Selling your work · Photographing your pottery

A window, a sheet of white board, and turning the pot.

Turn the pot so the light rakes across the texture instead of flattening it. Nothing else on the selling list matters if the photo is bad, and the photo is a window, a board, a phone, and one rule about which side the light comes from.

Four steps with a tick list at each: the setup, the light, the set of six frames, and the five-minute edit. Six things that go wrong, and five videos from people who photograph pottery.

This is the short version: the window, the board, the side light, the six frames, the edit, each with a tick list. The reasoning, the dark-glaze notes and the questions are in the comprehensive version.

45°Light from one side. Texture is shadow
x6Frames per pot, and one of them in use
x5Videos, from makers who have nothing to do with us
x4Steps, each with a tick list you can work off
Jump to a section
Why this page has words and video The whole idea in three lines The method in six moves What you need by the window 1. The setup 2. The light 3. The set 4. The edit Five people, five setups The one video to watch When it goes wrong How it works at The Clay Hole Questions people actually ask Related lessons
Illustration of a smiling potter in an apron photographing a glazed bowl on a small stool with a camera, with a window and a white panel behind

Every step, the dark-glaze notes, the feed-versus-listing notes and five videos.

Read it, then watch it

Why this is written down and filmed, both.

A pottery photograph is one rule and a setup. The rule is light from one side so the texture casts a shadow, and the setup is a window, a board and a phone, which is a list a page holds. What a page cannot show is a setup being built and an edit being done in real time. That is the videos, five of them from people who photograph pottery.

Use both, in this order

Read the setup and build it once. Watch how other people set up, shoot and edit. Shoot six pots the same afternoon, because the setup is the work and the photos are fast once it exists.

The whole idea

A window, a white board, and the pot turned until the light rakes across it.

One window on the shaded side, every lamp off, white board curved from the table up the wall, the phone propped level with the pot. Turn the pot until the light comes from one side and the texture casts a shadow. Six frames, one in use for scale. Five minutes of edit: straighten, crop, white balance, stop.

The five-minute version

The whole method in six moves.

If you already take photos and you just want the shape of it, this is the shape of it. Everything below is these six moves, slowed down and with the places they fail marked.

1One window, every lamp offThe shaded side of the building, midday. Mixed light is the yellow cast; one source is the fix.
2A board curved up the wallWhite or light gray, from the table up behind the pot, no horizon line. Colored backgrounds are for the feed.
3Light from one sideTurn the pot until the window light rakes across it at about forty-five degrees. Texture is shadow.
4Phone propped, level with the pot, a step backTap the pot to focus. Crop later rather than leaning in. Three tries at each, keep the best.
5Six frames, one in useFront, back, inside, foot, detail, and one with a hand or a spoon for scale. The last one sells.
6Five minutes of edit, then stopStraighten, crop, white balance until the board reads a clean white or gray, a touch of brightness. Never the glaze color.

Before the first frame

What you need by the window.

Six things, and the last one is restraint. The window is the one that matters and it is free.

A window on the shaded sideNorth-facing if you can, or any window out of direct sun, in the middle of the day. Direct sun is a spotlight.
A sheet of white or gray boardPoster board, foam board, a roll of paper. Curved from the table up the wall so there is no line behind the pot.
A phone, or a cameraAny phone from the last five years. A tripod or a stack of books to prop it on.
A white card, or a mirrorHeld on the shadow side to bounce a little light back in when the shadow is too deep. Optional and cheap.
A spoon, a hand, a flowerSomething for scale in one frame of every set. A mug in a hand is the best photograph a mug ever gets.
Five minutes, and restraintThe edit is short. A pot that looks better in the photo than in the box is a refund.

A window on the shaded side, a sheet of white or gray board, a phone and something to prop it on, a white card, something for scale, and five minutes.

1

Step one

One window, every lamp off, a board curved up the wall.

The light is the photograph. A window on the shaded side of the building, midday, every lamp off. Mixed light, a window and a bulb together, is the yellow cast that ruins most phone photos of pots. Direct sun is a spotlight; use a window without it, or hang a sheet over it.

Then the board: a sheet of white or light gray poster board, foam board or paper, laid on the table by the window and curved up the wall behind, taped at the top, so there is no line where the table ends and the wall begins. That curve is the sweep, and it is the single thing that makes a kitchen-table photo look like a catalog. White for most pots; gray for white pots and dark glazes, so the phone does not fight the background.

The setup takes ten minutes to build and thirty seconds to rebuild once you have done it, and it lives in a bag: one sheet of board, a roll of tape, a white card. Build it once and it turns any windowsill, including the ones in our building, into a studio.

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2

Step two

Turn the pot until the light rakes across it from one side.

Texture is shadow. Light from the front flattens the pot. Light from one side, about forty-five degrees to the camera, catches every ridge and carving and throws a small shadow behind it, and that shadow is the difference between a photograph of a pot and a photograph of a shape.

So the window is to one side of the pot, not behind you, and the pot is turned on the board a few degrees at a time until the surface reads. Watch the shadow side as you turn: too dark and the form is lost, and a white card held on that side bounces a little light back in. For a dark glaze, the light goes further round toward behind the pot so the rim and the edges catch a highlight and the form shows against the board.

Then the camera. Propped or on a tripod, level with the middle of the pot for the front, back, foot and detail frames, rather than looking down at it (the inside frame is shot from above), a step further back than feels right, because a phone lens up close distorts a pot into a pear. Tap the pot on the screen to focus and to set exposure, drag the exposure a touch if the pot is dark, and take three tries at each view and keep the best. Florian Gadsby’s video below shows a camera and tripod doing the same job.

Glossy against matte

A glossy glaze reflects the window as a bright shape on its surface, and that reflection is either the best thing in the photograph or a white blob over the glaze color. Move the pot or the camera until the reflection sits on a curve rather than a flat, so it reads as shine and not as a window. A matte glaze has no reflection to manage and wants the light a little further to the side so its surface shows as texture; a satin sits between and usually wants the white card.

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3

Step three

Six frames per pot, and one of them in use.

A listing is a set, not a photo. The front. The other side. The inside from above. The foot, because a buyer wants to know it was finished. A detail of the surface. And one in use, a hand, a spoon, a flower in it, because a pot alone on white has no size and no life.

The in-use frame is the one that sells, and it is the one people skip. A mug on a wooden table by the same window, with the same hand around it every time, is a photograph a buyer can put themselves into. Keep it honest: the same pot, the same glaze, no filter that changes the color, because the review is written when the box opens.

A feed wants one frame, usually the in-use one or the detail, and it wants it square or four-by-five. A listing wants the set. Shoot both in the same session while the board is up; Undseth Pottery’s video below is a full setup and edit for website and social media photos.

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4

Step four

Five minutes of edit, then stop.

Straighten, crop, white balance, a touch of light, stop. Whatever editor your phone has. Straighten so the table is level. Crop square or four-by-five. White balance until the board reads a clean white or gray with no yellow or blue in it, which is why the board is a plain color. A touch of brightness and contrast, and put the phone down.

The one rule of the edit is that the pot in the photo is the pot in the box. Saturation, filters and anything that changes the glaze color turn a sale into a refund and a review. If the photo looks dull, the fix is the light, not the slider; go back to the window. Misha Carrasco’s video below is a beginner setup with about five minutes of editing at the end.

Then name the files with the pot and the glaze, keep the originals, and shoot the next six pots while the board is still up. The setup is the work; once it exists, a pot is three minutes of photographs, and a Saturday afternoon is a shop.

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Watch it done

Now watch five people find the light.

Watch this one, then go find a window.

None of these makers work here. Between them they cover a camera and lights setup, a beginner setup with its edit, an art school studio with a white backdrop, a simple setup at home, and a full studio setup for website and social media photos. Nothing but the still frame loads until you press play.

Almost eighteen minutes on the camera, lights, backdrop and edit used for product photos. It is a camera and lights setup rather than a window and a phone. The other four videos are in the comprehensive version.

Camera, lights and editing How I Film & Photograph my Pottery Florian Gadsby
Almost eighteen minutes from Florian Gadsby on the camera, tripod, lights and backdrop used for product photos, then a Photoshop backdrop fix, a color edit, a question and answer part and a section on editing shorts and reels. It is a camera and lights setup rather than a window and a phone. Watch on YouTube
The setup and the edit How To Photograph Ceramics | Beginner Friendly Setup + Editing Tutorial Misha Carrasco
Twenty minutes in chapters: the setup, lighting, camera angles, a Sony against an iPhone, and about five minutes of editing at the end. The description calls it beginner friendly with no fancy equipment needed. Watch on YouTube
The art-school version MICA Career Resources: How to Photograph 3D Art w/ Dan Meyers Maryland Institute College of Art
Five minutes from the Maryland Institute College of Art, from 2011, on photographing three-dimensional work: a camera on a tripod, a studio light and a white curved backdrop. It uses studio lights, not a window. Watch on YouTube
At home, a simple setup how i photograph my ceramics at home ~ pottery vlog 018 jamie griffin
Five minutes on photographing pieces just out of the kiln at home with a simple setup, narrated by voiceover. The video shows a curved cream backdrop set up against a wall. Watch on YouTube
Setup, lighting and editing How I Photograph & Edit My Pottery for our website + Social Media Undseth Pottery
Twenty-three minutes in chapters: studio setup and props, surface choice, lighting and equipment, photography techniques, editing in Lightroom, natural light shots and closing business advice. The title says the photos are for a website and social media. Watch on YouTube

When it goes wrong

Six ways it goes wrong, and what to do about each.

The three failures that happen on the first afternoon.

Pick the one that looks like your photo. The first three are light and focus. The last three are the background, the scale, and the pot.

Pick the one that looks like your photo.

How it works here

At The Clay Hole, the pickup shelf is the worst place to photograph a pot.

This page is written for potters everywhere. A few things are specific to our building, so you know before you start.

Three things to know here

The pickup shelves are under ceiling lights, which gives flat, mixed light. A sheet of white board in your bag turns any windowsill in the building into a studio. Your work is yours to sell however you like, and the photograph is the first thing a buyer sees.

Where to shoot here

Not the pickup shelf. Any table near a window, with a board from your bag and the nearest lamp off, in the middle of the day. Ask before you move anyone’s work to get to the light, and put the table back.

Selling your work

Everything you make here is yours to sell, online, at markets, to galleries, however you like. Day to day the studio does not sell or ship members’ work; studio sales and showcases like Gallery Night are the exception. Our selling lesson is the map, and this page is its first step.

Honesty

A photograph that improves on the pot is a refund waiting to happen. Grind the foot wet, over a bucket, in an N95 or better with safety glasses, before the photo, per the sanding lesson, photograph the pot you will ship, and let the light do the flattering.

The first pot

Photograph your best pot before you list anything, and look at it on a phone screen at the size a buyer sees. If the texture reads, the foot is clean and the color is true, the setup works. If not, it is the light, and the light is a window.

Questions people actually ask

The ones that come up every week.

Do I need a camera?

No. A phone made in the last five years photographs pottery well enough to sell it, if the light is right. The light is the whole thing, and a window is free. A camera helps with control and with big prints; it does not help with a bad window.

What is the setup?

A table by a window on the shaded side of the building, in the middle of the day. A sheet of white or light gray board on the table and curved up the wall behind, so there is no line where the table ends. The pot on the board, turned until the light from the window rakes across it from one side. Every lamp off. The phone propped or on a tripod, level with the middle of the pot, a step back from where you want to be.

Why white board?

Because a plain background makes the pot the only thing in the frame, and because a true white gives the phone something to balance color against. Gray works and is kinder to white pots. Colored backgrounds are for the feed, not the listing.

What about editing?

Five minutes in whatever your phone has: straighten, crop square or four-by-five, white balance until the board reads a clean white or gray, a touch of brightness, a touch of contrast, and stop. The pot has to look like the pot that arrives, or the review says so. Never change the glaze color.

How many photos per pot?

Six for a listing: the front on white, the back or the other side, the inside from above, the foot, a detail of the surface, and one in use with something for scale. One good photo for a feed. The in-use one is the one that sells.

How do I photograph a dark glaze?

Light from the side and slightly behind, so the edge catches a highlight and the form reads. A gray board rather than white, so the phone does not underexpose the pot to keep the background bright. Tap the pot on the screen and drag the exposure up a touch.

Can I photograph at The Clay Hole?

Yes, though the pickup shelves sit under ceiling lights, which gives flat, mixed light. Take the pot to a window, or better, home. A sheet of white board in your bag turns any windowsill in the building into a studio, and a plain table near daylight beats any shelf.

Related lessons

Six lessons that sit next to this one.

Three to read next.

The photograph is the first step of selling. These are the next six.

Selling your workHow to Start Selling Your PotteryWhere the photographs go next. Selling your workWhat a Pot Actually Costs You to MakeThe number under the price under the photo. Firing and fixingScouring, Sanding and GrindingThe foot, ground before it is photographed. Selling your workPacking and Shipping PotterySo the pot in the box matches the pot in the photo. Selling your workCraft Fairs and MarketsThe other place you sell, face to face. Selling your workGetting Into GalleriesWhat you email a gallery starts with photographs. These are the ones.

That is the whole method

One window. A board up the wall. Light from the side. Six frames. Five minutes. Stop.

Your first set will be shot under the kitchen light with the window behind you, and it will look like every pot ever listed by a beginner. The second set, by the window with the lamp off, will look like a shop. The difference is a sheet of poster board and which way you were facing.

If you want the dark-glaze notes, the feed-versus-listing notes, the edit in full and the answers to the questions everybody asks, switch to the comprehensive version at the top. Otherwise, go buy a sheet of white board.

Back to Clay Hole University Then where the photos go

Written for potters everywhere. Where our studio does things differently, the page says so.