You probably know by now that having great product photos is essential to selling your crafts online. Not only do they help you stand out from the crowd and attract customers, but they also can make your business look professional and trustworthy.
Once you learn how to properly photograph your products, the next step is editing your photos.
If the thought of editing your product photos sounds intimidating, I encourage you to check out this blog post where I walk you through how simple it is and what a difference it can make in how your photos look.
But something to remember is just because you can edit your photos doesn’t mean you’re improving the look of your photos. I think we’ve all at one time or another seen Photoshopping gone wrong where the colors, the framing or something else in the photo looks off.
So let’s look at some common editing mistakes I come across when browsing Etsy listings and how you can easily fix them.
Skipping editing your photos all together
This is the #1 mistake I see makers make when selling their handmade products online.
Spending a few minutes (or less!) editing your photo can make a world of a difference in how your product looks.
Remember, your product photos are going to be scrutinized by customers looking to shop online. Photos play a major role in a customer’s decision to purchase from you which is why it’s incredibly important to not only take good product photos, but to do a little photo editing before you list your products online.
Not editing your product photos is doing a disservice to your work and your customers so please take the time to edit your product photos. You don’t need to learn Adobe Photoshop or take a long course to edit. I’m a strong believer in keeping it simple, especially when you have 50 other things to do in your craft business.
Cropping too much or not enough
Cropping is a great tool to help improve the overall look and feel of a product photo. Ideally you do your best to frame your product well before you take a photo, but sometimes you need to do a little cropping after to make your photo look better.
If you didn’t get close enough to your product when photographing it, you may have empty space or other distraction elements. Cropping can help with your photo’s overall composition and help your customer focus on what product you’re selling. The last thing you want is your customer to be confused when looking at your Etsy listings and wondering item in your photo is the thing you're selling.
On the other hand, cropping too much of your photo can make your product look crowded so make sure you leave some breathing room around your subject.
Not correcting the color
If the colors in your product photos are looking a bit off, that is don’t look like they do in person, you need to correct this before listing your product online.
The colors in your product photo need to accurately represent the colors as close as possible as in person. So if your photos are making your product’s colors look off, correct it!
It’s ideal to correct the white balance before you take your product photos to reduce the amount of editing you do after. If you want to learn more about how to white balance your camera (or phone) before taking photos, click here to read all about it.
Over-saturating
When you’re editing your photos, be sure not to over-saturate the colors. Yes, you want your colors to look great and pop, but over-saturating your photo will make the colors look unnatural.
Be sure not to overdo it!
Using filters
While filters are fun on social media, they’re not ideal when it comes to product photos.
Why? You don’t want to misrepresent the way your product looks to a customer. Colors are important when selling crafts online and you want to make sure your photos don’t mislead customers.
Something to keep in mind when you’re editing your product photos is you’re not editing your photos to show off new filters you discovered in VSCO. You're editing your photos to sell your handmade products online. The purpose of your photos is to accurately communicate information about your product so your customer knows what to expect when they buy from you.
Not increasing the brightness or exposure
If you’re wondering why your product photos are looking flat, it might be because you need to increase the brightness or exposure. Increasing this setting will make the light and dark areas of your photo look more pronounced.
Almost all product photos would greatly benefit from increasing the exposure or brightness levels.
Brighter product photos generally stand out more and look more inviting to customers so be sure to see if increasing this setting improves the overall look of your photos.
Keep practicing
Editing takes practice and the more you practice, the better you’ll get. It’s much easier to edit a good product photo than a bad product photo. It’s why it’s worth your time to learn how to get a good product photo so when it’s time to edit it, you don’t have to make many adjustments to make it look even better.
Do you edit your product photos before listing your products online? Leave me a comment and let me know!