Taking the Perfect Shop Photo: A Compilation of Photo Tips & Resources for Your Etsy Shop

The quest to take the perfect shop photo. It never ends. And it can become obsessive. But luckily as you learn more, you improve. This will be a running post on the tips and tricks I've learned along the way and what really works. Feel free to comment with your own findings & links! It'll help us all get better.

Get to know your camera. Even on a point and shoot, you have settings that can help you control the final product. The beginner section at Digital Photography School is great. Try the forums too! I've found the exposure compensation button that looks like this "+/-" really helps bring light in.

Don't be afraid to edit! Picnik is a wonderful and easy tool to fix and crop your photos. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Macro & close-ups. Use the macro function on your camera to get good close-ups. If you can't get close enough, take a good, clear picture and use Picnik to crop and bring item closer. Works like a charm! Trust me. Try it.

Lighting. I've found a light tent can do wonders and it's cheap!

Play. Some of my best shots come from wondering, "What will it look like when I do this?"

Less is More. Let your items breathe.

Be aware of photo pixel sizes. Seriously. Check you camera. Large files may take forever to upload, if they upload at all, and then they'll take up the whole screen when someone goes to view them. Not good. Try to shoot for a finished photo that's 572 wide by 428 high. Adjust with Picnik.

Turn off the flash! Easy enough.

5 Reasons You Should Be Watermarking Your Etsy Images

What is Watermarking?

Watermarking is very common in the online digital world. Basically it's overlaying a small image on your finished product photo to either thwart piracy or build brand awareness. See photo below as an example. The watermark is my shop name and web address is the corner.

How Do I Watermark?

Watermarking can be quick and simple. You can use PhotoShop, GIMP (free PhotoShop-eque program), or MS Paint to create text or an image. Then, use one of the free tools on this list to overlay it on your product image. You could even do this with Paint by cutting and pasting, or PS/GIMP if you're so inclined. UPDATE: USCountryFolk says: I just did mine using Picnik. Upload your photo, click on the create tab then text. You can change the size and color to whatever works best with your photo. Fast and Free!!

Why should I watermark my images?

1. Branding

Etsy is photo driven and images are sometimes the first and only things people see. By adding a watermark to your images, you're putting the name of your shop front and center on Etsy search, your shop pages, and any featured stories on and off Etsy. And the more times people see your name, the more likely they are to remember you.

2. Google Images

For Etsy, your listing title becomes the keywords associated with your product images. This means that when someone does an image search on Google for "wire wrapped rings", your product images under this title have a good chance of being served. However, the images on Google don't link to your shop but the hosted versions of your image on Etsy. So, your images are basically giving Etsy more traffic. Leverage your images visibility to your advantage and coral people back to your shop by watermarking your images.

3. Pirating

We all know it happens--people scraping or reusing your photos. But with watermarked images, at least you get some brand exposure out of the deal. Of course people can do edting magic and remove your watermark, but by definition scrapers are lazy and will most likely leave it, giving you additonal exposure and making scraping work to your advantage.

4. Credibility

Just like a magazine ad with a designer's logo, your images are your "ads." Make them look finished and you as a designer more credible with watermarks.

5. Finished Product

Lastly, give your product images a finished "edited" quality. Make them look intentional and fine tuned with a watertmark. Watermarks will not fix bad photography but can augment beautifl photos with a well placed logo.

Hope this helps!

<3
Andrea

Where to Find Images for Your Blog

Pictures, pictures, pictures...

What Makes a Good Image?

A nice luxury on your blog, right? WRONG!! You need to make it a necessity. Not only do great images help intrigue the eye and catch the attention, if chosen correctly, pictures can also help explain the topic of your post better than the title can. (which is a score if you have a hard time titling posts in new and edgy ways.) In the end, the picture is your post's best friend. Think of Bert & Ernie; Peanut Butter & Jelly; and America & Apple Pie.

Now, using pictures may be scary considering copyright laws. Using an image or likeness without written permission can get you in trouble. To prevent this you need to access images that are non-copyrighted and preferably free (because why pay for anything when you can get it for free?)

Note: In addition to the below, I have used Google Images for years without issue. However, I'm always aware of where the image is coming from. If you want to be super careful the easy way, read on...

What Flickr Offers

So, what you need from an image site are great images that are free of fees and copyrighting. Enter Flickr Creative Commons. Basically Flickr Creative Commons is a site of images and photos taken by its users that allow the free use of their creations. (Note: Creative Commons is different than regular Flickr. Regular Flickr does not have the free licensing Creative Commons provides.) There are some easy rules about usage in Creative Commons... some pictures you can resize and edit, others you cannot. Flickr has done a good job of defining the rules of each picture with a cool symbol key. Here is a good article explaining the Flickr Creative Commons keys.

Sounds Complicated... Why Flickr over stock image sites like Stock.Xchng?

So, why should I use Flickr over Stock.Xchng? Simple: quality. Remember, a photo is nothing to your blog if it isn't a good photo. You spend all this time writing quality and sharing in quality ways, doesn't it logically follow that your images should be quality? I think it does.

Another good reason is depth of inventory. I know I've used Stock.Xchng and some of the results are either irrelevant to my post or have been used by another blogger before, and recently enough that I remember the photo. This is not what you want. In a sea of blogs, the last thing you want is to start looking like some else's by using the same photos or having to compromise quality because you have low quality/low inventory to choose from.

So, the end result? If you care about your bog, you'll use Flickr Creative Commons. Case closed!


(And yes, I used Flickr for the above photo. See what I mean? I could've never found this on Stock.Xchng!)