Do you think I’ve lightened my photographs too much? I went through my shop items and lightened the ones I thought were too dark but not sure if I’ve lightened them too much. Martine
Maybe just a little bit Martine, but I do love the ‘action pose’ of the doll 
The main thing I notice when I look at your shop front is the cropping of the photos - Folksy crop the imageson our shop fronts and in search results to square so if the starting photo isn’t square bits get chopped off (I use picasa to crop mine to square before uploading but getting a good square composition isn’t always easy). The shawl in particular is missing the top whilst some of the bags are off centre and have had one edge trimmed. A reflector to lighten the shadows would enhance the look (a reflector could just be a piece of white card angled in such a way to bounce the light back in). Looking at the listing for the butterfly bag you have some (to me anyway) rather random tags associated with it - ‘fringed bag’, ‘silver frame’, ‘pom pom clutch’, ‘wedding clutch’ - could these be changed for something more relevant? (looking on your facebook page I see you have an etsy shop so have a look at what key words people are using there and put any relevant ones here - remember to include alternative spellings and things like ‘hand bag’ and ‘handbag’.)
This time of year is very slow on line so hopefully things will pick up soon.
Sasha
Thanks Sasha
I didn’t realise Folksy also cropped the photos and I will take on your white card advice. I don’t really enjoy the photo process but it’s a means to an end.
I didn’t realise the whole square crop thing until someone pointed it out to me - the cussing was probably audible streets away when I realised how many photos I would have to redo. Sometimes it feels like you have to be as good at photography as you do your craft to sell your wares, can’t say I enjoyed it much at the beginning but it is growing on me as I learn what does and doesn’t work.
I really struggle with photographing items, and to be honest, don’t really enjoy doing it! I think there should be some kind of uniformity to the pictures so that they look as if they all come from the same place, but I can’t seem to decide which set-up to use as a standard! The plain “white box” approach looks good but is not always the most eye-catching, however over fussy shots with lots of props can be confusing to the customer. HELP!
I would really appreciate some honest feedback on the photos in my shop. I find it all so tricky and after the recent #folksyhour went in and made changes. The Christmas items are the newest and therefore hopefully better. Please take a look and let me know whether I am going in the right direction and your suggestions to make them better please.
Hi Dawn,
This image has the wrong white balance setting. Look for white balance in your camera’s settings and make sure it matches the kind of light source you’re using. This blue tinge often happens when your camera is set for tungsten lighting (ordinary household bulbs - not the low energy variety) and the product is being lit by daylight which has a much higher colour temperature. This can be corrected by editing software but it’s better to get it right in camera if you’re shooting JPEG images as I suspect you are. If you’re interested, I’ll be running a product photography workshop in January in Oxfordshire…
I’m trying out a new style of product photo for my pet portraits, what do you think of the main photo on this listing compared to the second photo?
@StephanieGuy I’m not a fan of the split screen picture, I know it goes to show how close the portrait is to the photo but something about it just seems wrong to my eyes. Much prefer the picture on easel styling but maybe that’s just me.
That’s interesting Sasha, thank you. Maybe it’s because my style is painterly rather than photo-realistic? Perhaps I should swap it to be the second photo. I’ll see what others say…
Im not a fan of the split picture either sorry. Makes my eyes feel funny like it doesn’t look right but can’t quite put your finger on why if that makes sense.
I love seeing your full art work.
Thanks Dawn, I’ll definitely swap it over to the second photo then.
If you are after photography tips we have loads on the blog
Does anyone want their photo’s critiquing - post a pic here and await honest feedback! (be brave!)
Hi, I just signed up to Folksy this morning. I’m selling lampshades but struggling with shots with bulb lit. Here is one unlit.
Am I on the right page.
Thanks Neb
@DesignByNebAbbott I can see what you are trying to achieve and have a couple of suggestions but no guarentees that they will work. It might be worth trying a low wattage bulb in the shade in a room with plenty of diffused ambient light then the difference between the light the camera receives from the bulb and the surroundings won’t be all that great and you won’t get the hot spot caused by the bulb. A paler back ground might help. You might also get an interesting image of the lamp shade and the shadows it casts by setting it up with the shade offset to one side (and thus the bulb out of shot) - you have something like this for the sphere cell shade which I think works well. I would want to see a ‘lifestyle’ shot of the lampshade in a room so I can judge the scale of it.
Good luck
Sasha
thanks for the feedback. I’ll give that ago. I’ve been shooting them in my living room which is dark grey, I’ll try hanging a white sheet up. Lifestyle shots I’m also working on. The sphere diamond kitchen shot is from a customer!
Neb
Looks great to me, that hows i’ve seen them hanging on the animal programs and it looks clear, centered