Product photography crits - put your product shots up for review!

The yellow looks nice and bright but the white looks a little grey…maybe try lightening a tad more? I like the style of the shot.

Definitely less distracting, not quite as warm but like you say that could be failing daylight (and there’s not a lot we can do about that :slight_smile: ) and it does stand out better than your pale background

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Thank you Stephanie, the more I lighten the white background the more the flowers blend into it. I might try and look for a different background all together.
Yours looks much better with the wood :slight_smile:

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have you tried on green? the daisies could benefit from that…

I have thought about doing matching or contrasting colours in the past but wanted my shop to look unison with the same backgrounds for each photo.

Hi, all, great idea, I am always up for reading tips on product shots.

I’ve just changed the main photos for my prints to show them framed. I keep changing them from framed to unframed and framed again; I don’t want people to think they come framed so that’s why I am in a dilemma as to which photo to choose as the main one.

https://folksy.com/shops/TeodoraPaintings/collections/24971

I also found a new way of styling my paintings when photographing them from the side and the #FolksyHour on Twitter really helped.

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I had started to re photo my cosies, and thought using a cup and biscuits etc would make my cosies look interesting
https://folksy.com/items/3885366-Vintage-Style-Pineapple-Tea-Cosy
and the same with some of my hats
https://folksy.com/items/6496246-Woman-s-Hand-Knitted-Diamond-and-Lace-pattern-Beanie
what do you all think.

I think you need some fill in light bouncing back into the shot to reduce the shadows (a piece of tin foil on card or plain white card set up on what would be the right hand side of the earrings should do the trick). Lightening your photos any more is going to over expose the highlights especially if some one has their computer screen set particularly bright.

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I think you need to shoot more from straight on (ie at a lower angle) rather than from above and some fill in light (from a reflector (piece of white card or tin foil)) to reduce the shadows on the left hand side might be an idea. The cup and biscuits make good staging though (I think).
I had a quick look in your shop and some of your back drop cloths need ironing - the creases are distracting (or use a large piece of card which will curve smoothly and not have creases).
Hope thats useful.

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I agree with the other posts; what is it that you are selling? Is it the finished earrings; kit to make the earrings or the ribbon? The background also doesn’t make your earrings sing, they kind of blend in. Try to make the picture be all about the product. I am by no means an expert, some of my shots were truly awful. In the attached shot I have set my camera to manual; & then chosen a super macro setting. I have also set the camera to optimise the white balance & fiddled with the f stop option. I often take several versions of the same picture subtly changing a few settings & then see which I prefer. I always ask myself would I buy this product based on this photograph; if not I usually re-take. I spent months with products listed with no-one taking a second look. I’ve re-taken nearly all my items (although I still have a few to do) & I’ve now started to sell. Good luck with it all & if I can help please get in touch & I will do what I can.

Kindest Regards
Debby

Thanks for looking … I’m not sure it’s possible to ever be absolutely satisfied with photos - I guess it’s about knowing when to live with them!

I also prefer the second shot the colours of the card look brighter and the shot looks sharper focused.

Just changed all the ones I can so that the main image is the one of the card on the shelf, need to retake some (mainly relists) as I don’t have a photo of them on the shelf but as it’s quite sunny I might get chance to sort them out today, Thank You for your input :smile:

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I find my shots a little boring. I tend to use a close up for my ducks so they look like this when listed as I think they look more interesting than the standard face on or side shot.

Someone on twitter suggested staging them a little with a bowl of water, for example. Not too sure about that - any thoughts?

These are all very useful tips here, and I struggle with two things, first as per previous comments, getting the verticals and horizontals straight. Even with the anti-distort feature enabled on my camera, I think I am trying to photograph to close to the pictures hence always feeling there’s a bit of distortion present. And the second thing I wanted to focus on was the "tell the story’ thing with my pictures. So here’s my attempt - but does this ‘tell’ enough of a story?? Or should I include photographs of fabrics etc before they are made up into a picture??

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I like this, even though you can’t see the whole duck as it gives it a bit of personality. It grabs my attention, and therefore, even if I’m not ‘searching’ for a fabric duck, I would remember it, and therefore be drawn to your shop, and the next time I am thinking of gifts for people, your shop would then be one of the ones which I look at. :smile:

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I like both versions, with wood and plain background, but the best thing I think you should keep is the mini easel, as that gives the sense of scale. (Or if you wanted to vary things you could use a coin.) You could use the picture on its own as a close up, as I think you don’t need to stick necessarily to the square image format for al five photo slots (some of my secondary pics are rectangular, just because they wouldn’t be ‘right’ square).

I think including some of the fabric is a fab idea. How would it work if the picture was lying on (or propped up against) some draped fabric?

I really love your second photo, it shows off the texture of the piece beautifully.

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Ideally the main image should show the whole piece, Liz @BigBirdLittleBird - so potential buyers can immediately see what it is and get an idea of the scale. Did you see the photo of Jo Harratt’s work that professional photographer Holly Booth posted last week in #FolksyHour? Here it is again - - - >

For me, this images works really well for three reasons…

  1. You can see the whole product.
  2. The branch gives as sense of scale.
  3. The background is light and simple, but the painted, flaking brick introduces interest and character.

I think generally your product shots are fine, but it might be good to introduce a more interesting background. I don’t think you need a lot of props or staging - just something simple that complements your work. Also, some of your shots are a little bit blurred and dark. Do you use a tripod? That could really help.

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I’ve been dying to put a shot on this thread! Here’s a new one…

Love Sam x

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