Friday, January 30, 2009

Out with the old...

I've been dreading this day for a while. The day I go and decide to completely change up the style of our product photography. See, I'm more comfortable with my neutral gray, doing the same old thing every time. But that's not what catches the eye of lots of people, at least not on Etsy. And since one of my marketing strategies this year is to tap better into Etsy, well, it was time to step out of my comfort zone.

I see lots of gorgeous artsy fartsy photos on Etsy and wonder to myself "hmm, could I do that?". I wasn't sure I could handle it. I mean, wow, SO much color... no gray? What? NO GRAY? A color theorist I am not. I mean, shoot... my couches have beige slip covers, my rug is beige, our chair and the accent walls are chocolate brown. (At least nothing is gray.)

A couple weeks ago Dustin and I ran around town, finding little things to use as props. We went to the used book store with the sole purpose of buying some hard cover books in pretty colors. I found the coolest old, old, OLD Winnie the Pooh book in a nice shade of red. I had to have it. I'll actually read that one to our kids. Then I saw The Yearling in a lovely teal. A couple others that I'm not sure of the titles... but their covers were pretty in their chocolate brown and purple-ish. Score!

Next I found some white vases, perfect for displaying hanging earrings. Finally I raided my mom's stash of scrapbook paper. People. The woman has a stash big enough to scrap for the entire state of Texas. Score!

I went home and got to work. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do a good job. I'm not sure why, because I have a fabulous camera and an even fabulous-er macro lens... but I was afraid they would suck.

They don't. In fact, I pretty much love them and am wondering why I was so afraid of color before. Hopefully you'll love them too, and they'll catch some spending eyes over at Etsy.

We're also planning some pretty big website changes this year, so stay tuned to see how that all pans out. I'm excited!

Here are a few new things.. photographed with no gray! Yay!





13 comments:

Erin said...

Nice work!

Anonymous said...

I never minded the gray, but I like the new style and colors! :) Nicely done!

Anonymous said...

They look wonderful!

And remember: having great tools does not mean that you're gonna do great work with them (hand me Picasso's paint brush or Ty's hammer and I'll still create childish paintings & woodwork). Take that as a compliment! :-D

Jen said...

Beautiful :)
I like the way they turned out

Claire said...

Oooh, I love these pictures!

Cxx

heidi @ ggip said...

I always thought the other photo were nice, but these do have a different level of visual appeal. I like some of the new pieces.

Jessica Morris said...

I really like these alot - and that bird necklace rocks!! I haven't seen it before. It is beautiful though!! :)

Nicole said...

The pics turned out great! Cool idea using books as props.

BeckeyZ said...

Good job! I like the books and creative use of DOF.

The Rock Chick said...

Love the pics!!!! Oh and uh, I don't think it's the camera or the fabulous new macro lens....good pictures come from good photgraphers!!

Mrs. Smith said...

I agree...you are so creative that there is no way you could NOT take good photographs. I really like these!

Bethany said...

VERY nice!!

Tammy said...

Gorgeous pics!!!