Etsy photos - what's good and what's bad?

etsy staging objects

When I opened my first etsy shop, which is now aaaaaaallllllll the way back in March 2008, soon celebrating my 5th anniversary!
I fell in love with etsy, here was the opportunity to see what people made of my work directly, did they look at it? and , did they like it?
Although the honeymoon is now over, and my shops sometimes are no better treated than stepchildren, I am still there, for 4 reasons...... and ooops....one more.....

etsy staging papers and stuff

1) it has made a MUCH better presenter and photographer of my work out of me!
without a doubt! I now take at least reasonably good photos of everything I do really,
and they are all kept in one place (well... 3 etsy shops ;o) and in a neat folder in my computer 
labelled "etsy".  All with a nice happy snappy, nothing complicated in cameraway!

2)  I have over the years, through my 3 shops, "met" customers I would never have met otherwise,
and they have inspired me to create new work!! This is for me quite an enormous reason to stay on.
Working as a full time artist, is at times, a very lonesome profession, ( ahhh, I can hear how
sorry you feel for me;o) and taking into account the courses I give in my studio and the very          inspiring people I have met through them, I still love when the feedback comes in on someones etsy purchase.

3)   I have also over the years, learnt from other etsy sellers, I have seen their fun photos and their fun
efforts at presenting their work so it catches the eye.... and some of them are masters!!
So, as for a "free" masterclass in presentation, etsy is your place ! I should of course be giving you some examples , like http://www.etsy.com/shop/puikeprent

4) and reason no 4........ I love getting my whole "etsy set up" in place..... I am lucky enough to live in a land of mountains and beach and country side with fruit trees right outside my front door, so I collect, on my walks with Becky, over a couple of days, feathers, stones and shells, fruit and leaves and twigs and all kinds of other things, amongst them a little black and red dictionary that is just so "chic" somehow...did not find that on my walk:o)
all of these are natural or nature made things I hope nobody is going to think is included with the print ;o))) and I am not joking, it is not that easy to stage something you made, with other things, as they invariably, I think, distract from what you are supposed to look at.
I want the etching, the linocut, the monoprint or whatever it is that I made (yes..... all handmade on etsy, right...) to be what you see, at the same time, as I don't want it to be so sterile. Most of my photos are of course only the image..... that is what I am selling, but I have to my surprise, over the years noted, that when I take the time to place that image in a somewhat homey environment, then it gets more views!

etsy stage photo frame

5) ahhhhh, you thought I was finished? I did too, but apparently not so , a simple photo frame, like this cheap white Ikea one, in A4 size,  can make all the difference! it gives the viewer a chance to see what the print will look like framed. And as most of my work has a tendency to look good in a white frame, so much the better! It would be easy though to do what my sister does, she picks up old frames at the fleamarkets, for next to nothing, to frame what she hangs on the walls, and I should/could do the same to get some variation on my frame theme!! (on my to-do list)

www.artcanbefun.etsy.com for my linocuts
www.mariannjohansenellis.etsy.com in it's new life as my shop for my new etchings, used to be for my childrens prints..... they are now being moved to a new Flickr account that should be in operation round February time!
www.oneline.etsy.com used to be for my drawings, but got so bored when all of a sudden there were gazillions of people drawing on dictionaries!

Happy Staging!