How to Photograph your Knitting

If you are serious about selling your knitting, you need to be able to take good photographs of it so that people will want to buy it. 

I think this is particularly important if you are selling on Etsy, as many artists and creatives use that website and good photos will result in more likes and more publicity. It will also help your items to be shared to Pinterest.

When I look back on my early Etsy and Ebay listings and so on, the photographs were terrible. Customers often commented that the item they received was much better than expected, and that the photograph didn't do it justice.

I saw other knitters selling similar items for three or even four times the price of mine, and one of the main reasons was that they had much better photos (and of course great quality work, great reputations and hard work and so on), but still, they had really good photos of their work and I did not.

If you want to sell the same type of item over and over again, for example one pair of gloves which people could order in different colours, it might be worth finding a professional photographer to make you one super image to use in your online listings.

Maybe you have a friend who is a keen amateur photographer? They might offer to provide you with some pics in exchange for the item, such as the pair of gloves. When I was selling my hats, many of my customers were photographers, and they sometimes sent me photos of my knitting in action and allowed me to use the images to advertise my work. I built up some great working relationships and found two lovely ladies who would take photos for me in exchange for free hats.

You can of course take your own photos. Firstly and most obviously, use a good camera or smartphone camera. This isn't difficult to achieve these days. Smartphones cameras can produce awesome results. I own a Huawei smartphone (this one) which I bought specifically for the camera, I am super happy with the quality of the photos I can take with it. If only I had had it back in the day.

Recently I bought myself this beginner level DSLR camera and I have to say this has taken my photos to a new level. I am no professional photographer but I have made some really great images by using this and taking a bit of time and thought to set up the shot.

Whether you are using a phone or camera, it is important to take photos in good light. If you have a bright home with lots of light, brilliant. Take your photos during the daytime when there is a nice light in the room. For me, this is around 2pm. Much earlier or much later and the photos are duller. try photographing at different times of day and see when is the best time to take photos.

If your home isn't so bright, go outdoors. I recently went into a wood to photograph some hats. I put the hats up a tree. It sort of worked, if the hats had been owl hats it would have been a brilliant idea, and indeed I will be photographing owl knitted items up trees from now on.

I don't think this photo worked, knitted owls up a tree might however be a great idea for a product photograph.

Think about the background of your photo. while attractive, I have personally always found achieving a perfectly white background difficult. I know that photoshop and the right lighting etc can achieve this, however it might be easier to just use a pleasant background. I actually knitted a series of mini blankets and lay my products on this to photograph them. I made fluffy ones, chunky ones, white ones, cream ones, dark ones, loads! Then I chose one which emphasised the details of the item I wanted to sell best. For example, a fine knit blanket underneath a chunky hat would emphasise the chunkiness of the hat better.

For scarves and hats, whenever possible use a human model, but I think you should only do this if the photo is an example of what your item is (say some gloves which can be made to order in any colour), and not the actual item. For example, I wouldn't try to sell a hat by using a photograph of it clearly being shown already on somebody's head. People want to buy new, clean items.

Tailor's dummies and polystyrene heads are super for showcasing your work, and I think much better than a human if your item is a one off and you want to show how it would look when worn.

This hat and scarf, for example, look much better than if it they had been laid flat. 

By the way, I took that scarf photo with my iPad. This really saves time when listing on Etsy or Ebay, as you can use their apps and it makes uploading your photos much much faster. And of course iPads take brilliant photos. You can of course use your smartphone with apps too.

The best place to buy the polystyrene models is Ebay. Here are links to some heads and bodies.

My last tip is to have a look at how other successful sellers showcase their knitting, and gain some inspiration and ideas from them about how you want to present your work and attract buyers.