THIS WEEKS LINKS
From Retail Contrarian, 25 Ways to Increase Your Sales Today
Have you read a blog or an online article that you found interesting or helpful? If it was helpful to you, it will probably be helpful to other gallery owners and artists.
Send it to me at rani@randomactsart.com to be included in our weekly newsletter.
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ACW MERCHANDISE
 Think about wearing an ACW t-shirt or carrying an ACW tote. When anyone asks about it, you can send them to the CRAFT booth for more information. While you are shopping for your t-shirts and totes, don't for get to get a bumpersticker for your car!
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Not Exhibiting at the Summer Shows?
We are always happy to spotlight a CRAFT artist member in It's Friday. If you are interested in being spotlighted email rani@randomactsart.com
with up to two paragraphs about you, your studio & your artwork. Please include links to your website or Wholesalecrafts page and up to two pictures to be included. You can send the pictures as attachments or just send links to the pictures on your website.
Artist will be spotlighted, one per week, on a first come, first serve basis. You can check out this past newsletter for an example of an artist spotlight.
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American Craft Week
The new American Craft Week website is up. If you are signed up as a participant you should have gotten an email about it this morning. If you didn't get the email, then you might not be signed up. Remember, participation if free to all CRAFT members and with the new site, it's easy to sign up. Just go to the Participants & Events page, scroll down to the bottom and Click to Apply. |
Call For Booth Numbers
Before major shows we put out a list of CRAFT members exhibiting at that show. If you are going to be exhibiting at the summer NYIGF or BMAC, please email rani@randomactsart.com with the show name and your booth number. If you will be offering any show specials, we are happy to include that information.
Booth numbers for NYIGF must be received by Wednesday, August 11. Booth numbers for BMAC must be received by Wednesday, August 18. |
Five Simple Steps to Better Product Photography
1) In order to ensure your images are sharp, make sure you know how to focus your camera. Digital cameras with auto focus are often difficult to focus precisely, especially when shooting small objects. Read your owner's manual and be sure you understand how your camera's auto focus operates. Most digital cameras are designed to easily focus on large objects but have difficulty on small subjects. It is often useful to put your camera in spot focus mode. Spot focus will give you more control over what part of a scene the camera is actually focusing on.
2) Use a tripod, even the slightest movement while taking a picture will cause motion blur. The closer you get to an object the more obvious the motion blur becomes. Even an inexpensive tripod will make a big difference in the sharpness of your images. For really sharp images it makes sense to invest in a good, sturdy tripod. If your camera has a remote shutter release then use it, if not then use the camera's built-in timer to minimize camera shake.
3) To get the largest area of your subject in focus put your camera in aperture priority mode and set the aperture to the highest number possible. The closer you get to your subject  the more important this becomes.
4) Use soft lighting. Your camera's built-in flash will rarely give good results for product photography. For soft lighting either shoot outside on an overcast day or use a light tent like the EZcube�, or use a soft box.
5) Use image editing software. Even inexpensive software like Photoshop Elements™ can make your product photography much easier. It may seem like it's faster to use an image exactly as it was shot. But in reality, it is difficult to shoot an image precisely how you would like it to appear in it's final form. Image editing software allows you to crop an image, adjust it's exposure, sharpen the image and then resize it, often in less than 60 seconds.
The biggest difference between an amateur's product snapshot and a professional's product image are sharpness and lighting. Steps 1,2, and 3, will improve the sharpness of your images while Step 4 will improve your lighting. A minute spent editing an image will improve it further. Because these few steps seem so basic, it's tempting to ignore them. However, if you take the time to follow them, you will see a huge improvement in the quality of your images.
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