Egg Cozy C&C

trishw78

So as some of you may or may not know I crochet & I've decided to sell some of my work, I need a little bit of C&C on the Product shots. I've posted a picture of one I'm not too sure about.

What I'm not sure about is

A) the lighting I was using an off camera flash with a diffuser attached to the right of the image & a reflector on the left side of the image.

the set up should I bother with showing the whole plate. I think the egg & egg cup are important as it illustrates how the cozy fits the egg.

kensutz

Worry more about the distracting backgrounds.

Xiney

you should draw faces on the eggs - seriously.

if you draw funny faces on them and they get posted places and you've watermarked your image with your business website address = win


I'd probably take the plate away.

trishw78

Xiney wrote: »

you should draw faces on the eggs - seriously.

if you draw funny faces on them and they get posted places and you've watermarked your image with your business website address = win


I'd probably take the plate away.

TBH I'm not a fan of watermarks. I think that'd be to distracting. Nor am I going to be drawing faces on eggs

SinLight

Xiney wrote: »

you should draw faces on the eggs - seriously.

I was actually thinking the same for the moment - this distracts the final product though - but makes it more 'personal' in a way.

Id say that putting more light up on the cap wouldn't be bad. It is a bit too dark for me here and wasn't too obvious from the shot what are you actually selling.

Tallon

Yes, draw faces on them, and get rid of the backgrounds.. use a light box



make a hat & jacket for danbo and i'll buy it

Cabaal

the egg def needs a face, background would also help

Ballyman

I'd agree with Ken as well, the background is very distracting. I'd also add a bit more power to your lights and make the white plate and cup WHITE. It looks a little dull as it is.

You could use a light tent and sit the egg cup on that and you would get a nicer (imo) effect. I bought the white one of these for use as a light tent and it works a treat for €3!

elven

Rather than completely emptying the background, try using a really simple setup of pale, neutral stuff. I know it's a pain because you aren't necessarily ready to shoot during the day but natural light is going to be your absolute best friend for this stuff. You've lit the egg and cosy up nicely there but the background is dark, and it would work better with a fresh, neutral setting.

What about setting a table? Using some pretty material as a backdrop? More 'naked' eggs/egg cups in the background?

Here's some stuff I found on Martha's site that might give styling ideas. I know a lot of the blokes round here will find it pukerific, but it's what sells on etsy...

Xiney

....make the southpark hats into egg cosies

artyeva

if etsy is where you plan on selling them, elven's idea is a good 'un.

a quick search on there for crochet egg cosies get you these, all you have to do is keep those in mind and do them better

my favourite one on there would be the cute little animals in the egg box. cute sells. no offence here but your shot says to me ''it's a hat on an egg'' - you need to whack up your cuteness factor.

cuteness is what's going to make someone buy what is essentially a hat for an egg

AnCatDubh

It looks a little "flat" on my screen (non calibrated)

would the cozy be better eh..... unmounted?

/perhaps a warped mind.

also maybe a bit more in the creation of the image - it might be good to provide additional 'props' - toast on a rack, orange juice in a glass, folded newspaper on the table, wire framed spectacles on the paper, etc...

the colour of the cozy is a little dark, gloomy (imho )

trishw78

yeah It's for Etsy I'm thinking of going white table cloth, maybe try a table setting. I think my keywords are cute & minimal, natural light.

I'm still not gone on the face on the egg idea I'll try one shot & see.

sNarah

Elven defo is on the right track, framed like that it looks homy ,attractive and cute. I think cuteness would be one of the main factors you need to go for, and tbh when i read "draw a face on it" i actually thought "yeah that would work!"... So that's my 2 cents!

joeKel73

Reminds me of the time I tried making wooden mushrooms and selling them as "Fun Guys"!


Are you going to sell these online?!

Tallon wrote: »

Haha that reminded me of this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Cfg3swvbc

Ballyman wrote: »

I bought the white one of these for use as a light tent and it works a treat for €3!

^ Post of the day! Great idea, thanks!

Fajitas!

You need to draw a face on and bring it for a walk on the beach on a cold day.

trishw78

Fajitas! wrote: »

You need to draw a face on and bring it for a walk on the beach on a cold day.

Actually you might be on to something there

Fajitas!

trishw78

right moving on from the first image Here's Mk2

I know the open curtain is a very distracting. I'll sort it out in the next shot(s)



& for those that want to see his "face" this is a twitpic


@Ballyman I had a dunnes stores 'light tent' until it was in an accident

Shiny

Easy on the saturation there.

trishw78

Shiny wrote: »

Easy on the saturation there.

huh???

Xiney

trishw78 wrote: »

right moving on from the first image Here's Mk2

I know the open curtain is a very distracting. I'll sort it out in the next shot(s)



& for those that want to see his "face" this is a twitpic


@Ballyman I had a dunnes stores 'light tent' until it was in an accident

in terms of style... it looks a bit stuffy.

etsy is very modern and hipster like - I think it would benefit from more light and a more "fun" presentation. The egg boxes that someone already pointed out are a good example.

pearljamfan

trishw78 wrote: »

right moving on from the first image Here's Mk2

I know the open curtain is a very distracting. I'll sort it out in the next shot(s)



& for those that want to see his "face" this is a twitpic


@Ballyman I had a dunnes stores 'light tent' until it was in an accident

i think the tops of the salt and pepper are in the wrong place, bit distracting, if it was a teacup and saucer or something in white as well i think it would be better, a bit more off to the side. and i think its still a bit too dark. i like the eggcarton idea, what if u could borrow some chickens! or a tabby cat sitting on the windowsill, that kinda country home feel.??

kensutz

Stuff like product shots need to be simple. Too much in the pic and you're wondering what you're supposed to be looking at as a customer. Keep it simple.

wasper

trishw78 wrote: »

So as some of you may or may not know I crochet & I've decided to sell some of my work, I need a little bit of C&C on the Product shots. I've posted a picture of one I'm not too sure about.

What I'm not sure about is

A) the lighting I was using an off camera flash with a diffuser attached to the right of the image & a reflector on the left side of the image.

the set up should I bother with showing the whole plate. I think the egg & egg cup are important as it illustrates how the cozy fits the egg.

reminds me of Benny Hawkins from Crossroads soap opera:
http://www.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://webspace.webring.com/people/fu/uk_soaps/Crossroads_Benny.jpg&imgrefurl=http://webspace.webring.com/people/fu/uk_soaps/&h=288&w=352&sz=39&tbnid=9aQiRPsJwGjtgM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBenny%2BHawkins&hl=en&usg=__405UyKQfqo7tTegPCUYAjcbOnN8=&ei=mvnmS_m7LKH-0gSeyLzLBg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CCQQ9QEwAw

I think the second picture is a bit too dark and cluttered OP.

The shadows falling on the eggs doesn't look too great in my opinion, and the salt/pepper being directly behind them is a bit awkward looking i think...

sNarah

Agree with most of what's said above, though I do réally like the one egg with the cosy on and the other one without. That's an excellent idea!

sNarah

Also, for reasons I don't understand, I want one now. Eventhough I never eat eggs. And will never use it. Nor particulary like the "product" as such.

Mh.

Odd.

breadbin

i also really like the one hat on and one hat off idea but agree too that the salt and pepper are in the wrong place. might work without them completely?

sprinkles

I think the faces idea is a winner. Maybe one egg without and hat and a cold face (Brrrrr...) and one with the hat and a smile?

As for the pics, the purple hat isn't showing up too well in either. You need more light in both - I've absolutely no idea about flash photography but you can achieve very good natural light effects using it correctly. I'd also blow the highlights a bit and overexpose the shot a touch to make the light as bright as possible - you want it to look like it's the morning which means bright soft light.

Just found this article I read a while back which discusses the light issue - link

Also here's a link to a tutorial on shooting food which might be of interest - Link

Orly

Talking about the second attempt now... Compositionally I think you could come in quite a bit closer, making the focus on the eggs. Also try and Dutch the camera - tilt the camera off to the side so that the shot is composed with the horizon at an angle to the bottom of the frame. What may at first appear incorrect will surprise you when you see the result on screen. You'll find a much more dramatic and stylish angle if you play around with it.

Lighting-wise I'd say throw more back light on it than anything else, with a moderate top light, then just fill in the front with (white card) reflectors, moving them in and out until you find a good distance relative to the eggs, giving a nice overall hightlight without any hot spots.

Get rid of the salt shakers behind, maybe keep them about a foot away still in shot and use a longer lens, throwing them out of focus nicely in the background (if they must be in-shot at all).

Hope you get something out of that, good luck.