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Photographing Small Handmade Items With Just a Phone

Good product photos are the difference between a listing that sells and one that does not. Window light, a sheet of card, and a few habits are all it takes.

By Nermeen Zayed · · 2 min read

Buyers of handmade goods cannot pick the piece up. The photo has to do everything a hand would do. Show the size, the texture, the colour, the care. The encouraging part is that modern phone cameras are more than good enough. What makes the difference is light and setup, and both are free.

Light

Shoot next to a window on an overcast day, or on a sunny day with a thin white curtain diffusing the light. Never use the overhead room light and never use the phone flash. Both flatten the piece and shift the colours. Place the item so the window is to one side, not behind the camera. Side light shows texture. Front light hides it.

If one side goes too dark, hold a sheet of white card opposite the window to bounce light back. That is the entire lighting kit.

Background

A large sheet of white or pale grey card curved up behind the item, so there is no visible edge where the table meets the wall, gives you a clean product shot. For lifestyle shots use a surface that suits the piece. Wood for pottery, linen for jewellery, a desk for stationery. Keep everything else out of frame. One prop at most.

The shots you need

  1. Straight-on, whole item, clean background. This is the thumbnail.
  2. Three-quarter angle showing depth and shape.
  3. A close-up of the detail that makes the piece special. The brush stroke, the glaze, the stitch.
  4. The item in context, held in a hand or sitting where it would live, for scale.
  5. The back or underside. Buyers of handmade goods want to see the maker's mark and the finish.

Phone settings and editing

Tap the item on screen to focus and lock exposure. Wipe the lens first, always. Shoot slightly wider than you need and crop later. In editing, adjust brightness and warmth only. Avoid filters entirely. The colours in the photo have to match the piece that arrives, or you get returns and bad reviews.

Set up once, shoot ten items in a session, and the whole process takes an hour. Consistent photos across a shop do more for its look than any single perfect shot.