Discouraged

Ok, first let me say this. It may seem funny to read what I'm posting when you see I have only one sale. BUT, just because I only have one sale here doesn't mean I haven't sold my art before.

Now, to the heart of this post! I see so many people posting about being discouraged, low views, lack of sales, etc. I'd like to step in and say to stop feeling so down! Step back for a moment. Take a deep breath. Let me tell you a little story about me and my photography.

I've always loved taking photographs, I NEVER thought I'd ever make any money from it. It was my passion, my ultimate favorite hobby. I dreamed of being some National Geographic type photographer, but since I am self taught, never imagined anyone other than family would ever hang one of my photos on a wall, much less give me money for them.

A few years ago, I just couldn't help myself-I just had to upgrade my point and shoot to a DSLR. We didn't have a lot of cash, so I made a scary promise to my husband. We buy the camera and I'll find a way to sell enough photographs to pay it back (it was bought on a 6 months no interest credit card). Now I had six months to figure out not only how to use the camera, but also to get good enough photos to sell-and how to sell them!

I remembered a website I saw that sold prints and calendars and stuff-a club we belonged to used them to make t-shirts. I went there, created an account, and uploaded some photos. I knew NOTHING about how to do it. It took me days to get them sized right. I found the forums there, and in those forums were a lot of great folks that helped me learn a lot about not only how to use that website, but to run my business. It took a while, but I made a few sales. I learned more, upgraded things and finally, I paid back the camera. And then I kept making sales! I actually was earning money on my photographs!! People were paying money for my art, and it was hanging on their walls!

Think it was some little, cozy place like Etsy? Think you have a lot of competiton here? It's much, much bigger. It doesn't matter where it is, but for instance, a search on that site for "sunset photograph" brings nearly 2,000 results.

What I am telling you is that if I can do this, you can too. Find your niche. Find what makes you different than the others in it. Play it up to your customers. Get your OWN site. Promote it. Market it. Learn what SEO is. Learn about running your business. Absorb knowledge shared freely like a sponge. Even if you don't agree with someone, read their opinion, there might be a little something you can take from it. Don't get stuck in a rut and stay there. Learn from each mistake. The single most important thing I learned from my past few years is this-it's your business, not "abc company's". Own it. Don't let anyone tell you you can't, and don't believe that you can't. Believe in yourself, your craft and your business. YOU CAN DO THIS.

Now go create! Go work on tags and descriptions and things Google likes! OWN YOUR BUSINESS!!

My Online Shop:

http://www.scenicnewyork.etsy.com

 

 

Better Photography

These are all great tips for photography. I do a lot of photos of Rosaries, which are a great deal like jewelry to photograph. I have tried several different types of lighting, backgrounds and settings on the camera. I recently got a new digital camera. I am still learning it, but have found some interesting things to do with it that have helped.
My additional tips:
1. Learn your camera. Even if you can’t access the on-line instructions, play with it. Take photos in different lighting, different backgrounds and different settings. You may take a lot of photos, but it is worth it. I have seen a lot of very bad jewelry photos. I have seen a lot of very bad rosary photos (those are all mine)!
2. Lighting. Very important, but you may be able to work with what you have. All the digital cameras I have had allow you to choose your lighting settings… fluorescent, incandescent, etc. However, after playing with all of my settings, I found leaving it on the incandescent (or it’s original settings) worked best because I could adjust in photo software.
3. Background or backdrop. I recently purchased several pieces of different colors of satin fabric. After trying photos with various pieces on various colors, white STILL works best. I still have difficulty with photographing white, but I have a royal blue piece that helps a little. Gold and silver tones are also difficult, as sometimes what works for the color of beads does not work with the color of the metal.
4. Flash. With jewelry-type items, I have found setting the camera to flash ALL THE TIME is better than allowing it to decide which is better (the auto setting). It is VERY difficult to fix lighting issues with jewelry-type items. They either become too bright or you can never get the color proper.
Some colors almost never photograph true to color. Purple is a big issue. I try to just make sure if I cannot get the color accurate or close to accurate that I list that in a listing. I also try to get several different photos. Most of my listings here and on other sites have multiple photos. Y’all are more than welcome to check out some of my photos of my rosaries. If you go to the item’s page, you can see how I list several photos for better “look see’s”.
Another tip for photos of jewelry-type items. Make use of your Macro setting. Some cameras will use it automatically. Mine does. I just learned that recently. Macro allows you to take really close up photos.
Tips for taking photos without a flash (sometimes it’s necessary) USE A TRIPOD! I don’t always do this and they come out blurry. I have one item with an additional photo (pink miracle bead cat rosary) that was taken without a flash. I have it listed as the photo is for color reference only, as miracle beads (also known as fiber optic beads) give a halo effect when a photo is taken.
I use Corel Paint Shop Pro, and it allows you to brighten photos, as well as adjust the color balance. It helps with lighting, as sometimes lighting can change the color of metal. I rarely adjust the gold-tones with the color balancing because it washes out the gold.
When worse comes to worse, I paste a photo in Word and adjust the contrast and brightness with the picture toolbar. Then, I copy and paste into Paint and save as a “.jpg”. It’s a last resort I don’t do often.
Hope this helps for all you jewelry-type photo takers. If anyone needs any additional help, contact me and I’ll try to help.
One thing I have noticed here with photos is the lack of using the editor in Bonanzle to adjust the cropping. Seeing only a partial photo is annoying. My suggestion to all those who have photos that are only partially there because the photo is too big, go in to the editor and adjust the cropping.
Another tip…
I noticed I do when I took another photo tonight. I use it when I take photos of enameled pieces or items in plastic sheets or glossy finishes.
If you have a problem with glare or shiny spots…
_~ Try to take the photo at an angle. _~
When the flash hits a glossy or enameled finish head-on, it usually creates a shiny spot or “white spot”. I’m sure all those selling sports cards in the plastic protective sheets know what I am talking about. You may have to take the photo several times to make sure you get a “good” shot.
A tip I learned a long while back with any photography… ALWAYS TAKE MORE THAN ONE PHOTO!
I ALWAYS take more than one shot just in case. I hate to have to go back and set everything up again.
Several shots will help if…
1. one is blurry
2. one cuts off something you didn’t realize while taking the photo, one glares
3. one’s too dark
4. one’s too bright
Take your shots…
1. with the flash
2. without the flash
3. from several angles
4. with different backdrops – change colors to enhance colors without washing them out (here’s a tip I learned… just because a white porcelain item is trimmed in gold does not mean it will photograph well on a gold backdrop. I found the gold backdrop is rather distracting and washes out the trim)
It may seem time consuming to take so many photos, but you will be much happier with your photos in the end.
From so many photos, you will learn…
1. how your camera works with the lighting
2. how specific items photograph
3. what angle works best
4. how to make adjustments for certain colors
5. how certain metals photograph
If photographing jewelry-type items, keep this in mind…
once you find a spot – lighting, backdrops, etc. – that works well and produces great photos for your items, ALWAYS start off photographing in that spot. But, don’t limit yourself. There will always be that one piece that doesn’t work and you have to find out the best way to photograph it.
If I think of anything else that may help the jewelry-type photographers, I’ll let y’all know!
Have fun with your photos & God bless!
Sacred Heart Blessings Handmade Catholic Rosaries & Chaplets
Sacred Heart Rosaries
St Francis Paws4Critters Rosaries
~ Hand-crafted by Robyn, Hand-guided by God ~
My Online Shop: http://www.sacredheartblessings.com
My Bonanzle Booths: www.bonanzle.com/booths/sacredheartrosaries
www.bonanzle.com/booths/paws4critters
My Blog:
http://sacredheartblessingsrosaries.blogspot.com

Newbies, Here's Why You're Not Selling Yet

When you're new to Etsy, you're desperate to make that first sale (I know I was!) and I remember that it seems to take forever. I know plenty of you think it's your store, your prices, Etsy customers etc, but here's one set of events that applies to every new seller. It's all about connections and connections take time. It could go a little something like this:
♥ Day 1 ♥
When you first open your store, nobody can find you. You may as well have opened on Pluto. You will not sell anything.
Connections - 0*
♥ Day 2 ♥
Then you list a product. It appears first in the Time Machine and puts your shop at the top of the Seller list. But it will quickly move down that list. If you're lucky a couple of people may stumble across you in these places. You probably still won't sell anything!
Connections - 4*
♥ Week 1 ♥
You list more products (hopefully over a period of days). More opportunities for different buyers/sellers to visit your store. Maybe some of them will 'heart' your store. If so, you'll appear in their favourites list.
Connections - 20*
♥ Week 2 ♥
You start making forum posts. Now you're building relationships with other buyers and sellers. Hopefully they're starting to visit you. As you build up these relationships, you'll find more and more people put you in their favourites lists. The more favourite lists you appear in, the more likely it is that people who visit another sellers store will wind up in yours.
Connections - 80*
♥ Week 3 ♥
Now you've built up a decent number of connections on Etsy. Maybe someone will pop you in a treasury (more connections), you're now hearting people (they check their hearts and bingo! more connetions), you're regularly posting in the forums (connections), and you're listing regularly (you guessed it - connections).
Connections - 300*
♥ Week 4 ♥
Finally all these connections and links to your store pay off. Someone buys something. Now your store also appears in the 'Sold' Time Machine and in 'feedback'. Plus the buyer will start talking about what he or she bought from you - so now you're also getting word of mouth outside of Etsy.
Connections - 1200*  You can see where this is heading. The connections build up exponentially, which explains why nothing happens for 4 weeks or 8 weeks or 12 weeks and then all of a sudden you're rushed off your feet! So if you're new, don't panic. Just build up as many connections (on and OFF Etsy) as you can. xxx scarlett

* number of connections example only and based on nothing more than my fertile imagination.

 

My Shop:
http://www.scarlettcat.etsy.com

My Blog:
http://scarlettcat.blogspot.com

My Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/people/scarlettcat