Most handmade businesses have the same problem: amazing products, terrible photos. The product is brilliant. The listing looks like it was photographed on a Nokia 3310.
I have looked at hundreds of Etsy listings for handmade products. Ceramics, baked goods, leather goods, candles. The products were often excellent. The photography was costing them sales.
Mistake 1: Shooting Against a Busy Background
A ceramic mug on a cluttered kitchen counter competes with everything else in the photo. The eye does not know where to look.
Fix: A plain background — white, grey, or a solid wood surface. The product gets 100 percent of the attention.
Mistake 2: No Sense of Scale
A soap bar photographed alone looks like a soap bar. You cannot tell if it is a luxury full-size bar or a sample size.
Fix: Include something that communicates size. A coin, a spoon, a ruler, your hand. Anything.
Mistake 3: One Photo Only
Buyers want to see the product from multiple angles. Front, side, back, detail shot, in-use shot.
Fix: Minimum 4 photos. Maximum 8. The in-use shot is usually the one that converts — seeing the product in context makes it feel real.
Mistake 4: Over-Editing
Heavy filters make products look artificial. The buyer gets the product and it does not match the photo. That is how you get negative reviews.
Fix: Natural light, slight brightness adjustment only. If the photo looks obviously edited, dial it back.
The Quick Audit
Can you tell what the product is within 1 second? Can you tell the size? Is the background clean? Are there at least 4 photos?
If you answered no to any of those, your photos are costing you sales.
This was a sample from ContentForge — I help artisan and handmade businesses get content that sells. From GBP 97 per month.
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