Photography Questions! How long do you think you spend photographing your products? And do you use a DSLR or just a phone. I have a background in still life photography so its hard to stop myself from wanting to spend ages photographing my products. But I realise if I am not careful I am going to spend more time photographing my work and using photoshop than I actually did making it. Anyone found a happy medium?
These days I don’t spend long at all as have found a way that works ok using a small angle-poise lamp (don’t even bother with daylight anymore), a sheet of A4 white paper and a piece of drift wood (occasionally some china). I usually just set it up quickly on top of my keyboard. Just using an old iPhone to take the photo then basic editing in Fotor - tho this doesn’t let you take out stray marks / dust so that can be a pain.
My set up isn’t exactly sophisticated or inspired and I probably need to start varying it but it does for now. Previously I’ve had all sorts of battles with rubbish lighting and trying to get a decent shot so I’ve got loads of old photos in my shop I still need to redo at some point…
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I have loads of photography backgrounds so I am thinking of just setting up a corner with the same light set up and just switch backgrounds. I use an app on my IPhone called Camera Plus. It has a macro setting that picks up a lot of detail. I am aware that if I use the DSLR I go in to photographer mode and it takes forever. And I really don’t want to get bogged down with images when I should be making. Thanks for sharing how you work as its useful to see how other makers divide their time between the making and the photography etc.
Yes it could be really time consuming and takes a while to find something simple that works for you. My husband was a photographer so he has all the gear but I’ve avoided getting bogged down in all that… and he’d be a nightmare to work with 
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I really struggle with photos, I live in an old cottage with tiny windows so I’m never happy with my photos, they are getting better slowly. My iPhone camera takes better photos than my camera.
If you don’t have much light then bouncing it around with reflectors can help. You don’t even need to buy expensive ones either. Some A3 white foam board can bounce the light in to the scene. IPhones have great cameras these days it’s almost too much effort to get a camera out.
Has anyone used the We Are Memory Keepers Shot box designed for taking flat lay and staged shots? I didn’t know it existed till yesterday. I just use my iPhone and free app PicTapGo to edit. I enjoy the photography side of things though have zero knowledge. It is time consuming though.
I went to the trouble of making a light box to use with DSLR and still not happy with the pics even after spending hours fiddling about. Best shots seem to be on the garden table in the sunshine! The down side of this method, i can only take pics 10 days a year when the sunshines!
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I have a light box that I paid about £13 for off ebay and two LED bulbs at £15 each and a couple of light stands and soft boxes that I use for some of my photography but its time consuming. Natural light and a decent background and a reflector still seem to be the best combination. It’s finding what works best for products without the headache of spending too much time on it! I shot some stuff on the kitchen worktop yesterday with light from the windows and one skylight.Just an iphone.
I am lucky to have a conservatory so can get daylight shots all year round.
For my set up - I just bought a roll of contact paper with wood boards printed on it. I then stuck that onto 2 large foam boards and that is now my background for all my items. Before that I was using just the plain white foam boards, but wasn’t really happy with it.
I use my mobile phone on a selfie stick that has tripod feet. This way I get a stable image and can turn my product for different shots without moving the camera.
I use the ‘pro’ setting in my phone, rather than the fully automated option, this allows me to set options dslr style without having to break out my actual dslr.
Post photo editing I have tried lots of options from GIMP (free photoshop alternative), Pixlr, a variety of photo apps on my phone, but the 1 that seems to be doing it for me at the moment is Google photos of all things. But not on the PC, I find the tablet app to be really good. Strangely the PC version has next to no editing options compared to the tablet app version.
This is straight out of the camera
And this is the same photo edited in Google photos
The photo is a bit wonky because I was holding the phone at that moment when she joined in. 
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Too long 
…I can be hours, I use my tablet as it takes pretty good photos but can be half a day cropping and changing the light etc if need be, good job I don’t have to list everyday. I can easily take 50 photos of an item then choose 10.
I bought 2 huge white boards to photograph against, this year have bought 2 fleece blankets, 1 pale grey the other pale green and I have a charcoal one so I drape them over the boards. The 2 new ones were only £10 and 15 and in hindsight I didn’t need both.
Yes I agree - it can take ages to get good photos. Its been a big part of the learning curve for me, but I am getting quicker now. My husband has rigged up some LED floodlights for me, and I’ve figured out which props work well, and I sort of know what I am doing with ‘the big camera’ as long as it is on Auto mode…
I’m also getting better at working out the different shots I will need for the shop and social media, but quite often I don’t get them all and then have to set it all up again 
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Oh wow you seem to have it sorted, good to hear 
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What a difference the cropping makes doesn’t it, I crop almost all of my pics as well. Love the boarded backdop as well. I take all of mine in the conservatory as well but still have to adjust brightness and colour especially when photographing mohair.
This photo looks really good
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