Here’s the continuation of our post from Tuesday. Horseshoe Market’s assistant director, Kara Lundquist, offers some great photography tips for your products! And she includes some spectacular online resources. Check it out!
An incredible photograph is a powerful marketing tool. I’m not talking just lifestyle photography; I’m also talking about product photography. You make beautiful items that you’ve spent time on and it’s worth your while to spend some extra time investing in the photos you take of your finished pieces and collections. This also doesn’t mean that you need to source out professional equipment to get the job done.
It’s also a cost consideration for your business. If you plan on spending $3000 on a camera and accessories, is this investment going to make you that $3000 back and more in profit with new sales and increased marketing presence? If so, go for it! If not, here are some helpful tips that can spruce up your pictures.
Before we get started, I have to tell you all about a photography class I took last year at the Makerie that helped me with my camera and capturing a great shot of products. The class was called Shoot Your Craft with photographer Alessandra Cave. The Makerie recently opened up day classes for $299! This is an investment that makes sense and is well worth your time – you get a whole day with fellow makers and Alessandra’s fantastic guidance and keen eye. Hurry up, though, registration ends April 1! Or, do your mind, body & soul a favor and stay for the whole weekend!
Ok, back to some tips!
- There’s no need for a fancy schmancy camera. Like I said above, take the cost of the camera into consideration for how much you’d hope to make more than you do without the camera. On the Rena Tom blog, Marlo Miyashiro goes over some camera basics and reinforces the need for trying pictures slightly changing your camera’s settings as you go. This is the time intensive part, but it will allow you to really get to know your camera and see how tiny changes can impact your photos.
- Natural light is fantastic for photos, but can often cast dark shadows. Consider something to diffuse or reflect the light. Buying a simple, white foam poster board will help to reflect the re-direct light onto the shadowed area. Also, a good piece or a few layers of tissue paper can help to diffuse the light so it is not as harsh. Here’s a picture from Shoot Your Craft where we used the white board to reflect into the shadows.
- Try different surfaces, the lighter the better, to place your products on. Trial and error will definitely pay off! I’m currently obsessed with a little online shop called Mignon Kitchen Co. for the styling of her products. They are clean, simple and don’t overuse too many additional items in the shot.
- Build a lightbox. Check out this simple how-to using an old box, white card stock and tissue paper to diffuse light. Another plus for the light box is that you can use it at night with desk lamps. We also made a light box in Shoot Your Craft and here’s how it turned out:
- If you are starting to take better pictures before you upload to your computer, your edits may be minimal! But, editing does allow you to clean up your photo with cropping and adjusting exposure and contrast. I know we are mourning the loss of Picknik come April, but recently found out that PicMonkey might be a great replacement for some free online photo editing & collage making!
I hope this was helpful! For a relatively small investment for some light reflecting or diffusing items you can pick up at Hobby Lobby and some extra time on your part, you could very well have just what you need to improve your photos which will make your customer more informed and one step closer to adding that item to their cart!
Kara Lundquist is the Assistant Director of the Horseshoe Market and received her MBA in Marketing from Regis University. She lives in Denver with her husband and little yorkie, Mochi. Outside of working on the Horseshoe, she’s cycling around town or working on her sewing and embroidery projects that are sprawled all over her house.
