Product photography - all the world's a scary stage, part III

So here we are. Part III.

Staging

This is where simple product shot becomes a fine art still life of your piece, and what separates the guppies from the swordfish. Or something like that. Here's your chance to get artistic, and where you can truly shine. I can't help you with that part - it's an artistic vision thing, and I'm still working on that myself.

You have to decide on a theme, or a "look" for your shop. Elegant? Sophisticated? Fun? Natural? The beach? The woods? Ethnic? Vintage? Cute?

Your possibilities are endless, but obviously it has to match what you're selling. Probably doesn't make sense to put ultra-modern jewelry into a vintage setting, unless you have a really good vision of what you're trying to achieve and can make it happen. And if you're that person, you probably don't need these articles :D

So your theme is going to define your photo style a bit. Super-sharp focus with clean lines, or maybe a softer focus, antique look? Your photo background will also be determined from this. You can use fabric, lace, scrapbook papers, or stark white foamcore board to evoke the vibe that you want.

Another part of your theme, and something that's totally optional, are props. Leaves, rocks, a nifty glass or plate - the sky's the limit. There was one merchant I saw who uses simple dollhouse furniture, which makes for otherworldly pictures of odd scale for her jewelry. That's art. You'll have to come up with your own style.

There's also the question of using live models for accessories and clothing. Again, it's personal preference. But if you choose to do this, remember that most people are used to seeing professional model shots in catalogs and magazines. If you just throw the jewelry on yourself and have your friend photograph you, it might not give you the intended, high-quality impression you want to elicit.

If you show rings being worn on your hand, make sure your hands are clean and nice-looking. Keep in mind the "ick" factor - some people really don't want to see anything they buy worn by someone else, and especially in the handmade arena, people assume the one in the picture is the one they are purchasing.

The one piece of advice I have here - make sure your chosen background, models and props don't compete with your actual pieces. That means limiting the patterns, or maybe using softer colors. It should always be clear from the photo what you're selling. If your eye is drawn first to the props or background, then it's too much.

Also distracting is using a dirty background - clean up the dog hair, don't use the floor or your threadbare couch. Really think about how you want your item to seem - in my mind there's a huge difference between the connotations behind "homemade" and "handcrafted" and I think the latter is what we're trying to achieve here at 1000Markets.

Personally, I don't use props, but I do like a bright solid background for my stamped metal pieces. I LOVE bright colors, and that's reflected in my jewelry so for those pieces I use a solid, muted background so as not to compete with, or distort the colors in my jewelry.

Once you've set the stage (pun totally intended), it's time to arrange your jewelry and get the shots you want. Again, this is going to vary with personal preference, but keep in mind that your customers can't pick up the merchandise and look at it. So you have to provide all the different views and angles for them. I'm not talking about the crazy 360-degree view you see on real estate sites, but give your customers a reasonable tour of the item.

For me, that means photographing the whole item in one shot, the clasp (if it's jewelry), the back, a shot to show how the item would hang, and a closeup detail shot. I tend to use the closeup detail as the first shot, to get people to click, but it's something each merchant has to decide for themselves.

Try arranging the piece in different ways, and shooting from different angles. Move the lights around to get rid of shadows (or increase them, if that's what you want). You'll need to do a lot of experimenting with this, to get your style and preferences down. Remember that digital pictures are free, so you could take 100 pictures of one item and it would be totally worth it to get 5 really good ones.

This is one area where practice does lead to vast improvement. I had a so-so picture of one of my small dog tags posted for a few months. I sold a few of them during that time. This weekend, I replaced the initial picture and one of the others, with a much better quality photo on a bright background. I sold 6 of those tags in 2 days. So I really do think working on your pictures makes a difference in sales. And that's what we're here for, right?

Stay tuned. The next very special episode will cover photo editing.

You know the drill - share your thoughts about staging in the comments, yo!