Cover Photos Tips and Tricks Time Management Discussion

[Connie]

Could I please get suggestions, tips, and tricks, for saving time when doing the cover photos? I just spent 5 hours yesterday browsing place-it, Etsy, Deposit Photos, etc., looking for suitable mockups and flat-lays. Now I still have to photoshop some in situ/ angled photos to make my own smart-object mockups for things like napkins and table numbers. Flat lays for wedding invitations and related are easy enough. I also got a bunch of smart-object mockups from Etsy, which means now I have to somehow get my designs from Zazzle into those smart objects.

The main things I am stuck on are:

1. How do you save time when browsing for images/ mockups online? It's hard enough when I need just a couple for each product (standard, seasonal), but after reading the "rules", I think I'm going to need a LOT more than what I've already got! If it's not a "trade secret," do you have any favorite go-to sites?

2. I don't mind so much taking time to make my own smart-object mockups, once I find suitable images. Except that Zazzle wants all different images, so I can't reuse those mockups over and over!

3. When using commercial mockups for home decor products, how do you get the designs from Zazzle into the mockups? It's easy enough for patterns or non-personalized designs, but the personalized designs would be hard to recreate in Photoshop, especially if I don't have the exact fonts that I used on Zazzle.

4. Paper products are easy to screenshot and isolate to put into flatlay scenes, but how do you do hundreds or thousands of them without getting bored to death? Has anybody outsourced this? If so, how do you find somebody trustworthy, who isn't going to get the idea to use the bigger screenshots to steal designs, once they find out the method? I'd gladly pay somebody to do it, otherwise it'll never get done!

Thank you all very much in advance.

[Mouse]

I have all my art from zazzle on my computer to use on the mockups but how do we add the text that we use on zazzle?  Does that make sense? So far I have wasted 2 hours getting my images with no text onto 3 mockups. I don't think I could do all my art to cover photos in my lifetime! LOL

[Barbara]

To get the text, you have to download the "Product Mockup." Of course the difficulty there is having to cut out the product image from the background, which can be enormously tedious and time-consuming.

Colorwash's Home

[Mouse]

Thanks Barbara. This is so silly and time consuming to me. In my opinion Zazzle should just offer a few more in-situ photos per product. Was also just thinking, when a customer personalizes a product it shows up on the product as to what it would look like with there name or whatever. That can't happen with mockup photos. I guess I am too much of an overthinker. 🙃

[Barbara]

When a customer goes to a product that shows a mockup and the person wants to personalize the text, the moment they click "Personalize," the image switches to Zazzle's and then it works as usual. No worries.

Colorwash's Home

[Wildart]

nope its easy! use ai to do this for you, search background remover, a good one that is free for all is creative fabrica. saves me so much time. Occasionally I have to drag an irregular shaped item into inkscape and do this myself, but not often.

[CreativeK123]

I have really learned a few things here. Just know that Zazzle recommended in one of their guides to have at least 1480 by 1480 pixel to receive the sharpest image for the cover photo when uploading.