How to Make an Amazing Item Look Awful. (And How To Fix It.)

When you first start to sell online, you can be confident that you have a great product. In fact, you KNOW people love it because they fawn over it at shows.

But then, it doesn't sell online. 

Why? 

It could be your photos. Trust, me, it's possible to make an amazing item look awful. 

To show you what I mean, I'm going to use an amazing piece that I got from Anna of Crafts of the Past. It's made using an antique jade archer ring that's been turned into a necklace. For jade, it's got an amazing range and pattern of colors and a cool piece of history to boot. Anna has a lot of really neat pieces incorporating antique elements. They all look lovely in person.

However, even this amazing piece can look awful under the wrong photography conditions.

Here I've intentionally photographed it doing all the wrong things:

Step 0 - This amazing necklace looks awful because of  how
it's been photographed. It's blurry, dark, and poorly staged.

• It's Blurry - people won't buy an item if they can't see it. 
• It's Dark - again, people only buy things they can see clearly, Also, most people like bright, cheerful things that make them happy. Or at least well-lit things. 
• The Item Doesn't Fill the Frame of the Photo. You only have a limited amount of screen space. Use it to your advantage. 
• Why is it in among all that junk? This is a really, really bad location. It's cluttered, dirty, and full of a bunch of stuff that has NOTHING to do with the piece, how it's used, or how it's supposed to make you feel. ...Unless, you're trying to communicate "Seedy Mexican Cantina". (Ok, so it might work for a 'Before' shot, depending on what you do. In this case, I'm blogging about how to fix bad product photos, so I'm using it.)  

HOW TO FIX IT
In real life, you might have to adjust your camera's settings, the lighting, and/or details of your photoshoot location and take a new photo in order to fix some of the problems. However, for the purpose of this blog, I'm actually using the exact same photo for all steps. I intentionally blurred and darkened the original shot so I could do the first two steps and still have an easy before/after comparison at the end.

Step 1: Proper Focus

You really can't do anything with a blurry photo, so that's
the first thing you need to fix ...by taking a new photo.

If your image is blurry, you generally need to take a new photo.

Unfortunately, an image editing program cannot create information out of thin air - it's only as good as the raw material you give it. This means that you are better off having an image that is a little too dark than one that is blurry.

You can use a feature called 'unsharp mask' in either Photoshop or GIMP to artificially crisp up edges and clarify details, but it's only good for things that are a little off. If it's more than just a hair blurry, then sharpening the photo will add details (a.k.a. 'artifacts) where there shouldn't be any.

I'm able to magically produce a crisp/not blurry image because I intentionally blurred the original photo. If you end up with a blurry photo right out of the camera, you'll probably may have to take a new photo. Here are some tips for your next shot:

• Don't use your cell phone to take photos. Borrow a friend's point and shoot digital camera if you need to, but cell phones just don't take good enough photos for selling online. (I have one photo in my shop that was taken with an iPhone, and while the quality is higher than any other photo I've tried to take with a cell phone, it's still not up to my standards for quality.)
• Use better lighting. Cameras have trouble finding the correct focal point if there isn't enough light. (More on this below.)
• Adjust your camera settings. If you're using a manual mode, use a faster shutter speed or a higher ISO film equivalent. Some automatic digital cameras will have ISO film equivalents or special modes for indoor shooting that may help. 
• Reduce camera movement. Cameras that move during the shot produce blurry photos, so use a tripod. If things are still blurry with a tripod, use a timer for the camera (sometimes the camera moves from you pressing the shoot button, so a delayed shot ensures the camera is done moving by the time the photo is taken). If a tripod is not available, try propping your camera (or at least your arm) against a stable object. Hold the camera securely in your hand - often holding right under the lens produces less movement on bigger cameras. Exhale right before taking the shot because you move a little bit when you breath in and out. 
• Clean Your Lens. When all else fails, make sure there aren't any fingerprints or dust on the camera lens. You're not going to get a clear image if the lens is dirty.

Step 2: Fix The Lighting

Step 2: Make sure you have enough light. This may go
hand in hand with getting a photo that isn't blurry.

Having enough light in your initial shot is really important. Indirect, natural light is usually best. In this case, the photo is taken near a large window. (I picked this location partially because the light was decent.) 

If you don't have enough natural light, consider adding more light with a daylight spectrum CFL bulb. This particular shot would also benefit from a reflector to the left of the item. (Using a white poster board or else a piece of cardboard covered with tin foil would work as a reflector. You don't have to go out and buy something expensive.)

Generally, I don't recommend using a flash because it creates glare. However, if you're going to use a flash, consider placing a bit of tissue paper over the flash to soften the light and to reduce harsh shadows. 

Step 3: Fill The Frame

Step 3: Crop to fill the frame of the photo. This removes most
of the distractions in the background.

When you line up the shot in your camera, try to fill most of the frame with the item.

Google Shopping* asks for 80% of the photo to be filled with your item. I think this is a good target to aim for.

Here's an alternate shot, which is cropped a little bit
closer to the actual necklace. Please note that this got rid
of almost all of the unwanted objects in the background.
The contrast has also been tweaked, which I cover later.

Sometimes it's hard to fill the viewfinder in your camera with your item while still maintaining proper focus. (This happens a lot for small items.) In this case, you may be able to use a macro lens or a macro function. On a small digital point and shoot camera, the macro function looks like a little tulip flower. If you use it, the focal point will generally be 2" away from the lens, so you never use the zoom function in macro mode - move the camera itself forward and back to get the shot you want.

You can crop with an image editor. Cropping refers to cutting off parts of an image, so you need to make sure you are taking a photo at a high enough resolution to be able to crop down to your item. A good ending size is 1000 x 1000 pixels for a lot of uses, though some e-commerce platforms or venues recommend final images sizes of 1200 pixels wide or tall.

For more information on how to crop, you can refer to my article on How to Crop and Resize Images in GIMP and Photoshop.

* By the way, if you sell on a venue that submits to Google Shopping, google might not display your item on their shopping-specific search if the item does not conform to their specifications. (Both Artfire and Etsy submit items to Google Shopping.)  In addition to asking for close to 80% of the frame being filled with the item, Google Shopping also asks for product shots to be at least 800 x 800 pixels and to have light colored or white backgrounds to qualify. They used to have fewer requirements; they added image quality guidelines in October of 2014.

Step 4: Remove Distractions
If you're going to take quite a few photos (of the same item or multiple items), then it's easiest to just take an extra couple of minutes to set up a space free of distracting elements. Remove random junk at the very least. Shooting against a special background is even better. I cover one method for doing that cheaply in my article on How to Easily Set Up a White Background. (Basically, it involves taping a roll of bulletin board paper to a wall, but I've also shot against sheets of foam core or even pieces of paper depending on the size of the item.)

Step 4: I've added a white background, so there is nothing to
distract from the product. I still need to tweak the contrast.

Sometimes you can get away with an item in the background if you plan to crop it out later. You'll notice that most of the worst items in the background disappeared once I cropped the photo in step 3. The alternate cropped shot that did not show even all of the neckform removed essentially all of the unwanted elements in the shot. However. sometimes cropping isn't enough.

If you still have stuff in the background, you can utilize the magic of an image editor like GIMP or Photoshop to remove distracting elements. If you've taken the time to shot against a planned background, you may only need to touch a small area up with the clone or rubber stamp tool, which I cover in my article on Using the Clone Tool to Remove Distractions.

If you haven't taken the time to shoot against a planned background, then it's still possible to remove distractions. However, you pretty much need to get comfortable with using an image editor to do it. I outline a non-destructive method in my article on Adding a White Background In GIMP. Basically, you create a second later (like a transparency laid on top of the item), which you then selectively paint with white. This mimics the effect of having a white background to start with, but you never destroy any of the original image underneath so it's easy to fix it later if you realize you need to change something.

Step 5: Adjust the Contrast

Step 5: Adjust the contrast. It's almost there. If I had used a
bounce light, I could probably stop here. 

Sometimes adding a white background makes you realize that your original image is still a bit too dark. This is because the human eye always interprets color as relative to the other things next to it. So I've taken this image into curves and tweaked the contrast. (Adjusting the levels/histogram isn't as precise, but it's easier for many people to work with. I certainly used it for a long time before I was able to understand how to work with curves.)

Now, this image is leaps and bounds better than what we started with. However, I am a total perfectionist and even with this image, I can still see room for improvement. For one, there is a deeper set of shadows on the left side. I mentioned earlier that this image would benefit from adding a reflector to the left of the object before taking the photo. I expect a reflector, or 'bounce light', would take care of most of this problem.

The thing is I have this image now, and at this point, I really don't want to go back and redo a lot of work. So, I'm going take things one step further using some advanced techniques...

Step 6 (Optional): Tweak Contrast and Brightness in Specific Areas

Step 6 (optional): Since I didn't use a reflector when I took the
original photo, I needed to even out the shadows on the left
side of the image. I used a combination of layers and masks.

This step is optional. If you get the lighting right the first time, you may not need to do this. However, I still wasn't happy with the results at step 5.

How did I do this? 
The right side of the image looked bright enough, but the left was too dark, so I created another layer and adjusted the contrast so the left side looked good. Then I told the computer to fade out the top layer from left to right. What you see is the top layer on the left of the image fading gradually into the bottom layer on the right of the image. The change between the two is gradual, so you don't realize that you're actually looking at a composite of two different contrast adjustments.

If you think this sounds complicated, I don't blame you. I plan to write another article specifically on how to do this step. I'll update this post once it's written, but it might not be for a couple of weeks. (I still have an embroidery shop to run.)

Step 7 (Optional): Making the Item's Colors Pop

Step 7 (optional): I removed most of the color from the
neckform. I also brightened just the neckform without
touching the necklace with a soft white layer. A few swipes
with the dodge tool brightened a few select spots (the bead
caps were in too much shadow to see the lovely details).

If you compare the photo in step 6 with this one, you'll notice the necklace stands out a bit more.

There are hints of blue and pink on the neckform in step 6. This necklace stands out more because I used color mode to remove the color from select parts of the image (i.e. the neckform).

I plan to write an article on working with color mode in GIMP and Photoshop, but for now, I'll just say that if you set a layer to color mode or use a brush in color mode, it changes the image's color without affecting the shading. (Out of the two, I prefer using a layer in color mode because you can still go back to the original if you need to. If you use a brush and you color a bit too far into the necklace, you won't be able to fix it later.)

To remove color completely from an object, you use white (or black or colorless grey) in color mode. Doing this on JUST the neckform makes the colors of the necklace stand out more in comparison. In this case, I set the opacity of the color mode layer to 68% opacity because I didn't want to remove the hints of color completely from the neckform. Trust me, the human eye is very sensitive to color, and it instantly recognizes when a portion of an image is in pure black and white grayscale. I almost never use color mode above 80% or 90% opacity because I still want to maintain some variation in hue.

Ask yourself, which one would you buy?
Your photography can make or break a sale.

Since I already had a layer with white painted over just the neckform in color mode, I copied the layer. Then I changed the copied layer to 'soft white' mode and reduced the opacity of the soft whtie later to 51%. This made the neckform a bit whiter without touching the colors or brightness of the necklace.

As a final step, I did a tiny amount of touch up using the dodge tool to lighten a few select shadows, but it wasn't much. If needed you could also use the sponge tool to adjust saturation (color intensity) in one or two areas because sometimes adjusting the contrast and brightening areas makes the colors a bit more muted than they appear in real life. It's easy to over-do things when you play with saturation, so you need to be careful.

Done!
I recommend working with a full size image all the way to this point. Save a copy. Then resize to the size you're planning to use online and save that as a different file. If needed, you can go back to the nicely edited, full-size image and crop around specific areas to create detail shots without having to take more photos.


If you look at the before and after, you can see what a big difference your photography can make with the exact same item.

Now tell me, are you making the right impression with your photos?

(Remember, I used the exact same photo to generate both images.)