Photo editing for Etsy

mirandashell

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Help!

I want to set up an Etsy shop and I have some photos of the goods. But I want to make them better and put some appropriate backgrounds on them.

But.... I have no idea how to do this. I'm assuming there's a software that will let me do it. Something similar to the software that creates book covers?

As I'm extremely skint, I'm hoping there's some free stuff I can use........
 

alleycat

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GIMP is free and would let you do it.

What is in the background now, and what do you plan to use? It might be very easy to replace the background or it could be difficult depending on what you have.

If you wanted to send me one I can sort of tell how difficult it would be. I can give you my e-mail address by PM.
 

Reziac

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Various suggestions over yonder.

It's generally better to photograph on the desired background than to trace-and-paste. And the background should not compete with the product. Something cheap and plain like construction paper, towels, or pillowcases can work very well.

I cleaned up the website photographs for an outfit that sold handmade bag purses. The background that worked best was contrasting velvet, tho any non-glary cloth would work. Pastels compress better than primary colors -- large areas of red, orange, or bright blue can really glare once compressed. Experiment! Pixels are free. :)
 
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mirandashell

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Yes please, Alleycat. That would be great.

I took the photos myself and due to the light not being great, they don't look very good. I took them against a white background. So that's alright but I need a good editing suite to clean them up.
 

Reziac

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When I clean up a photo that had inadequate lighting, first I use PhotoPaint's "auto-equalize" function, which brightens up and de-muddies the colors by getting rid of that yellowish murk, then I muck about with gamma and contrast til details look right.

Or, why white is not always the best background. :(