Thursday, January 17, 2008

Etsy shop photos

I'm still trying to think of ways of re-do the photos on my etsy shop. Not that my sales are suffering; I'm actually getting sales from people I don't know. But I think that my photos could be better. Someone has suggested using quilt batting but I'm worried that they would come out too grey - although it might work.

There was also a thread about this on etsy, and there are some tips there: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5419864

I've been looking at etsy and trunkt sites that I like. Here are a few:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5472288
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5043503
http://www.trunkt.org/client.listing_more.cfm/id/1452
http://www.trunkt.org/client.listing_more.cfm/id/2940
http://www.trunkt.org/client.listing_detail.cfm/id/1482
http://www.trunkt.org/client.listing_detail.cfm/id/718

Looking at these, they all have solid-coloured, muted backgrounds. Some are grey to black as well. The lighting in these is very similar in that they each appear to be using at three or four lights and at least one is a direct light. Right now, I'm using indirect lights only.

So what do you think? Any ideas as to how I could make my jewelry pop in photos?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

After looking at all the sites you listed, I like your presentation better than any of those sites.
The dark neutrals were almost depressing and didn't highlight the colours of the stones. The one with the warm colours was interesting but the colours overpowered the jewelry. Clementine Jewelry was my favourite of the sites you listed. The neutral backgrounds were good but some of the props,although interesting, overpowered the jewelry. That makes me feel that there might be flaws in the items that need to be disguised. It may be a false impression, but I am suspicious of distraction.

Darling Jee said...

One of the things I really like about your site is that I can tell the scale of the earrings. I like being able to hold a ruler up to my head and knowing where the earring will end up. (I know, you're picturing me looking ridiculous in the bathroom mirror with a ruler next to my head :) I also like that you have both the light and dark colour shots. It makes me feel like I'm getting the right impression of colours.

Having said that, I really liked the macro shots on the last two websites. Sometimes I don't feel as though there's enough detail on the beads, especially the stones. I know nobody gets to see that level of detail when I'm wearing the jewelry but its the kind of level I am used to seeing when I buy jewelry in stores. (Rather, when I used to buy jewelry in stores!)

Unknown said...

I really like Monisa's point about macro shots. A really good shot of the main bead would add a different level of interest and the background would be a lot less important in the shot. It may not be appropriate for every item, but it could be quite eye catching with some of the stones or multi-faceted beads.

Anonymous said...

What I liked about the sites you gave was the deep dark backgrounds. Not the bright colored ones - they took away from the color of the jewelry. Instead the deep grey, blue and even a super dark brown would be nice. The macro shots are good, but only to show detailing as a secondary photo. When shopping for jewelry the first thing I notice is the overall image, second is the detail.

Good luck,
Love,
Robin :)