Products of good quality photographs can often mean the difference between an acceptance of the offer and a rejection notice, sale or no sale, etc.
When you sell your handmade products through websites, auctions and catalogs, you are dependent on photographs of your account to help anticipate the buyers attention. Your images must be to the south.
Professional pr
oduct photos is the best idea if you can afford it, but they can be expensive if you offer several handmade pieces. Do not worry. If you operate on a shoestring budget, have you covered.
We do not want our pictures to scream "amateur". Taking pictures at the kitchen table with our salt & pepper shakers in the background is off limits. Your skirt is also out of the question.
There is no reason to get upset. We will create a simple inexpensive tabletop studio together. You will be amazed at the difference it will make in your product photography.
The first thing we should discuss is lighting. Make no mistake, the correct lighting is an important player. Without it, you shoot blanks. Soft lighting will set the stage for your handmade creations. How can you tell the difference between hard and soft lighting? Simple. Hold your hand out. Now look down at the shadow. The softer shade, softer light. A separate shadow equal bright light.
We like to keep things simple. We chose to make lighting the easy way. Whenever possible, we use natural light, sun, towards artificial light. We have found that the best lighting for taking photos are from an overcast sky.
Now that we have discovered a practical use for the next overcast days, let us proceed to set up your tabletop studio. You need a small table, poster board or oversized matte board, and something to hang the poster board from which stands a few feet higher than your board. We use a very inexpensive rack that you hang clothes on. You can find them at almost any discount store usually near the ironing boards and hangers.
Set up your table. Our next goal is to establish the background. This is where the matte board comes in. You can find matt boards at most hobby stores. They are too big and come in many different colors. In a pinch, you can even use regular poster board.
We do not want to use any color or pattern that is too busy. When someone looks at your pictures, their eyes immediately drawn to your wonderful item and not to the background.
Stand your matte board straight up on the table. Let your board sliding halfway down on top of the table. In addition clothes rack. Hang on matte board, from the clothes rack by means of small clamps. Adjust the height of the rack so that your mat board is partially on the table. Visit Cashcrafter.com step by step photos of how your tabletop studio should look.
Ta Da! You now have an inexpensive but effective tabletop studio. Place your product on the matte board and get ready for your own personal photo shoot.
When your tabletop studio is set up, and your lighting is correct, you must create the photo. Disable the flash on the camera and mount the camera on a tripod. Always use a tripod. Even a cheap tripod from your local discount store will make a huge difference.
Place your handcrafted product on the tabletop. Look for interesting photography angles. You can shoot from above, or may angle in from the side or corner.
One additional tip: when shooting with a white or light background, cameras tend to underexpose the photograph. To compensate for this by adjusting the "exposure value" in the manual settings of the camera. The camera is normally set to 0 Start with to adapt to 1.0 and go from there.
Take lots of pictures. Experiment. Fill your photos with the product. Use different angles and play with lighting. Get your creative juices flowing and you want to be on track to take pictures that make your product pop off the side of your buyers!
These tips are not meant to substitute for professional product photography. You've spent a lot of time to get your handmade items perfect. When you are ready, we will recommend your products professionally photographed.
