How To Make Your Photos Front Page Worthy

I have this goal: get one of my items on Etsy's front page. I have set this goal and I have read scores of etsy articles and blogs to help me get there. I finally made it with one of my photos! I figured I should share some of the information I've learned along the way. When browsing through the many shops belonging to people posting in the critiques forum I see over and over again awesome products but poor photos. You can never get featured or on the front page that way. And I really believe that to be really successful on etsy you need to get featured in treasuries. Besides, when you go to a job interview you wear your best outfit right? It's the same way with your shop. Your shop is getting interviewed by the possible buyer.

First things first: do not photograph your item on your bed, your hardwood floors, your favorite blanket, or worse, on a messy table. If someone sees your messy workspace, chances are they won't want to buy something that came from a messy house! Ew. Analyze your photos and think, "Would I buy this from someone else based on these photos?"

The easiest thing to do is to buy a piece of foam-core from the store. You can buy it at an office supply store, a drugstore, Walmart, Target, just about anywhere they sell office supplies. It provides a blank background so that your item will be featured. Then, try to use natural light. Sometimes it works to use full sun, but usually just indirect sunlight works best. Set your camera to "flash off" and possibly even use a tripod if you have to. If you have nice color on your walls, you can use that as a background if it fits with what you are selling. Think of using unusual props, like an antique book, the edge of a teacup for earrings. The best way to come up with ideas is to see what other sellers are doing that do make it to the front page. Browse through the treasuries too. Add the item to your favorites and look through them for inspiration when you are ready to start taking pictures. And the most important thing is to get a few shots really close! If it's hard to see any detail on the item, chances are no one is going to buy it. Think of tilting the camera to make it more interesting. Look at your object and close in on the most interesting part of it. If your camera won't get up close, buy a magnification filter for it. If you are using an automatic camera rather than an SLR (the kind you can change the lenses with) then you can still buy a filter and just hold it up in front of the lens. You may have to switch your camera to manual focus for this. You can buy these filters on ebay or a camera store. They are not that expensive and will make a world of difference with your product. If you are selling clothing, buy a mannequin from ebay. You can get partial ones that hang on the back of a door for about $20 on ebay. (I love ebay by the way. I have sold almost 2,000 items there!)

After you take your photos, you really need to edit them to make the colors pop and spiffy them up a bit. I strongly suggest using picnik.com!! It is the coolest site. It is free with no strings attached. It lets you upload up to 5 photos at a time (or you can upgrade your account for $24.95 and upload as many as you like). Then you can go to 'edit' and either use the autofix or click on 'exposure' and brighten it up a bit and give it more contrast. Then you can go into 'create' and have some real fun with it. You don't want to go too crazy with it though--the item needs to be true to life. But here you can boost the color a bit (use the sliders to turn it down because the first setting it does is way too boosted!), add a vignette (my favorite feature), or even make your background black and white and leave the object in color. Saving it is a breeze and you can even resize it to 1000 pixels when you do it. Did I mention how much I LOVE this site?!

Another way to analyze your photos is by creating a treasury mock up and seeing how your item fits in and looks right. You can copy the treasury that is on the front page and just replace one of the items with your own photos. Does it look good? Here is the link to the treasury poster sketch to get you started: http://www.etsy.com/poster_sketch.php

Basically, keep learning by looking at what other's do. Read the articles in the storque--they are great! Here are some helpful links:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/shop-makeover-series-feature-friendly-photos-3222/
http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/shop-makeover-series-are-your-photos-frontpage-worthy-3178/ This one is my favorite and where I learned the most!

Coming soon--ways to get your shop noticed!