A picture sells a thousand works

Here is the honest truth = If your pictures stink, you more than likely won't sell much if any.

Catalog companies have been dealing with this for years. Good pictures are critical when selling your items.

Here are some tips:

1. You do not have to hire a professional. We live in the age of the digital camera, so we can create good photos for a very low cost.
2. Try and take your items in indirect sunlight. This creates the best lightening to enhance all aspects of the item.
3. If sunlight is not readily available, consider a photo lightbox set up. You can spend money on a lightbox kit, but many tutorials like this one exist out on the internet. For very little money and a bit of elbow grease, you can be set up in no time.
4. Consider your background, your arrangement, and the "extra" stuff in the shot during the photographing process and during the editing process. Some great ideas don't translate onto the screen.
5. If your item is quite small, learn how to use your camera for short distances. Many cameras take great distance shots, but create blurry and unusable micro shots.
6. Learn to use a photo editing program to "fix" your photos. Many free programs including Gimp exist that are simple to use but are still very effective. It is totally unnecessary to spend hundreds of dollars on Photoshop to adjust your Etsy photos. Take some time to really learn how to adjust the colors of the photograph to make sure it is an accurate representation of your item.
7. Get feedback on the forums by asking for help and suggestions. There are so many Etsyians who are out there to guide you. They too have been through the photography maze and have experiences they can share.
8. Go to shops and look at what works and what doesn't. This will give you some guidelines on how you want to present your product and thus yourself.
9. You have 5 frames to use for each listing. Don't be afraid to use every one. The more angles a buyer has of a product, the more likely they will feel comfortable with their purchase.
10. Don't give up. Tweaking and learning are all part of this process. Eventually, you will feel you have the best combination of techniques for you and your shop.

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