Shownotes
Business Building Insights
- An e-commerce store is a necessity regardless of your product or service.
- The best product photos give your customers an idea of how the product is going to work in their life.
- Consistent design style strengthens your brand. Define and stay with it.
- A single product photo can make or break the sale. They are that important!
- Cameras love light and the best possible is outside in the morning or at dusk.
- For indoor photos, work near a window and reflect the existing light with white boards or tin foil to fill in shadows.
- As you come up with different variations of your product, make sure your photos match from one product to another.
- Pay more attention to the scene you’re photographing than the technology you are using to photograph the image.
- Engage with your audience through newsletters. Having a beautiful photo is a great way to get them to click over to your website.
Resources Mentioned
Lightroom – Access, edit and share your photos from any brower Mobile Editing with Elise Swopes How to Retouch & Composite Product PhotographyPHLearn Product Offer
20% off with code GiftBiz20 for a subscription to PHLearnPHLearn Contact Links
Website Facebook Instagram Twitter LinkedIn YouTubePast Guest Spotlight
Today Show Deal of the Day Video #179 – The Brave Leap from Shyness to Living Her Passion with Lisa Wojcik of Black Bow SweetsGift Biz Resources
Join our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you.
Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz unwrapped,
Speaker:episode 236 and here's the real key to taking great pictures
Speaker:on your smartphone is just do it outside.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters,
Speaker:and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is give to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Susan.
Speaker:Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast.
Speaker:We're entering into the holiday season where everything is shiny,
Speaker:glittery, and Oh so visual.
Speaker:So the topic of this show couldn't come at a better
Speaker:time. We're talking about how to take pictures that present your
Speaker:products in the best light possible.
Speaker:Oops, Nope.
Speaker:Planned pun here.
Speaker:Should I rerecord this?
Speaker:No, I'm just going to let it go.
Speaker:So taking pictures in the best light possible and why your
Speaker:photography is so important,
Speaker:not just now,
Speaker:but throughout the year,
Speaker:whether it's your website,
Speaker:promotional materials,
Speaker:or even some of your Instastories.
Speaker:Getting great photos and having new ones always at hand makes
Speaker:life so much easier.
Speaker:Best of all expensive equipment doesn't have to be part of
Speaker:the equation anymore.
Speaker:Making this achievable for all of us.
Speaker:But before we get into the show,
Speaker:I want to share with you a new section to the
Speaker:show that I'm going to be including on a random basis
Speaker:called the past guest spotlight.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we've had an opportunity through this podcast to learn the stories
Speaker:of others in terms of how they've gotten to where they
Speaker:are at the time that we do the interview,
Speaker:but that's not where the story stops.
Speaker:Our guests,
Speaker:just like you,
Speaker:continue on their journey and continue to do remarkable things.
Speaker:So this new past guest spotlight is meant to share achievements
Speaker:that past guests have had since our chat.
Speaker:It demonstrates what I say all along.
Speaker:It's a journey and step by step a business evolves.
Speaker:It never just gets to one place and stays the same.
Speaker:My very first past guest spotlight is on Lisa Whoa,
Speaker:Jack of black bow suites.
Speaker:Her show is number one 79 that aired back in September
Speaker:of 2018 a few months after that,
Speaker:Lisa's product was featured as the deal of the day on
Speaker:the today show and with that appearance she sold over 700
Speaker:gift sets in just a few hours.
Speaker:I'd love for you to go back and listen to that
Speaker:episode. What you'll hear is how Lisa started out and built
Speaker:her business.
Speaker:You'll also be reminded that she was once just starting her
Speaker:business with lots of questions just like you,
Speaker:and then going on to do great things.
Speaker:This has meant to excite and energize you to move forward
Speaker:with your plans because big things are achievable for you too.
Speaker:I'll link the today show video as well as her podcast
Speaker:episode to the show notes page so you'll have easy reference
Speaker:to both of those.
Speaker:And now let's get into how to take some awesome pictures.
Speaker:Shall we Today I have the pleasure of bringing you Erin
Speaker:NACE of Floren.
Speaker:Aaron studied at North Carolina state university and obtained a degree
Speaker:in industrial design,
Speaker:graduated from college.
Speaker:He thought his path was clear to one day becoming an
Speaker:automotive or furniture designer.
Speaker:That is until a six month long journey to South America
Speaker:transformed his life forever.
Speaker:It was during this time that he fell in love with
Speaker:photography and its power to both facilitate and share adventures.
Speaker:In 2011 Aaron founded Floren to bring free creative education to
Speaker:everybody around the world and today to all of us on
Speaker:the podcast.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz on wrapped.
Speaker:Aaron, Thanks so much.
Speaker:So good to be here.
Speaker:I am so excited we get a chance to talk about
Speaker:a topic that I think challenges a lot of the listeners.
Speaker:So I know this is going to be a good one,
Speaker:but before we dive into all of that,
Speaker:I'd like you to share with us who you are in
Speaker:a bit of a creative way,
Speaker:and that is through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to describe your candle by color and
Speaker:quote, what would it look like?
Speaker:Well I guess we're going to say it's going to be
Speaker:made with soy wax.
Speaker:All natural.
Speaker:I'm a hippie at heart here,
Speaker:so love it.
Speaker:And the scent would have to be as natural essential oils
Speaker:too. Probably Rose cause that's one of my favorite scents in
Speaker:a candle color.
Speaker:Uncolored I'm just like let's keep those dyes out of there.
Speaker:Let's just keep it nice and simple and pure.
Speaker:And if it were to have any type of message,
Speaker:I would say as creatives,
Speaker:I know myself,
Speaker:I'm always getting obsessed and like getting into new projects and
Speaker:trying to build my creative vision and sometimes I can get
Speaker:a little bit too deep into it and I need to
Speaker:like take a break and relax and let myself recharge.
Speaker:So I would say like a quote on the candle would
Speaker:just be remember that like the downtime is just as important
Speaker:as the uptime.
Speaker:That's what fuels you to be creative and continue to pursue
Speaker:your passions.
Speaker:Perfect. Love that.
Speaker:And I think you're right.
Speaker:We can get so buried into,
Speaker:I'm thinking for our listeners,
Speaker:the making of their product and spend so much time there
Speaker:and obsess it past what's necessary perhaps.
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:It's like that extra two or three hours you stayed up
Speaker:at night working on something.
Speaker:It's like well maybe I didn't even do anything during that
Speaker:time. Maybe it's just me trying to make something perfect.
Speaker:Yeah. Sometimes it can be good to just take a break,
Speaker:get some rest and come back with a fresh mind.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:that's a lesson for me right there.
Speaker:I need to listen to you.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:All of us creatives.
Speaker:Absolutely. Well we talked just a short time in the pre
Speaker:chat and I was sharing with you that a lot of
Speaker:the people who are listening here understand photography but I think
Speaker:are afraid of it because they know pictures maybe need to
Speaker:be perfect.
Speaker:They don't know how.
Speaker:Then they just put pictures up cause they need pictures up
Speaker:if they're starting a website and all of that.
Speaker:So I think direction here from you is going to be
Speaker:really helpful.
Speaker:But let's start with grounding.
Speaker:Everybody on photography.
Speaker:Why is photography important?
Speaker:It might be obvious,
Speaker:but let's start there.
Speaker:Sure. So these days,
Speaker:anything we're selling,
Speaker:it probably makes good sense to have an online store,
Speaker:some sort of portal where your visitors can shop remotely,
Speaker:just allows you to reach more people,
Speaker:allows you to be online and up for sale for 24
Speaker:hours a day,
Speaker:seven days a week.
Speaker:So obviously years and years ago if you're doing face to
Speaker:face sales,
Speaker:someone can pick up your product,
Speaker:they can feel it in their hands,
Speaker:they can experience it themselves and make a pretty good decision
Speaker:about whether that's going to work for them or not.
Speaker:These days,
Speaker:because so much of our business has moved to the online
Speaker:platform, good photographs kind of play that role.
Speaker:They allow your customer to get an idea of how that
Speaker:product is going to work in their life and the quality
Speaker:of those images as well as the style of those images
Speaker:can play a lot into your brand as well.
Speaker:If you've got like a sporty,
Speaker:fun color from brand,
Speaker:you can integrate those things into your photography.
Speaker:If you're more like a classic minimalist,
Speaker:your photography might be like a perfect white background,
Speaker:like very simple,
Speaker:just a product with no harsh lighting.
Speaker:There's a lot of different fun things you can do with
Speaker:photography to extend your brand.
Speaker:Okay. And I also have always felt that even if you
Speaker:have a more casual product,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:the quality of the photo is so important because it kind
Speaker:of indirectly talks about who you are as a business in
Speaker:terms of the professionalism of your business overall.
Speaker:So even if you have like a rustic casual type product,
Speaker:you still want sharp,
Speaker:really OnPoint images.
Speaker:Yeah. You know,
Speaker:it's just another tool that you can use to communicate the
Speaker:quality and the energy and professionalism and the care that you
Speaker:put into your entire brand.
Speaker:So just as copy,
Speaker:like written word is super important on any of your marketing,
Speaker:your or icon is super important.
Speaker:Just keeping a good consistent design flow,
Speaker:making sure things aren't cluttered.
Speaker:The photography plays an important role there as well.
Speaker:And I think especially because we're in such a visual age,
Speaker:especially now with Instagram being a huge platform,
Speaker:also things like Etsy and Pinterest,
Speaker:people are looking at images first and then from there they're
Speaker:going to make a decision whether they want to even read
Speaker:much of the copy on your website.
Speaker:So it's one of those tools that you can use and
Speaker:it's so impactful.
Speaker:They say a picture is worth a thousand words,
Speaker:right? One single photograph named make or break a product sale
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:And that's why it's super important to have great photos.
Speaker:You don't have to spend a ton of money and like
Speaker:hire professionals and things like that,
Speaker:but approaching your photography with a bit of,
Speaker:we're gonna help you out with this in this interview,
Speaker:but with a little bit of foresight and just making sure
Speaker:you can do the best job you can possibly do on
Speaker:any budget will most definitely benefit you and your business.
Speaker:Perfect. I think you've captured everyone's attention when you said that
Speaker:it could make or break a sale and I totally agree
Speaker:with you there.
Speaker:So let's give him a good portion of our listeners and
Speaker:even people who are already established in business.
Speaker:I know have told me that they know their pictures could
Speaker:be better.
Speaker:So let's start from the beginning.
Speaker:And I also feel like what you just said,
Speaker:where it doesn't have to be hard,
Speaker:it doesn't have to be intimidating because we're all thinking cameras
Speaker:and lenses and all of that stuff too.
Speaker:So we're going to try and keep it as simplistic and
Speaker:easy and doable for all of you gift biz listeners as
Speaker:we can.
Speaker:So let's start right at the top.
Speaker:How about that?
Speaker:So Aaron,
Speaker:what do you say in terms of someone who's just going
Speaker:to start improving their image?
Speaker:What equipment do they need in the most simplistic form you
Speaker:can add on to it.
Speaker:Like if you want to elevate the levels too,
Speaker:you might say like beginner,
Speaker:medium, and expert or wherever you want to take this as
Speaker:fine for me.
Speaker:Yeah. Obviously there's many different levels of every type of skill
Speaker:and every type of craft.
Speaker:But I would say to start with,
Speaker:let's not go out and start spending money.
Speaker:Let's just figure out what we can do with the equipment
Speaker:we have.
Speaker:So let's just say you're photographing some of your products on
Speaker:your smartphone.
Speaker:Most of us these days have a phone with a pretty
Speaker:decent camera on it.
Speaker:I probably have a friend who has a new iPhone with
Speaker:a fancy camera on it so you can borrow there as
Speaker:if you don't have one.
Speaker:But my big,
Speaker:big advice is think about light.
Speaker:So cameras love light as much light as possible and the
Speaker:quality of the light,
Speaker:whether it's a hard light than a hard light is when
Speaker:you see it a hard shadow like outline of the shadow
Speaker:or a soft light where it's just kind of like a
Speaker:fuzzy shadow.
Speaker:Those things can play a big role in your overall brand.
Speaker:So my big suggestion for people trying to take better photos
Speaker:on the cheap here is first you want to choose what
Speaker:type of background you're going to put your photo on.
Speaker:I would say the classic classic background is just a white
Speaker:background and you can just get a piece of large white
Speaker:paper or like cardstock,
Speaker:something like that.
Speaker:An arts and crafts store.
Speaker:That's a fantastic option.
Speaker:Also, really nice looking.
Speaker:Distressed wood is always going to be a classic option as
Speaker:well, so start off by choosing your background and have that
Speaker:correlate to your brand.
Speaker:Are you more of this rustic lifestyle brand?
Speaker:Maybe a beautiful wood background would make sense for your products
Speaker:or do you want things to just be clean and minimal
Speaker:than a white background might be good for you?
Speaker:So start off with choosing your background.
Speaker:The second thing you want to do is try to style
Speaker:your products a little bit and you'll want some photos of
Speaker:just the products by themselves,
Speaker:but you'll also want some photos of how those products interact
Speaker:with your customers and maybe how they might be displayed in
Speaker:their home or if it's a clothing or a wearable.
Speaker:How that's going to look on a subject.
Speaker:Let's say you are going to be photographing a wearable.
Speaker:Go ahead and find someone who you think would represent your
Speaker:brand, make sure they're wearing clothing that would represent your brand
Speaker:and then they can wear your wearable and you can photograph
Speaker:them like that.
Speaker:So my big advice here is come to these photos with
Speaker:a little bit of preparation and that a little bit about
Speaker:what you want to say with these photos.
Speaker:So that's step number one and then you can totally take
Speaker:great pictures on your iPhone or smartphone,
Speaker:whatever you've got.
Speaker:I really do believe that.
Speaker:And here's the real key to taking great pictures on your
Speaker:smartphone is just do it outside.
Speaker:Do it outside if you can do this on like an
Speaker:overcast day.
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:when there's clouds in the sky and the shadows on the
Speaker:ground are soft and again by soft shadows,
Speaker:I mean you can't see the outline of the shadow.
Speaker:It's just like almost everything like that blurs together.
Speaker:So outside on an overcast day,
Speaker:put your piece of white foam core on the ground,
Speaker:set up your little product display on the ground and photograph
Speaker:it from the top down.
Speaker:Your camera loves as much light as it can get and
Speaker:those photos are going to turn out great because when you
Speaker:think about a big,
Speaker:big, big sky on an overcast day,
Speaker:that's what professional photographers refer to as a soft box.
Speaker:It's basically like you have a hundred miles softbox lighting your
Speaker:product, right?
Speaker:You can't really get any better than that.
Speaker:So outside on an overcast day,
Speaker:that is a recipe for success.
Speaker:Perfect. I love that.
Speaker:And I'd heard that before.
Speaker:I'd already been writing down.
Speaker:What about outside?
Speaker:So before I even said anything,
Speaker:that's wonderful,
Speaker:but Aaron,
Speaker:you and I live in Chicago and many people like part
Speaker:of the year,
Speaker:they're going to be able to be outside.
Speaker:Totally. What do you do when you need to take photos
Speaker:in the winter and you can't bring your stuff outside in
Speaker:front of a window with a lot of natural light or
Speaker:is that a good second best?
Speaker:Yes, most definitely.
Speaker:So in front of a window with a natural light and
Speaker:try to get pretty close to the window if you can.
Speaker:And then the other suggestion is light bounces around.
Speaker:It's one of those things where it'll just kind of keep
Speaker:bouncing forever.
Speaker:And how you can use this to your benefit is you've
Speaker:got light coming in through your window and that's going to
Speaker:light one side of your product,
Speaker:right? But there's a good chance the other side of your
Speaker:product is going to be too dark because you've only got
Speaker:light coming from one side.
Speaker:So what you want to do is just put a piece
Speaker:of white paper or white foam core or even silver.
Speaker:You can use aluminum foil here,
Speaker:just wrapped around a piece of foam core,
Speaker:something sturdy.
Speaker:And what that's going to do is it's going to reflect
Speaker:the light from your window and fill in the shadows on
Speaker:the other side.
Speaker:So believe it or not,
Speaker:reflectors, simply like white pieces of foam core or pieces of
Speaker:aluminum foil.
Speaker:Those tricks are used by high end professional photographers all the
Speaker:time to fill it in shadows.
Speaker:So you can do the same thing without any budget.
Speaker:So just think about you've got light coming in from one
Speaker:side on the window.
Speaker:You want to place your reflector or white piece of foam
Speaker:core directly on the other side,
Speaker:it's going to bounce some of the light back from the
Speaker:window and onto your product,
Speaker:filling in those shadows and giving you a more even exposure.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:that's perfect.
Speaker:I've seen,
Speaker:I don't know if it's just in the movies or real
Speaker:life, I don't know,
Speaker:but I've seen often photographers with these boards and positioning them
Speaker:and all of that and it's because of the reflection like
Speaker:you're saying.
Speaker:Yeah. It doesn't have to be something that's like,
Speaker:you don't have to do his search for photography reflectors.
Speaker:Of course there are products out there that are specialized for
Speaker:that, but a white tee shirt will do it.
Speaker:A white bed sheet can work.
Speaker:It's super simple.
Speaker:You're just looking to reflect light and white does a really
Speaker:good job.
Speaker:If you want to reflect more light,
Speaker:bring in something silver,
Speaker:but aluminum foil totally does a great job.
Speaker:So this is not something where you have to buy a
Speaker:specialized product.
Speaker:All you're trying to do is add more light and reflect
Speaker:some of the existing light.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:perfect. And I am thinking also at even like target or
Speaker:some craft stores,
Speaker:you know they have those tri-fold posters for like student displays,
Speaker:things like that could probably work too.
Speaker:That'd be so good.
Speaker:As long as it's white,
Speaker:you don't want it to be Brown because if you start
Speaker:using different colors,
Speaker:those colors will actually start to come into your scene as
Speaker:well. So you want to choose a neutral color,
Speaker:preferably white.
Speaker:Okay. So one more question on light.
Speaker:If we're doing the inside version then what about any lights
Speaker:that we have like heaven forbid fluorescent lights,
Speaker:which is what I have in my office.
Speaker:Do you turn all of that off then?
Speaker:So it doesn't compete with the light from the window?
Speaker:Definitely turn it off.
Speaker:Yeah, most definitely.
Speaker:And some days are brighter than others.
Speaker:Like again,
Speaker:we live in Chicago,
Speaker:so sometimes I look at the window and I'm like,
Speaker:uh, is it night?
Speaker:Like what's going on here?
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Maybe you just wait a few hours,
Speaker:wait till the day when you have decent amount of light
Speaker:coming through those windows.
Speaker:Good point.
Speaker:Okay. All right,
Speaker:wonderful. And I think it would make sense to plan your
Speaker:photo shoot.
Speaker:Like let's say you decide it's going to be a certain
Speaker:day, you wait till a good time and I'm thinking you
Speaker:take a few pictures,
Speaker:see what they look like and then decide if you need
Speaker:to wait or if they look good.
Speaker:Right? A hundred percent and I also recommend keeping things consistent.
Speaker:So as you come out with new products,
Speaker:as you come out with new variations,
Speaker:you want to make sure that your photos match from one
Speaker:product to another.
Speaker:So maybe just take a little snapshot of your setup.
Speaker:Have a good idea of what time of day you took
Speaker:those pictures,
Speaker:if the lighting was soft or hard.
Speaker:So when you go to take new pictures,
Speaker:you can do your best to replicate your original ones and
Speaker:everything should look consistent on your website.
Speaker:Oh, so smart.
Speaker:Yeah, it sounds so easy,
Speaker:but until you say it,
Speaker:you don't just don't think about it.
Speaker:I guess so.
Speaker:And then also I think a good place to make this
Speaker:comment is right here.
Speaker:Plan your photo.
Speaker:Shoot. So you do a lot of photos at one time,
Speaker:so when you're set up,
Speaker:you just take care of as much as you possibly can.
Speaker:And that way you're not continually setting up,
Speaker:breaking it down,
Speaker:setting up,
Speaker:breaking it down,
Speaker:just do as much as you can at one time.
Speaker:Yeah, and if you are more of a high volume store,
Speaker:sometimes it might make sense to have a little setup kind
Speaker:of like permanently up.
Speaker:This could be in the corner of an office or wherever
Speaker:it is.
Speaker:That way you can just kind of always go back to
Speaker:this area and have consistency day after day.
Speaker:Makes sense.
Speaker:Okay. So as you start talking about the lifestyle shots,
Speaker:do you have any comments about angles or how that should
Speaker:actually happen so you can get the best photo possible?
Speaker:So again,
Speaker:I recommend doing this outside on a cloudy day if possible.
Speaker:That's just going to be,
Speaker:it's like all your lighting is taken care of.
Speaker:What if you're a quilter?
Speaker:So you want to have a quilt over a couch or
Speaker:something? Oh yeah.
Speaker:Beautiful. Again,
Speaker:I would recommend placing that couch.
Speaker:So it's going to get a lot of natural sunlight from
Speaker:the windows.
Speaker:So don't be afraid to move things around and set up
Speaker:your scene a little bit.
Speaker:If you're a quilter,
Speaker:you're designing this quilt.
Speaker:My mom's a quilter,
Speaker:so I'm well aware of how much energy goes into making
Speaker:quilts and you're putting thought into every little part of this
Speaker:quilt. So use your photos as the same extension of your
Speaker:creativity. Is there something distracting in the background?
Speaker:Move it,
Speaker:take it out of there,
Speaker:move the couch so it's getting,
Speaker:get a lot of natural light and then you can choose
Speaker:your angles from there.
Speaker:So I would say take a variety of pictures as well
Speaker:from a variety of different distances.
Speaker:So you'll want to make sure you take it back up
Speaker:a little bit and get that quilt in the whole scene
Speaker:of a living room,
Speaker:like what it looks like,
Speaker:folding over the couch and then get a little bit closer
Speaker:and see what it looks like next to some nice pillows.
Speaker:So maybe you also want to,
Speaker:I have a friend of yours who is happy to be
Speaker:in photos.
Speaker:Have them lay on that couch and put the quilt over
Speaker:them and have them sip a nice cup of cocoa and
Speaker:look really cozy and make sure their clothes are ironed and
Speaker:make sure they're looking their best.
Speaker:And then you've got a bunch of different variations of like,
Speaker:okay, I see what this quilt looks like on its own.
Speaker:I also see how it's going to be used in my
Speaker:home. And by the end of it,
Speaker:your customer is going to have a really good idea of
Speaker:how that might work in their lives.
Speaker:Yeah, that makes so much sense.
Speaker:And I'm also thinking then you've got just the description that
Speaker:you just made,
Speaker:then you have photography for your website and you also have
Speaker:really good social media photos to inaction in use photos a
Speaker:hundred percent way better for social media than just posting your
Speaker:product, a picture of your product.
Speaker:Yeah. And you can post them side by side.
Speaker:That can be your float.
Speaker:You could post your product on white and then a picture
Speaker:of your product being used in an environment and kind of
Speaker:go back and forth that too.
Speaker:Yeah. And right now carousel posts are favored by the algorithms.
Speaker:So to your point,
Speaker:Erin, about like different photos.
Speaker:If you just do a carousel post,
Speaker:which means you upload the same picture into that post,
Speaker:people are going to stay on your account for longer looking
Speaker:at that post and it's going to spread further so more
Speaker:people will see it.
Speaker:So I love that idea of the same photo but just
Speaker:some different angles.
Speaker:Well some lifestyle and there you could then put your single
Speaker:piece image to like the flat lay or something.
Speaker:A hundred percent yep.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. So what else do you think is important for us
Speaker:to consider in addition to our iPhone on the tech end?
Speaker:We'll carry on with this discussion right after a quick word
Speaker:from our sponsor.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the
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Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:So if the iPhone isn't doing as good of a job
Speaker:as you'd like,
Speaker:there are a bunch of other options out there.
Speaker:And this may not be the time to go out and
Speaker:purchase a camera.
Speaker:There are many,
Speaker:many rental houses out there.
Speaker:If you live in a larger city like we live in
Speaker:Chicago, there are companies that will rent you nicer cameras.
Speaker:There are also websites online.
Speaker:If you just type in lens rentals or camera rentals online,
Speaker:you can rent some really beautiful cameras and lenses for as
Speaker:little as maybe 20 or $30 a day.
Speaker:So this isn't the time when you have to go out
Speaker:and start taking these pictures.
Speaker:There's a good chance that someone in your life,
Speaker:if you're not familiar with how to use these cameras,
Speaker:there's a good chance that someone in your life already is
Speaker:familiar and maybe they can give you like a little crash
Speaker:course to be like,
Speaker:okay, set it up like this.
Speaker:Here's what you wanted to keep in mind and kind of
Speaker:go from there.
Speaker:But you don't really have to get too complex with the
Speaker:technology. As your cameras get better and your lighting gets better,
Speaker:really those things set you up for more consistency and higher
Speaker:quality images that might display better on larger formats.
Speaker:But you can take a bad photo on a really nice
Speaker:camera and you can take a great photo on a smartphone.
Speaker:So it's not technology that's going to make or break it.
Speaker:It's what you're putting into the photograph itself.
Speaker:Pay more attention to the scene that you're photographing then the
Speaker:technology you're using to photograph the image.
Speaker:Okay. All right,
Speaker:so let's stick with,
Speaker:because I think most people will be doing it themselves.
Speaker:So let's stick with the iPhone just as an example,
Speaker:because I think that if you have an iPhone or an
Speaker:Android, I think you're right.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I joke around with my husband who's a hobby photographer.
Speaker:We'll go on vacation and lots of times my pictures from
Speaker:my phone are way better than his pictures from his camera.
Speaker:He gets really disappointed,
Speaker:but I could have used another word but disappointed as the
Speaker:way I'm going to go with it.
Speaker:So let's just go with that.
Speaker:Cause I think that's the most doable for everyone who's listening.
Speaker:So now we get into,
Speaker:we've got the photo,
Speaker:what do we do now?
Speaker:Do we just put it up or what happens next?
Speaker:My suggestion would be to do a bit of post-processing or
Speaker:a bit of editing on that photo.
Speaker:So things like,
Speaker:okay, let's say we photograph a product on a white background,
Speaker:but there's a good chance that that white background in the
Speaker:final image is not going to be pure white.
Speaker:It's probably going to be light gray.
Speaker:That has to do with how cameras take pictures.
Speaker:A camera doesn't actually want things to be pure white because
Speaker:in a camera's mind,
Speaker:that's overexposed.
Speaker:So taking an image of a product on a white background,
Speaker:your camera's gonna still make that gray.
Speaker:It's going to change the exposure to make it a little
Speaker:bit more gray.
Speaker:So in post production,
Speaker:you want to go in there and brighten those photos up
Speaker:just a bit to make sure that that background really is
Speaker:pure white.
Speaker:And you can do that.
Speaker:I mean they're both definitely apps for your smartphone.
Speaker:A big one that I suggest is called light room light
Speaker:broom for desktop and mobile.
Speaker:It's the same piece of software.
Speaker:You can get it on your computer,
Speaker:on your tablet,
Speaker:on your smartphone,
Speaker:and you can do wonderful edits on that piece of software.
Speaker:So if you're looking for one piece of software,
Speaker:Lightroom for desktop and mobile is the one that I recommend,
Speaker:it's incredibly powerful and you can use it both as a
Speaker:professional or just as a hobbyist.
Speaker:Okay. And so when you are lightening your photos,
Speaker:are you also then lightening the product So you have the
Speaker:ability within your post processing piece of software to do either
Speaker:you can make just the background lighter or you can make
Speaker:the product lighter as well.
Speaker:It really depends on how the final image comes out and
Speaker:what you feel you need to do to get an accurate
Speaker:representation of that product.
Speaker:Okay. All right,
Speaker:so that's a product specific where it's just the image.
Speaker:Then what do you do with the lifestyle photos?
Speaker:And I'm just thinking,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:everyone's talking now about the portrait mode that you now have
Speaker:on iPhones.
Speaker:Not sure about Androids,
Speaker:whether they have it or not.
Speaker:Do you,
Speaker:do I have to do anything with those photos and post
Speaker:production or post photo taking?
Speaker:I'm not sure what to,
Speaker:how to call it.
Speaker:Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker:yeah. We call it post production.
Speaker:So yes,
Speaker:I would most definitely recommend doing some sort of adjustments.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:oftentimes maybe your shadows are a little bit too dark.
Speaker:Let's say.
Speaker:Take a picture of a person with the light is from
Speaker:overhead and like they have dark shadows in their eyes.
Speaker:That's a very common issue we see all the time.
Speaker:So post production software will allow you to lighten those shadows
Speaker:up. And again,
Speaker:programs like Lightroom make this very simple.
Speaker:There's just a slider that says shadows.
Speaker:You just click and drag it to brighten up your shadows.
Speaker:You can adjust the overall colors.
Speaker:Maybe you want your images to be a little more vibrant.
Speaker:You can adjust the sharpness of your images.
Speaker:Just, I would say 30 seconds of changes in one of
Speaker:these postproduction softwares like Lightroom can make a huge,
Speaker:huge difference in your images.
Speaker:So I personally would recommend taking all of your product photos,
Speaker:all of your photos that are going to be associated with
Speaker:their brand and take them through a little bit of postproduction
Speaker:because it can make a big,
Speaker:big difference in your images.
Speaker:Okay. So with social media,
Speaker:you know there are 7,000
Speaker:million editing apps,
Speaker:right? Then there's apps that will allow you to do text
Speaker:overlays and the video stuff and all that,
Speaker:and I probably have most of them on my phone and
Speaker:I don't ever use them.
Speaker:Oh, that's not true.
Speaker:I use a couple of them,
Speaker:but so Lightroom is what you suggest overall,
Speaker:I'm thinking whatever someone decides to do,
Speaker:they should be consistent with their methods.
Speaker:Overall, to your point earlier about having all of your pictures
Speaker:look similar,
Speaker:right? Definitely,
Speaker:yeah. The more consistent you can be in your photography,
Speaker:the more your brand is going to seem consistent and you
Speaker:don't necessarily want some of your photos to look like old
Speaker:and some of them to look new.
Speaker:Yeah. It's a representation of your product,
Speaker:so you want to make sure that all of your products
Speaker:look equally as good all of the time.
Speaker:Right. So,
Speaker:and if you were going to have them look that way,
Speaker:then they all should look that way.
Speaker:If that's your brand.
Speaker:Most definitely,
Speaker:yeah. Okay.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:What do you think about the filters that people put on?
Speaker:I think that they can work for like lifestyle type photos
Speaker:where you're taking a picture of a friend out in a
Speaker:field at sunset wearing your product or whatever.
Speaker:Totally put some filters on and keep it light if you
Speaker:can. When it comes to just products or photos of your
Speaker:products themselves on a white background,
Speaker:stay away from those filters because those will put different colors
Speaker:in the highlights and the midtones and the shadows.
Speaker:So it's not only going to create a misrepresentation of your
Speaker:product, but you're also going to be taking that,
Speaker:but you spend all this effort to photograph something on a
Speaker:white background.
Speaker:All of a sudden that white is turning more of like
Speaker:a yellowy color with some of these filters.
Speaker:So I would recommend staying away from those filters for strict
Speaker:product photos.
Speaker:But again,
Speaker:lifestyle stuff,
Speaker:just kind of like hanging out stuff.
Speaker:Sure thing.
Speaker:And don't forget black and white is always a classic.
Speaker:So that's an easy go to.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I think at this point,
Speaker:cause I have another question before I can ask that question.
Speaker:I think we should talk a little bit more about flirt
Speaker:and what you're all about and what you provide as a
Speaker:service because that's going to lead into my next question.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:So we teach all this stuff,
Speaker:you know I'm here like use one of these post-production softwares
Speaker:to do this and this,
Speaker:which is very difficult Because then you say how right?
Speaker:Yeah. How,
Speaker:how am I going to see that?
Speaker:So flirt is my company and we teach you how to
Speaker:do all this stuff and it's all videos where you see
Speaker:the screen recording,
Speaker:you see the instructor,
Speaker:everything is just follow along.
Speaker:You get sample images that you can download and you can
Speaker:follow along.
Speaker:So you can watch a few of these videos and really
Speaker:get a good idea of how to master these skills.
Speaker:So we have hundreds and hundreds of free tutorials on YouTube.
Speaker:That's a great place to start.
Speaker:And then on our website we cater to everyone from the
Speaker:amateur all the way to the high end professionals.
Speaker:So we have more advanced tutorials on our website as well.
Speaker:And that's part of a subscription package.
Speaker:So you pay once and you get access to everything.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:Would it be possible to find out what free tutorials are?
Speaker:What free YouTube videos?
Speaker:Maybe just a couple represent things that we just talked about,
Speaker:like the iPhone and light room or should we just Google
Speaker:it when we get into YouTube?
Speaker:What's the best?
Speaker:You know what,
Speaker:I'll send them over to you and we'll just pop in
Speaker:the show notes if you don't mind and then people can
Speaker:just click right there.
Speaker:That would be great.
Speaker:Okay. So this leads me into my next question,
Speaker:which is about Photoshop on the side of one of my
Speaker:other companies,
Speaker:the ribbon print company,
Speaker:we often will get logos or things that we need to
Speaker:work with on behalf of a customer.
Speaker:And so we're seeing a little bit of a need for
Speaker:more Photoshop expertise.
Speaker:So my question here is kind of twofold.
Speaker:Do you see more of these advanced,
Speaker:even if it was Photoshop elements maybe,
Speaker:but do you see the need for some of this more
Speaker:advanced photo editing necessary for what we're initially talking about,
Speaker:which is the product photos and the stream of information we've
Speaker:talked about up to this point.
Speaker:Would there be a reason to pull in like a bigger
Speaker:power house editing program like Photoshop for that?
Speaker:So Photoshop is so powerful in the terms you can really
Speaker:do just about anything that you want.
Speaker:So here's the idea.
Speaker:If your photo comes out,
Speaker:fantastic, straight out of camera,
Speaker:you really don't need to do that much to it,
Speaker:right? If you're like,
Speaker:dang, that's a great photo.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Hey, come look at this photo.
Speaker:I just took like,
Speaker:I can't believe I did this.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Like if it comes out like that,
Speaker:then great,
Speaker:but we all know that's not always the case.
Speaker:Sometimes you need something a little bit different in your photo
Speaker:and Photoshop is the best program out there for making those
Speaker:changes and when it comes to retouching your products,
Speaker:we actually just released on flirt like this was last week,
Speaker:a tutorial called product retouching for e-commerce.
Speaker:It is exactly this.
Speaker:It's helping you get better images.
Speaker:We've got B roll of us taking these pictures and the
Speaker:editing from start to finish stuff like extending your backgrounds,
Speaker:like what happens if you take a square crop of your
Speaker:image, but then you're like,
Speaker:Oh, I want to use this as a banner on the
Speaker:top of my website.
Speaker:We show you how to extend those backgrounds to any direction
Speaker:and make them look perfect.
Speaker:There's so many different wonderful things that you can do in
Speaker:Photoshop that really helped your products to stand out and just
Speaker:timing wise,
Speaker:just happened to work out.
Speaker:We just released that product.
Speaker:Oh, that's so crazy.
Speaker:I think you bring up a good point too that there
Speaker:are times when what you've taken off of your phone and
Speaker:go through,
Speaker:make sure you're outside,
Speaker:if you can inside with the setup that we've talked about
Speaker:and then doing the post-processing through Lightroom so you have good
Speaker:photos. Those could be your for your product displays,
Speaker:but there might be a time when you need to up
Speaker:the level of the photo.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:like you're talking about your website banners.
Speaker:I mean that's the first impression that anybody gets to your
Speaker:website and you don't even know if they're there so you
Speaker:don't have a chance to talk to them.
Speaker:Everything is about the image.
Speaker:So those would be good things to really spend some extra
Speaker:time on.
Speaker:Yeah, and as your business grows,
Speaker:the need for those type of photos will continue to increase.
Speaker:If you're not already sending out newsletters,
Speaker:getting people on a mailing list and sending out newsletters is
Speaker:a great way to engage with your audience and putting a
Speaker:beautiful photo in a newsletter is a great way to get
Speaker:them to click through to your website.
Speaker:So it's not going to hurt your brand to have stunning
Speaker:images of your products.
Speaker:It's only gonna help and you can have those in your
Speaker:back pocket and use them for whatever you need.
Speaker:It can fill up a large amount of space and make
Speaker:designing just about anything much easier.
Speaker:And I think I'm all about making sure that our time
Speaker:is used in the best possible way.
Speaker:Once you find a system that's working,
Speaker:you take this direction,
Speaker:you start doing your photos like we're talking about.
Speaker:And I think Aaron,
Speaker:exactly what you said,
Speaker:if you have an area that you can dedicate so that
Speaker:it's already ready to go,
Speaker:it cuts down on the time for sure.
Speaker:It ensures for the most part,
Speaker:consistency, et cetera.
Speaker:But once you've got a system down,
Speaker:then just keep going with it.
Speaker:And it depends on which levels you need to go to
Speaker:based on where you're going to use those photos.
Speaker:So then the other thing,
Speaker:and I'm specifically talking now to people who are customers who
Speaker:are listening to this podcast who are part of the ribbon
Speaker:print company.
Speaker:When we're getting logos in or pictures that we need to
Speaker:edit because we want them to look good when we're printing
Speaker:on ribbon.
Speaker:I hear from you guys a lot about,
Speaker:I don't know how to use Photoshop or even if it's
Speaker:the smaller version,
Speaker:and Aaron,
Speaker:you can talk to this probably more than I can in
Speaker:a second,
Speaker:but even if you're using elements,
Speaker:which is probably an easier program for us,
Speaker:it's a smaller of Photoshop overall.
Speaker:Here's an opportunity and a place where you can go to
Speaker:learn how to use that cause I always hear but I
Speaker:don't know how to use it or it's too big.
Speaker:I'm afraid.
Speaker:Now through flourish you have a resource where you can learn
Speaker:be it the free YouTube videos or some of their more
Speaker:paid tutorials.
Speaker:And let's face it,
Speaker:you only need to know a few skills to get exactly
Speaker:what you're needing.
Speaker:So I don't want you to shy away from it because
Speaker:you don't know yet.
Speaker:We don't know.
Speaker:That just means you need to find out where to learn.
Speaker:And here you go.
Speaker:Aaron. Days with Florence.
Speaker:So there's that.
Speaker:What would you say about Photoshop elements?
Speaker:Aaron? Photoshop.
Speaker:Relevance is a fantastic program and I think if it's working
Speaker:for you,
Speaker:continue with it Or start it Or start it.
Speaker:I personally,
Speaker:I would say if you're just starting out period,
Speaker:I would recommend starting out with the full Photoshop program because
Speaker:it can do more than Photoshop elements.
Speaker:So you may run into the time with Photoshop elements when
Speaker:you're like,
Speaker:I just want to do something,
Speaker:I can't get it done in this program.
Speaker:That's when most people transitioned to the full Photoshop.
Speaker:So Photoshop elements,
Speaker:it's a little bit more of like,
Speaker:I guess like a simplified version of the full Photoshop.
Speaker:But my recommendation,
Speaker:if you're like,
Speaker:that sounds scary,
Speaker:whatever. We have a tutorial on florin.com
Speaker:that's called the beginner's guide to Photoshop.
Speaker:That takes you from,
Speaker:Hey, I've never opened this program all the way to wow,
Speaker:I can retouch,
Speaker:I can do simple composites,
Speaker:I can do all this stuff that I've seen other professionals
Speaker:do and it takes you through the entire process all by
Speaker:video so you don't have to worry about taking these years
Speaker:and years and years of learning to get to this point.
Speaker:One tutorial and you're going to know Photoshop.
Speaker:Wonderful. And you guys,
Speaker:and you and I haven't talked about this Aaron,
Speaker:but as I was talking to
you guys are offering us a discount.
Speaker:If any of our listeners are interested in purchasing any of
Speaker:the products from you,
Speaker:do you want to share that or should I,
Speaker:You go ahead.
Speaker:I just want to also mention that we're kind of like
Speaker:Netflix, right?
Speaker:It's a subscription,
Speaker:so basically you pay your annual subscription and you get access
Speaker:to all of our tutorials so you don't have to pick
Speaker:and choose.
Speaker:You can come in and watch product retouching for e-commerce.
Speaker:Then you can move into learn about Lightroom that we talked
Speaker:about earlier.
Speaker:Then you can learn about Photoshop,
Speaker:you get access to all of the tutorials,
Speaker:all of the assets,
Speaker:all the sample images,
Speaker:so you can really kind of like go where your creativity
Speaker:leads. You Love that because you can also learn over time.
Speaker:Exactly. You can go in when you need a specific skill.
Speaker:You could go in and find it and then carry on
Speaker:and then come back again and find what else you need
Speaker:as you go.
Speaker:So Aaron,
Speaker:thank you.
Speaker:You've so generously given us a 20% discount on a subscription
Speaker:and give biz listeners to take advantage of that.
Speaker:You'll go over to their website and flourish is P H
Speaker:L E a R n.com.
Speaker:Yes, of course it's going to be in the show notes
Speaker:and discount code is gift biz 20 altogether.
Speaker:No spaces gift biz 20 again,
Speaker:that'll also be in the show notes,
Speaker:so okay,
Speaker:Aaron, advice for someone who's listening,
Speaker:optimistic, excited,
Speaker:and then it's a day after they've listened to this podcast
Speaker:and they're thinking about their photography.
Speaker:Once again,
Speaker:what is your motivational talk to them in terms of getting
Speaker:started with their photography?
Speaker:I would say start out with little things.
Speaker:Simple, take little steps at a time.
Speaker:This doesn't have to be some like huge investment of your
Speaker:time or energy.
Speaker:I would say even just spend a couple more minutes thinking
Speaker:about what's in front of the camera.
Speaker:Like I fell in love with photography when I was traveling
Speaker:in South America and I was just in really amazing places.
Speaker:The camera that I had was totally okay,
Speaker:but it wasn't even as good as the current iPhone.
Speaker:So because I was in these great places,
Speaker:every picture that I took turned out great.
Speaker:So pay more attention to what you're photographing.
Speaker:If the thing you're photographing looks amazing to you,
Speaker:then your camera is going to capture that.
Speaker:So sometimes you're in beautiful places and nature just kind of
Speaker:takes care of itself.
Speaker:Other times you're setting things up,
Speaker:but I would say spend the energy on this setup,
Speaker:spend the energy on what you're looking at,
Speaker:and then the camera is just the thing that's going to
Speaker:capture this beautiful scene that you put together And I'm thinking,
Speaker:well first off,
Speaker:we all don't have to go to South America to party.
Speaker:Definitely not.
Speaker:But even like if you're out on the weekend with your
Speaker:kids or if you're at the zoo or they're just playing
Speaker:in the backyard or something,
Speaker:that could be a good place to just practice.
Speaker:Then you've got photos of your family,
Speaker:which is awesome.
Speaker:But in terms of lifestyle and interaction with the kids and
Speaker:just playing around with the camera,
Speaker:so it doesn't have to be the formal setup for your
Speaker:business. As you start perfecting these skills,
Speaker:either you can integrate it in with your life A hundred
Speaker:percent and I would say if you want to take better
Speaker:pictures of your family,
Speaker:try to get out during sunrise or sunset because the light
Speaker:is beautiful.
Speaker:You can't do better than working with good light.
Speaker:Again, all a camera does is capture the light that's in
Speaker:front of it.
Speaker:So if you've got beautiful light,
Speaker:the camera's going to do a good job capturing that.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:Aaron, you are so right.
Speaker:I just got back,
Speaker:I was in Phoenix last week and I did a photo
Speaker:shoot and at some point this is going to be on
Speaker:my website,
Speaker:get busy listener.
Speaker:So if you're listening to this podcast later,
Speaker:probably within a month or two from now,
Speaker:this is right now,
Speaker:what is this?
Speaker:August, 2019 you'll see those pictures,
Speaker:but I've taken pictures here in Chicago,
Speaker:Aaron, and then we were outside.
Speaker:To your point of being outside in Arizona with that sun,
Speaker:we'll forget about the heat.
Speaker:Right? But I saw such a difference in the quality of
Speaker:the photos because of the light.
Speaker:It was amazing.
Speaker:It really makes such a big difference.
Speaker:If you're looking outside and you're like,
Speaker:it's beautiful out there.
Speaker:Get out there and take some pictures.
Speaker:They're going to be beautiful.
Speaker:Well, Yeah,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:Okay, so what's the future of flourish do you think or
Speaker:of your career overall?
Speaker:Tell me what you see in the future for yourself.
Speaker:So flourish is super cool in that we've been making tutorials
Speaker:for over 10 years,
Speaker:teaching photography,
Speaker:Photoshop, Lightroom.
Speaker:And what we're doing now is bringing in other creatives to
Speaker:help them share their passions and share their skills with everyone
Speaker:else. So we got the tutorial thing,
Speaker:we've been doing it for a while now.
Speaker:So it's really fun for us to take other artists and
Speaker:really put them in the spotlight.
Speaker:And for instance,
Speaker:we've got a tutorial we released not long ago called mobile
Speaker:editing with Elise slopes and she's on Instagram at slopes,
Speaker:that's SW,
Speaker:O, P,
Speaker:E S.
Speaker:And she creates these beautiful fantasy composite images all on her
Speaker:iPhone. Everything she takes,
Speaker:the pictures on her phone,
Speaker:she's compositing,
Speaker:putting these images together on her phone and she does some
Speaker:beautiful stuff like making,
Speaker:there's a waterfall in downtown Chicago,
Speaker:some incredible,
Speaker:incredible work.
Speaker:So she's one of the artists we featured recently where not
Speaker:only are we featuring her work,
Speaker:but she shows you how to do these things from start
Speaker:to finish as well.
Speaker:So that's what I'm excited about.
Speaker:Well, you've piqued our curiosity.
Speaker:We're all going to go over and look at all of
Speaker:this now for sure.
Speaker:Fantastic. Thank you so much,
Speaker:Aaron. I really appreciate your time here and walking through.
Speaker:Even for the newbie,
Speaker:I think this all sounds doable and we've also given some
Speaker:tips for people who want to take it to a deeper
Speaker:level, but clearly there's really no reason for us not to
Speaker:have quality pictures on our website,
Speaker:in our brochures,
Speaker:any literature that we have,
Speaker:it's achievable and not expensive.
Speaker:If you already have your phone,
Speaker:it's pretty much free,
Speaker:so no excuses I would say.
Speaker:Thank you Aaron.
Speaker:Once again,
Speaker:I really appreciate your time and your expertise.
Speaker:Thanks so much,
Speaker:Sue. Okay,
Speaker:time to go outside and take some pictures and don't forget
Speaker:about Aaron's generous,
Speaker:20% discount.
Speaker:If you want to upgrade your knowledge of Photoshop Lightroom and
Speaker:edit like a pro next week we're in for some fun
Speaker:with a sister team.
Speaker:They've come together with separate educational backgrounds to create something really
Speaker:sweet. We'll get into all of that on the next show.
Speaker:Make it a great week and bye for now.
Speaker:After you listened to the show.
Speaker:If you like what you're hearing,
Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:Apple podcasts.
Speaker:That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they go
Speaker:live, and thank you to those of you who have already
Speaker:left a rating and review.
Speaker:By subscribing,
Speaker:rating, and reviewing,
Speaker:you help to increase the visibility of gift biz on wrapped.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward to help others
