- Broken Post - Photography

Sadly, in our online world, pictures play a major role in sales. I have seen amazing leather items crafted to perfection not selling because their pictures, well sucked. Also, I have seen very low quality leather items sell extremely fast due to their beautiful photography and display.

I started this post with the intent of sharing knowledge of photography, our tips and tricks. The idea is that I will edit the main post of this thread (this one) with all the #photohacks (sorry Phil) the members propose so that new members don’t have to search and read pages and pages of comments to find what they are looking for.

Please bear in mind that the following will be personal tips and tricks and might not work for your style of photography. This is not a photography “course”, it is just tips and tricks we use to get better pictures.

I will start with mine:

• My Gear: I shoot with a DSLR with a 60mm Fixed Macro lens.

• I never use fake light/a light box. I shoot during the day in natural sunlight but in the shade. I find that this gives me a better, warmer picture. Sometimes if I find a good shadow play hitting my workbench, I drop what I am doing and try to capture it next to a product.

• If I have a camera with a Zoom, I try not to use the zoom. Why? Because standing in your place and zooming in and out will only make you look at your product one way. I learned that it is better to have a “fixed zoom” and to walk myself around the product; it allows me to find the best angle to photograph. I think this trick alone allowed me to improve so much.

• If I am not satisfied with a picture I took, I delete it right away from the camera. When you are reviewing your pictures on your computer, you do not want to have 100 pictures to review; it will make the task impossible. That way, you are only reviewing the ones you deemed worthy in the first place.

• DO NOT STAND BETWEEN THE LIGHT AND YOUR PRODUCT! I used to do that a lot. If I needed a photo from a certain angle, I would move around and sometimes position myself between the window (source of light) and my product. Now, If needed, I rotate/reposition my object to get the right angle without having to block the light.

• Try to be not close to the windows/source of indirect light to minimise the "white reflection" you get in the pic (see below)

• Wear either a Black or White shirt if your are standing close to the object you are taking photos of. Why? Because your shirt will act as a reflector and if you are wearing a red shirt for example, your photos will have a slight redish hue.