Good photos make ALL the difference

There are some very simple steps you can use to turn an OK picture into one that gets noticed and helps your business.

This is the actual design I used to apply for a design team position. I was applying at the last minute and also needed to do some other things so I was rushing a bit. I was about the send the inset picture with my application, but then I decided that I needed to take the time to make my photos look better. I actually remade the button holder because I had pulled out the brads I originally used to put them back into storage.

If you're interested, I used Lori Whitlock's For the Record 2 collection by Echo Park. I am not a floral person, but I absolutely love this floral. It's an older collection, but you might have it in your stash too.

It honestly doesn't take much and anyone can learn. You don't need to use expensive software or cameras. I use Lightroom to edit and manage my photos, but the techniques I used are available in all photo editing programs, including free online programs.

I took the actual photos with my Canon T3i DSLR, but I took a screen shot of the photos on my computer, then took screenshots with my phone from where I saved them online and used the Pixlr app on my Samsung Galaxy phone to create the collage above. I then sent it to Instagram, applied a vignette to the collage and here is the result.

Etsy shops with professional looking photos sell more than shops with OK or lousy photos. After all, this is your only chance to show the world what you're selling. It only makes sense to use the best photos you can.

For my staged photo, I adjusted the white balance, increased the exposure, increased the clarity (contrast), sharpened and cropped the image. These photography terms might sound foreign or intimidating to you, but they really are simple.

White balance is simply an adjustment that corrects the colours in the photos by choosing a neutral area of the photo. Exposure is the amount of light in the photo (this is what you use to lighten photos that are too dark.) Clarity or contrast adjusts the dark and light areas where they meet to make the photo pop more. Sharpness adds definition. Cropping means removing parts of the image you don't want.

If you want to learn more about improving your photos, you should look into the courses offered by CreativeLive. This is where I learned these techniques and I am by no means a professional photographer.

This post contains affiliate links. Please refer to my page on this for more info.