Years ago I came across an artist who was increasingly posting desperate posts because her art wasn’t selling. Being a helpful sort, I decided to take a quick scroll through her Facebook page to see if there was anything obvious standing out.
A couple of things stood out but the really big one involved the photos of her art.
Most or all of us have easy access to phone cameras that are stunning. Even my cheap and old Google Pixel 2 took amazing photos and I used it until it could no longer hold a charge, this November.
What this means is there’s no excuse for bad photos. And I can tell you that this poor artist’s photos were bad. Like BAD. So I’m going to give you some useful tips.
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- Take photos of your art without your shadow, or phone’s shadow across it. If it means moving things around, or taking photos while standing awkwardly, then do so make sure you’re either outside on a cloudy day (not dark but not direct sun) or using a white light that is behind a thin white paper. Diffused light is what you’re going for so you cut reflections to a minimum
- use your photo’s app (or a photo editing app) to adjust colours. Your whites should be white. Your saturation should match your art. Play with the contrast. We want the photos of your work to pop but also to be true to the original
- have a few angles, including if possible, you with the work. You can tell someone until the cows come home what size your piece is but giving viewers context is critical
- consider using an app to make a few in situ photos. Or use Canva.com Whatever. But make sure you don’t mess with the scale of your work. A tiny piece shouldn’t look like a poster in a room
- And the big one, the one this poor artist missed, tell people your art is for sale! When you do a sales post, with your now gorgeous photos, you entice your audience to fall in love with the art you make.
If your photos haven’t been great up until this point, now’s a good time to swap them out and make new posts.
Have fun with this and make it easy for someone to say YES! I want that!