Photos critique please!

I’m up for feedback on my product photos please. I look at other people’s and they look so sharp and beautiful and I feel mine don’t, any tips would be welcome, thank you

https://folksy.com/shops/GoWireSculpture

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These look great to me! AND I’m wearing my glasses. :smiley:

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Aww thank you, I think that you spend so long analysing your photos that you lose all sense of judgement so it’s good to get someone else opinion

The ones on this post aren’t the best for Folksy because they’re very rectangular, so would get a lot cropped off in thumbnails, but the ones on your listings are better because they’re more square (square are the best shaped photos for Folksy, at least for the first photo on a listing).

One thing I would say is use a photo editor to brighten them up a bit. My photos start with a similar background to yours, but a little editing on settings like the brightness/contrast, levels or curves can make a big difference. Have a little play around to see how they work, and my tip is just change a little at a time. Big jumps can often make things look unnatural, so rather than just change the brightness/contrast loads, I’ll change that a little and the levels and curve a little. When you brighten, you usually need to add a little contrast/darkness back again to keep it looking natural.

Also, if you feel your photos aren’t as sharp as others, it could be that you’re uploading large photos. The photos you put on here are 4000/3000 pixels wide, but Folksy only shows images at 642 wide, so they get resized down by Folksy. This is fine, but I often find when photos are made smaller, you need to sharpen them again to get the clarity back, so I resize my photos to about 800/1000 pixels wide and then sharpen them, so there won’t be as much difference when Folksy resizes.

Your items are lovely and the photos are fine, but they could really pop with just a little editing.

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That is all so helpful and I’ll definitely have a play about with the brightness and contrast. Also I did wonder why they weren’t as sharp as the originals so its a revelation to find out that resizing will help this. I really appreciate your help, thank you

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Is this what you are looking for?

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Wow that looks fabulous, is that using a background remover?

@GoWireSculpture nope, I’m using a free alternative to Photoshop called GIMP.

If (like me) you’ve never used a photo editor before it can be, at first glance, super daunting.
But don’t be put off, to achieve that look only takes a minimal amount of clicks.

Especially with your gorgeous products, you should be able to achieve a crisp look within minutes.

If you (or indeed anyone) wants me to put together a quick post about it, please let me know.

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I love these, like others have said, crop & lighten, I use Photoscape x the free version and find it easy to use. It would be nice to have an idea of scale etc so maybe pop something alongside that would go well with each item. Just things that you have around the house or garden would look good, an apple, some sweets, flowers, leaves or grasses, wheat etc. :slight_smile:

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That’s so helpful, thanks, I’m definitely going to experiment with this, it’s just the look I’m after, thanks so much

That’s really kind thank you. I think you’re right about illustrating the scale so I’m going to have a think about props, I like the idea of using something simple , and I’m going to clean up the background with the recommended, thanks for your thoughts

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sorry, I’m unclear about if you want me to put together information about how to use GIMP?

Yes please if it’s not too much trouble. I’ve just tried the app for iPad and couldn’t master it so I think I’ll need to use the laptop, a few pointers would be great thanks

@GoWireSculpture no problem, I will get on it today. I will start it as a new topic, but will provide the link in this thread for you.

Brilliant, thank you :blush:

Hi @GoWireSculpture, I have sent you a message about the tutorial.

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These look good. When taking pictures make sure camera is really still, preferable on a tripod. I use my phone (it has better resolution than my camera) and have a little stand for it. Choose a central point in you item and focus on that. The camera should do the rest. You might tell I’m no camera buff but I think my pictures are pretty clear.
Fastinating items by the way. Love them
Patsy

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Thankyou Patsy, I’m new to Etsy and I’m so grateful for peoples feedback and thoughts.
I know what you mean about focusing on a single point, I think I was stressing trying to get the whole item in focus.
Your photos are lovely and really do your jewellery justice which is beautiful.
Thanks for your thoughts

Hi Patsy
Your actually here on folksy! We don’t talk about the site that must not be mentioned :rofl: you’ll find us a much friendlier and more helpful bunch here on folksy.
Your wire sculptures are lovely by the way :heart:

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:joy: Blimey I’ll be getting thrown off!
Slip of the typing finger! I have to say that Folksy does have a real community feel and is definitely more ‘handmade’

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