Great lighting can make your products look amazing!

It’s no secret that product photos can make or break your Etsy sales.  You can have the coolest handmade product ever, but without an outstanding photo you might not be as happy with your response.

Getting beautiful photos is not as hard as you think, but it will take a little practice to get the hang of what makes your product stand out in the crowd.

Lighting is the biggest source of photo problems.  Create your own photo light box and you’ll be amazed at the quality photos you can take!

Here are 5 examples of DIY Light Boxes…

Pretty Handy Girl – DIY Photography Light Studio Set Up

Ninth and Bird – DIY Photo Light Box

Never Homemaker – How to Build a Light Box

Radmegan – Sun Powered Light Box

You’ll find one more example with some photo tips at The Dapper Toad.

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Now you know how to do it, so get busy and create a light box!

It’s time to take some fresh photos for your shop.  Don’t forget that multiple angles help show off your product.  It takes a bunch of photos to get a few good ones…so snap, snap, snap away!

You might enjoy reading this post…5 Quick Tips for Better Product Photography.

Take a look around Etsy and see what product photos for inspiration.  As you scroll down the page you’ll notice certain types of photos catch you attention and I bet they all have great lighting!

Practice makes perfect…or close to it. There’s always room for improvement when it comes to product photos, so keep updating you photos as your skills increase.

Do you have a light box?  Do you use natural light?  I’d love to hear your photo success tips in the comments!

~Kim

{August Blossoms camera straps}

Hello friends!

My name is Kristen Duke, and I am a portrait photographer in Austin, Texas.  I am also a big fan of all things crafty, some of which you will find featured on my site. I am often asked to photograph items for those with Etsy stores because everyone knows that a well photographed image is what sells.

I can offer a few tips for those of you out there who are struggling to get great images.   When photographing products for your Etsy store, think of these 5 rules:

{Onsie by The Wishing Elephant}

1.  Be as close to natural window light as possible. Don’t have the window behind the product or you will get backlight/dark product images.  Stand at the side of the window and shoot your products with the window light shining on it.  Baby is facing the window and it is behind me, but I am to the side photographing.

{The Wishing Elephant}

{3 outfits by La Tee da Kids}

2.  Have samples up close as well as pulled back along with something “average size” to compare the product to.  If it is a child’s product, have that product in their hands or on them.  Think of magazine ads, having someone use the product shows it off so much more than just a sample.

{Headband by Ruffles n Fringe}

3.  Design a background to make the product more interesting instead of just on a solid surface.  You can use fabric, scrapbook paper, tablecloths, even clothing laid out flat as a background. Below, I have a colorful quilt in the background.

4. Use a white poster board on the side of the product (but outside of view) to add to the window light, as if it is a reflector.  Anything white in the area will add more light to your setup.

5.  Always put your name, watermark, website on your images in case they get pinned (or taken without permission) others will always know to come back to you because your name is on the image.

If you try all of these tips and still aren’t getting the best results, I can help you with your photography skills as well! My book is written for the very beginner in photography, teaching steps to take your camera off of the auto and into the manual settings.  To learn more about it, click on Say NO to Auto:)

Photography help is always appreciated around here!  Thanks, Kristen!

Second only to having a good product, product photography is hands down the most important part of increasing your sales on Etsy!

There are some truly helpful articles posted at The Storque on this subject and I’ll give you some links at the end of the post if you want to read more in depth. Here are a few tips I found especially interesting.

Good Etsy Product Photography

• Should attract people to your items – When your product shows up on the front page or in a showcase, people might only look at it for a flash. Your photograph needs to be powerful enough to cause them to linger a second longer. Then, if they’re interested, they’ll click.
• Should answer questions about the products – how big is it, what does it feel like, how does it look in its intended environment? You can answer these questions with good pictures!
• Should make your products “pop” – Good use of backgrounds, both color and texture, can make all the difference in focusing the attention on your product in a natural, pleasing, and impressive way!
• Should accurately represent colors – you can accomplish this either by adjusting the EV balance on your digital camera or using an editing software such as Photoshop Elements (which is very useful for an Etsy seller)
• Works with Etsy photograph parameters – Etsy will make your photographs 430 pixels wide, so be sure that they work at that size.  You can resize photographs in your photo editing software or online at a site such as Photobucket.com.  Also keep in mind that Etsy will crop a square image from the center of your image for use in thumbnails.

Use a Lightbox

While I’ve never tried this personally, there seems to be widespread agreement that a “lightbox” is a great tool for photographing small items, such as jewelry. There are quite a few of these available on the market for purchase. But it seems like anyone capable of making something to sell on Etsy would be capable of whipping one of these up home-made style. See this Storque article on how to make a lightbox.

Check Out This Video

This video was originally posted on The Storque at Etsy. It shows some great tips for photography of your merchandise.

Great Resources

Here are a couple of really helpful articles that can get you moving along in the right direction:

Photographing for Success at The Storque

Photographing Items – Etsy Wiki