Trying to think creatively

[gercam]

I have a website selling preowned designer bags. I currently take photos of bags in white tent and photoshop so that completely white background. I am wanting to change this and go for more relaxed (is that the word?) photos of the bags. I have thought of taking them on a console table with lamp beside them but hoping someone can come up with something better.
Thanks for any help

 

[Mirus Lux]

How about actually in use? Take a few bags and a couple friends to a busy town and photograph them being carried as they were intended.

Avoid focusing on the person or getting the full person in the image and put the bag central...

Use a narrow depth of field to improve the image. If they are night time bags grab the friends and take them out at night for some shots outside nightclubs etc

White bg shots are all well and good but if your customer can see themselves in a situation with the bag it makes a psychological connection.

Take care to match clothing accessories with bags as I guess you normally would....!

Show detail shots ie hand taking a mobile phone out of a mobile phone pocket, keys attached to a key clip in a bag etc etc again planting ideas of benefits/features to the customer.

 

[Alastair]

I have a website selling preowned designer bags. I currently take photos of bags in white tent and photoshop so that completely white background. I am wanting to change this and go for more relaxed (is that the word?) photos of the bags. I have thought of taking them on a console table with lamp beside them but hoping someone can come up with something better.
Thanks for any help

How much effort does your profit justify?

A console table in the corner with props you can swap about (lamp, vase of flowers, bit of painted/wallpapered hardboard to change the background, etc) could be as convenient as the light tent if you can leave it set-up semi-permanently.

Chasing around town with friends only becomes worthwhile if you have low volumes of sales with a high margin to cover the effort.

 

[weybourne]

Yeah but that's only if you insist on putting a monetary value onto the effort and making that a part of the equation - the real financial expenditure would be next to zero - plus you get to spend more time on your hobby

In my books chasing round town with friends can be worthwhile even when there is no commercial equation to balance .

 

[gercam]

I was hoping to do something closer to home and on my own rather than roping friends in. Think it is a great idea though

 

[Alastair]

Yeah but that's only if you insist on putting a monetary value onto the effort and making that a part of the equation - the real financial expenditure would be next to zero - plus you get to spend more time on your hobby

In my books chasing round town with friends can be worthwhile even when there is no commercial equation to balance .

If you're selling 20/year, that's fine.. but if you're selling 20/week that's a lot of running round under pressure if selling bags is only a hobby/sideline. The effort/reward equation comes into it even if you're only considering whether the effort required would cease to make the photography element rewarding in itself.

 

[weybourne]

If you're selling 20/year, that's fine.. but if you're selling 20/week that's a lot of running round under pressure if selling bags is only a hobby/sideline. The effort/reward equation comes into it even if you're only considering whether the effort required would cease to make the photography element rewarding in itself.

True, that.

If it were 20 a week every week and only a sideline, then my personal built-in effort/reward calculator would most likely tell me to find something better to do (than photograph them all street-stylee)