We will be taking our time stocking our Etsy shelves between now and the official opening in January 2012, largely because we want to re-photograph much of our stuff. Having browsed Etsy before making our minds up whether to commit, we have noticed a difference in the style of photography presented by many established Etsy sellers, compared to other online selling venues.
Regarding other online listing sites, the notion has been drummed into us for years, by helpful bloggers and the like, the advantages of having a light-tent and off-camera flash (that is, an off-camera flash which you can easily trigger, without any front-light - to be discussed another time). While you can, with practice, produce some excellent images which really show off a product, using the light-tent and off-camera flash, the result can look a bit sterile; a bit stark perhaps.
Having done a little reading around, it would seem that there is a preference amongst the Etsy community to take the photos of their items in a more natural, soft, diffused light - this to me screams of "tripod", "low shutter speed, wide aperture" and the blasphemous notion of an ISO setting higher than 100. Hmmmm. It's not that I can't be bothered to set a tripod up, or that I can't keep a camera still, or that I detest a stupidly narrow depth of field. Or for that matter, that in the early days of digital photography anything over ISO100 meant ISO REALLYNOISY, so ISO80 to 100 is all I ever used. I've just got so used to plonking everything in a light tent, with a flash to the side (and my secret blend of diffusing materials), ISO100, 1/200th sec and f8-ish. Photographing (and editing the images of) items to be listed is quite time consuming, and we all want a bit of time at the end of the day for the good things in life. So, this is why I have been sticking with what I know. But, I will have to adapt.
Adapting to an Etsy style of photography will involve a little experimenting. Yay for digital photography! I can experiment forever, and not have to worry about all the woes of film. I like bright light in images. Where I am situated, I just can't get bright, but diffused sunlight through a window, so it will probably still be flash, but designed to look like natural light. That bright flash light still needs to be softened, which reduces the ultimate amount of light. It also needs to be evened out - I am considering a second side flash to give a little fill to the 'shadowy side'. I am going to have to play around with ISO speeds, shutter speeds and aperture settings (and so, consider depth of field issues). I actually should have dropped this fear of going above ISO100 ages ago, as I actually have a half-decent camera now.
Another side of Etsy-seller's images I have noticed, is that the item's being sold are given a context. Achieving this is probably more demanding than lighting the object. I've noticed, you have to have other objects, materials, bits and pieces relevant to the item for sale: you have to dress the image, if you like, in much the same way as you might dress a shop window. This takes a certain eye for composition and a cupboardful of props.
We are planning on being on Etsy 'proper' by January 2012 (although we are "filling up the shelves" between now and then - you are still welcome to buy). The priority will be on getting the items listed, but we will do our best to show images that show the items, maybe not in an Etsy style at first, but in a way you would like to see them, as if you were to pick them up in a shop and inspect them.
Hope we can show you some nice piccies of our nice things. Please feel free to comment.
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