We all know that the photos you take of your handmade products are extremely important. A good photo will entice shoppers to click on your listing instead of a competitor listing, and having professional and well-planned photos in your listing can increase your sales … a lot!
But there is one secret to great photos that is easy to forget. It’s not having a great camera, or photographing your product in the perfect lifestyle setting. It’s having the right props in your pictures because, believe it or not, props have the power to solidify the shopper’s buying decision—but unfortunately they also have the power to lose the sale, which is why we are going to talk about the 5 most common prop mistakes.
So, ready? Let’s dive in.
In my article a few weeks ago I talked about 2 “must-dos” for Etsy product photos, and how your photo needs to trigger an emotion.
Props are one really good way to do that: they tell a story and allow potential customers to imagine how the product fits into their life or their homes.
So using props is an important component of lifestyle photos that sell your products.
But … when used incorrectly, props can really take away from your products or cheapen your brand.
So … let’s go through the 5 mistakes you will want to avoid when using props for your product photos.
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The first mistake is using a prop that is the wrong “fit” for your customers.
Let’s look at an example:
Imagine that you knit scarves out of natural, eco-friendly materials, and your ideal customer is a woman that wears very minimal makeup – she’s very much into a natural look. She has a good skincare routine using natural skin care products, and doesn’t wear makeup except when she maybe puts on lipstick once a year for a special occasion— but when she does it’s a soft, natural color.
If you take a picture of a woman wearing your scarf who is wearing bright red lipstick, or you take a lifestyle photo of the scarf on a table with red lipstick and a glitzy sequined clutch sitting next to it, those props are not going to tell her the right story because she doesn’t own red lipstick or glitzy clutches. She won’t be able to picture herself owning or wearing that scarf because the props don’t fit her lifestyle – they don’t help her imagine your product as a part of her life.
To fix this mistake, make sure your props are actually something your customers either own and use or would like to. Your props should help them imagine your product as part of their life, making it easy to picture themselves owning and using it OR they should represent what your customers ASPIRE their life/lifestyle to be. If you don’t choose the right props and set the right tone and vibe, you won’t be telling the right story and you won’t hook them in.
The next common mistake I see is when the prop you use is the wrong fit for your brand.
So for example, let’s say you sell your design on T-shirts that are recycled fabric made of post-consumer waste, and you are photographing a child’s shirt with a cute little design on it.
Now because it’s a child’s shirt you probably want to have some cute toy props in the photo, and you grab a few brightly colored plastic toys – a bright red plastic train engine and a bright yellow plastic dump truck that you found at Toys R Us.
But most likely the parents who want to view your recycled fabric T-shirts have wooden toys in neutral colors at home or toys that are environmentally friendly. They probably don’t have toys from Toys R Us, or toys made of environmentally-unfriendly plastic.
So these props are inconsistent in terms of your brand story, which in turn decreases trust in your brand story and decreases the chance that you will convert the shopper to a sale.
Make sure your props are a good reflection of your brand values and aligned with what your products represent. If you are branded as an eco-friendly brand, use eco-friendly or natural props – if you are branded as a fun, colorful, joyful, modern, vibrant, brand, use props that match this— bright clothes, flat lays, jewelry, lipstick, or objects with poppy colors.
Next let’s move on to mistake #3, which is using cheap props.
This one is pretty straightforward: using cheap props will cheapen your products and brands and reduce their perceived value. When this happens, you either will make less sales or it will be harder to sell at the price point that you need to sell at because it will cheapen the perceived value.
You sell quality handmade items, don’t put them next to a cheap plastic vase with plastic flowers, go get some fresh ones instead! The same goes for fake leaves and fake fruits, take the extra time to have real leaves and fruits in your photos, you will be amazed at how much more valuable your products look when you make this change.
If you sell jewelry, you also want to avoid using a fake bust or fake arms and mannequins – this look is 100% out! Not only does it look fake, but it makes it much harder for your customer to picture themselves wearing your products.
Remember, you are telling a story with your photos. You want your customers to be envisioning themselves using the product in your picture, whether it is a mug that is surrounded by fresh flowers on a spring day or a necklace that will make the customer look as pretty and stylish as the model in the photo. Ditch the cheap props – find real people to model your products and high quality props that are aligned with the perceived value of your products.
Now even if you have high quality, real props, you need to be aware of Mistake #4, which happens when you use too many props.
I know it’s easy to get excited when you’ve gathered a selection of good-quality props. As you take more pictures it’s easy to keep adding them to the shots and moving them around. And 20 minutes later, your picture has become a bit busy and the props are distracting from the product you’re supposed to be showcasing.
When this happens, take a step back and remove some props, keeping in mind that one or two props is good, three at the max is probably enough.
Make sure your props aren’t visually overwhelming and don’t go overboard, or you will create a photo where the product gets lost. Remember that your goal is to create a photo where your product shines and stands out—
which leads us to the final mistake you want to avoid: your product is not center stage or is literally out of focus.
You – quite literally – want to place your product centrally in your photo. It should be visually prominent and prioritized which often will mean it is the center of the shot (if flat lay) or forefront (if not flat lay)- and definitely needs to be in FOCUS too!
Having your product mistakenly be slightly out of focus is more common than you would think: I have seen many pictures where the camera autofocus targets the prop, and so the actual product that’s for sale is a little bit blurry or fuzzy. And we see more details of the prop than we see of the actual product— and that’s a big no-no!
Remember, you want your products to “pop”— if you don’t, people might even wonder which item in that picture you are selling!
So when you are setting up your photo, step back and ask yourself: if you were the shopper seeing the photo for the first time, would your eyes gravitate to the product you are selling? Make any changes needed, then make sure your autofocus targets your amazing product and snap away!
Now that you know the mistakes to avoid when placing your props, you will want to read this article about 2 very important “must-dos” for Etsy product photos!
We also have some amazing photography courses inside of Tizzit HQ, including a workshop on how to use props like a pro to really uplevel your pictures… So if you’re a member, make sure to go and check that out too, and if you’re not an HQ member, definitely consider joining us!
BECOME A TIZZIT HQ MEMBER AND TURN THE HOBBY YOU LOVE INTO INCOME YOU’LL ADORE
Thanks for reading, and until next time, au revoir!
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