Butcher, Baker Candlestick Maker

When you start a business much of the work has to be done in-house in order to save on costs. One of those things that I do myself is product photography. As much as I would like someone else to do it for me, it would be too expensive.

I've tried taking photos of my hats in different settings, in the garden, on models, by a professional photographer, but sometimes it doesn't work out the way I'd like it to. So, I've been trying to just take a photo in the studio with a white background. I've had issues with that as well, but I thought if I had a hat form of some sort, my photos would look better.

  After shopping around at Walmart and other department stores, the only thing I could find was a small bowl, but it wasn't tall enough for the hat to fit on it correctly.

So I decided to make my own.
Luckily I found a bag of Celluclay I had stored in my basement for past 15 years.

I poured it into a small tub and mixed it with water

Then I put a piece of plastic wrap inside the bowl and started pressing the mixture into the bottom of the bowl.

After I had it packed into the bowl, I took it out and added some height to it.










The directions say that you can let it air dry or put in the oven at a low temperature--so in the oven it goes. I'm not sure how long it takes to dry but I'll be posting about it when it's finished.

Unconventional Photo Studio

Do you know what is the worst part of having an Etsy store? For me, it's taking great photos. There have been days where I spent the whole day trying to get a few decent shots to post in my shop. Incandescent bulbs, shade, fluorescent lights, I've tried them all and it wasn't until I set up my equipment in the greenhouse that I was able to get good photos consistently.

Does it look cold out there? Yesterday the temperature was in the high twenties, but with the sun shining, it was very pleasant---spring-like I'd say.

  

Kind of messy looking inside isn't it? I suppose I should have straightened it up a bit before I took the photo!

 

Here's a photo of my setup, using household items for staging my products. I bought a bed sheet for two bucks from Goodwill to drape over a cardboard box. Sometimes I use knickknacks in my photos just because I get tired of the plain white background that most people use in their Etsy photos. I use the tan bed sheet that's hanging from the ceiling to block the sun when it's shining, but I take the best photos on cloudy days.