Help - I have recently bought some new mannequins to help with the display of my scarves and have also been playing around with removing the background of the photos to get a “whiter” look but am not sure if I am going in the right direction. Wonder if any of you could take a peek at these photos and comment on which ones you feel are best or perhaps make suggestions as to how I could do better before I start the mammoth task or rephotographing them all!
For the purple scarf I prefer it over the white blouse. But I like the mannequin with the head. I think it would work better without the boarders.
For the flowered scarf I like the bottom right but without the boarder.
I use a white border if I’m putting things on my blog or occasionally on my fb page but I generally don’t use borders on my shop pics.
The plane white background works well, (it doesn’t have to be stark white to look good) I don’t mind the very pale gray/lilac in the bottom pics but I don’t care for the blue in the background.
Photo’s can be one of the most frustrating things to conquer and they take so long to get right but the actual scarfs and mannequin are looking good. 
I hope you can make sense of my ramblings??
I like the white background and I agree with above that I like the pics without a border. Not sure whether or not I like the mannequin with or without the head though. Hope that’s of some help.
I think I prefer mannequin with head. I agree with the “no borders”. I like the rounded corners (very bottom right), if you can do this with no border. On the 2nd item I prefer bottom right - those subtle, coloured corners soften the image. But on the first item I think the coloured corners is the wrong tone and distracts rather than enhances. So that leads me to prefer the plain white background (from the choices you’ve posted), and I much prefer the white blouse under the strong-coloured scarf.
See what happens when there are too many options!!!
Kind regards
Jan.
I like the ones without a border and a plain white background. Not sure if I like the manniquin with or without a head:slight_smile:
I dislike the borders and I’m not wild about the colour fade corners (enhances the feeling that its a mannequin floating freely in space). I could go either way on head or no head mannequin but if you go for the one with the head please include it all - I find the cropped in half head off putting. I think the sleeveless blouse (white one) works better than the sleeved blouse (dark one) as you don’t get the sleeves dragging on the back drop and the cuffs being cropped by the border.
Thanks all for your input - its very helpful to get others point of view. I quite liked the borders originally but am beginning to dislike them more and more so will remove them. Following everyones comments it looks like the white background is favourable using a white blouse for the darker scarves and maybe a darker blouse for the lighter scarves - will try some more photos today and see what I come up with
Hi Roz
I prefer the plain white background in both cases and the white blouse for the purple scarf and black jacket for the white one. Like Tina, I’m not sure whether the mannequin is best with or without the head, but it’s a lovely stylish mannequin so either way would be good!
I agree, I like the white background, with the white blouse.
I didn’t notice one had a head and one didn’t, so I personally don’t think it matters either way!
Good luck!
I like your photos just as they are Roz! Headless mannequin, non-whitened background (showing natural shading), no borders.
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Just to throw a spanner in 
I like the bottom left of all those pics. The border helps take the black blouse into the background, the grey shading calms down the bright white background and helps draw the eye into the centre of the pic and onto the scarf. I also like the head of the mannequin on, but I like the way it’s slightly cut off in this pic too, because it doesn’t make me focus on the face which I do when I can see the whole head. I’m just looking at the scarf in the bottom left photo
Jo
I love your scarves, and in my opinion most of your photographs on the shop already work well. Clothes and textiles are incredibly difficult to photograph and show to their best advantage aren’t they. I definitely prefer the images with the mannequin not wearing a blouse, as I think this distracts from the purity of the scarves, her head is nice though. Likewise the fading and the borders. I think a neutral, plain background is best. Good luck with your shop it is very nice.
The white background with no boarders works best for me. I like the way you already display your scarves 
You have some lovely scarves 
Thanks again for the replies - I have to say I prefer the photos I already have but my problem with my current set up is that the mannequin is slightly smaller than life size and I have had a couple of people on the other side, whilst not complaining, commenting that the scarves are a bit shorter than expected. I always include full measurements and state which scarves are “dress” scarves and which can wrap around the neck (obviously some people rely more on the photos than the description). Maybe I should leave the main photo as it is and just include the ones on the life size mannequin as additional photos. Would that work?
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Hi Roz
I have seen you beautiful scarves on many occasions and the one thing that has always struck me is how enormous they looked!!! Now I see that is because they are on a small mannequin, personally I think they look much better on the life size one. I think you would do better with the true size reflected in the main picture, reading the size wouldn’t mean a thing to me I would just go by how it looked. (and this is probably just me but I hate the head!!! Whenever I see a mannequin head in a photo whether it’s a hat or jewellery or whatever it is it always makes me cringe and look at something else!!!) If you keep it on I agree with @JoSara it looks better cropped so your attention is on the scarf not the head! And I really like bottom left, I guess we are all different which is no help to you!!! 
It’s headless mannequins that get me. They make me feel a bit ill 
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Definitely, more photographs. I have found that people don’t read the measurements or information, and something to compare and relate to in size works better for them.
Jan @HandcraftedbyPicto, Tina @daisywings, @HartAndCraft, Lynn @erkinwald, Sasha @SashaGarrett, @Justtosay, Sophie @SophiesHandmadeBabyBoutique, Liz @BigBirdLittleBird, @JoSara, Gloria @GloriaDeanCollections, Jewelleryhandcrafted by Pauline, Julie Dew Drop Crafts - I have tagged you all (well nearly all, apparently I can only tag 10 people) as you were kind enough to comment on my first attempt at photographing my new models! I hope you don’t mind me asking you to have a little look at some more photos - thanks all in advance for your help and time 
I have done some more photos with scarves of different lengths/colours, I have removed the borders (totally agree on that one) and have to say I am veering toward headless mannequin but leaving her naked (top right photo on collages) - sorry JoSara if that makes you feel ill! I think you are right Gloria that the clothing detracts from the scarf.
I have also added some background alternatives - grey base, plain white background, plain grey background and graduated grey background. I think the grey base eliminates the “floating in space” look but I quite like the grey and graduated grey backgrounds but am not so keen on the stark white.
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Good grief, would have taken me about a week to photo that lot!!!
So…First beige scarf I like the headless one but with the black jacket, just think it stands out better.
Blue I like the headless one with the white jacket, don’t like it against black.
The next blue one, not sure, I have an overwhelming feeling the mannequin is being strangled, sorry!!! I think I like it with the white jacket!
Grey one I really like the first headless one.
I like the grey base or they look a bit ghostly floating along!! But I do like the very last pic even so. I think I would go with the grey base and white background.
Phew, off for a lie down, may have to dream about scarves!!! 
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Haha @DewDropCrafts your comment made me laugh!
Ok I’ve also decided I prefer the headless mannequin! I like both the white and light grey backgrounds, neither is off putting to me! I like a subtle background where possible so they suit me just fine!
Good job on all that photography! You’ve been working hard!
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