Photos that sell
Online, your photo is the product. Buyers can’t feel the glaze or check the stitching — the photo has to do it for them. The good news: a phone, a window, and ten minutes of care beat an expensive camera used carelessly, every time.
The shot list
For each listing, aim for five to eight photos that answer a buyer’s actual questions:
- The hero — the whole piece, plain background, soft window light. This becomes your cover image, so compose it to survive a small square crop.
- Scale — in a hand, on a table, being worn. “How big is it?” is the question buyers won’t email you about; they’ll just leave.
- Detail — the texture, the joinery, the brushwork. This is where handmade earns its price.
- The back / underside — honesty builds trust, and serious buyers look for it.
- In use — the mug full of coffee, the earrings on. Help them want the life the object implies.
- Process (optional but potent) — your hands making it. On a handmade marketplace, this photo outperforms almost everything.
Light is 90% of it
Shoot near a big window, out of direct sun. Turn off the room lights (mixed light turns everything orange). White foam board from the dollar store bounces light into shadows. Overcast days are a gift — book your photo sessions on them.
The built-in editor
You don’t need Lightroom. The Media Studio on every listing’s edit page includes a photo editor: crop to reframe, rotate to straighten, and adjust to fix exposure and warmth. Small corrections are the point — buyers should recognize the piece when it arrives, so brighten and straighten, don’t transform.
Choosing the cover
The first photo is the cover — it’s what shows on cards in browse, search, and your storefront, so make it the hero shot. In the Media Studio, drag your best photo to the front. If two candidates are close, pick the one that reads clearly at thumbnail size; squint at your screen and choose the one you can still parse.
Video
Listings support a short video, and for some work it does what no photo can: the drape of fabric, the spin of a ring, glaze catching light. Ten to twenty seconds, shot in the same window light, no music needed. If your work moves, show it moving.
Imported photos
If your listings came over from Etsy, your photos were mirrored at full resolution and are fully editable in the Media Studio like any other upload.