It’s Monday and we were really, really (yes, really) hoping to launch our Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper Photoshop action set today. We did give it the ol’ college try, but even though I tried to power through allergies that turned into a cold, we couldn’t make it happen. There’s a lot that goes into these launches, not just the technical aspect, but getting the tutorials ready, the promo video, even getting photos to use in the samples, it easily becomes a giant snowball of to-do’s. This weekend we did have a breakthrough and instead of us photographing every.single.image, we reached out to some on-line shops that we thought had great products, nice styling/composition and their photos worked just lovely but we wanted to see what they would look like with a little Shopkeeper’s Helper. The above photo is from one of Etsy’s most favorited vintage stores Vintage Paramour, I LOVED the results!  We have an action in the set ‘the star’ which allows you to finally get that beautiful white background while maintaining your shadows. I did have to run it twice because it it was a tough yellow, but it took me mere seconds and I have to tell you there is something so satisfying about getting the background to turn from either a dull or color casted white to a beautiful, clean white, you’ll have to try it to fully understand, Michelle feels the same way so I know it’s contagious (and addicting!). While I was editing some of Vintage Paramour’s photos I realized a need for another action to add to the set to spot remove yellow casts on products and it works like a charm, so I guess it worked out that we are delayed because that means the set just got even better!  For everyone that feels like Photoshop is too complicated, that they’d never be able to figure it out, I can assure you that if my MIL can edit a photo professionally now with our action set (and she can’t even turn on her computer) than I am confident that you will be able to as well! We have basically made it so that anybody even my 15 month daughter could figure this out (well the push the button part, she can’t read the dialog boxes yet). And don’t worry we will have plenty of back up tutorials for any questions that may come up, you are going to be an editing pro in no time!

Do you have a shop and want to see us edit some of your images?  Include the links in the comments to your shop and we’ll see if we can’t get around to a quick edit! This week the focus will be on the launch so you’ll see more amazing transformations. We have some ideas for a Google hangout to edit photos live and answer your questions on the spot, is that something you might be interested in? We really want to make this simple for you, I know from experience that editing shop photos is a bear, but having clean, clear shots that allow your products to shine is really a game changer, Shopkeepers Helper will make it so much easier + faster, we hope it adds to your success!

You can sign-up for the Shopkeeper’s Helper Launch here (and of course all sign-ups get a free mini set of actions!).

I love a good stack, so much so that when we were designing my wedding bands (yes, bands plural) I had a band made in white gold, yellow gold, rose gold and platinum. Granted my bands were only a millimeter wide (teeny, tiny), but I do love them!

I was talking to my friend, jewelry designer Sofia Kaman (queen of the stack) today, she just finished her re-brand and the herculean task of a new site re-design, she’s celebrating with helping you get started with your own stack!  I know it’s the 11th hour to mention this but they aren’t doing the drawing until tomorrow afternoon (Sunday, March 7!)  All you need to do is regram the above image, tag @sofiakaman and use the hashtag #skstylegiveaway to be entered to win a $500 gift certificate towards your own stack! Beware though before you visit her site be prepared to be majorly tempted, Sofia has some pretty, crazy amazing designs that would look good on your finger forever. I chose some of my faves, here, here, here and here, but believe me I have a laundry list of many more!

Speaking of re-brand, and I KNOW Sofia is going to kill me, but we have had heated discussions about this and I am convinced I am right on this one and I want to hear your feedback. Sofia was adamant that her name follow with ‘fine jewels’, I was adamant that it be ‘fine jewelry’. Sofia said that ‘fine jewelry’ sounded stuffy to her, where I believe ‘fine jewels’ doesn’t sound high-end and sounds more like she is selling loose gemstones. ‘Fine jewelry’ is timeless, classic, it also clarifies that she is selling ‘fine’ versus ‘faux’. What do you think? Which sounds better to you for gorgeous, (fine) jewelry?  And btw, it has no bearing on who will win, I just want her to go into this re-brand as successful as possible!  Good luck everyone!

P.S. The hand lettering was done by the very talented Torrie Asai, who for the record is not a professional letterer, but boy she could be!

 

Okay, first let me give kudos to all the fine jewelry photographers in the world, it is not easy!  I wasn’t planning on showing you a before + after this morning, but I was editing shop photos and thought I would see how long it would take me to edit this really poorly lit and (Pacific North West blue) color cast ring I photographed for a sample Shopkeeper’s Helper image. It took about a minute, maybe an eeensy bit more because I used some of our surgical precision level tools-jewelry sparkle, shadow darken, color mute (there were rogue colors from the room in the facets) and highlight tone. Even with the precision tools I managed to get this done super fast!

We’ve been asked what the difference will be from Shopkeeper’s Helper and our Original Foto Rx Photoshop actions set. Obviously, we will be targeting online shop specific images, it will come with the original set included (after all you need an awesome base image) and then it gets seriously Ninja on you from there. The star of course is the ability to get beautiful white backgrounds whilst still maintaining your shadows without using the dodge tool or any other exposure destructive means. I wish I had this when I first started out shooting products for my shop, it would have saved me many a photo breakdown! We also created a realistic depth of field/blur action, perfect for Iphone shots or when your camera lens doesn’t have the ability to give you that creamy blurry background you crave (this is up for best supporting action by the Academy). There are too many to list in this little post, but it’s going to be a product photo editing game changer indeed!

Michelle and I have even been toying around with the idea of doing a shop photo editing giveaway, where we would edit your photos with our Foto Rx Shopkeeper’s Helper actions, or would you prefer to try to win a set? Whenever launching a new product, it’s always a challenge trying to figure out a way to market it and get the word out in the best, most sincere way possible. We are up for suggestions for anyone out there that has any. Of course, as always we plan to share with you our process, because sharing is caring.

You can sign-up for the Foto Rx Shopkeeper’s launch here (we are launching this month!) and everyone that sign’s up gets a free mini set of actions! Let us know if you have any questions.

P.S. I used the macro close-up lens filters on my regular 50 mm lens to photograph the ring, a completely amazing tool!

P.P.S. Your original image probably won’t be as bad as mine was, so it’ll be even easier editing!

As I was packing orders this a.m. I realized I hadn’t done a sale in the shop in a very long while!  With baby, Foto Rx and my regular shipping schedule it’s easy to let these things fall by the wayside, I plan to rectify that today! I am a huge proponent of getting a custom logo stamp made for your business, it’s the easiest way to get branding readily available to a multitude of items-make your own note cards, labels, use for shipping boxes, gift tags, the list goes on and on! For the entire month of March (but yes, starting today!) ALL custom logo stamps will be 50% off.  That should give  you plenty of time to get your artwork prepped and ready to be made into your own custom logo stamp! This discount is ONLY for custom logo stamps please (and thank you!)

This is also a pre-celebratory sale, our Foto Rx Shopkeeper’s Helper is launching in March and it will be your key to editing stellar shop photos, which in turn could only mean more sales, right? And you’ll need to include thank you notes with your logo, gift tags on any freebies, you’ll want to stamp all your parcels with your logo, I mean you’ll be busy, busy and want to make sure you are prepared! The coupon discount code is LOGOSTAMP50, on each description are instructions on how files need to be set-up to make the best stamp plate possible, again this is ONLY for custom logo stamps. Enjoy!

P.S. For those new to coupon codes in Etsy, once you put item in cart, you’ll find a ‘apply coupon code’ highlighted in blue below the ‘paypal’ logo, just click, put in the code LOGOSTAMP50 and it will deduct 50% from your stamp order!

P.P.S. Yes, of course, if you just want to make a custom stamp with your own artwork you can use this code too!!!

photo by intertwyned photography