Cyndie Smith Designs

A few months back I ran a boot camp for team Fest. It was really more of a workshop for us to get our shops prepared for Mother's Day and other upcoming events. I think we all enjoyed it...I know I did and it provided the incentive to make some changes in my shop.

One of the things I covered was photography...not in great detail, but generally speaking it was a "how to" to enhance our photos in our Etsy shops. I found a lot of helpful hints on line to help us improve our pictures. However, the one thing I struggled with, and really wanted to do, was to make the photos look more professional. I've used a pro a couple of times, and love the background and clarity of the pics but could never figure out how to achieve that look. Guess that's why he's the pro!

Recently, I read a nifty little tidbit in one of my metalsmith forums about some photography props that were useful in trying to get a more professional look so I went to the web site and boy, was I thrilled!
The name of the web site is Table Top Studio. You should check this out if you're trying to photograph jewelry for your shop or website.  I bought a couple of sheets of background with that graduated effect from light to dark, and some props for photographing earrings and necklaces that are terrific.

Here's what the background looks like! 

This is what the earring prop looks like. Basically it's got two filament strings held on with clips that suspend the earrings so they don't sway while you're photographing them.

It looks like this. You will have to go to your photo editing program to "erase" the lines later.

Here it is close up!

Work in progress, partial editing done. 

Anyway, if you get a chance, check out Table Top Studio. The prices are good and I, for one, think it will greatly improve my shots for the shop. 

Toodles,