I realised that a lot of my photos just weren’t showing up very well on my Etsy store. I’d taken them several times, trying to get the light and resolution right.
One of the issues was that small items are hard to take with a bog-standard digital camera (no macro lens), and then there was the light and shadow, and my early attempts at reading and understanding the photo rules for Etsy. I thought that Etsy photos had to be 430 px wide, so I diligently resized everything to be 430 px wide… only to find out that 430 px is the minimum width, and 1000 px or wider is recommended to avoid blurry photos.
I also found out some more information on the Etsy Forums, including a link to this great tutorial on how to make a light tent or light box for taking photos of small things, and information on such new subjects (to me) as white balance, etc.
I fiddled around with the settings on my camera and experimented with my light box and my new (free!) OTT-lite daylight desk lamp, and hunted out my husband’s old camera tripod. After a good day of taking photos, loading them up, experimenting with setting after setting, I think I’ve got a better handle on taking photos of my fabric art items.
I’ve now uploaded the replacement photos for most of the items, and I’m happier with them. They’re still not perfect, but for the purposes of displaying my work, they’ll do.
And the light box definitely makes a difference.
Oceanic Blues
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 