How to photograph your merch so it looks its best

A good photo of an item is an honest one: the colour it really is, the shape it really is, and the tag, stitching and flaws someone would want to see in person. Museums photograph clothing for their records with the same aims, and their guides need nothing more than a phone, a window and a clean sheet.

Light

Daylight from a window is the light to use. A University of Oxford guide to photographing objects says to "place the object by a window, or seek out more natural light" when a room is too dark, rather than reaching for the flash (University of Oxford).

• Turn the flash off. The same guide warns that a camera's built in flash "will often result in unwanted flash glare bouncing off the item or hard shadows". A shiny print catches it easily.
• Soft, not direct. An overcast day or a window out of direct sun gives even light. If the sun comes straight in, a sheet of tracing paper or a thin white curtain softens it; the Oxford guide suggests tracing paper over a flash for the same reason.
• Skip the ceiling light. eBay's photo tips say to reduce glare by avoiding the flash and overhead lighting (eBay picture tips).
• Move the light, not the truth. For a shiny print, a pin or a patch, change the angle of the light or the camera until the shine goes (Museums Association of Saskatchewan).

Flat lay

For the main photo, lay the item flat and shoot straight down. The Canadian Heritage Information Network's standard for photographing clothing samples says to shoot "from above", with the back of the camera "level and precisely parallel" to the item, so it isn't distorted (CHIN, clothing samples, CHIN, long artifacts in supple materials).

1. Smooth the shirt out on a clean, plain surface: a bed sheet, a floor, a large sheet of card.
2. Stand over it and hold the phone flat above it, level with the floor, so the shirt's edges look straight on screen. A phone tilted towards you stretches whatever is nearest.
3. Fill the frame by moving closer or higher, not by zooming. The Oxford guide says to adjust the camera's height "rather than using the zoom function".
4. Take the front and the back. A tour shirt's back is often half of what it is; our guide to reading a back print says why.

A photo of the shirt being worn shows how it hangs and fits. Take it as well as the flat lay, not instead of it.

Background

Museums ask for a background that is "clean, uniform in colour, wrinkle free and large enough that its edges cannot be seen" (Museums Association of Saskatchewan); CHIN's clothing standard uses black or neutral grey (CHIN). At home, a plain sheet that contrasts with the item does the job: pale for a black shirt, darker for a white one. Keep other things out of the frame, so nobody wonders which items are included.

True colour

A phone guesses the colour of the light, and a wrong guess changes the colour of the shirt. Two habits help.

• Set the white balance. The Oxford guide says to adjust the white balance "if you notice your photos taking on a non-representative colour cast", and to set it by photographing something completely white, such as a sheet of paper that fills the frame. Many phone camera apps let you lock it; if yours doesn't, daylight and no mixed lamps get you most of the way.
• Include a reference. Conservation labs photograph a grey card beside the object and correct the colour from it (Library of Congress). A plain sheet of white paper at the edge of one photo does the same job at home.

Don't add filters. Vinted's help pages put it plainly: choose photos taken in natural daylight over lamplight, and "don't use flash or filters" (Vinted).

Tags, labels and stitching

Close-ups of the details are what a careful reader looks for after the first photo. Museums take "detail shots" of maker's marks and labels for the same reason (Museums Association of Saskatchewan).

• The neck tag, sharp enough to read every word. Tap the screen on the tag so the phone focuses there.
• The care label, wherever it is sewn, and any RN number on it.
• The stitching on a sleeve hem and the bottom hem, close enough to count the rows. Our guide to single and double stitch says what to look for.
• The print, close up, so its texture and any cracking show.
• Any copyright line printed under the art.

The same two close-ups, the tag and the stitching, are what our vintage tag dater reads to give a likely range of years.

Flaws

Show every flaw, in its own clear close-up: holes, stains, pinholes, fading, a cracked print, a loose hem, a stretched collar. eBay asks sellers to "show clear, closeup images" of any flaws, and its picture rules don't allow photos that "don't accurately represent the item" (eBay picture tips, eBay picture policy). The same goes for an item you are only showing off: people trust a closet that shows the wear.

• Light it from the side. Conservators use low, raking light to show surface damage that even light hides (Conservation Wiki, American Institute for Conservation). Light from a window across the print shows its cracks plainly.
• Show the size. Put a ruler or a coin next to the flaw so its size is clear (eBay picture tips). Museums use "a simple ruler" as a scale too (Museums Association of Saskatchewan).
• Point to it in words. Say where the flaw is in the item's description, so a reader knows which photo to look at.

Measurements

A tag's size says little about a vintage shirt. Lay it flat and photograph a tape measure across the chest, armpit to armpit, and down the back from the collar to the hem. Our vintage fit converter turns those two numbers into the modern size it fits like.

On MerchVice

MerchVice takes up to eight photos per item, as JPEG, PNG or WebP files up to 15 MB each. Put the flat lay first, so the whole item is the first thing people see.

Your photo's location stays private. MerchVice reads a photo's date and camera when you upload it and never stores where it was taken: the copies it keeps carry no location data, and the file you uploaded is deleted once they are made.

Sources

Museums, archives and universities:

• University of Oxford: Digitisation Guidelines for a Digital Collection Day: Digital Cameras
• Canadian Heritage Information Network: Artifacts, Clothing Samples and Long Artifacts in Supple Materials
• Museums Association of Saskatchewan: Tip Sheet: Photographing Artefacts for Documentation (2017)
• Library of Congress, Conservation Division: Digital Imaging Workflow for Treatment Documentation, Image Processing
• American Institute for Conservation, Conservation Wiki: Raking light

Marketplace help pages, for photographing flaws and keeping photos true:

• eBay: Adding pictures to your listings and Picture policy
• Vinted: What photos you should upload

We name no product to buy.