Hi just wondering if anyone could take a quick look at my shop photos as I have been going back and forth deciding if I need to pay someone to do professional photos.
Any thoughts? Are they good enough?
I have held off thus far as because its my first year I have still got so many ideas to do so I don’t want to keep having to go back to a professional each time I create something new…
If you think I could benefit anyone recommend a great photographer?
One of the main things to remember is that Folksy crops your photograph to a square for the front page and your main shop page which means you are missing part of your picture. I always crop mine square before uploading to Folksy so that this does not happen.
I do my own photographs and edit them to improve how they look. They are not perfect but I couldn’t afford to get them done professionally.
I don’t believe you do. I love your little shop & I would expect it to do well in time. I don’t find anything off putting - nice clear images.
My photography is pants & whereas I’ve often yearned for professional photos it would be a real pain every time you introduced a new design. You should be in the eco gift guide too if you’re not already
Yes some of them need adjusting definitely! I shall try and square them in the meantime.
Louise I think yours is good! But yes I agree thats the main concern paying a professional its like going blonde once you get it professionally done you have to keep going back!
I too don’t think you need a professional - maybe look into something like Photoshop to balance some of the duller images and life them a bit? And yes the cropping too. But otherwise I think they’re fab
I think there are a few tricks you can try yourself before enlisting the services of a pro. As has all ready be said crop the main image to square so you don’t fall foul of the folksy cropping gremlins. Try using a reflector to brighten up the shadows on the side away from the light source - covering a piece of cardboard with silver foil that has been crumpled up and smoothed out a few times works well. Try and avoid having a shadow line (where the base meets the backdrop) across the back of the image - the reflector might help get rid of this any way or just change the angle of the camera so that it doesn’t cut across the middle of the image.
This folksy blog post might be of use
Oh fab thanks ill def give that a go! Its my prints I have most trouble with esp with dark Scottish days!
I will try that for sure! See if that helps. Perhaps if it doesn’t I may try my prints done pro first. Its all that balance between would it really make a difference vs money vs I want to be a proper established shop! That looks professional!
No - you don’t need to pay a professional photographer - just learn to nail some basics. Get familiar with the settings on your particular camera, light the product well and make sure the exposure is correct. Some of your images are a little under exposed - some image editing is usually needed not just for cropping but also to remove dust specks, redistribute the tonal range and to eliminate colour casts. This is all simple stuff anyone can learn to do. If you can make it to Oxford in January, I will be running a one day workshop on how to take photos for Folksy. The day will cover everything you need to know and will not assume any prior photographic knowledge. As soon as I’ve finalised the venue and date, the people at Folksy have said they will publish the details - once you’ve seen how it’s done, you will easily be able to do it yourself.
Thanks though it would cost me as much to get to Oxford as it would to hire a photographer! Good Luck though. I am a beginner with photoshop but will play around see if I can get them any better
I’ve been using Photoshop for over twenty years and teach it on my courses too but it’s not the best software to use if you’re new to image editing. Rather I’d recommend Lightroom as it’s been designed from the ground up for photographers and all the adjustments you’ll need to make to prepare your image for Folksy are there at your fingertips.
As the saying goes “give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day - teach him how to fish and you’ll feed him for life”. Better to get some tuition as this will be a much better investment.
