THE SHOT LIST

One thing to get right: Get in close on the saddle stitch and the burnished edge. Those two details are the entire argument for your price.

SHOT 01 — THE HERO  (4:5)
  Job:     The one that stops the scroll and becomes your listing thumbnail.
  How:     Hand-stitched card holders in veg-tan leather centred, filling about 60% of the frame, plenty of clean space around it. Shoot at eye level with the object, not looking down at it.
  Mistake: Filling the frame edge to edge. Marketplaces crop to a square and your product loses its head.

SHOT 02 — THE SQUARE SAFE  (1:1)
  Job:     Etsy and Instagram grid both want a square. Shoot it, do not crop it later.
  How:     Same setup as the hero but composed square in the phone's 1:1 mode, with the product dead centre.
  Mistake: Assuming a 4:5 crops down cleanly. It rarely does.

SHOT 03 — THE DETAIL  (1:1)
  Job:     Proof of the handwork. The single most persuasive frame in the set.
  How:     As close as the phone will focus while staying sharp — usually 10–15cm. Fill the frame with one made detail.
  Mistake: Using digital zoom. Move the phone instead; zoom throws away the resolution that made it a detail shot.

SHOT 04 — IN THE HAND  (4:5)
  Job:     Scale, instantly. Nothing else communicates size as fast.
  How:     Hold it naturally in a clean hand against a plain background. Have someone else press the shutter, or use the timer.
  Mistake: A stiff, flat palm presentation. Hold it like you would actually use it.

SHOT 05 — IN USE  (4:5)
  Job:     Shows the buyer the thing in their own life rather than on a table.
  How:     Put it in the room it belongs in, doing what it does. Some context is allowed to be out of focus.
  Mistake: A cluttered background. One or two supporting objects, no more.

SHOT 06 — THE SET  (1:1)
  Job:     Shows the range and encourages a second purchase.
  How:     Three or more pieces in a row or a loose triangle, evenly spaced, one slightly forward.
  Mistake: Perfect symmetry. Offset one item and it stops looking like a catalogue.

SHOT 07 — FLAT LAY FROM ABOVE  (1:1)
  Job:     The most forgiving shot to get right, and the easiest to keep consistent across a whole shop.
  How:     Phone directly overhead, parallel to the surface. Use the phone's grid and level so it is genuinely square on.
  Mistake: Shooting at a slight angle and calling it a flat lay. The eye catches it immediately.

SHOT 08 — THE BACK / THE BASE  (1:1)
  Job:     Transparency. Showing the unglamorous side builds more trust than another pretty angle.
  How:     Straight on, well lit, no styling. Include your stamp, signature, or base finish if you have one.
  Mistake: Skipping it. Buyers of handmade look for it and read its absence as hiding something.

SHOT 09 — PACKAGING  (4:5)
  Job:     Sells the gifting case and sets expectations for the unboxing.
  How:     The piece half in its wrap or box, ribbon and label visible, as it will actually arrive.
  Mistake: Styling packaging you do not actually send. Never photograph a box you do not own.

SHOT 10 — PROCESS  (4:5)
  Job:     The content that fills your feed for a month and cannot be copied.
  How:     Mid-action, hands in frame, workbench visible. Slightly messy is correct here.
  Mistake: Cleaning up first. The mess is the credibility.

SHOT 11 — COLOUR / VARIANT ROW  (1:1)
  Job:     Answers "what other colours?" before it is asked.
  How:     Every variant in one row, identical spacing, shot dead square from above.
  Mistake: Shooting variants on different days. Light shifts and the colours will not match.

SHOT 12 — NEGATIVE-SPACE BANNER  (16:9)
  Job:     Your shop banner and any ad. Needs empty space for text.
  How:     Product pushed to one third, the rest deliberately empty background.
  Mistake: Centring it. Then there is nowhere for the words to go and you crop it badly forever.

THE SESSION
  1. Pick an overcast day or the 8–10am slot. Clear the table completely.
  2. Set up: background board against the wall, product raised to lens height, bounce card opposite the window.
  3. Shoot the list in order — 1 through 12. Do not edit anything until all twelve are done.
  4. Take three frames of each, moving slightly between them. You will want the choice later and it costs nothing now.
  5. Check shot 1 and shot 3 at full zoom before you break the set down. Those two are the ones you cannot re-shoot from memory.
  6. Edit one photo, save the preset, apply to the rest.

  About 90 minutes for the set, 30 for the edit. Once a quarter, or whenever you launch a line.