A Quick Check-in
Howdy! Thought I’d stop by for a small update :)
Launching the website and mailing list was really overwhelming and the preparation was so much hassle that it feels like I haven’t done anything about my shop since then xD - all continuous work and small steps in various directions just fade in comparison with that! Anyhow, there have been many ideas brewing in the mean time (oh where do I find the time to realise them all!), new travels being booked and new stickers planned :)
I haven’t yet updated the shop with any new products but all the current listings got a revamp: good quality pictures are now available for every product. Phew! Better late than never, eh? :D
The thing is, I’ve been trying to conjure decent product pictures for months now - whenever there was good daylight (which is a rare find in Belgium)… but no mater how much praise certain smartphone cameras get online, I never managed to get satisfying results from them, not even with soft box and other tricks for additional lighting… It may of course just be me and my lack of experience with photography but I kinda gave up after wasting days on taking pics while I could have been drawing instead… I was so desperate that I even tried creating mockups… and failed miserably sending even more precious time down the drain.
So at some point I just couldn’t handle it anymore and asked a photographer I know for help. And oh how much I wish I reached out to a pro from the start! It saved me so much time, frustration and back pain - and didn’t cost a fortune. If I need frequent photoshoots in the future, it’s probably reasonable to buy a semi-pro camera, a flash and do everything myself… but to be honest the idea of getting even more tripods and stuff in my tiny studio is rather off-putting >.< We’ll see.
Anyhow! Now the pictures are really nice and definitely improve the look of my Etsy shop! Many more could have been taken had I planned more setups in advance instead of hoping to figure it out on the fly... Hey-ho, another lesson learned :)
Btw if you have experience with affordable but quality cameras/flashes that can be used for product photography - please drop a comment below. Any hellos will also be much appreciated! :)
Speak soon! :)