It’s up to You….Better Photography!

Hello there, lovely Indie Fixx reader’s. How are you doing today? This is Claudia from {a place for twiggs} and I am back for one more story on this column It’s up to You!. This column is about getting you started on some things that may lead you to a very creative life… we have talked about creativity and inspiration, how to manage your time properly and today… we have photography tips! Well, if you think of yourself as a creative person and you want to make a living from doing what you love, you need to make your business strong. Among several factors that will indeed make it a business, one is photography. You need to show your work properly and in a professional manner…even if you are an amateur. And no, you don’t need a professional camera. Really! Let’s just take care of a few basic steps!

Composition

So you have your product, and now you need to take a picture of it. Now, I’m not sure what your  product is, but I bet that is can be used or shown off around your house or using yourself as a model. So your house or yourself can be the perfect place to capture the magic. Keep it simple… keep it pretty.

{Tip} Imagine that you are responsible for a shop window, you need to arrange things a little bit.

1. In this picture,  there are way to many objects that distract from the frames and prints. Asides from this, they are very dark which make the picture lose its balance. Electronic devices often look a bit ugly too…
2. In this second picture, even without much light, the candles, lavender, glass bottle and see shells help to create a mood, which takes us to the beach. It is a simple thing with some objects that are around the house, but together they create a balanced corner for those prints. It also gives an idea for the buyer how to create this mood at home.

Lighting

Now, you see lighting is very very important. Assuming that you don’t have any pro lighting material, you need to shoot with what you have. This means that you may have a sunny day and plenty of natural light or a very rainy one, but this does not mean “no shooting today!”, on the other hand, it means “let’s get creative!”. The use of flash is forbidden, as it gives a very artificial look to your product and may also cause a reflection.

Now you need to know your house or your garden to understand what will be the best spot for the shooting. Remember to avoid too much light, because it will create dark shadows around your product.

{Tips} Increase light with a white cardboard on the back of your product or make it a bit darker having a dark cardboard where the light is coming from… or even a piece of fabric under your product that will reflect less.

1. This first one looks really bad, because it is dark and has a flash reflected on the frame. Though you can see the image itself, it looks like it was taken during the night, and that reflection does not add beauty to the image.
2. The second one has no flash, but natural light, which sometimes can cause a bit of reflection as well, but you can edit it after on an editing program, like Picnik.

Reflection

Well, sometimes it is pretty difficult to not appear on the photo because you are being reflected. Sometimes it is impossible to avoid it completely, so work your way to make those reflections appear less. When you are trying to photograph a print (like I am!) you need to work your reflection out of the way of the frame itself. So, challenge yourself by trying different angles. Try not to stand in front of the frame, but choose one side.

{Tip} Place your products next to good looking things, so that when you frame the picture to avoid reflection, other beautiful things can be captured on the image.

1. In the first image, you can see my reflection, which will cause some conflicts with the image I want to sell.
2. In this second, I shot from the left side, including the white bottles and the glass bottle in the picture. You can still see the reflection of the candle holders. I like too the candle holders here to create a mood, but in this case if you took them away, you would have no reflection at all.

Background

Choosing the background for your product may be challenging, but also very simple. As you can see you can either use your product or place it in your home, just like you would use, to create a certain mood, not only seducing your buyer, but also giving the buyer some ideas. But if you wish to capture your product only, without anything else around you need to be clever… and once again, keep it simple! Choose something that will not distract your potential buyer and choose something clean.

{Tip} Grab a piece of old wood that you can found anywhere and paint it white, but paint in a rustic way! And you will have yourself a good looking piece of background to showcase your products!

1. Though I like my wooden caramel floor, it looks dull here and makes it a dark image. I chose this necklace bought in India because it has several details and in this image you can’t see those details properly.
2. I found this piece of wood in a construction site, my father-in-law was kind enough to clean it for me and I painted it white. I use it a lot on my pictures! Having this as a first picture (let’s imagine this is an Etsy product), there is no clue that this is a necklace, but you can see all the beautiful details of this tiny box.

Editing

So you are not professional photographer, you don’t own a professional camera, nor have the money to invest in an expensive editing program. Relax… you still have the amazing internet to help you on this! There are a few free websites that help you edit your photos and you don’t need to understand a lot about photography. One of those free websites that I know of and I highly recommend is Picnik. It is very user friendly and will allow you to see the changes while you play with exposure, temperature, saturation…

1. The first image is a SOOC image, which means “straight out of the camera”, no editing whatsoever. It looked okay, but with too much light on one side, lacking light on the other and a few reflections on the image, that though it still allows you to see the image, it could be better.
2. The second one was edited using Picnic and playing with exposure, saturation, temperature and a bit of contrast as well. It looks warmer, the walls are even more inviting to the picture, and the print itself has better colours. It still shows a small reflection close to the plate, which is made by the window in the bedroom door. With a black cardboard taped to the window this could easily disappear.

And that’s it my lovely friends! These are some very basic tips for you to use on your products. The most important thing is to keep yourself very critical about your own work… you need to love it, but others need to love it as well for you to succeed in your business. So take your chances and improve your skills to share your beautiful products with the world! See you next time on It’s up to You! (May 6th) when I share some tips on Customer Service!

– Claudia Casal, also known as Twiggs, is an organizational psychologist in love with photography. She is the author of {a place for twiggs} blog. Read more about her on the contributors’ page.