New Wedding Shawl Photos

Ha, I did it.  I lost enough weight to be able to fit back into the wedding dress that I bought to use as a photography prop.  In fact, its a little loose on me now.

I tried the dress on first this time, to make sure, before I spent ages preparing the photo set up.

I've taken over 300 photos but unfortunately I did run out of time and light and so haven't been able to take new photos of everything I need to photograph, maybe about half of them but I am very happy with them so far and all I have to do now is edit them and get them exchanged with the old ones that are in the shop.

I will have to do at least another one photo shoot to photograph the rest of the shop items and improve the photos but we will have to see on the weather and the light as at this time of year its really hit and miss.

First attempt at a photo shoot with new backdrop

Today I decided that I would try a photo shoot using my new urban style photo backdrop and take photos of some of the new shawls that I've made that can be worn more scarf like.  Its a warm day so putting a coat on and a scarf and pretending its autumn is going to be physically exhausting but it has to be done, there's no point waiting until its cold to get the photos done because everyone would have bought new scarves by then in readiness for the cold weather.

Today was more of a trial, than a "yeah, here come the final product photos", I need to see what works and what doesn't.  The only suitable coat or jacket that I have is an old orangey-red double breasted wool coat, as my usual coat is a Regatta walking/hiking/all weather 3-in-1 fleece lined waterproof coat that looks pretty silly with a scarf.

So, I took a load of photos, with different scarves, different poses, different expressions but this was difficult because of the sun so a lot of the time I was squinting a bit or screwing my face up against the sun shining in my eyes/general brightness of the day.  I'm not photogenic, I hate having my photo taken so this was a big deal for me.  I usually crop my face/head off all of my product photos as I am not pretty, I've never considered myself to be pretty.  I'm not blind, I can see my reflection in the mirror and I know what I look like.  I decided to try it anyway and ask for opinions in a couple of places online where Etsy sellers give each other advice, feedback and generally support each other.

Wow!  I was not expecting anyone to say "Oh, beautiful photos, well done you", but neither was I expecting anyone to say, and I will have to para-phrase here because the actual comments have been deleted now, but it was something like "To be honest I wouldn't buy the item because your face would put me off as you look miserable.  Perhaps you could find someone young and pretty who could model for you".  Now, I know all too well that I am getting on in years, I'm currently 46, and gawd knows I am not pretty but Jesus woman DO you have be such a BITCH!  There is absolutely no need for the comment.  Kick a girl in the teeth when she's down why don't you.

Thankfully, I had a number of people who gave constructive advice, such as "the coat clashes with the colour of the brick, maybe try a black or dark grey coat" or "do you have any dark, plain coloured tops that you could wear and try a photo shoot without a coat" and thankfully, I also had a few people who made counter-comments to hers and said that I have a nice, normal, friendly face and that youth and beauty is superficial and doesn't always sell a product, that there are plenty of older models and elderly models out there and to ignore the nasty comments.  Thanks, but they are pretty hard to ignore when they are so bitchy but I believe in Karma so we will just wait for that bus to come along and get her shall we.

Photography Backdrops

When you sell goods online the advice is always to photograph your item against a plain uncluttered, non-busy background.  Fair enough, it makes the item easy to see and draws your eye straight to it and doesn't leave you wondering which item you should be looking at.  I've done this method for many years.  I made my own backdrop using some blackout curtain material and some plain white voile and its done me proud up until now but that advice is probably better suited to small things like jewellery but it is really boring for things like shawls.

I'm seeing a lot of successful sellers who use beautiful settings to take their photos of clothing items, some are absolutely stunning, like fancy sweeping staircases, carefully manicured formal gardens or stately looking room settings, the kind of thing you find in stately homes, National Trust properties and old hotels.  I've even seen one seller who is lucky enough to live right by the coast and takes her photos up on the top of a cliff with the person modelling looking forlornly out to sea with the wind blowing in her hair and the shawls and they look amazing, full of life and movement.  I live on a housing estate, no such beautiful settings for me without costing me an arm and a leg to hire the place.

Printed backdrops, that's the route for me, carefully selected printed backdrops and I could get quite a few different ones, subject to finances.  I am limited on space though, so I have to bear that in mind, that I need to be able to use the backdrop without furniture etc getting in the way between the backdrop and the camera.

After much thought and search online I have ordered from a company called Katebackdrops, they have a US site and a UK site and are reasonably priced.  I've ordered two backdrops from them, I just hope I've ordered the right sizes, quite a bit of guess work involved as to which size is best to go for as they come in quite a good range.  One with an urban feel to it, something that I could use for modelling the scarf type shawls and shawlettes against and then a whimsical floral framed balcony setting that will be perfect for the wedding type shawls.  Fingers crossed.