A picture is worth everything.

Nevermind what I said a couple of days ago about thinking I had taken good photos. When I posted Silver Twist and Dots to Etsy, I realized that the images were actually pretty lousy. It's an eye-opener to discover that what might look passable as a larger image actually looks dingy and dark as a thumbnail, especially when compared to a clear, bright photo (Sunny Daisy).

I was really disappointed and decided to redo all of the photography that I did on Sunday afternoon. That will teach me to take photos on an overcast day, and trying to compensate by using a lamp from my living room with a fluorescent bulb in it. The wrapping paper that I tried to use as a background on some of them didn't help either, since the hot pink showed through and made the white back look muddy. The only way to get everything done before heading out for Thanksgiving at my in-laws was to drag all of my items, camera, and background watercolor paper to the office and attempt to take photos during lunchtime. It would figure that the day was beautiful and bright until late morning, when the marine layer made an appearance again. I packed everything up and drove a couple of miles inland to find sunshine and set up shop on a bench in front of Mission San Luis Rey. It actually turned out to be a nice way to spend my lunch - actually leaving my desk and spending time outside! I'll need to go back soon and walk through the gardens there. But I digress. Just for comparison purposes, here is the difference a little sunshine can make:

This is my original photo of Dots (Blue). I thought it looked nice enough at the time.

This is the image taken with sunshine. It really pops much better than the original in the thumbnail size.

For another comparison, here is my first photo of Silver Twist (Blue). It absolutely died as a thumbnail.

And then the revised image.

So, which version would entice you to click through to check out the item? Every item that is posted in Etsy scrolls through that front page for about 30 seconds. For those brief moments, every item has the same chance to get noticed...if the thumbnail image is well done. I have followed these links on many occasions, bookmarking many and even discovering Black Sheep Beads where I have spent a chunk of change on some fantastic vintage beads.

I really have been struggling with my photography over the last couple of weeks. I think my next step is to work on softening the harsh shadows from the strong sunlight, which are a bit distracting. I'm planning on building a lightbox using directions from Strobist, a great site that was linked at fabulous Etsy for Everyone. We'll see how that goes...