Thursday, March 3, 2011

Stock photography tips

Realizing that I have been a bad blogger. Bad kitty! I thought I'd do a little bit on tips for photographing your stock for listings. You get five shots on Etsy, and 10 on Artfire if you're a pro seller. Mix it up!

For quite some time I was using just a plain piece of ivory satin as my photo backdrop:

Cut Glass Drop Necklace with Rice Pearl

I switched after a bit, to a piece of white on white embroidered fabric:

A necklace for me

But the white washed out a lot of my pieces. I started mixing things up by using a slate tile, for texture and depth:

Aurora Borealis Crystal Set



Then I started mixing in different pieces of scrapbook paper, for color contrast:

Citrine & burgundy glass necklace

Rhodonite & Lepidolite multistrand necklace

I made an earring stand from some base metal wire and a stolen smidge of my daughter's Play-Doh:

Blue and brass earrings

And I got a necklace form to try to showcase a little better how the pieces would look when worn:

Antique Victorian Cinnabar Butterfly Necklace with Glass and Purple Fluorite

Purple glass

Because being able to coordinate with my husband to have him take pictures with me modeling pieces doesn't happen all that often:

Manna from Heaven necklace

But my favorite images have come about when I added something else into the picture:

Red Gass Bracelet

The Necklace for Unlocking Arcane treasures

Now that's not to say that a plain background can't still make for a stunning shot:

Swarovski crystal and pearl bracelet

But mix it up! Have different backgrounds, move the piece around in different positions, take shots from different angles, or on necklace forms or draped over different props:

Aventurine Pendulum

Geode necklace

aurora borealis swarovski crystal bracelet

Don't be afraid to retake pictures, especially of older stock. Your eye's changed since you took the first set, I assure you. I go through phases where I pick one category and rework all the pictures for those pieces, and it usually does result in a spate of sales. It's a lot of effort, but it does pay off.



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3 comments:

Made By Tammy said...

Fantastic photos!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the really great tips!

KittyKatt said...

Thank you for your experienced advice. It was nice to see things in progression from when you started to later. Keep up the good work!