There is a very popular blog post that has been circulating on Pinterest about an easy, cheap way to take “Studio Quality Photography for $12″. I was intrigued! I have spent hundreds of dollars and thousands of hours taking pictures of the jewelry and jewelry supplies that I sell. I would love an easier way for myself as well as an inexpensive option to tell my customers who struggle with taking good photos! I do not make my living as a photographer, but then I have over 40,000 sales on Etsy so perhaps I do…..
Anyways, I read the instructions and off I went. ( By the way, I shoot with an Olympus Stylus 900 ($120 last I checked) and use the basic photo editing program that came with my HP Computer, HP Media Smart Photo. )I didn’t have the exact same prop to use, but found something that I thought was similar. I took pictures throughout the day so to catch different lighting conditions.
Altogether, I took 30 photos. After looking at all 30, I picked the one that I thought was the best and did a few edits; straightened, cropped, added contrast, brightened, sharpened. And then I edited some more. And then I started over. And then I selected another shot and worked with it. Again. This is the best photo I was able to make…..
Not terrible, not terrific. It’s OK and actually looks a lot like a lot of photos I have seen on Etsy recently!
Well worth the $250 for the lights and tent to shoot and edit in less than 5 minutes.
Next I took the same prop and set it in my light tent($50) and turned on my lights ($200) and set the prop on a white sheet of paper. This is a typical set up for my photos. I took 1 photograph which I thought had potential and then did the same edits as I had before; straightened, cropped, added contrast, brightened, sharpened. It took less than 5 minutes. So, while I wasn’t happy with the $12 set up, stay tuned for what I did learn!
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