by admin on July 7, 2008
As you hopefully know, we’ve been blogging for some time now about tips to make your photos better and engaging in critiques to help designers improve their photos. The central idea has always been to help people make their photos (and thereby make their products) look as great as they can, and to boost online sales and marketing efforts.
With the brand new site design, we’ve added a new way to show off designers who are really doing innovative things with their fashion, as well as the photography that they produce to promote it: Chic Boutiques. The Chic Boutique designation is a special brand that we’ll be adding to those boutiques that are cutting edge in all respects: hot fashions, stunning images, strong identity, and lots of products to choose from.
Chic Boutique items will be featured prominently on the home page and item category landing pages, and will include a small “CB” graphic on each photo. Shoppers will also have the opportunity to browse through all of the Chic Boutiques as a group by shopping by boutique, so we hope this will be a great way to feature the designers who we really feel are pushing the indie fashion envelope.
As always, our driving idea behind features like the Chic Boutique (as well as the new site design, and the new look of this blog) is to help promote up and coming designers, and bring to light the hottest new ideas in indie fashion. We thank you all for your support as we continue to grow and evolve.
We’d also love to continue the photo critiques. We realize that the idea of an open critique can be scary, but the ones so far haven’t been so bad, were they? So, who’s next? Suggest someone’s store to be critiqued next week (or volunteer your own) to be critiqued by emailing me at: julie[at]smashingdarling[dot]com.
We promise to always be nice and offer ideas and suggestions that we genuinely think will help take your photography (and hopefully your sales!) to the next level.
by admin on May 19, 2008
Third time’s a charm, they say, and we’re absolutely charmed by this designer’s luscious jewelry. We’d like to begin this critique with some correspondence we received from her. Natha writes:
When people see my jewelry in person and see the quality and craftsmanship, I make many sales quickly, but my web sales are really slow … I would like some ideas on what to do to make it easier for and encourage customers to purchase from me. My photography is professional but does it show the jewelry in it’s best light?
We think her comments are right on target and reflect what a lot of designers new to electronic media and internet marketing have experienced. Getting people to buy something when they can’t hold it in their hands and see it on takes a lot of work, and good photography, we feel, is absolutely key. That’s what these critiques (and the photo tips in earlier blog postings) are all about!
To kick things off, Luscious Metals is to be commended for a high degree of consistency in the boutique images, and the choice to go with clean, clutter-free backgrounds can be a very pure and professional look that brings out the best in metallic objects. The descriptions are clear and well-written, too. This boutique is off to a very good beginning, and the designer has clearly put a lot of effort into producing good photos, many with a good mix of alternate views and strong model shots.
That said, here are a couple ideas for how they could kick the imagery up a notch:
1. White it out – Our first recommendation (which is true for everyone) is if you’re going to use the high-key look, make sure the background is pure white. A number of the images in this boutique are more towards the gray, and unfortunately these end up looking a tad muddy. To make those sparkly metals pop, it’s gotta be pure white. The good news is that this is a very simple adjustment to make in Photoshop (and if you’re using a professional photographer, he/she could definitely take care of this for you easily.)
Starlight Necklace
2. Dimensionality – One of the most important considerations when shooting against white (especially with small items such as jewelry) is to be sure to keep things from looking too flat. In this case, many of the items in this boutique look as if they have been shot from directly straight-on (or overhead) angle, with the product resting directly on the backdrop. While this is great for showing detail, often this approach can lack a little bit of dimension and “dramatic” feel. What we would recommend first is to mix it up a bit … try different angles, and experiment with focus and depth of field to isolate detail. Another approach that may be worth trying would be to move the jewelry out a bit from the backdrop and make the lighting a bit more angular, using directional lighting to cast a soft shadow and add a little depth (while still keeping that high-key look that you’ve established.)
Circle and Bar Earrings
3. Get a little closer – Come on, don’t be shy. Seriously, though, we feel that the images in this boutique could benefit from a little bit less white in places, and a tighter focus on the product. Get that lens in as close as possible, and crop excess background out as necessary … don’t forget that the focus is the product and too much empty space can cause your product to get a bit lost.
Message Bar Necklace
We hope that these ideas might start some wheels turning (not to mention sales!) and we again thank Natha Perkins for allowing us to take a close look at her boutique. As always, our comments are meant with the greatest respect and we appreciate the work that you ALL put into making your boutique the best it can be! Anybody out there have more to add? What do you think about this boutique? We know you have something to say … let us know what you think by either commenting below or emailing directly at julie[at]smashingdarling[dot]com. We are also running out of volunteer’s for the critique. Anyone interested in being next?
