot. Three of them, which I place around and on top of the lightbox. I like the halogen because the light seems "whiter" than standard bulbs but you could use regular lamps with daylight bulbs or fancy lamps like an Ott-lite. Whatever works for you, but my primary consideration was to find lighting that worked for me, and was cheap.

So I take pictures in my craft studio (aka guest room), with my small desk lamps on, as well as the ceiling light fixture, and a corner floor lamp also turned on. Now I can take pictures in the dead of night and they don't look like my jewelry is lurking in a shadowy corner, like a ninja ready to attack. Woo hoo!

I hope you find this helpful. Next time, I will discuss camera settings, and why you don't need that fancy 10 megapixel big ol' digital SLR with interchangeable lenses. Unless of course you want one for fun.

So tell me, what change in your lighting helped you the most?