As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words and the definitely holds true in the flower biz. A photograph of your designs can instantly convey your talent and expertise to your customers. Not only are good snapshots important when it comes to building portfolio of your work, it’s also a perfect way to lure customers in when they’re browsing online for a florist. One of the most effective tools a florist can have in the shop is a digital camera. Toda’s digital point-and-shoots have made the art of photography a relative snap and it’s quick and easy to get an image of an arrangement before it heads out in a delivery truck. Read on to find out how you can capture a quality image that illustrates the true beauty of the design.

What’s behind does matter

A simple background is key to a great product picture. You want customers to focus on the flowers in the picture, not the people or products lurking in behind. Buy a few coloured fabric swatches to use as a background and make sure the fabric hangs flat – either wall, stand or the back of a chair. Avoid black, which can drown out detail or white, which is hard to light (unless you have a light tent, see our web site for more info) and go with a solid colour

Light it up

You need to properly light your photos to capture the true colours of the flowers and avoid any dark shadows or overexposed area. Often the camera’s flash out the image and produce using a soft light source that shines from behind you – either a window with natural lightening or a 100 watt bulb a carefully positioned piece of white cardboard, held just behind the camera can also help redirect light onto your product. Play around with the lighting and see what works best.

Get close and snap away

Fill the picture frame with the design so your customers can see all the finer details – either step closer to the design or zoom in to get a nice, tight shot. Kneel down so you are eye level with the product or invest in a mini tripod to make sure you take steady, level shots. Take both horizontal and vertical pictures as well as a few different angles to showcase the various aspects of the arrangement.

Putting those pictures into use

If you’re a tech whiz, then playing with editing software can sharpen or lighten your photos. Their area numbers of editing programs available to buy as well as a few free online editors. But if your happy with the way the pictures look, then select our favourites and print away, keep a back-up CD with all your images just in case you want to print more. Organise your designs into themes in a photo album or portfolio so they are readily available when customers asks.

Let the we see what you’ve got

Add the new photos to your web site so potential online customers can view samples of your style. On the web, you don’t need large files – the bigger the file, the longer the photos will take to load your site. Similarly, many web site providers won’t allow you to upload large files. There are a few simple ways you can go about reducing the size of the file to make them web-ready. Make sure when you’re shrinking a photo you keep a copy of the original saved somewhere. Many photo editing programs have an option that lets you shrink the picture, but you can also do it for free online (and you don’t have to download a thing) at www.shrinkpictures.com or www.easyphotoresize.com. These sites allow you to shrink by a percentage or reduce them to a certain pixel size. Figure out which size looks best on your site and keep all of the pictures uniform size.

Once you get the hang of your camera and your software, it’s always easier the second time round don’t forget to update your print and web portfolio frequently with your latest and greatest!

Article taken from the Canadian florist magazine (August / September issue)