A couple of weeks I decided that my pictures really needed an update. I didn't think they were really that bad, but they weren't going to be winning any awards! I went over a series of blog posts from Etsy and tried to apply some of the things that I read. To start off with, I picked a purse that has gotten a lot of admirers, but has a really poor picture.
It's kind of blurry and definitely not the crisp picture that I want. First of all I decided to take pictures on a stack of books so that the camera can't move. I also used the timer to keep my finger from shaking the camera at all. I eventually realized that my ISO was at 100, which was why I had been having such problems with photos being blurry. But with a stack of books, the pictures turned out really clear. I also did some experiment with aperture and found a setting I liked. I figured out White Balance and EV a couple of months ago, so I just kept fiddling with those when necessary. The thing that really baffled me was composition. I didn't want it to just be plain white. I considered using props, and even tried some, but wasn't thrilled with the results. I also tried taking pictures on the tabletop instead of plain white.
I kind of liked the flowers, but constructive feedback all around was a resounding No! to the flowers.
I tried plain white, and it looks nice, but still felt like it was missing something.
This was my final result. I decided to place some sheet music on the bottom for some texture. Then I manipulated the photo a bit in picnik to get the edges like that. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but my husband and some random people on Etsy seemed to like it, so I decided to change my whole shop. It took a few days, and I still have a few purses to go, plus all the wallets. I'm not sure about the wallets on sheet music, because it's a bit too busy. But other than that, I've changed over my whole shop. Here are some befores and afters for a few of my more blah pictures.
This moss green has been really hard to photograph, but I think I finally have a picture that shows how pretty it is.