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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Working on Improving my Doll Photos

The other day, as I was discussing the slump in sales with my collegues from the NaturalKids Team, the subject of photography came up. I don't think my pictures are awful. If they were I probably wouldn't have managed to sell dolls at all. But like most things in life, there is always space for improvement. How does one convey the sweetness and true beauty of a handmade doll to the customer?


If you have good photos in your etsyshop people are more likely to pick your item for treasuries. Apparently one of my items made it to the frontpage on Etsy last night. Figures I missed it. I really wish I had a screenshot of the grand moment. It's been years since I made it to that desired front page spot. Does it matter? Well, the more views from potential buyers the greater the chances that people will find your shop and you will sell your wares.

I am sad to report that my shop got around 1,300 views last night and lots of people made my shop a favorite yet I didn't get a single sale. Wah! Hopefully they'll be come back later today and shop...

But let me get back to the subject in question: How can I improve my photos when I can't afford to sign up for an on-line photography class with the expert or a new fancy camera?  So I have decided to start on a quest this last week. I want to improve my doll photos working with what I have: Cute dolls & my old beat-up first generation digital camera.


I took the photo of the two gnome dolls you see above in my backyard last week. My goal is to improve it over the next few days. I will try different day times and follow some advice that I found on various websites this morning. Please feel free to critique my photos and share ideas and tips on getting better digital photos!

3 comments:

Julie said...

Ulla, you can get the screen shot here http://www.craftcult.com/vault_list.php?list=27581&userid=&fm=0&esn=&m=2&d=26&st=1&pagenum=2&ls=27585 Photos can be such a tricky thing to master. Some things are easy but other things (like dolls) can be such a pain to convey in photo the same sweetness from real life. And, yes, you're right. We all have room for improvement. There are many of my own photos that I really need to retake.

Jeanne said...

I love this photo of your dolls in the wagon! They look like they are having a lot of fun. Is this the photo that was on the front page? I'm glad to hear that your shop had 1300 visitors. Good things will happen. Hang in there.

germandolls said...

Nope, that was not the one. It was actually a photo of three pastel colored minis.