How To Start a Sticker Shop - PART 4 (Patreon)

So finally I share with you the fourth part of the series “How To Start a Sticker Shop”!

So finally I share with you the fourth part of the series “How To Start a Sticker Shop”!

In the first part of the series I talked about the supplies you need to start a sticker shop, the second part was about finding manufacturers, and the third was about setting up an Etsy shop.

This part is about:

A bit upfront:

I shoot my product photos with my iPhone 13 and with daylight.

So this blog is about phone product photography with daylight!

I plan to buy a good studio light in the near future and then I can make another How-To article about how to shoot with a light. 

So now let´s get into this month's topic!

1. Finding inspiration 

Before starting your product photography you first need to define your style. There are a ton of different product photography styles, from clear white backgrounds to amazing flat lays with lots of props in them. 

I find my inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram. I have a Pinterest board and Instagram Collection where I save product images that I like and can use as inspiration for my next shoot. 

2. Gather your props 

Then if you don´t want to make clean background photos only I would collect some props you like before starting your first shoot. 

I have a little box with all the things I love to use for photos like cute paper clips, wooden clips, an old key, some crocheted fabrics, more fabrics, washi tape, cute pens, and more.

Then I also have a big collection of different paper I use as backgrounds. Very big sheets and also smaller ones. 

It´s also nice to have a white cardboard to photograph on. They are bought in fine art or stationery stores. I just use a big painting canvas that I had at home. 

3. Achieve the best quality with your phone

When photographing with your phone you need to first put the photo quality on maximum in your phone settings.

Then I always recommend putting your phone screen light on maximum before shooting. 

Then NEVER use the flash of your phone, really never! 😅

Never use the zoom. The phone zoom just makes the photos way to pixelated.

And always clean your phone lens before shooting!

4. Light

When photographing without a studio light you have to find a good spot in your home where it´s bright enough.

The best place is by a window. 

I would recommend testing this out and writing down which place is the best at which time of the day and season. For example, I can shoot in my studio during the summer but during winter it´s way too dark. During winter I can only shoot in the kitchen and also only have 3 hours of sunlight, then the sun is behind the mountains. 

I also recommend using a reflector to minimize shadows. You can just use a second white cardboard or painting canvas and put it up on the opposite side of your window.

This is a good example:

(photo from interest)

Then we also don´t want direct full sunlight on our products because the light would be too "hard". You can use a white light curtain or vellum paper on the window to make the light softer.

Here is another example with curtains:

(photo from interest)

So now you can set up your perfect photography scene or flat lay and start shooting!

Then up to the next step - Editing!

Editing is such a biiiiiiig topic and everyone does this differently to achieve his personal style so I will only give some quick and important tips for editing on your phone with the app that I love to use - Snapseed.

1. White Balance

The first step I always do is going to "white balance" pick this little pipette and drag it to the lightest spot on your image. 

2. Fine Tune

Then I go to fine-tune and adjust the light, contrast, saturation, ambiance, .... 

When you click and hold on your image you can see the before.

3. Details

Then I go to details and adjust the sharpness.

4. Selective

And lastly I use the selective tool, which I think is the coolest in this app. 

You click on the plus icon and then on the part on your image you want to brighten. "zooming" with two fingers makes the spot that gets lighter bigger or smaller. 

And that´s basically it!

Here is a before and after: 

So that is everything for today!

Let me know if these tips were helpful for your photo shoot!

The next Part of this series is the following:

Part 5: Ways to advertise your shop

This will actually also be our last part of the sticker shop series. So after that, I will make a poll for our next topic! 🧡