How Do They Do That?

Are you struggling to achieve a certain look with your product pictures? There are no secrets here at OIS. We share exactly how we get your pictures looking so good.

Not a client? That is what this blog is for - to help EVERYONE get great product pictures! If you are hitting road blocks, and need some directions, please leave a comment here, and we will write future blog posts answering your queries :-)

~Kirsten

Exciting changes at OIS!

I just wanted to share my excitement about my ever expanding business, helping WAHMs sell more with better product photos.

I can help you with your product pictures!! Now is a great time to sign up with Online Image Solutions. :)

The Online Image Solutions (OIS) website has undergone a great change! Now, current clients can upload their images directly to the website! Batch uploads and downloads make for faster, more streamlined photo management! Clients can add notes to their uploads, and respond directly on the website to any administrator posts. All information conveniently centralized, means better communication and productivity, for both clients and the photo editor!! :-)

Another exciting feature for clients is the referral program! Now clients receive two free image credits for each new client referral! Just think, one post to a social networking site raving about OIS could lead to dozens of new clients! That's alot of free image edits :-)

And yet another new feature for OIS clients is the delivery guarantee. All edits are guaranteed to be delivered within 5 business days! I strive for same day service :-)

I just wanted to let you know about the benefits of being a client of OIS. Not only do you get great product photos, delivered in a professional manner, but with the new referral program, you can get those photos that bring increased sales, for FREE!

Kind Regards,
Kirsten Slichter

Should you Watermark?

Before and After.

This is an edit I did for Vanessa of My Mommy's Bracelets. She has chosen to forgo the watermark. I was able to clean up her image with a heavy dose of the clone tool.

Is watermarking your images a good preventative for theft? I think it is! Sure, an editor can manipulate it off your image. It is time consuming to remove, and oftentimes affects the image quality. So most unscrupulous competitors surfing the net for pictures to use on their website will pass your image by if there is a watermark.

What do you think?

Showing Off some recent edits

Here are two recent edits I did. :-)

Before & After:



Before & After:



So fun!

For beach photo, heavy use of clone tool! For farm photo, just lasso the baby out, mirror the selection, and paste her in with the chickens :-)

~Kirsten

White Background #1

There are many ways to get a white background on your product photo. Some are easy, some not so easy. Sometimes, you need to do the not so easy edit to get the look you need.

Here are two images I edited for nstylemom.com. I want to tell you about how I got the look in these two images.

The first one, a wipe case.

Before:

After:

This is how I got this look:

• Select the lasso tool, and choose point to point selection. Have the feather & smoothing set to zero.
• Click around your object carefully. Once you have gotten all the way around, and you join up at your start, double click. Then you will get "marching ants" around your object. Hit Ctrl+X, and that removes your selection. Then hit Ctrl+V, and that pastes the selection as a new image.
  
• Select Image->Canvas size. Then size your canvas square by making the lengths a bit larger than the current length. (Make sure aspect ratio is unchecked.) Now you have a square image.
  
• Next, go to Layers ->Merge. Now your background is white, and your image is square.
• Now you can adjust your brightness, contrast, saturation, etc, until you get the look you want. Next, resize it for the web by resizing to at most 500X500.

When I first started editing product pictures, I cropped, but paid no mind to the measurements. But I have learned that most shopping carts will look MUCH better if your image is a square.

Okay, next image is of a chenille pillow. Before:


After:

This requires some more manipulation. When I click around the pillow, there is no way I have time to outline each little chenille tuft. So, I don't.

I quickly outline with the lasso. I follow all the steps mentioned above. And then, to get the chenille looking fluffy again, I use the Smudge tool. I grab the edge, and pull it outward, creating tufts of chenille :-)

~Kirsten

Quick Tip for white backgrounds

If you use a white background for your product pictures, here is a quick tip for you.

When you think you are finished the editing process, add a white border, or resize the canvas by 50 or 100 pixels around. What this does is gives you a view of how your photo will look when placed against a white background. Often times, by doing this, you will see background areas that were missed. For example:
I can now see that there is still some background to be removed around the edges. Before I added the white border, this image looked all done. Now I have some more work to do!

I hope this quick tip was helpful, so you may have the best pictures possible for your website!

~Kirsten

P.S. - no arrows were injured in the making of this image

Style

When taking pictures of your creations, how do you like to present your work?

For some crafters, photographing your work is another way to express your creativity. I've seen some great outdoor shots with jewelry draped over wrought iron, or on a pretty rock.

Do you use props when you photograph your pieces? I've seen flowers, seashells... I saw a photo the other day with baby shoes as a prop for a mother/baby bracelet set. Very cute!!

My favorite way to photograph my jewelry is on white paper. The reason is because that is how my pictures turn out best. When I have tried photographing outdoors, or with props, the pictures don't turn out as well. So, I stick with what works best for me.

But I sure do like seeing what works best for others too!

Please share your favorite photography style in the blog notes!

~Kirsten