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.

[klstock]

I wanted to delete this since I saw someone had already answered but I can't delete it

[DestinyRose]

For items like mugs, I take a simple screenshot and edit it in photoshop, then add it to whatever background or situation view I like.

1. Remove the background
2. Add bevel and drop shadow in photoshop to add realism.

You could add shadow in Cava, Picmonkey, and other programs you use as well. I also use ClippingMagic for really tricky background removals because it's super fast and you can smooth edges and add shadows there as well. 

[CreativeLeahG]

Note that Canva also has 'background shadows', so in elements ask for a curved shadow for your mug bases, rectangle for invites etc. 

[shellifitz]

I make my own using free images from Pixabay and I have used the same mockup for different pillows and egg stamps without any problem.   I haven't made that many yet but I will be using the same ones I made for my media sections.  I never saw anywhere in the rules that you can't use the same mockup for a different design. 

[Connie]

I haven't looked on Pixabay for suitable things for home decor, but they didn't have anything I liked for wedding suites.

[klstock]

Do you use Canva? I have a Canva pro subscription. I know you like beachy stuff and the thing is you can look for backgrounds and add different elements to the background like a starfish or whatever. Doesn't help on saving time to do the work though. I do my actual artwork on my own programs, but as far as finding stuff for mockups, Canva has been good. 

[Connie]

I haven't checked out Canva yet, but I'll try it and see what they have. I mostly use Photoshop.

[northernmaple]

I'd love to know how to do this with Pixabay. I've been reading these postings but it sounds wayyyy beyond my capabilities. For me, it's such a steep learning curve 😞

Pat

[Jadendreamer13]

I’m not planning to go down this route. It’s too time consuming, and it will prevent me from developing and growing my product line. What I would like to see is Zazzle making a small number of sample products available with our designs on them at cost, deeply discounted, or free for too-level earners so we can create our own real-life in situ photos. Can you do this Zazzle? I know you can.

[DestinyRose]

I am starting to create a few mockups and flat lays. I actually design these as a hobby and have a few in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested. Working on a few mockups for Zazzle cards, mugs, and more.

[Connie]

I'd be interested to check out your Etsy shop. What is the name of it?

[Cherie]

There is a free Photoshop type program called Photopea.com and you can add drop shadows or use the blur tool, etc...and it has mockups!

[isabelalfarrobi]

how can i see the new cover photos?

[KeegansCreation]

You have to make them yourself. Recently Zazzle did two things that make this easier: the product page allows you to Download Art (what is seen in the design tool except without the red, blue and green lines in the way) and Download Mockup which lets you download one of Zazzle's in-situ images. Here are some instructions for what to do to make your own cover photos:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1l5ewyw9d9k-rq9KPgd0raAXR1Yonxs8wrZieJccZ4UY/edit#slide=id.gd... 

Some tips:

1. When you dowload Zazzle's in situ photo, it is the entire photo including the background. You will need to use photo editing software to remove the background so you can plunk it down in a fresh background. Upthread, some people recommend Pixabay as a place to get background photos. For example, you could get a picture of a table with nothing on it from Pixabay, download Zazzle's in situ mockup of a mug, remove the background and plunk it down on that table. Add a shadow with photo editing software so it looks realistic.
2. If you go the Download Art route, there are a lot of commercial mockups. The cover photo guide I linked recommends PlaceIt and Creative Market. I went with Creative Market (costs about 15$ for Mockup Makers) for complex things that require bending the art like shower curtains and duvet covers. You buy the Mockup Maker, open it in Photoshop, and pop in the art you downloaded from Zazzle. The caveat is that you need Photoshop. I have also heard some people use Canva which doesn't require Photoshop so that's something to look into.

[angelafuller729]

Canva is a lifesaver!  The Pro version is $13 / mo.  and lots of mockups and backgrounds . I use them for product pins and collection headers too, especially for those of us who don't have/use Photoshop.

[Jstonge]

I'm confused about mock-ups all together.  When we are done designing a product and hit the sell button the image of the product is already there.  Do we then have to go back and edit it with the mock-up image?  Wouldn't that create a second product?  I just tried to do my first one,  I created the mock-up, hit the upload button, it was uploaded, disappeared and said the image was not available.  Are we suppose to go back and do these for all our products which are in the hundreds and more.  I don't mind doing it but I do have issue with it getting priority in the marketplace,

[Scott]

Just wanted to pop in and mention that we just rolled out a new feature today - Product Insights. You can read about it here. We hope that this new tool will allow you to track the success of your products a bit more closely, and perhaps help you decide how you'll spend your time here on Zazzle. Perhaps this tool can help you determine which products to add Cover Photo to? It might be interesting to hear how this will influence your decision making.

Also, given that Cover Photo has been out for a little while now, it might be nice to hear back from some of the folks who were active earlier in the discussion. Has your approach changed? Has your workflow changed? Have your priorities changes? Are you still spending as much time working on Cover Photo today as you were six months ago when this discussion started?

[KeegansCreation]

My first move from Product Insights was to see if I could solve the mystery of why a particular poster had been viewed so very many times but never bought. It was a poster of a manzanita tree that I photographed while vacationing in California. The searches that Product Insights flagged showed not one single search on Zazzle. 100% google searches. The wording of these searches was that people wondered what manzanita trees looked like. The Zazzle product page did give a fine example of what a manzanita tree looks like. Now that poster has a mockup that makes it more obvious that this is a purchasable poster and not just an informational photo.

So yes, Product insights is helping me prioritize what to give a cover photo to. Unsurprisingly I am making more cover photos now that it is clear they do affect page placement (which they didn't initially, I am guessing). My self and many others in the forums did before and after page placement comparisons and saw jumps of several pages. Given a couple thousand products that I have (and many designers have more), giving all of them a cover photo isn't possible. Many Zazzle products have no commercial mockups that can be bought so isolating from the downloadable mockup, putting that on a background and painting in shadows is the only option. This takes a long time and makes prioritizing necessary. So Product Insights helps with that.

Another place Product Insights helps is with design ideas. I didn't see that coming. But I discovered that 2 people (at least) had found my vintage deer name labels by searching for "venison" and "deer meat". Neither of those terms were in my tags/title/description so I'm not sure how those terms got them to my deer labels but yay anyway. So I decided there is a market for labels specifically designed for people to label packages of venison in their freezer (which they presumably hunted or bought from hunters) with a place for the date instead of somebody's name.

[PenguinPower]

I was involved pretty early. I've had seen lot of success with this, so I definitely plan on continuing. I can't say my approach has changed much. I have not been using any premade or templated mockups. I've got access to Adobe stock through a Creative Cloud subscription, so I've been searching down photos with appropriate subjects/lighting/angles that I can drop product into. This approach is likely more time consuming, but I think it allows me to be a bit more unique and I don't mind photo editing.. Some of this has definitely expanded my skill set too..

As far as workflow... I have a day job, I like being outside and I don't want to stop making new product when I've got ideas.. so I tend to do this in little spurts. When I've got some free time and it's rainy I'll do a bunch. I pick them based partially on whether or not the product already has some good in-situs (those that don't get some priority) and whether or not I can find an appropriate photo to drop the product into. Some things are just tough, because the original mockups don't have many views and finding an image that matches is hard - like the regular (not all over print) aprons.. There's no mockup of someone actually wearing one and it's not easy to find a photo of someone wearing one that is the same kind. 
Here's a few of my newest.

Pink Martini Monogram by Invincible_Penguin	Classic Hallicrafters S 20R Radio Receiver by Penguin_Protest	Muscles not Batteries Mountain Bike T-Shirt by Penguin_Protest
Rustic Nautical Wedding or Engagement by Works_For_Peanuts	Flaming Cow Skull Custom Name by Penguin_Protest	Virus and Retro Virus Funny by Doc_Penguins

[8PawsStudio]

@Scott 

Product Insights is very interesting and I can see it being very helpful for decision-making for the Cover Photos and beyond. Thanks for developing this!

A few thoughts on the Cover Photos

It is great to have the opportunity to present the product in the best light that the creator envisions. But, it seems like even with the best (paid) tools, making Cover Photos is laborious. It is another creative effort, but one that is accompanied by some tedium. (same applies to dedicated social posts, but that's more of an off-platform topic)

Being able to download just the product images with no background would remove some of the boring mechanical aspects in a key marketing process. And being able to do so in bulk for a group of products would be an additional help. (both requests mentioned by many here). 

One of the things I really like about Zazzle is that my design assets are available to me for use in different products. I can intelligently re-use components in different ways in different designs. I think that more of this type of workflow could apply to the Cover Photo process.

Thanks for listening!

[Westerngirl2]

I would like to know if the folks who have being doing cover photos for months now have noticed an increases in sales of those products?  (I hope you have!) It's a cool feature, for sure, but, as many others here, my time is divided between new product design, housekeeping on my stores, housekeeping & family in general, church & family. I think the new product insights feature that Scott discussed can eventually help me decide how best to spend my time, but I'd like to know if making cover photo's should be higher on my priority list. Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to answer that question.

[Westerngirl2]

Well, after posting that I perused the rest of the forum, and found some answers. Sorry 'bout that...I don't have lots of extra time to sift through the forums since they changed the format. Appreciate those who responded; still muddled about whether this new requirement (because that's what it is starting to feel like, if you want continued success here) is something I can reasonably fit in time wise.

[Malissa]

I have seen a huge increase percentage wise in sales and traffic in general to my store.  I have also, in the last couple of days, finally developed a work flow that I am pleased with despite my horrible (and I mean like dial up speed!) internet.  I gave a more detailed response about my love for cover photos here.  My increases are not going to get me to silver anytime soon, but I am happy with my progress so far.  I also really love how my products look with the covers I have made, though I am not going to be making them for every product.

(that link goes directly to my comment so you don't have to sift through the whole thread)

[Amanda23]

Hello! I am scouring the forums for tips on time management and workflow. I was wondering about the workflow for covers that you mention above if you'd be willing to share. 🙂

Amanda

[Malissa]

When I can, I try to batch either like items or like themes to get through them quicker, but the upticks in sales that I saw when I posted that are no longer relevant.  All of the other changes since, like collection media, cross sell collections priority, and videos (I suspect) have changed that and my sales have been poor since September I am sad to say.  However, I am always hopeful and have better internet now and I am working on turning things around.  I have not developed a new workflow to get all the new requirements done though, and am kind of drowning in it all.

[Amanda23]

I am sorry to hear this. 😞 It does seem like there are so many tiny pieces to juggle. It is a little overwhelming to know where to focus or sometimes even where to start!

Thank you for your honest reply. Hang in there!

Amanda

[Malissa]

We just have to pivot and find a new groove to get into.  Sometimes it just takes a while to get there.😊

[MOM]

Hi @Amanda23 ,

 I’m not @Malissa but this is what I do (right now). It takes me definitely to long as well but I’m getting better at it and I’m positive I will soon be happy with the input/result ratio (time, not skill wise).

I have created a resource page on my site at https://sanfrancisco.zone/resources/ where I will add tools I use to speed up my workflow. Some (I think maybe two of the links?) are referral links which means I will possibly get money or AI credit if you follow my links. This doesn’t cost you anything but may help me out down the road.

To isolate Zazzle‘s products in their photos from the background I use Kittl. From all the software I have tested it does the best job - even better than Photoshop which amazed me. I also use Kittl to assemble my cover pictures, it lets you drop shadows and move things easily around. I then just leave that project on Kittl until I can edit it again for a different product. Goes fairly painless in my opinion and makes my Zazzle listings stand out a bit. I have the hardest time though with measurements (I see this now with the cutting boards). But I hope I‘ll get better at that too down the road.

[Amanda23]

No worries at all. I will take all the advice I can assemble. lol Everyone works differently, too, so I always enjoy crowdsourcing and pulling in the best info and tidbits to form my own way. 🙂
I've been wondering about Kittl. Do you pay for it? If so, do you find it worth it? I have other subscriptions and am hesitant to add, but I have heard good things. 

I will check out your resources. Thanks for stopping in with suggestions!

Amanda

[MOM]

Yes, I pay for Kittl but it offers some in the free mode too. Kittl was the first tool I have gotten for my Zazzle venture and it’s definitely the money well worth it for me - every penny actually. I’m on my iPhone right now so I can’t look up the prices and feature comparison but I will check tonight on my laptop. I only work at night on Zazzle (and other things) because during day time I can’t see squat on my laptop screen - to much day light flooding in from outside.

I’m not so happy about Canva which I just have gotten recently because a friend urged me to it. We aren’t friends yet - Canva and I, lol. I just hope they will leave Affinity alone but time will show. 

[Amanda23]

lol. I am a Canva user and really enjoy it. Perhaps one day you may feel the same. 

[ColsCreations]

I've been wondering about Kittl. Do you pay for it? If so, do you find it worth it? I have other subscriptions and am hesitant to add, but I have heard good things.

I'd never heard of Kittl until now so checked it out. The free version is limited to downloads max of 800px/72dpi and if used for commercial purposes require attribution apparently in the form of a watermark that says “provided by Kittl”.

The paid plans give me pause because of the Licensing TOU , mostly this part:

I am NO expert in these legalese things, but it sounds like they are saying any rights you have to use your creations end when your subscription does. I'm not trying to raise any unfounded alarm here but it might be wise, @MOM ,  to try to get a definitive answer from Kittl so you know you can continue to use you covers worry-free if you want to end your paid subscription.

[MOM]

@ColsCreations  You are raising a good point here. I have to check when they last updated their TOS, that's not what I recall when I did sign up because I wouldn't have with the wording like this. Hmm.

I will ask them. Thanks so much Col!!

[MOM]

@ColsCreations @Amanda23 

So I heard back from Kittl:

 

[MOM]

So in the iPhone the screenshot I took looks quite blurry (unless you click on it to enlarge it) so here is the answer copied and pasted:

Quote

Hi there, Thank you for reaching out. Once you cancel your subscription in your Pro plan, you will still be able to use the design created in Kittl when you had a subscription since the design was created the time you had the subscription. Just make sure that you still have an active account with Kittl. to continue using the design created.

Rowela Kittl

Unquote

It’s definitely the answer from Kittl I was hoping for. 😀

[MOM]

PS: I also mirror my products on my own site (see yesterday‘s listing as an example at https://sanfrancisco.zone/california_sea_lions_at_san_franciscos_pier_39_etched_bamboo_cutting_board...) which allows me to create more Pinterest pins, promote multiple times in different venues and will be picked up by Google once they do their dance. This page will show you some of the tools I have listed on the resource page in action. 😉

[Amanda23]

Cool! I was wondering about your website. It looks fairly involved! Nice job building it out. I may need to ask you about mirroring if I try to go the website route. May I ask about where you host and what platform you built on? 

For the resources, I scanned the QR code and it redirected to Kittl, but that's as far as I got even selecting to log in with Google. I may need to create an account first I'm thinking. 

I will likely go back and try again another time. 🙂

Amanda

[MOM]

I’m hosting the site on a dedicated server (MOM.cc) my self and I use WordPress nowadays because it just saves so much time compare to static websites - makes editing a page a brise.

[TShirtfort]

I tried making one yesterday. Took forever and looks meh. Honestly these are kind of distracting. I don't care if the funny t-shirt I'm looking for is artfully placed next to charcuturie board in a grey sterile room with no personality. I'd rather just concentrate on the design itself. 

[CreativeLeahG]

I'll have a go at creating some templates for members to use, for designs to just be plopped on top, but it will only be for flat products I'm afraid and a Canva tutorial for those who want to have a go at creating their own in Canva or to edit of the ones I create for them.