Etsy Product Photos With Your Phone: The Five-Shot List

Shoppers cannot pick up your product, turn it over, feel the weight of it or hold it against the wall. Your photos have to do all of that for them. They need to show what the item looks like, how big it is, what it is made of and how it might sit in the buyer's life.

The good news is that none of this needs a camera. A modern phone, good light and a bit of patience are enough, and the sellers whose photos look professional are usually not using better equipment. They are using the same window, the same board and the same five shots every time.

Light first, everything else second

Most poor product photos are poor because of light: too dark, too yellow, harsh shadows, or two kinds of light fighting each other. Fix the light and most of the other problems go away on their own.

Use daylight from a window. Set up near a large window, out of direct sun. Soft, indirect daylight flatters almost every product. An overcast day is often the best day you will get.

Turn off the indoor lights. Daylight mixed with warm bulbs gives everything an odd color cast. Use one kind of light.

Bounce light into the shadows. Put a sheet of white card, foam board or paper on the side of the product away from the window. It reflects light back and softens the shadow side.

Never use the flash. It flattens the product and puts a glare on anything shiny.

Shoot at the same time of day. If you photograph different products at different times, the light varies and the shop looks uneven. Find a time with good light and keep to it.

A setup that costs almost nothing

You do not need a studio. You need:

• a table near a window;
• a plain background, which can be a sheet of white or pale card curved up behind the product so there is no line where table meets wall, a wooden board, a piece of linen or a painted board;
• a reflector, meaning white card or foam board;
• something to steady the phone, which can be a stack of books, a small stand or a cheap phone tripod.

Willow & Thread, the fictional shop in the guide, uses a pale wooden board on a table by a north-facing window with a white card reflector. Every photo in the shop is taken in that spot, which is why the listings look calm and consistent next to each other. The setup is the secret, not the phone.

The five shots

Each listing can hold several photos and sometimes a short video; check the current limits in the Seller Handbook. Use as many as you can, because every photo answers a question a buyer would otherwise have to ask or guess at. Five shots cover almost every question.

1. The main photo. The item alone, clear, well lit, filling much of the frame. This is the one shoppers see in search results, often as a small square, so it must still read when it is tiny. No props, or one simple one.

2. The detail. A close-up of the texture, stitching, glaze, print quality or finish. This is the shot that says "handmade" without a word.

3. Scale. The item in a hand, next to an everyday object, or in place. Size is one of the most common reasons buyers are disappointed, and a measurement in the description is not enough on its own, because most people do not picture centimeters. They picture a mug.

4. In use. The item where a buyer would actually use it: the dish on a dresser with rings in it, the hoop on a wall, the printable on a desk. This is the photo that lets someone imagine owning it.

5. The set, the back or the variations. Another angle to show the full shape, or the colors and sizes side by side, or the packaging if it is part of the appeal, especially for gifts.

For digital products the list changes shape: a clear preview of the pages or design, a mock-up showing it printed or on a screen, and an image listing exactly which files are included.

Make a short list of these shots for each product before you start and tick them off as you go. It stops the common mistake of taking twenty photos of the front and none of the back.

Phone camera settings that matter

• Clean the lens. A smudged lens makes everything soft and hazy. Wipe it before every session, not just the first.
• Tap to focus. Tap the product on the screen to set focus and exposure.
• Slide the brightness. After tapping, most phones let you drag brightness up or down. Aim bright and clean without losing the detail in the whites.
• Do not use digital zoom. Move closer. Zooming digitally throws away quality. If your phone has a second lens, that is fine.
• Hold steady. Use the stand or rest your elbows on the table, and use the timer so pressing the button does not shake the shot.
• Turn off filters. Buyers need true colors, and a filter is a complaint waiting to happen.
• Shoot more than you need. Several shots of each angle; choose later.

Props without confusion

Props help tell a story and can also wreck a listing. The rule is that a prop must never look like part of the item for sale. If a buyer could reasonably think the greenery, the rings or the frame are included, either take them out or say plainly in the description that they are not.

Choose props that suit your buyer and your colors, and keep them few. Copper Fern Studio, another of the guide's example shops, photographs ring dishes with a few simple rings and a sprig of greenery; Driftwood Dog Supply photographs collars on a plain wooden floor and in use on a friend's dog, with permission. Avoid anything with a visible logo. Branded objects confuse buyers and can raise trademark questions you do not need.

Editing in two minutes

Light editing is normal and expected. Your phone's built-in editor or any free app is enough. The aim is a photo that looks like the real item in good light, and no better than that.

Straighten and crop so the item is level and framed. Nudge brightness and contrast. Correct the white balance if the whites look yellow or blue. Then stop.

Do not change the item's color and do not hide flaws. A photo that does not match what arrives produces a disappointed buyer, and disappointed buyers write reviews and open returns. The honest photo sells less often to the wrong person and far more often to the right one.

Check them small

Etsy shows your main photo in a small square or rectangle in search, and crops it differently in different places. Check the current guidance on image size and shape in the Seller Handbook, then preview your listing on your own phone. The item should still be clear and centered when the image is small and cropped. If it is not, re-shoot the main photo with the item larger in the frame.

Consistency across the shop

When a shopper opens your shop page, they see all your main photos side by side. If each one has a different background and light, the shop looks like a jumble sale. If they share one style, it looks considered, and considered looks trustworthy.

So use the same setup, the same angle and the same edits for every main photo. If your editing app lets you save settings, save them. Consistency costs nothing extra and is the most visible difference between a shop that looks new and one that looks established.

Do this today

Find the window. Put a table by it, lay down a plain board or sheet of card, prop a piece of white card on the far side, and take three test shots of any object at three times of day. Keep the time that gave the softest light. That is your photo spot, and from now on every product goes through it.