Photography Tips for Selling Handmade Crafts

If you want to show your goods on your online store properly, then photos are required! However, not everyone knows what to do with a camera. Still, with some photography tips for selling handmade crafts, you can at least do a satisfactory job of presenting your products!

Invest in a good camera

The first of our photography tips for selling handmade crafts is to get your hands on a good camera! If you want to sell your handmade products, you need to present them well. And if all the photos you take of your painstakingly and lovingly made items are blurry and unappealing, they will never catch the eye of your customers. No matter how good you may be at photography, it's impossible to avoid low-quality results with a bad camera. Besides, once you buy a camera, you will be all set for a very long time! As long as you take good care of your device, there is no reason to replace it.

A camera does not need to be the newest model or expensive to be good!

Do not touch things up

Many people think that the only thing that matters is selling their product. However, if you want to find not only the right niche for your handicraft business but also thrive long-term, you need to pay attention to your reputation. If you play around with the right editing tools, it is possible to make your products look a lot better than they are. But if your customers excitedly order their desired items only to receive something subpar, bad reviews would be the least of your worries. Getting sued for false advertisement might or might not result in heavy fees. But it is practically impossible to come back from the loss of reputation it would cause.

Play with angles

You must present your products as well as you possibly can. For this, you need to play with the angles you take photos from. Try and have fun with your photography. If you do, it will not only result in some beautiful and appealing pictures of your items, but you will also enjoy the process. And if you like something, you only get better and better at doing it!

What to do about light

One of the best photography tips for selling handmade crafts is to use natural light for your photos. It is the safest bet since artificial light can play with colors and make them look different from reality. This can lead to some serious dissatisfaction among your customers. Still, that doesn't mean you should never play with light. If you are making jewelry, be it with real or fake jewels, putting the backdrop light at the right angle can help you create some stunning photos as the stones reflect it, which would, of course, better show the artistic aspects of your craft! Remember to include several images in such cases, including some in simple, natural light conditions.

Use a stylish backdrop

For this, it might be wise to set up a home photo studio to create a suitable space. Now, this probably sounds expensive. But it does not have to be at all! All you need is a room with large windows, some tasteful decorations and furniture, and a spot with a pedestal behind which you could switch out a couple of backgrounds. Having background cutouts or screens can be incredibly useful since it allows you to best show off your crafts in the color schemes which suit them the most!

               A greenscreen is helpful if you know how to edit in the background. 

Do not fill the photos with clutter

It is easy to fall for the temptation to fill your photos with all kinds of interesting props. Using a few can be beneficial. If you are selling jewelry, presenting the piece in a tasteful jewelry box can provide stunning visuals. But if you fill the photo with so many items that they start to distract from what is shown, then you are clearly overdoing it! The same goes for the background of your photos. Too elaborate background detracts from your efforts, which is why you will often find professional handmade crafts stores using simple, often one-color backgrounds, for their products.

You don't need many props, but if you want to have them and keep them close at hand, there are better solutions than to clutter your creative space. As the moving and storage experts from evolutionmoving.com point out, storage units can be found quickly and are pretty cheap. You could keep your props in one.

When to use a model

Working with professional models can very quickly get expensive. Of course, you or a friend could do the modeling, but some people feel uncomfortable with the idea. Even when running a handcrafted accessory shop, using a model is not always necessary or even preferable. Yes, if you are making handmade clothing, you definitely need a model to show it off. But when it comes to jewelry, accessories, or similar, simple photos of them against a suitable background are often more appealing.

Incorporate your logo

One of the critical photography tips for selling handmade crafts is to put your logo on your photos when possible. If you do not, you can easily find your products copied and your photos stolen on other sites. Of course, others can copy your products anyway. But you would at least prevent false advertisement and the use of your images without permission.

Learn how to use simple editing tools

The final of our photography tips for selling handmade crafts might seem in direct opposition to the second one. After arguing against prettying up photos of products, we now advise you to learn how to edit photos. However, editing is helpful for a lot more than just that! You will be able to fix simple lighting mistakes, cut out the edges or other parts of a photo you are unhappy with, and a whole lot more. All of which is useful for your efforts.

Knowing how to edit will also ensure your photos can be resized while still having a good resolution. 

Final Advice

Now that you are aware of the photography tips for selling handmade crafts, you can slowly improve your skills. And when we say slowly, we do mean slowly! Do not expect to become a professional photographer in a day or two. It will take steady effort to improve your skill. But, it will all gradually pay off, so never give up on it!