When it comes to fabric photos that sell, there are a few things that you can do to help make your images more appealing to buyers. We spoke with quilt pattern designer and expert photographer, Megan Collins, to get her tips on taking great photos, and here is what she had to say!

1. Natural light is your best friend.

Photographing in natural light is the best way to make your product shine. Your colors will be more accurate, your fabric will look desirable and true to real life. If you have the option to wait for daylight and natural light coming through a window, this will yield your best results. Face the fabric toward the window, place it on a neutral background, and shoot! If your light source is making one side of the photo brighter than the other, use a white posterboard on the dark side of the image to reflect light back on to the fabric. This will create an even distribution of light. P.S. – we’re not sure who needs to hear this but, we strongly recommend NOT using your camera’s flash.

2. Use white posterboard to reflect light back on the fabric.

If your light source is making one side of the photo brighter than the other, use a white posterboard on the dark side of the image to reflect light back on to the fabric. This will create an even distribution of light.

3. Edit. Edit. Edit.

It’s not always possible to photograph during the daytime or even on a sunny day. This is where photo editing is your friend. In fact, it’s pretty much essential. Adjust the exposure and brightness of images to make colors as accurate as possible and represent the true essence of your fabric. Crop out anything in the background that might be distracting.  You can use the settings on your iphone or download an app like snapseed, lightroom or canva to help you make adjustments.

4. Take your photo’s temperature.

When a photograph is taken inside, the light usually has a yellowish cast that distorts the true colors of the object. This yellow cast is considered to be warm. When a photograph is taken on a cloudy day in natural light, the image usually has a blueish hue to the photograph. This bluish cast is considered to be cool. You can adjust the temperature of your photos to make sure that the temperature is just right, and your whites are a true white.

5. Take lots of photos, don’t delete until you edit them.

Take lots of photos. Don’t delete until you go through the editing steps above. Sometimes a photo that you thought was a throwaway will be the best photo in the bunch after editing.

6. Look at your favorite fabric shops on Instagram for inspiration.

If you want to make your fabric photos look like a quilt shop — look to the experts for inspiration! Scroll through the feeds of your favorite quilt shops to see how they style their fabrics to make them look appealing. Do they photograph them in a flat lay? Stack them for a close-up?

7. Take from a different angle — more texture through different angles.

Remember when trying to take fabric photos that sell, you want to show the true nature of the fabric to your buyers. Taking photos from different angles can give buyers an idea of the hand of the fabric. The more information you provide to your buyers, the more likely they will be to buy!

Thanks for these great tips, Megan! To see more of Megan’s beautiful photos, follow her on Instagram. For Megan’s patterns, click here.