I've been taking more days off at the day job recently, and spending more time at home. I was working three days a week when I was home, but I've now whittled it down to one day a week. My online shops seem to be doing well, and I thought about it and decided that I want more time to work on new listings, make jewelry, and process orders.
Yes, my world is all about listings. Etsy and eBay, and ArtFire. I want to consistently stock and restock all of my online stores. This means organization, it means staying on top of things, and it means taking pictures. At this point I take about 300 pictures a week, and sometimes as many as 500. Each picture needs to be edited. It needs to have the proper levels; it needs to be cropped, straightened, and resized, sometimes to different specifications. For new listings, I need to write descriptions, take measurements, and fill in information. For existing listings that I'm restocking, I need to revise minor points of the listing.
The most important part of the listing is the picture. Without a good picture, you will not attract the eye. It's incredibly important because customers zoom through pages of products so quickly that you only have a bare moment to catch their interest. I'm always trying to take better photographs. Up until today, I've used two 500 watt blue incandescent bulbs which are good for six hours of life. I'm on my third pair of bulbs, and today one of them blew.
But I still had photographs left to take!
So I took pictures with one bulb.
I know, this blog is so exciting you can hardly stand it.
With some pictures, there isn't much of a difference, but with others, there's a big difference. I need a second bulb. I went to B&H Photo Video to look at bulbs. I found the bulbs I've used before, but then I decided to take a quick look at jewelry photography sites to see what they suggested. It turns out that some sites are suggesting using compact fluorescent bulbs instead.
After weighing the pros and cons, I've decided to go for the fluorescent bulbs. They use a lot less electricity, they last for thousands of hours, and they don't put off the same heat. This is exciting, because it means I might be able to get the lights much closer to my lightshed.
It's good to second-guess my methods every so often; it helps me make sure that I'm on the best path.
6 comments:
i just want to say "well done!"
listing is the bane of my existence and if you're doing it with 3 different sites, that's a workout!
i was actually drawn right into this post, because i understand this situation completely... actually right down to my day-job schedule diminishing (... and eventually going away).
the light-bulb portion was very helpful. i've never been sure what to use when its dark out so i've just become accustom to taking them in the daylight. silly me, i just forget what a useful tool the internet can be. so thank you for sharing what you found on lighting suggestions. i'm sure they'll be super helpful in the long, dark days of the coming winter.
xoxo,
julee
I like listing--to a point! There's just so much of it to do that it can get to be a bit grueling. :)
I can never count on the sun here in MI, and sometimes the wind interferes with displays outside, so I just set myself up to take pictures inside.
I will definitely report on whether I'm successful with the compact fluorescents! ;) Thanks for the great comment!
Yes, lighting can be a pain at times. Living in a sunny place, I haven't ventured into bulbs, etc. but the other day when it was cloudy,...well, I could have used some of these tips!
Thanks for a great post!
I can never count on the sun, so I've just adapted to photographing inside. :) There are so many different light bulbs it's kind of astonishing--I'm hoping that my gamble will pay off, and that they'll work out well!
Thanks for the comment!!
Yes, lighting can be a pain at times. Living in a sunny place, I haven't ventured into bulbs, etc. but the other day when it was cloudy,...well, I could have used some of these tips!
Thanks for post.
Glad the tips were helpful!!
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