21-Day Photography Challenge: Improve Your Product Photos

You never thought you’d have to be a world-class photographer to sell your handmade products.

Unfortunately, when you sell online, your photos sell {or don’t sell} your product.

Your customer can’t pick up and feel how buttery soft your handspun yarn is, so you have to convey it in photos. Your customer can’t try on the sparkling bib necklace you spent five hours creating, so you have to show how it would look on her through your pictures.

It’s not easy to sell with photos—unless your photos make your ideal customers drool. Do they?

If you’ve got room for improvement, I’ve set up this 21-day photography challenge just for you! I promise that if you complete one challenge each day for the next three weeks, your photos will improve which will ultimately help you sell more. Ready?

Day 1: Try taking photos near all the natural light sources {windows, sliding glass doors, etc.} in your home. Which one gives you the best light?

Day 2: Now that you’ve figured out where you get the best light, you need to find out when you get the best light. Starting at 8am, take pictures near that light source on the hour every hour until 7pm. Upload those photos on your computer. Which ones have the best light? That’s when you need to take your pictures.

Day 3: Use a piece of white foam board to bounce light off your subject.

Day 4: Use a sheer curtain to diffuse the light when it’s too bright. Use two curtains on top of each other if necessary. Does that give you a softer glow?

Day 5: Watch this video on Etsy. What’s one thing you learned? Use it to take at least one amazing photo today.

Day 6: Early in the morning or in the evening, when the light is soft, take your camera on a walk with you. Snap pictures of anything you find pretty.

Day 7: Upload the pictures from your walk into your photography-editing program. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy like Photoshop. You could even use a free program like PicMonkey. Pick the five photos you like the most and adjust the brightness, exposure, and contrast until you find the right balance for each one.

Day 8: Experiment with at least three different backgrounds for a product photo. Keep them simple. Maybe try a couple different shades of wood, white poster board, book pages, a vintage sheet, and scrapbook paper. Which background works best with that product?

Day 9: Make a simple white background like this one. You can use different backgrounds under your product {like a piece of wood} with this, but white board in the back and on the side helps to reduce shadows and bounce light onto your product. Take some photos using this. Does it change the quality for the better?

Day 10: Read this post on Etsy about creating a cohesive shop. What backgrounds and props could you use to make your online shop more cohesive? Experiment with them today.

Day 11: Watch this video on how to take photos using models. Your turn! Take some photos using models even if your product doesn’t necessarily call for them. For example, if you sell prints, try having someone hold one of your prints.

Day 12: Shoot one of your products up close and further away. Try to take beautiful photos of details and the whole product, so you can use both.

Day 13: Snap pictures of one of your products at all different angles. Try at least five various angles and upload them onto your computer to see which ones work best.

Day 14: Look at examples of product photography that aren’t in your niche on Etsy. If you sell jewelry, look at vintage items or headbands. Doing this will help you think more creatively about your photos. Jot down at least three ideas you get and test them out with your products.

Day 15: Take pictures of your product in use. If you sell prints, frame and hang one up to photograph. If you’re selling a vintage vase, photograph it sitting on a wooden desk with pretty flowers in it.

Day 16: Try making this set up and take photos of a handful of your products. Do you like this look? If so, keep it. If not, keep the light reflector you made for the back, because you can use this to reflect light in your other photos.

Day 17: Think of your ideal customer. What kind of photo would pull her in? What would she be drawn to? A plain photo? A photo with props? A photo with natural light? A photo using a light box? With that in mind, take branded photos of one of your products so that it appeals to your ideal customer.

Day 18: Adjust the while balance on your camera. You know when your photos turn out too blue or yellow? That’s because your white balance is off. You’ll probably need to refer to your camera manual for this one, but it’s worth it.

Day 19: Spend an hour leafing through your camera manual and learn more about your camera. If you know what to adjust and how to adjust it, your photos are going to turn out so much better. Take what you’ve learned and put it into practice by photographing one of your products.

Day 20: Use some of the tips you’ve learned so far to have fun. Instead of taking more product photos, spend an hour taking photos for your blog.

Day 21: Spend a couple hours learning more about your editing software. I bet you can find some free tutorials online—check YouTube! Editing your pictures makes a huge difference and the more you learn about how to do it, the more professional your pictures will look.

Look back at your product photos before the challenge and then check out your most recent ones. Do you see how much they’ve improved in such a short amount of time? It’s pretty awesome, right?