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Studies tell us we are a very visual race and that images, photos and graphics grab our attention before words. When you are making and selling crafts of any kind, then the aim is to grab the attention of a potential customer. And the way to do this is to take great photos. But how do you take eye catching photos of your crafts?
Table of Contents
The good and the bad
Let me start by saying I am myself on a learning curve with photos of my jewellery. I like taking photos and have had a basic digital camera for many years. I took a few photos of my jewellery when the sun was shining (which meant it was a very infrequent thing!) and then used the built in software of my laptop to edit them a bit.
They were okay but the more I looked around the internet and the more I read, I realised that my photos weren’t eye catching. They were a bit dull and I only tended to take one or two shots. I needed a more reliable light source and one that wouldn’t tint the photos if it was too bright.
The single most common reason that items aren’t purchased online is that the photos used don’t do the piece justice. With my jewellery, I felt the colours never looked bright enough and I couldn’t get crystals or faceted beads to sparkle.
Start with the basics
So I read up a bit, invested in a new camera because one was due and some decent desktop style photography lights. I got myself a photo cube to create a white-ish background and began to take a few shots of each piece including using the macro setting to get up close.
And I feel my photos are better, but a long way off the best I see on the internet. One element I plan to include is the use of props and coloured backgrounds as well as taking photos from directly above to use images in Photoshop mockups. However, all of that comes after mastering the basics and I am still working on these.
Do you take eye catching photos?
The first step to improving your photos is to look at them with a critical eye. If you were the buyer, would these photos sell you the item? Can you judge the colours as well as possible? Can you visualise what the item would look like in use – around the neck, on the wrist, on your wall or anywhere else.
Looking around places like Etsy and Folksy, many of the sellers opt for a pure white background. But many more use props and other elements. If you are considering this, make sure they don’t dominate the item you are selling – it should always be the focus otherwise someone might want to buy that nice little vase you photographed your necklace with, rather than the necklace!
People or not?
There’s a bit of debate about using people or parts of people in your images. Myself, I hate my photo taken in any form so there’s no chance even a finger of mine will appear anywhere. Others don’t have that issue or have friends who are willing models. And depending on what you sell, a person shot can help.
However, Pinterest say that pictures with people in have a lower re-pin rate and generally are less popular than those without them. Some believe it is because we don’t like to be looked at from the computer screen (not sure about that one myself!). Others think it is more salesy when there is a person involved.
If you do include a person in your images, make sure you get written permissions from them to use the image if they can be identified from it. A finger, arm or wrist might be okay but a face or full body shot will need permission. Be even more careful with images of kids, unless they are your own.
Digital Camera Basics for Photographing Your Crafts
The easy one is automatic and is a great way to get to know your camera. In fact, a lot of the time, you won’t come away from automatic mode because it uses the brain of the camera to do all the work.
Most cameras will be able to select shutter speed, aperture, focus and flash among other elements simply by selecting ‘AUTO’ on the little dial. In fact, the camera will even change modes as you move around, trying to guess what you are picturing – but it might not always manage.
Portrait mode is depicted by a little lady’s head and tells the camera to select a large aperture (which is actually a small number). The reason for this is to keep the background out of focus and allow the camera to concentrate on the subject in the middle of the shot. So if you are photographing say a scarf on a model or a bust, this can be a good mode for those first shots.
Macro mode is the one I’ve become best associated with and is great for everything from getting close up on jewellery to taking great shots of the flowers in the garden. It is usually depicted by a little tulip symbol and, on my camera, there is a facility that lets me zoom in on an object but not go too close – my little indicator at the top of the screen goes red when I’m too close for the camera to manage.
Other modes
Depending on what kind of crafts you do, some of the other modes might not feature in your business photography. But here’s a snapshot of what they are.
Landscape is often shown by a mountain with a cloud above symbol and uses a small aperture to create a large depth of field. This is used to capture wide scenes.
Sports mode, with its running person, is often called action mode and does what it says – works for moving people or objects such as cars. It tries to freeze the action using the shutter speed to create those blurred background shots. It can also be termed as Kids & Pets and is ideal for capturing either.
Night shots show a man with a start and are designed for low light situations. They use a longer shutter speed in coordination with the flash to capture the image despite the lack of natural light. Party modes are similar, adapting to low lighting situations and quickly adjust when the room is suddenly brighter. This mode also works for background lighting situations and candlelight. It is often best used with a tripod as a steady camera is essential.
Snow or beach modes are designed to compensate for the imbalances caused by the whiteness of snow or the reflectiveness of the water. Sunset is another mode for a specific time of the day to help maintain those deep hues while making the most of the light available.
Manual modes
Some cameras also come with a number of manual modes included as standard, although you will probably know more about these than me if you have this type of camera as I haven’t progressed that far yet. These include:
- P – program mode allowing partial control over both aperture and shutter speed
- A or Av – aperture priority, allowing control of the aperture while other settings are controlled by the camera
- S or Tv – shutter priority, allowing control of the shutter speed while other settings are controlled by the camera
- Sv – sensitivity value, allowing control of the ISO sensitivity while other settings are controlled by the camera
- M – manual mode – you do everything yourself!
Want to learn more?
If this either makes you excited or gives you a headache, you need to check out my friend Robyn’s product photography kit, Perfect Products. This helps you learn how to get the best photos of your crafts including positions, lighting and composition.
The technical stuff
While I’m not going to go into much more technical stuff about the taking of the photos, I will mention the other side of technical stuff – tagging and naming your files. This is one I always forget and have started to do it on Lightroom before I even edit the images.
For SEO purposes and to get your photos to help guide people to your site or page, you should never leave them with the default camera image. This can be something imaginative like ‘image 1’ or DCN3033. Instead you should name the photo based on the image, perhaps with a date if you like and number each one with the same name.
Tags are great to help with SEO but also to help you organise your images. Maybe you can’t remember what you named that particular watercolour print but you know it had a kingfisher in it. So if you use ‘kingfisher’ in your tag, it helps your SEO and your organisation.
I add watermarks to my images, just the business name in small letters in one corner. Copyrights are a weird area but I always think better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Top photos for your crafts
Taking great photos of your crafts is about more than just the camera and we will be looking at this later. But practising with the different modes of the camera is a good starting point and a great excuse to get out with the camera and get snapping.
