I can see what you mean about your photos being too busy. It’s good to work with “props”, and some work better than others, for instance Jane @janecrick uses her to good use.
I couldn’t really see what your Wooden Fox Painted Box was, until I clicked on the listing. Maybe take the photo inside, with some of the tips Kim @konyskiw suggests. Do you have Paint Shop Pro? Or Befunky? Befunky’s Basic account is free to use, and there is an option to upgrade if you want.
If not, you could try taking photos indoors (I did this at first), with some indoor lights, or even some candlelight!!! And use one, or no props if you want. Like my Card below…
@Heart2Art Props and busy photos?
Ok, I think the important thing is you want the item to be the focus of the photo, without props obscuring the view of it (which you’re fine for). You want the item to stand out from the background, so not too similar in colour. A fairly plain background normally works better than a very patterned/textured one, as that can distract from the item. If you want to use props, I think the best way to do it is either use props that help describe how the item was made (such as the gel pens with the drawing), or help show how a buyer might use it (such as the jars with tealights and being used as a sweets container). This helps it look natural and makes it easier for the buyer to imagine it sat on their nightstand or wherever.
For your box photos I would definitely add a photo with the box open and holding a few items, like maybe a few bits of jewellery or for the fox one you could put the conkers in. It help shows the use and the size.
Hi wonderful people. So I’ve been on Folksy for a whole year and not sold one thing! I know people like my pieces as I sell elsewhere, but I think my photos need a lot of help! I only have a phone and very limited time as I’m juggling a full time toddler and 2 teenagers. Hints, tips and any help would be really very much appreciated.
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We talk about it A LOT but for anyone selling online having good product shots is crucial, but it can be tricky to get right. So we thought it might be useful to have a thread on the forums where you can submit your product shots for review by other sellers and Folksy staff.
The idea is that you post a product shot from your shop (or one you’re thinking of listing) and the wonderful people of the forum respond with praise, advice and (constructive!) criticism. I know this happens anyway, but thought it would be useful to have a designated space for it.
So if you are having product shot problems, post your pictures or links here (just one or two - please don’t spam the thread!)… and if you think you can help with any tips or suggestions on how the shots can be improved, please do!
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I’m getting views but wondering if my photos or descriptions are capturing interest as no further sales as yet - I’m a complete novice at this.
@NanaMakes Most of your photos seems to be quite tall. If you look at your shop page, you’ll see quite a bit of your items are getting cropped off on the thumbnails (they still show fully on the listing pages).
This is because Folksy show thumbnails as squares - on your shop front, in search results, on the front page… so it’s important to make sure your photos look good when they’re cropped to square, and you’re not missing anything important from the item.
Although it’s natural to hold your camera portrait way when you’re taking a photo of something tall, this normally means when it comes to cropping it square, you don’t have enough image to the sides to get all of your item in. I find it’s best to go against your instincts and take the photos landscape instead. It will feel like there’s a lot of background at first, but if you get your item to fill the screen top to bottom, then you can crop it square yourself and you won’t be chopping off anything important (or if you look in your camera/phone settings, you might even find the option to just take the photos square).
Just one other thing about your listings in general - remember to hit enter (or put a comma) after every tag! At the moment you just have one big tag on your items.
That’s really helpful and detailed, much appreciated. I’m a novice and this is completely new territory for me so your guidance and advice will be a huge help.
I’ll spend tomorrow revisiting and editing my listings.
Thank you for everyone’s help. I’m in the early stages of moving work over to Folksy and am really impressed with the community and how helpful it all is.
I tend to try and take my own product photos or use mock-up sites for consistency - what do you think about these mock-up templates?
@rikbarwickdesign They look really good! The one thing I would suggest is as Folksy thumbnails are square, you might want to make your photos a little more square (at least for the first image).
For your items where there’s just one frame it crops down well, but for your photo with 2 frames it crops right at the edge of the items, so it might look better if there’s a little more background showing to the side in the thumbnail (which you’d get with a little more height to the image).
Hi ope everyone is doing ok . I’d like to put my shop up or critiqued sounds a great way to learn. I struggle as dyslexia and know my descriptions are not long enough. Any tips welcome .love to.find how to.make pinterest link to sales x thank you for your time . Love bodkin creates just got to work out how to.send a photo.
Lovely cards. I’m no expert on photography but I do wonder if the black background is a little too black! the cards do stand out but when you view your selling page as a whole it is quite stark. Would it be better to use a softer neutral colour? - I rather like the dark grey ones you did but perhaps a rich dark brown would be a warmer colour choice. I think it might be a good idea to play around with different colours and textures. I use a Fositan light box and it has helped me a lot as it is quick and easy to use - if you buy direct from the company it is about 50 pounds - it is an investment but worth it.
Hi Steph
Glad you got the lightbox I find mine really brilliant. Your new picture looks good. I tend to go for neutral but warm coloured backgrounds like dark creams, peach or fawns as they look more inviting when seen as a whole on the page and I also go for plain or lightly textured backgrounds as anything with a stripe or pattern highlights any change of direction in the material and can distract from the image. The other thing I find is that I often need to set the lighting to a lower setting as, when the light is very bright or harsh, it can bleach out the colours of the item. If you use a prop in the photo (like a flower for scale) it’s usually best to keep it really small and low key as you don’t want to distract the viewers eye from the item for sale. I think photography is mostly a matter of ‘trial and error’ and some practice but having a good photo is really important so it’s worth spending time on it - good luck.
Hi, I like the background you’ve used, it complements the blue and silver of the necklace. If you could just try and centre your pieces so you don’t get the edge in the shot, like in the top left corner as it distracts from the jewellery.
Also, having had a look at the pictures on your page, you seem to use a lot of props in each shot which does distract a lot from your jewellery. Maybe just a simple plain background, and again, if you can get each piece in the middle it will make all the difference x
I like the first and last picture, the natural backgrounds show off the jewellery really well. I think the black background on the middle two pictures looks a little too stark, maybe a lighter grey or lighter background would show off the silver better?
If you are going to stick with the black, it might be good to get a simple editing app which would blur or smooth out the background. This would get rid of the marks you can see in your pictures which at the minute are distracting from the lovely necklaces.
