Etsy Product Photography

I've touched on the importance of your brand as an artist in my previous post. But now I want to dedicate this article to pictures. To be specific. Product pictures for my Etsy shop.

SeasonColours is 18 days old now and I've already accumulated 100's of photos in connection with my store. I use a 2 year old canon powershot sd1200 IS. It's not a professional camera, but we use what we have right? So we make it work. We focus on what we do have. Which is an eye for what feels right and we go with that.

If you're thinking of opening a shop you might find yourself doing the same things. Taking picture after picture of your product from different angles, different lighting all in the name of producing the most enticing and easily read image you can then place on your shop. The idea is pretty basic. Make it look good. When I take my product pictures I try to think about what I want to convey. If I'm shooting a print. I want to show a couple things. One is how it might look on your wall. A close up of the detail in the print and how it'll be shipped to you, (Still working on that.) I also think about the Etsy brand. Bright white seems to be the common link between Etsy and shop owner. So using natural soft light from a window in your home might be the best place to take pictures. You'll want to take MANY photos. Many.

I think if you're like me and you've never done this before, you'll just have to learn through trial and error. Thus taking hundreds of photos just to capture that perfect look you need for your own brand of product.

I've found the most challenging thing about doing product photography is that there is only about 2-3 hours of sunlight a day in Montreal right now. And with a busy schedule it's hard to find the time to get everything done. So I don't. I know that my photography is a work in progress. When I get a chance to improve or try something new, I take it and only do as much as I can. Currently this means I have a variety of product photos on my shop that don't really coalesce with each other. But Other than wait to get everything just perfect, I find it's important to show the best you have and keep working to eventually get everything the way you envision it.

It's your shop and you get to choose. I love being a shop owner because I love being able to make decisions. SeasonColours is really the best job I've ever had.

Here are some examples of my photos from multiple shoots (the ones that didn't make it) as I try and find my way through the fog to creating a brand that represents me.

Drop me a comment with your thoughts! I'm all for hearing your stories of photo madness

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