We are starting out our critique with a store called Isabella Smiles, a very cool boutique from a talented jewelry designer. We feel that this designer is doing a great job with the photos in their store. We always prefer to stress the positive, so here are a few pluses about this store:
1. Well-chosen primary images - this designer consistently chooses their strongest shot as the primary image (which is important because the larger-sized primary are the ones we use for the homepage spots)
*see more about making your images homepage worthy in this previous post:
Homepage worthy post
2. Good use of scale and proportion – the designer indicates the size of the piece by having a hand in one of the alternate view shots (as well as having clear numeric descriptions in the text.)
3. Lots of shots – with every item there are a good variety of close up shots to show details and different angles. As always, the more shots, the better.
4. Nice drama and look – many of these images display a really nice use of selective/soft focus, with the background in these photos dropping out of focus, giving nice emphasis to areas in the foreground. This is a great way to isolate details!
*see more about focus in this post: Looking Sharp post
5. Good lighting and color – the images are for the most part very nicely lit, nice and even without any harshness or hot spots, showing nice consistency without any distracting color casts. Great work, and a good use of what appears to us to be natural light!
5. Great backgrounds – for the images that use backgrounds, they are very well chosen and lovely … interesting and complementary, abstract, simple, and not at all distracting.
The only suggestions that occur to us would be to possibly use at least one shot of a model wearing the jewelry for each item. A couple of images may be just a little soft on the focus, and the images of the Emma earrings are just a tad too backlit … a little more light falling on the front of these little beauties could really help bring out some detail and bring them out of the shadows.
All in all, Isabella Smiles has a very high level of quality in the photography that she chooses to represent her items, and there are lots of good things to learn from here … we think you will be seeing this person very soon on the homepage, and hope to see lots of new items from her very soon.
So, what do you think? Any comments or suggestions on Isabella Smiles? Would these images make you want to buy from this store? Is there anything that you as a consumer would want to see further that would help her out? Please feel free to let us know by either commenting below or emailing me directly at julie[at]smashingdarling[dot]com.
The idea of an open critique can be scary, but that wasn’t so bad, was it? 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.
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A new direction for PhotoTips … join us in a critique!
by admin on April 28, 2008
For awhile now, we’ve been on the subject of taking better photos because it is so critically important to making sales online. Beginning with next week’s post we thought we’d try something new, and we’ll need help from everyone.
Trish and I occasionally receive emails asking “why hasn’t my store been on the homepage yet?” The simple answer is almost always due to the quality of photography.
The long answer is that we want more than anything to give everyone a chance to be on the homepage, but we also have to bear in mind that this is precious real estate. The images we show here represent not only the individual designer, but our community as a whole. No ifs ands or buts about it … they’ve got to be top-notch photos!
SO…
Here’s our plan to help get every store on our homepage at least once.
• What are we going to do:
Critique one store’s images each week.
• What we need from you:
1. Comments and constructive criticism about the store’s photos. Would the images hinder or help you in making a purchasing decision? What could this designer do to improve photo quality (and get on the homepage more often)?
2. Suggestions! Suggest someone’s store (or volunteer your own) to be critiqued by emailing me at: julie[at]smashingdarling[dot]com
Next week we will start this post, so send in your suggestions today to help someone (or yourself) snag that homepage spot ASAP!
Thanks for your help!
-The darlings
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