Photography: changing lights

I'm experimenting with my new light setup today!

Previously, I used two 500 watt 4800K EBW lights from Eiko. These were terrific, but they drew a tremendous amount of electricity, and they were extremely hot. So hot that I accidentally melted part of my lightshed, in fact. They were rated at 3 hours of life, and they were a bit expensive.

After checking out the alternatives, I decided to go with Eiko fluorescent bulbs. They are rated at 5000K, which is comparable, but here's where it gets interesting: they use 42 watts. 42 watts!! Even better, they are advertised as having a lifespan of 10,000 hours.

You can see why I was intrigued! They were twice as expensive, but if they last even half as long as advertised, it will be a tremendous savings overall.

I experimented first with black and grey tones:

With the 500 watt incandescent bulbs

With the new fluorescent bulbs

I noticed immediately that I had to change the F-stop and aperture settings because the interior of the lightshed is darker. The flash of the reflective hematite-colored coating is slightly duller, as well.

I decided to try a couple of different colors:

With the 500 watt incandescent bulbs

With the new fluorescent bulbs

Clearly I have to do a little color correction here, but part of this is just due to my camera, which doesn't capture reds well.

With the 500 watt incandescent bulbs

With the new fluorescent bulbs

I am definitely liking the new lights. I'm still tinkering with the temperature of the colors and checking the tones, but so far I'm grooving on them. The real test will be when I photograph pieces of jewelry.

Another step forward in my journey toward understanding photography. And hopefully I won't melt my lightshed further. :)

And the listing never stops

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.

(two bulbs)

(one bulb)

(two bulbs)

(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.

The new look of my Etsy shop

I'm getting very excited. Laurel Moon on Etsy, my beading supply shop, is undergoing a facelift. This is what the scans looked like:



Here's the beginning of the new look, with pictures instead of scans:



I like the closeup pics. They make it less obvious when Etsy crops them slightly. I think I'm going to try doing that for nearly all the pictures.

Sadly, this translates into more work, of course. But to have a nice look, it's probably worth it.

Each day, a new photo

Today I've been working on my weekly eBay listings. Usually I rush to get them done quickly, but today I thought I would spend a little extra time and take additional photos.

I'm still getting the hang of photography; I don't think I'll ever understand it completely. There is too much to learn about it. It's fascinating and sometimes very rewarding.

I've been looking at my old scans and pics, and seeing the difference in the photos I'm taking now. Here is a scanner photo from a couple years ago:



Because I used a scanner for photos for years, I got very used to a top-down look. And of course, it's important that the buyer see the full front and back, which is what a scanner can do. However, a scanner cannot give the piece a more three-dimensional look like a photo can:



I'm starting to use this angle for most of my thumbnail shots. I like the way it looks. It looks best if there is a single item in the frame. However, for multiple-lot items, I don't like the thumbnail to be a single item, because I'm afraid people won't realize that it's for more than one piece.

So I am trying shots like this:



I'm still not certain about using this as the main photo; I think it might be a little confusing. I'm going to try to take more shots next week and see what I can do.

I do think that experimenting has definitely paid off. This week's photos look even better than last week's.

Never-ending photography

I just realized that I am taking about 100 photographs a week. At least. Sometimes more like 200.

The beads, waiting for their closeup:



I've been steadily working on my photography skills. I've started using the manual settings on my camera, and fiddling with white balance and F stops and such. Someday I hope to get some new backgrounds, but for now the white cloth helps make leveling a snap using Photoshop's leveling feature.



Jewelry is even trickier. There are high spots and low spots, and silver is so easy to overexpose.



I have been trying to make my photos more visually engaging and increase the "texture" and focus in more strongly on the main elements. It's a challenge, definitely.

Photography is such a learning experience. I still have such a long way to go.

It's always a struggle...

One of the things that I have noticed about trying to make it as an online jewelry designer is that you have to wear a lot of hats. I don't just mean the usual small business hats like bookkeeper, sales manager, etc. You also have to wear a photographer's hat.

I have had some luck in the past with taking pictures. By luck, I mean that I've managed to have a pretty decent point-and-shoot that captured some decent shots. I can occasionally frame a shot and pretend I know something about composition. However, all of that flew out the window as soon as I sat down and tried to take pictures of my jewelry.

First, I tried pictures with a grey background. It was nearly impossible to get the entire piece in focus, and also, there's the issue of making them square so they work with Etsy's framework. I read some tutorials and decided that I needed to use natural light.

Sadly, my natural light photos turned out...poorly. I used some of them, but I wasn't satisfied. I ordered a little studio set (one of those expandable light sheds, two lights on tripods) and tried that.

The results were still not great. Here, for example, was my original main picture for my peacock feather necklace set:



This was when I was first working with my light shed, and a horrible background.

I've now figured out two issues that I was having; the manual settings were set to ISO 800, and the white balance was a bit off. Last week I took a new set of photos, and the color still seemed wrong. It was okay for some of the sets of jewelry, but this particular set was giving me grief. It looked too yellow.

So I tried again tonight. I adjusted the white balance again, and I took this main photo for the same set:



I wish that there was a magic formula to taking pictures, that I could just input a few numbers and go to town. Sadly, this is not so. And with a small business online...you need to have very good photos to stand out. I'm going to try to keep experimenting and keep taking pictures. I can only hope that I improve.

Don't forget, my blog is moving! I'm posting at both places for now, but eventually it will be located solely here. Thanks!

Whew! Photography.

I've been working very hard on photographing beads and cabochons and glass gems for the new website. It's been fun and challenging, as well.

At one point I couldn't understand why my pictures were so grainy--it turns out that I had switched my camera's speed to 800 instead of auto. whoops! I'm so glad that I figured it out.



I've been trying to concentrate on doing a good job, but not getting caught up in making things "perfect." It's difficult, though, because I keep getting distracted by the different levels of light and how dark things look, and I have to stop myself from obsessively just taking the pictures over and over again.



What I like about taking pictures instead of scans is that you get a more 3-D view of the items in question. It looks a little more realistic. The scans are great, but they do have limitations. I think I'll include both on my website.

Also, I think I'm going to take a scale pic for every item. I hate using pennies because it looks a little...off-putting to me, but I can't think of another item that is so well-known and can give such an immediate impression of size.

New beginnings

My website is inching out of the primordial ooze. Yesterday I put up the first item and tinkered with it. There are so many features and interesting bits and bobs that I'm a little overwhelmed. Mostly, though, I'm intrigued.

One of the things I'm most looking forward to is having to only put up one photo per product, instead of endlessly scanning things for eBay and Etsy. Once I have the products in their places, people will be able to buy multiple units, and I won't have to constantly list new pictures of the same products. I'm also looking forward to being able to accept credit cards directly. This is pretty exciting stuff and it's such a huge step for me.

This weekend I will be getting into my photography cocoon. I'm going to set up my teensy "studio" and begin taking pictures of beads and cabochons. I have to remember that they're not going to be perfect on the first try, and that I shouldn't try to photograph everything at once.

Hibernation

After a whirlwind holiday season with houseguests and lots of cookies and get-togethers, oh my, I am finally regaining my breath. Today the sun is shining, the snow is sparkling, and it's beautiful outside.

I'm restocking my eBay and Etsy shops for the last time before I leave for my annual month-long trip on Jan 21st. I have two major demarcations in every year; the Tucson shows and the Bead & Button, both of which require me to be away for a month. This year I won't be attending Tucson, but I will still be gone.

There's so much to do before I leave. State sales tax for the different states that I do shows in, for example. In three states I file taxes twice a year, and those are due right now. Plus I have to make certain that the money will be okay while I'm gone. I won't be selling online for a month, which makes a difference.

It's a period of introspection too, though. It's a time to think of what I want to accomplish when I get back, and how I want to do it.

I've wanted a website for ages, and time has only sharpened this. Etsy and eBay have their strengths, but unfortunately, because of the way they're set up and the way the fees work, I have a hard time justifying the listing of several of the same item. Having a website would make it easier to deal with this, because it would be possible to buy more than one of a single item.

So I think I've finally convinced myself that a website it a must.

I'm also thinking about jewelry, and how best to work with new designs and what to do about that. My issue is still photography. I looked at the pictures of my shop through another's computer and was not satisfied with the colors. I've had multiple issues with my monitor and with Photoshop and I'm still not 100% certain that what I'm seeing on my monitor is what the majority of people are seeing.

I'm still determined to work on the ideas I have for metal components. I really need to get that into motion, too.

My work is cut out for me in the new year, obviously! Hope you all have a brilliant, prosperous, healthful and lovely 2010!

The days grow shorter

The pond has leaves floating on the top of it. The trees are getting bare. I'm starting to want to withdraw into myself, and I find that I want to make jewelry. I have house guests this weekend, but I have Monday and Tuesday to myself, and I think I will do a little playing with beads on those days.

Plus the mini photography studio needs to be set up again...

I think it's time to experiment!

The photography shed is up...

...and I'm hoping to take some pics this weekend. I found the stands for my lights, and now I just have to work out a cord situation that I won't trip over. Easier said than done, heh.

I have to also mention I'm pretty fascinated with the tracking Google Analytics does. I check every day to see the hits on my Etsy site, my website, and my blog. It's really interesting to see how the hits correspond to listing new items and posting new entries. I've been watching the new Etsy stats rather intently. So much fun!

Making time for photography

I haven't posted many pictures here recently, mostly because of the move. Tomorrow I'm hoping to fix that. I think I'm going to try setting up my mini photography "studio" and see what happens. I can't wait to experiment with the setup. Hopefully I'll put together a few good angles so I can take nice pictures each time without too much fuss.

Setting the pace

After several days of being distracted by unusual things, I finally managed to work on both the website and new Etsy listings today.

I've experimented again with taking photos, and I'm hoping that these represent a step forward...





There's a particular look to a lot of Etsy photos, and while I'm still learning, I think I've managed to take some adequate pics in this session. I hope I can work out a nice, foolproof method.

I've been working on a commission, too, which has been rather exciting. I haven't done one in ages, and the person who commissioned it gave me free rein, which was even more exciting. I've used a Green Girl pendant in it and will be posting pics when the matching earrings are finally finished.

Hooray for trying something new!

I was supposed to do a show in Midland today, but the threat of bad weather (and the high gas prices) kept me home.

So I tried to use my time well. I've been wanting to put things on Etsy for the longest time--in fact, I made an entire line of pieces with Green Girl pendants for that very purpose. But I just never seemed to get around to it.

I set up my little photo studio on the kitchen table, and tried taking pictures again.



I'm unhappy with my first attempts, honestly. At this point I can scan a bead fairly effectively, and fix it with my very limited knowledge of Photoshop. But photos? Totally new world. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. If I use the macro lens, it's hard to get everything in the shot. If I don't, the camera has to be too far away.

One of the hardest things for me to learn is that you can't do everything right on the first try. Or even the second. It's nearly impossibly for me to not feel disappointed with this set of photos, but I tried not to listen to the inner voice of criticism, and instead just went ahead and listed the items on Etsy anyway.

So I'm going to put aside more time to experiment tomorrow. Practice really does help, and I need to remember that practice is how I'll get better.

I'm really liking Etsy, except I'm having a terrible time uploading photos--I've always had this Firefox bug that brings up a dialogue box about a script hanging whenever I upload large photos, and it's been the bane of my existence in this Etsy process. Five photos, five dialogue boxes, and worse, sometimes it just resets and I have to go back to the last step again. Grr.

In other news, I'm getting a little more used to Blogger, and it's an interesting place; I like the add-ons that you can place in the sidebar. I love the new Blog add-on, and I especially like the mini-Etsy panel.