When it comes to selling your crochet online, your photos are the most important thing to get right. After all they have to do the selling on their own to catch people’s attention and stop them from scrolling past. But you’ve been doing everything you thought you needed to take good photos and yet your crochet still isn’t selling as well as you’d hoped. So how do you photograph your crochet so that it actually sells?
Why Your Photos Have to Do All the Work
Your photos of your crochet are the most important part of the sales process when you’re selling online. Not only do they have to catch people’s eye, they also need to show all the details that someone feels they need to see before they feel comfortable clicking that buy button.
Think of how you go shopping in a physical store. You don’t see something from a distance and then instantly decide to buy it. No, you go up to the item, take a good close look. You check the sizing against yourself, you feel the material, you get a good look at the details and how well it’s made. You wonder if the fabric will hold up in the washing machine or if it might be a bit see through or has the quality to last a long time. Then you weigh up what you see against the price tag to decide whether it’s worth the money.
Only after all this do you decide to buy.
But you can’t do this when it comes to online shopping, so the photos have to fill in for actually getting your hands on the item.
This is why your photos are so important to not only get right, but to take ALL the photos someone needs to make that decision to buy.
(These example photos are from my other site, Froggity Frog, where I share crochet patterns and tutorials.)
The Photos You Actually Need
When we think of the photos that are needed to sell our crochet, we immediately think of the hero image. This is your main photo, the one you use for the thumbnail and the one that you most widely use on social media and in your newsletters.
This is the image that is going to stop the scroll and make people want to find out more.
But it isn’t the photo that secures the sale. That job falls to the photo gallery once someone has clicked through to the product listing.
This photo gallery should be filled.
Etsy gives you 10 photo slots. Your hero image takes up one slot that leaves you with 9 other photos that need to work to secure you the sale. Use all the slots available as then you can give the customer all the visual information they need to make the decision to buy or click away.
Your photos need to show:
- The stitch details
- Closeups of the main design feature
- An indication of size
- Context of how the item is used
- What it looks like from various angles
Make sure you work through this list of photos and then if you have them all but a slot is still left over, get another picture in a different setting or at a different angle. However, you’re probably going to be left with the decision on how to narrow down your photo selection as there are so many different pictures you can take of a single item.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves a little here. What you really need to start with is how to take a good photo and the mistakes to avoid.
Common Crochet Product Photography Mistakes
A good product photo needs to be bright, sharp and show off your crochet in all its glory. The colours need to be shown in their best light and the background should be either empty or set up to complement your crochet and not distract from it.
Let’s go through the product photography mistakes people make and what you should do instead.
Props
Props can make a product photo look like a carefully considered photo composition so that no one thinks they’re buying from Amazon or other corporations. That personal touch is very distinct to real, crafter led brands and can reassure the buyer that the item is made by a real person.
The temptation is to use a lot of props to make the scene look pretty, but props can distract and at their worst can leave people confused as to what they’ll actually receive when they buy that item.
You only need one or two props in the picture and these items can become part of your branding, making your photos instantly recognisable by your audience.
Lighting
This is one of the biggest photography mistakes I see. Often we’re trying to fit our crochet business into our busy lives so photos get taken when it’s convenient rather than when it’s ideal. Often that is after dark or before sunrise. But that means taking them under a fluorescent light and that gives your photos a yellow tint. That yellow tint automatically marks you out as a new seller, or gives the impression of someone who isn’t a “real” business and will make someone scroll past. A customer wants to know they’re dealing with a “real” business who has a proper setup and they can rely on to give a good customer service if they have an issue.
Your photos need to be taken ideally in natural light, but failing that you can buy daylight lamps to photo your crochet under to remove that yellow tint.
Background
The other biggest crochet product photography mistake is the background. What your crochet is sitting on or in front of can make a big difference to how your photos are perceived. If you make it too busy like a floral wallpaper, it distracts from your crochet and overwhelms the eye. Sometimes we don’t know what makes us scroll past a photo, we just know that our eye had a bad initial reaction and a too busy photo that overwhelms can do that.
The other mistake is photographing on a bed. That wrinkled bed sheet gives the same impression as the yellow tint from a fluorescent light and people will just scroll on looking for a more professional looking business to buy from.
How to Take Great Photos Yourself (Without Spending a Fortune)
So how do you take professional looking photos for yourself without having to spend a fortune on hiring a professional photographer?
It’s actually really easy to take great looking photos of your crochet yourself without spending a penny, or on a very small budget. It’s all about finding the right spot and doing a little bit of editing afterwards.
I take you through the whole process in my e-book Taking Crochet Photos That Sell, that you can download now for just $7 here.
Your lighting is key. This is the difference between a bad photo and a great photo. You want to consider how bright it is and what shadows are being thrown up. Natural light is always best, but a daylight lamp can be used instead if there’s no other option.
Only use enough props to enhance your photo and give your buyers the reassurance that you’re not just trying to pass off an Amazon product as handmade (believe it or not this does actually happen). Use the same props each time to make them part of your branding and make your photos look instantly recognisable to your audience.
Choose a background that won’t overwhelm the eye. You want your crochet to be the thing that someone instantly focuses on in your photos and not a busy or cluttered background.
What It Looks Like Once You’ve Got Your System
Once you get your process set, your photos become a quick and easy process. I can now get my crochet set up and get all the photos I need in 30 minutes. But that’s because I’ve had the practice, I know what my brand props are and my background is always the same because I’ve made that part of my branding too. Likewise the editing becomes a familiar and automatic process, and it only takes me a minute to touch up each photo I take.
What delays my photography process is waiting for the light conditions to be right so I get natural light but no shadows. I can’t take photos when it’s convenient, I have to plan the time in so I get the right time of day. But the waiting is absolutely worth it to get great looking photos of my crochet.
Getting Started
Getting professional looking photos of your crochet isn’t a complicated thing and it’s not down to luck or spending a fortune on photographers or expensive cameras. You can do it all yourself with your smartphone and free editing apps and a bit of guidance on what works and what doesn’t. You just need practice and to take the time to really think about how you want your crochet to look in your photos and how your background, props and lighting affect the final picture.
Also don’t underestimate the value of a final touch up in editing. A few gentle edits can take your photos from “meh” to “ooohh” and stop that scroll.
For a more detailed insight into taking great looking crochet photos that takes you through the whole process from setup to editing, you can download my e-book here and you’ll see your sales pick up in no time.
For more tips on how to start and grow your crochet business, check out my Free Resources here. Grab whatever takes your interest to create your ideal crochet business. You can also follow my free Substack here for more crochet building tips.
