How do I make my home pictures look professional?

[cookiemonster]

 I am about to begin taking the pictures of my products ( greeting cards and what not) for my website. I was wondering if any of you had tips on how to make home pictures look like they were professionally taken? What kind of background should I use? Lighting?

[wonderlandnyc]

i try to take my pictures with all the windows in the room open and as many lights on as possible. usually then i'll need a medium or low flash, which will make the product's colors look a little closer than if it was in a dark room with a high flash.

you may have a really cool looking patterned rug in your house; if so, you've lucked out and can just use that. otherwise, you have 2 options: you could purchase some cool patterned fabric to use as your backdrop, or you could get creative... sheets, a cool couch, even some shots outdoors on the sidewalk or grass could look very cool.

if all else fails, and these are just not cutting it for you, use adobe photoshop or paint shop pro and erase the background. i do this on my site and it has been the most professional looking as far as I'm concerned.

hope this helps!
lindsay.

[cookiemonster]

Thanks for your reply Lindsay,

Erasing the background is probably what I will do. A lot of the websites that I have been to do that and I like the look of it. Now I guess I just need to know how to go about doing that. On a photo program where do I go to do that? Is there a button that says 'erase background'? I was looking for one but couldn't find anything. Where do you go on your program?

[rockingsteady]

If you're only taking pictures of small things like greeting cards and stuff, the easiest thing would be to get a cheap-o piece of white posterboard and use that as your background.  Then, find out if you can manually set the white balance on your camera.  If you can, it will be very easy...there'll be practically no background to erase (other than some shadows, depending on your lighting). 

[A Little Hut]

Here's a really good article about that. Good luck!

http://www.theswitchboards.com/articles_professionalphotos.html

[cookiemonster]

Thanks so much for the article!

[gypsysoul3]

for my pictures i've had to rig up all kindsa lights and stuff to get the lighting just right....then, i decided to take it outside. the natural ighting outside on a sunny days has really helped. just a thought.
though, i am selling jewelry, so it may be a bit different. i've also found setting my digital camera on "macro" for close up pix works awesome.

i like to get creative and hang my pieces around randomly...
for example:

taken outside.

erasing the background seems like a good idea too. i've never tried it though.

[candikaneiscrafty]

I definitely suggest taking the pictures outside in a partially shaded area with no flash this gives you good indirect lighting and your item will show up well if you use some white poster paper in the backround.

On a photo program where do I go to do that? Is there a button that says 'erase background'? I was looking for one but couldn't find anything. Where do you go on your program?

  there is no 'erase backround' button (sadly ) so you have to use the erase brush to erase the picture by hand. this is a slow project and you usually have to zoom in alot to be able to really erase it good. after enough time and effort your pictures should turn out fabulous! and if you have anyother questions just type in something about your problem etc. on a search engine and you will get a lot of results. my photo teacher always is encouraging us to go on the Internet to find the answer because there is a plethora of information on photography out there!..well i hope i did not bore you with this super long post but i hope i helped!

[HelloDollish]

i take my pictures in my bathroom... so the background is a white tile floor.  i hang my earrings on coke bottles because that is WAY easier than taking a picture  of yourself wearing them!!
i w ant to try outside though - that sounds like the ideal place.

[gypsysoul3]

about wearing the earrings in your pictures....
i say, don't do this. unless you have a pair that are your very own, that you won't be selling...i've seen ebay auctions where the person is "modeling" the earrings, and well, that's just gross. i would never buy them. it just looks bad too. and customers shouldn't feel like they have to clean thier earrings when they get them.
 (earrings from, say a thirft store would be different, as i'd know full well they were worn, and would clean them, remake them, etc. knowing this. but i'd never go out of my way to buy already worn earrings).
(yeah, i know big stores, like urban outfitters, websites show people wearing the earrings--but they are models, and shoppers know that--they don't buy things from there thinking, "i wonder if this is the pair the model in the catalog wore")

just a thought....