Tag: Business

  • Natural Light Product Photography for Etsy

    Natural Light Product Photography for Etsy

    Photography is hard and product photography is considered a particularly difficult kind of photography. Even seasoned professional photographers in other fields get pretty stumped when it comes to shooting product images. Ideally every person selling products would have the budget to pay a specialist product photographer. But the reality is that those of us running handmade businesses, especially sewing businesses, don’t have that kind of luxury.

    Lots of photographers will tell you that you need loads of expensive lights, a huge space, and lots of technical know-how in order to shoot a great product photo. I used to work in a large product photography studio in London shooting stuff on white backgrounds for major high street retailers. That kind of “white background” product photography does take a large amount of skill, setup knowledge and cost. It’s even harder if you’re looking for your colours in your photograph to match the colours of your product.

    However there’s been a shift over the last few years by many brands away from the highly commercial and “perfect” style of photography and towards something that feels much more natural and organic. There’s been a whole movement towards “slow living” and a more bohemian feel to the way we present both ourselves and our products in many cases and this can only help a small business owner shooting their own products.

    I’m not going to say it’s easier to shoot products in natural light, but it’s certainly simpler to learn. There’s a lot less gear to get to grips with and you can focus on getting to know your camera which will, in turn, enable you to shoot better images.


    Using Window Light

    You can shoot natural light product photography with just about any camera. The more sophisticated the camera, generally, the better results you’ll get, but you can ultimately shoot natural light product photos with a phone camera if you need to. So let’s take a look at my typical natural light product photography lighting setup. It’s super easy to be honest, just an old camping table next to a window!

    I’m really lucky to live in an old house with beautiful big windows, but you could set this up next to any medium size window. You could also set it up in a garage and open the door (just make sure you’re in the shade) or next to any open door in your house. Obviously a nice window is preferable because it’s not cold in the winter, but sometimes you just have to make things work!

    I almost always set my product photos up so that the brightest light source is on the left hand side. Our eyes naturally “read” images from the brightest points to the darkest points. To have the light going from the brightest on the left to the darkest on the right is the same as reading a book in English – we read from left to right. This makes the image comforting, familiar, and easier for our brains to decipher.

    Faking Beautiful Backdrops

    You’ll notice something clever in the pictures above – I’ve not actually shot them on a marble counter top. Even though it looks like I have. And the backing board isn’t actually a beautiful wood-panelled room in my house either.

    About a year ago I discovered the amazing PhotoBoards. Basically they are high quality photographic reproductions of interesting surfaces and backdrops printed onto sturdy and lightweight boards. Yes, you could buy a slab of marble or source some amazing wooden planks and fix them together – but honestly I’d rather just have the boards and store them neatly in a little portfolio case all together.

    I cannot begin to even tell you how much these boards have revolutionised my product photography. I don’t have a beautiful aged wooden farmhouse table in a huge dining room with great lighting, and I also don’t have a wonderful marble countertop in a light and airy kitchen. But thanks to these backgrounds I can have any number of different settings stored in a portfolio bag in my studio.

    Here’s a couple of images with this lighting, styled to look completely different:

    The lighter image above on the right is more in keeping with Etsy’s preferred style of photos. If you want to be featured in their gift guides I’d suggest sticking to light coloured backgrounds and sympathetic props. However I know that my target market are more likely to click the darker flatlay on the right on social media. It’s worth thinking about these differences. You may want to shoot your product images in more than one style for different purposes.


    Photographing Flatlays

    You can see the way I shoot products flatlay style in this article I wrote for Digital Photography School. It is an article on fine art photography but the principles are the same for product photography. I get my camera high above the product on a tripod and use a little spirit level to make sure the lens is perpendicular to the backing board. There’s a little bonus in owning a Fujifilm camera like mine – many of them work with the Fuji iPhone app. This means that I can put my phone down on the table where I’m styling and it doesn’t matter that the camera is above my head height because I can see exactly what the camera sees on my phone screen. Here’s a screenshot of the app, next to the final picture I produced:

    I can’t recommend the little Fujifilm X-T20 highly enough. As I write this it’s currently about £900 including a starter lens on both WEX Photographic and Amazon. I bought mine about eighteen months ago and it revolutionised my photography – although that’s a discussion for a different post.

    A new camera is a serious monetary investment in your business. I only mention it to let you know what I use if you wanted to upgrade to a system that allows you to use the app like I do. You probably already have a camera that will take more than adequate product photos. If you want to learn more about your camera I recommend joining a Facebook group for your make and model.


    Lightboxes and Light Tents

    I have used light tents in the past. Specifically I used to use them for photographing pens when I worked in the big product photography studio in London. Pens are often shiny little things and reflect everything around them, so the white surfaces from the inside of a light tent make for more pleasing reflections.

    I generally don’t recommend these kinds of photography accessories unless you have particularly challenging products with reflections or you can only shoot in the evenings. It’s hard to manipulate the light to get shadows that show off the product. Everything tends to end up looking quite flat if you use a light tent.

    At some point in the future I plan to try and write a post on using them well to create interesting product images.


    Styling Your Images

    Needless to say – styling is really important when it comes to these kinds of lifestyle product images. My plan is to write a whole series of posts (perhaps even an eBook) on the subject. But for now I’ve started writing on my photography site about styling. You can see them here:

    Souring Props for Natural Product Photography


    I hope that this has given you some useful information about how to go about shooting products for your Etsy shop in natural light. It’s not the easiest subject but with some practice then everyone should be able to create great images that really show off their products.

  • Does Blogging Help Your Handmade Business?

    Does Blogging Help Your Handmade Business?

    The short answer is yes; blogging for handmade business’ can totally be a way to help get sales! The long answer to “does blogging help your handmade business” is that it is not entirely straight forward. However there’s nothing difficult about blogging and it’s something everyone can do as part of their business!

    I’m not going to tell you how to set up a blog here (although I do suggest you go with WordPress as a platform). There are hundreds of people on the internet who will teach you to put together a WordPress site better than I could. However I am going to tell you the kind of things you want to write and how they will boost your handmade business through blogging.

    Identify Your Ideal Customer

    I’ve said it on other posts about running your handmade business, but it is always worth saying it again. Especially here. Identify who your ideal customer is. Once you know who they are you can start to work out what kind of blogs they like to read (if they like to read them at all!). Knowing where your customer hangs out online and what they like doing is key to marketing to them.

    Assuming your ideal customer is a blog reader you want to work out what kind of content they’ll stop and spend time reading. For example if you make kids accessories then a parenting blog might be your ideal customers thing. They might like to read about your story and your kids, and about the tips on how you’ve brought up great, well rounded, mini versions of you.

    I make costume accessories for live action roleplaying. This means my ideal customers are the people who do the hobby and who need costume. Although I link to my shop frequently on this blog I never make sales from the leads I make here. However I do make lots of sales from a related website that I run. Several years ago I started up a community website that deals with all aspects of playing roleplaying games. Because I chat with lots of my customers I’ve found that lots of them come specifically from an article I wrote on how to put a great costume together for LARP.

    Once You Figure It Out, Keep Writing!

    Once I figured out the kind of content that was sending customers to me I immediately started planning new articles. In my case I identified that the costumes I’d taken drew people in from Facebook and Pinterest, but the content of the article was what made it sharable on social media (and indeed sent it vital within the community).

    Essentially the articles that I was writing allowed my products to solve a problem that my visitor had. The question that my visitors were asking was “how do I put together a great costume for my character?” My article never directly says “buy my products” but they do provide pretty pictures and a link which then encourages customers to take a look around the shop. There’s also a small call to action near the bottom suggesting that if people would like a similar outfit they can head on over to my Etsy shop! I don’t enjoy doing the hard sell; I’d rather people came to me because they really, really wanted something that I make.

    Communicating Your Brand Values

    Blogging is unique in that it can communicate alot about you and your business in a very informal way. When considering blogging for handmade business you really do need to make sure that your brand values are absolutely clear in your mind and that every post you make helps to reinforce them.

    Although it can seem daunting to reveal lots of information about yourself on the internet don’t be too worried. Try to avoid giving out information that would make you vulnerable (such as your address and your holiday dates) but remember that people love to see the person behind the business when you’re a small handmade company.

    Stick To A Schedule

    It is the hardest part of blogging. And I should know, I’ve been blogging for over a decade now! Start with twice a month, or if you’re feeling on top of your game once a week. The most successful blogs get updated frequently with great content and a couple of times a week would be a great thing to aim for.

    Remember to think outside the box when you’re writing posts. For instance if you make gorgeous tote bags then a day out would provide you with the opportunity to shoot lifestyle images. You can blog about what you did for the day (it could be anything from a trip to the city to a trip to the seaside) and include the photos in your blog post. Don’t forget to link to where your readers can buy the product!

    Remember that the more content you produce the more readers will come back to read it.

    Collect Email Addresses

    As soon as you set your blog up you should get a mailing list set up too. Who you decide to use to host your mailing list is something for another post, but make sure you get collecting those email addresses ASAP!

    Why? Because it means that Etsy and Facebook aren’t in control of me contacting my customers. You never know when a service might either close its doors or charge you to be in touch with the people who want to hear from you. On Etsy you also can’t send messages out to everyone interested in your shop so a mailing list really is essential for you to keep in touch with your customers.

    I offer in my shop a 10% discount when you sign up to my mailing list. It is always good to offer an incentive, it much increases the chance that readers will give you their email address if they think they’re getting something in return. That could be some digital downloads, a percentage coupon, or even a monetary coupon. Whatever works for you and your business – and that’ll be different for everyone.

    Blogging For Handmade Business

    So with all that in mind, hopefully you’ll consider starting your blog and writing about your product. The traction you can get if a blog post goes viral on social media is incredible and it could end up making or breaking your shop. It’s all about creating content that is beautiful, useful, and also on brand for your business.

    Good luck!

  • Finding a Sewing Niche and Making Money

    Finding a Sewing Niche and Making Money

    .Over the years I’ve often seen people in sewing groups on Facebook claim that people just don’t value handmade things and it’s impossible to make a living from sewing or “crafts.” Now, I’m pretty sure that if you work hard at finding your sewing niche and producing a great product it’s possible to build a successful business. However I’m making approximately half my income from sewing (and the other half from writing) so perhaps I’m biased on this subject. Nevertheless I thought it still deserved a blog post.

    People Won’t Pay For Handmade

    Like, take a look around. At the very top end of the handmade spectrum you’ve got high end fine and applied art being sold regularly for thousands or even millions of pounds. That is one end of the spectrum, with people paying a few pounds for things at my local church craft fair at the other.

    To say that people won’t pay for handmade things is nothing but a lie – people pay for handmade things all the time. (And I’m not even going to get into the snobby definition of handmade here – handmade in a factory in China is just as handmade as if I make it in my bedroom). I bet every person reading this post had paid for something handmade before. I’m pretty sure most adults have paid for handmade things.

    So with that in mind…

    You’re Pitching Your Sewing Niche Wrong

    If people won’t buy what you’re selling then you’ve got two big potential reasons why:

    • You’re not making something that people want to buy.
    • You’ve not found your audience.

    Of course there are other reasons why too, but fundamentally most businesses fail because either the product isn’t something people want or need, or the people who would buy the product don’t know you exist.

    Here’s an example. A (distant) relative some time ago asked me for feedback on their product and for my thoughts on why they seemed unable to sell it. They sent me a picture. It was a baby bedding set for prams. If you imagine the most sticky pink pram set with ruffles, ribbons, and lace, then you double the amount of ruffles, ribbons, and lace that you imagined, you might be part of the way there. She lamented the fact that she’d been marketing these to young mums through parenting groups on Facebook and the like but hadn’t sold any.

    It was with great care that I gave her feedback. I pointed out that this style largely went out of fashion several decades ago and so she might want to consider marketing them to grandparents as a pram set for when baby stays with them instead of young millenials… and also pointed out that they were quite expensive and people are more likely to place value on something if they see it in an upscale boutique rather than on a Facebook group.

    It occurred to me that my relative hadn’t even spent a fiver on a parenting magazine as market research to see what was stylish and in demand right now. Really they didn’t even have to spend a fiver – they could have looked on Pinterest or one of the many blogs out there. They were so out of touch with what young mums were generally looking to buy that their product was never going to sell. Their sewing niche was deeply flawed – they had a product that wasn’t right for their target buyer.

    You Don’t Have To Be In Touch With Your Tribe

    It isn’t always required to be active in the community that you sell to. I have been doing a reasonably brisk trade in Pagan wedding vestments this year despite not being Pagan or in the community. It started when I had a custom order from someone on Etsy who suggested I post in a couple of Facebook groups. I did, she endorsed me, it worked! A small but steady stream of orders come in from that niche.

    On the other hand, most of my orders come from a community that I’m very active in. I make custom costume for live action roleplay (LARP) and see most of my business come via word of mouth on Facebook.

    I know who my tribe are. They’re people who want beautiful custom costume. They want it made to a high standard from good quality materials that will last. My target market care about how they look and have the money to make themselves look good, but maybe not the time, equipment, or skills to make things themselves.

    Once you know who your ideal buyer is you can find them and market to them. If it sounds simple, it’s because it is. Working out who is your ideal buyer is the hard part. If you get it wrong you won’t have a successful sewing business.

    People Don’t Value Sewing As A Skill

    This is the phrase that winds me up something terrible. And often it annoys me more because some people imply that “young people” specifically don’t value sewing. It is true that some people don’t value sewing as a skill. However some people don’t value cooking as a skill either. Yet there are thousands of restaurants serving food up and down the country.

    I am the product of a Grandfather who was a British Army tailor and who went on to work on Savile Row, his wife and my Grandmother who was a machinist in a clothes factory, and my other Grandmother who taught me to sew by showing me how to darn my fathers socks (before moving on to more exciting projects). I value sewing as a skill.

    Many of my friends also value sewing as a skill. Some of them sew themselves, most of them don’t. Many of them save up and buy beautiful handmade things from local artists as often as they can. However they won’t just buy anything. They want beautiful, well designed, well made products that fit with their lifestyle choices, hobbies, and tastes. But when they do find something they love they’ll often spend a lot of money. The people they spend money with often have a real targeted sewing niche. They’re doing a small handful of things very well. And they’re appealing to an enthusiastic target audience.

    Once again it comes down to the fact that to build your sewing business you have to define your target audience, find them, produce something they want, and market to them.

    People Won’t Pay For Crafts

    I suspect this is probably true. However I also suspect that this has more to do with branding  marketing than anything else.

    I don’t sell crafts. I sell handmade, custom garments that enhance people’s pastimes, jobs, or special events. My branding isn’t “crafty” in any way. It’s sleek and simple, and is specifically designed to appeal to my target market.

    And look, I’ll be honest, if you’re making the kind of thing you can find in a craft tutorial on Pinterest, and you’re trying to sell it at craft fairs or to people like yourself who like crafting, then you’re unlikely to ever sell much. Because those people will just look at the stuff on your stall or your site, find a tutorial, and make one themselves.

    You need to find a different target market, or a different product, or perhaps even both.

    Good luck in building your business. Find your sewing niche.

  • Making A Living From a Sewing Business

    Making A Living From a Sewing Business

    I’m not quite sure how it happened. One day I had a single product that I thought might sell to a few roleplayers, the next I was making half my monthly income from sewing and embroidering costume pieces! Well a little more than a few moments – about seven months to be exact. My sewing business had taken off!

    I made a few commissions in 2017 and had a listing or two in my Etsy store, but I didn’t really kick it off until January 2018. And here we are at the beginning of August and I’m so backed up with orders that I’m not quite sure what to do! It’s a good situation to be in and I’m not complaining at all! So while I ponder the future, I thought I’d put together a few thoughts on why I’ve managed to do so well.

    Everything is Top Quality

    This absolutely had to come first. I didn’t want to put out shoddy work at any point in the process. Everything is beautifully finished. No raw seams on view. Hand stitching is done wherever hand stitching needs to be done – even if you can’t see it.

    I use great quality fabrics and great quality threads. That means that the embroidery is lustrous and the fabric sturdy enough to stand up for the kind of abuse you get at LARP.

    My Branding and Photography is On Point

    Mosswood Studio Costume Pouch for Empire LRP

    I had quite a strong idea of what I wanted my branding to be like when I started. Black and white, reasonably minimalist, but while maintaining a somewhat timeless and esoteric feeling.

    In the end I settled on some relatively modern block lettering, with a cute little black and white octopus design. The whole thing is easy to reproduce in two colours on every bit of digital and print branding. I even have little labels that I sew into everything I make.

    I’m not saying that I’m an expert with graphics or branding, but I did read a few books on the subject and spent some time thinking about it. Plus I guess my background in History of Art means that I’m starting from somewhat of an advantage.

    Hand in hand with branding goes photography. Again I’ve got some experience here; a year working in London as a specialist fashion and product photography set me up with some good techniques and a keen eye for detail. I started with clean, clear images that were overwhelmingly shot on a grey background. Everything that could be shown on a mannequin was. I believe it made a huge difference compared to the usual LARP imagery that you see.

    More recently I’ve been experimenting with slightly more styled and creative photographs as you can see here. I used to really enjoy shooting ‘flats’ at work – or flat-lays as the internet now seems to call them! If this style of photography will make a big difference or not remains to be seen. However I can’t see that it would do any harm and I do enjoy putting the images together. I also rather enjoy shopping for props for my photos. But perhaps I should do a little less of that or I won’t have any money!

    I Advertised Organically

    Putting a little advertisement on a LARP website that I run was a smart idea. I kept the advert clean and simple, chose some pictures that were reasonably generic but had striking, bold colours, and popped it in the sidebar. It’s brought my relatively huge amounts of traffic. If I didn’t run a related blog in the same niche as my business, I’d definitely be paying to be featured on one.

    I also made gifts for friends. They posted pictures of their kit online, and people would ask where it was from. It generated several hundred pounds worth of orders. Word of mouth referral is a very positive thing in hobby communities. It’s a very genuine form of marketing and is also extremely effective. Would I have made and given those gifts anyway? Of course, I would. I never asked them to post online nor expected a referral. Anything I got was a bonus, and it’s how you should look at things if you give them away to friends. I sometimes also send free goodies to my customers along with personalised postcards, business cards, etc. In this way, they might also tell their friends about such additional benefits and spread the word about my business.

    Influencer marketing is different of course, and that’s my next step. Shortly I’ll be contacting some of the ‘big names’ in LARP media production and seeing if they’d be interested in doing an exchange. I reckon some unboxing videos might be nice too, I really take pride in how I package and send my orders.

    On top of that I also posted in various sales groups on Facebook that are related to the hobby. Because I’m not a new voice in the community I think this carried far more weight than it would if I was an unknown. Although saying that, I posted in a Pagan sales group and made a sale within 12 hours… and I was a complete unknown there!

    You’ve Got To Do What Works For You

    Fundamentally you could do everything the same as I did and it just might not work. This handmade goods marketplace is so fickle, you just have to keep trying. A variety of approaches works best though, I think. It means that you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket.

    What If You Don’t Make Enough Money?

    It’s a fear that everyone starting their business has. Or at least a fear that they should have. But the reality is that being a self-employed creative professional should usually pay far better than a comparable job working for someone else. There are other benefits too, like working the hours that suit your lifestyle and being able to take time off for the things you want to do, but lets be honest the cash needs to add up as well.

    This infographic shows the difference in earnings between self-employed creative professionals and those employed in similar jobs in the US – it’s a fascinating read!

  • Creating Illustrated Manuals If You Can’t Draw

    Creating Illustrated Manuals If You Can’t Draw

    I’ve been wondering for some time if I should write some illustrated manuals for product photography in order to help fund my PhD. I’ve been asked to produce a guide many times over the last few years by several creative business owners. It makes sense really, I did spend a year working in a top fashion catalogue photography studio and I learned many skills during that time.

    It’s been rewarding to put that photography knowledge into practice in my own costume making business, and I’m entirely sure it has helped my sales. I know personally that I hesitate to buy anything online that doesn’t have great pictures. I’m sure others must be the same.

    So what’s stopping me? I guess it’s because I can’t draw.

    To be honest, I’ve got the writing bit down. I’ve been writing for magazines and other outlets as a freelancer for years now. The problem is that visual manuals are best. And if you can’t draw, then how do you create the illustrations that you need in order to demonstrate what you’re trying to teach your reader?

    My illustration of the Glass Tank Gallery at Oxford Brookes University.

    I taught myself a little bit of Google Sketchup in my second year at University in order to create some visuals for a project, but illustrating a whole book? It seems a little out of my league! I got kicked off my A Level Art course just five weeks in while I was at school, so confidence in my drawing skills has never been particularly high!

    How do you produce illustrated manuals if you can’t draw?

    Thankfully there are technical illustrators out there who will help you put together illustrated manuals, which is great for people like myself. Who can’t draw. At all. (Well maybe they can draw a little bit, but not enough for a job like this).  And of course they’ll be able to create a style that works with your brand too, making everything feel coherent when you go on to write more books and manuals.

    Sometimes the right option really is to speculatively pay someone to do the bits of the job that you’re not very good at in order to produce a more marketable product overall. You’ve got to take that gamble sometimes, right?

    Being well illustrated can make the difference between a how-to book selling or not, especially in the fast-moving world of e-books and online business. If your manual or book doesn’t get good reviews right from the start, then you’ve already lost a large portion of your sales. Every small business owner will know that a product needs to make an impact the moment you launch it, otherwise you’ll have wasted a considerable amount of time and potentially money too. First impressions stay with people. And once someone has a first impression that is negative of your brand it can be very hard to change that.

    If you’re considering, as I am, producing an illustrated manual on your specialist subject then sometimes it’s better to reach out to people who can help you to create your vision successfully. Occasionally even the solo entrepreneur has to admit that they can’t quite manage to do everything themselves.