I want to start a business on Etsy selling things. My problem is, I need to know how to get pictures downloaded from a digital camera to the internet site. Can someone help me with this? I don't have a digital camera yet and would also like to know if anyone has any advice about an easy to use camera. I am a senior citizen who needs to supplement my income. Many thanks and blessings.
By Connie P.
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I have a shop at Etsy. It is currently empty (I wanted to take break from maintaining it, and I've been busy with local custom orders).
It takes a few steps to get the pictures onto the website. First you'll take the pictures with your camera. Then you have to get them onto your computer. Your camera should come with a USB cable and instructions. Hopefully you'll do some editing and cropping. Your camera will probably have some software from the manufacturer with it. I don't use my camera's software, but it'd work. Once you have good images, you upload them to the site. I haven't listed in a long time (over a year) but they had pretty clear instructions while you're doing your listings.
When you get your camera, you need to really read through the manual and play with it before trying to upload any photos to the site. Customers will skip right over poor (blurry or dark) photos. I don't know what kind of items you plan to sell, but a clear, interesting photo for the first image to grab attention is good. I do jewelry and cards, so I'd probably use a close up of a detail for the first image (cropped down to the detail with software). You'll want to play with lighting and backgrounds. I made a lightbox, and that helps a lot. This is basically how I made mine. I chose this style and assembled it with painter's tape, so I could disassemble it for storage (my house is already crowded!):
www.studiolighting.net/
But this looks like a very nice way to make a light box, too:
www.digital-photography-school.com/
Consider getting an inexpensive tripod (depending on what you're photographing). You can adjust some settings in your camera to make your pics look brighter or darker, or you can use photo editing software. I like to take several shots, adjusting the white balance, and then do add'l editing/cropping with software. Try to get shots showing your items from different angles, with close ups of special details, and at least one picture showing the entire piece. I'm going to try to attach one detail pic of some earrings. I tried to make it eye-catching for potential customers.
We have two of the larger zoom point and shoot Olympus digital cameras (most recent was purchased just over a year ago, and was about $500-$600). I prefer the older camera. Even though it's over 10 years old, it still takes sharp pictures with wonderful colors. This spring we picked up a Nikon digital SLR. We have many more options, and it's a wonderful camera. But if you're just starting, there is no need to go with something like that. Here is a link to some buying advice from consumerreports.org:
You'll need a subsription if you want to see specific ratings, but perhaps the information in the link will help while you're shopping.
Best of luck with the camera and your business! If you have more questions, feel free to send me a message, and I'll try to help.
If you want an easy-to-use camera that isn't too expensive, go for the point-and-shoot variety. Make sure it's at least got the capability to take 7 megapixel photos. While Mrs. Story's info is very helpful, it might be a tad advanced for a beginner like you, so I'll add some tips.
You'll inevitably need to tweak your photos to make them look their best, so you'll need some easy-to-use software. I'd recommend IrfanView (Google the name to find it), as it's free, has tons of features, and is easy to use. The quickest way to make pics look better is to use the "gamma correction" slider, IrfanView provides a preview image, so you can see the changes before you apply them.
You'll also need to reduce the size of your pictures, because people will get really annoyed if they have to download a gigantic image, LOL. One easy way to determine what size to use is this: Download some pics from Etsy. Open them in IrfanView, then hit the letter i on your keyboard. This opens the image information dialog. It will tell the size of each image. Get an idea of what size images other people are uploading, then reduce your images to that size.
If you're wondering, why not just use a lower resolution in the first place, here's why, the pics will be poor quality. IrfanView uses filters to resize pictures smoothly, so the quality is better. :)
Finally, if Etsy requires you to upload your pics to a photo hosting site, just upload them to tinypic.com, and use the link in your Etsy listing. Tinypic.com is free, and you can use it for listing stuff on eBay, etc.
Good luck with your new venture!
I'm 74 and I have a Samsung SL202. It is 10.2 mega pixels and we bought the extra memory card. A very nice young woman at Best Buy put that in for us and she also set the date and language. I love it! It is easy for me to use and downloading is easy. I use Picassa3 for all my photo sharing. You can move things from there to Etsy or thriftyfun with very little effort. It was about $120.00 and worth every penny. You can load from your camera to your computer without installing a disc or anything. There is a cord that comes with it and a place on the back of your CPU to plug it in. Enjoy! No more trips to the photo shop with all those rolls of film.
Another thing..... Picassa will enable you to crop and clear up red eye and all the things needed to make nice photos. And it's very easy. I'm getting pretty proficient with Picassa so if you need any more advice or help I'll be happy to try. You can contact me. I was considering an Etsy site and never got around to setting it up. The people at Etsy are really nice and helpful. There is also a place for sharing info with other Etsy users. Crafters, for the most part, are very helpful and willing to share.
Simply, first find a friend who can do a trial run for you with their camera. I do a lot of volunteer things for people, including my photos. So many cameras to choose from, do you want just for this, or other use? If a multi use one needed, consider rechargeable batteries, a must. My whole family uses the same kind of camera (Sony) and so we all have the same hardware, batteries, etc, I buy things in bulk to save money. I spent about $500 on MY cameras, but for my kids, the $200 ones were good. I let my grandchildren use the same $200 ones to learn on. I NEVER take the memory card out of the camera, too many times to screw things up and have to replace expensive cards. I use the USB port, plug cables in to my cameras to download. To move it anywhere out side my computer, I use travel drives. Less contamination, less chance of viruses, etc.
I would ask someone right there for help and suggestions--someone who knows you. You would be much happier with the results in camera hunting too. Remember that cameras have settings for shooting that allow from small internet photo to jumbotron size. Does the one you want have that or not? What program do you want to use to tweek your photo? etc. etc.
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