Blacksheep Mind Get the book, $15

A Blacksheep Mind web book · Brand and design

It looks so much better in real life. Only you know that.

Nine steps to bright, clean, true-color photos and clear-sounding videos of your work, with the phone you already have, one window or one lamp, and a white sheet. For makers, cafe and bakery owners, salons and studios, and anyone who photographs their own work after hours.

Shoot Professional Brand Content From Your Living Room. Bright, clean photos and videos of your work, shot on your phone.

The cover of Shoot Professional Brand Content From Your Living Room.
A web book: read it online and download a copy. Nothing is posted to you.
Chapters
9
Tools
3
Reading
56 min
Price
$15
Get the book, $15

Read it tonight on your phone or laptop. One price, no upsells. No refunds: you get the whole book straight away.

The moment

Lovely in your hand. Yellow on the screen.

  • 9:40pm, the kitchen table, the ceiling light on.
  • The thing you made, dark and yellow on your phone.
  • The laundry basket, just in the corner of the frame.
  • A feed you admire, bright and matching, one scroll away.

You post it anyway, and tell yourself it’s the phone. It isn’t. It’s the light, the corner and a phone that won’t keep still, and you can fix all three with what’s already in your house.

What’s inside

Nine steps, in the order you’ll use them

  1. 01

    Find the Best Window in Your House

    Turn the other lights off, put the window to the side, and find the time of day your best window is soft and bright.

  2. 02

    Make Your Own Window After Dark

    One lamp, a daylight bulb and a white sheet, for when you can only shoot after closing or after the kids are in bed.

  3. 03

    Build a Corner That Looks Like a Studio

    Two or three surfaces you keep reusing, and nothing in the frame you didn’t choose.

  4. 04

    Set Up Your Phone and Hold It Still

    A clean lens, the right lens, focus and brightness locked, and a stack of books for a tripod.

  5. 05

    Shoot Products the Way Customers Look at Them

    Six shots for every product, plus what to do with shiny, black and white-on-white things.

  6. 06

    Shoot Food in the First Few Minutes

    Set up before the food is ready, then plate it and shoot it fast, on the plates you serve on.

  7. 07

    Put Hands and Faces in the Picture

    Hands at work, faces that look like you, before-and-afters that match, and how to ask first.

  8. 08

    Make Talking Videos Sound Like You’re in the Room

    A soft room, a quiet room and a mic close to your mouth. Listen to 10 seconds before you record for real.

  9. 09

    Edit Lightly, the Same Way Every Time

    One short recipe for every photo, so it looks like the thing in your hand and the set looks like one business.

Plus a short introduction and a closing chapter that turns it all into one afternoon of shooting. 9 chapters, about 56 minutes to read.

A page from the book

It was the light, not the phone

Step 1 · from the book, word for word

Find the Best Window in Your House

A case

The candles that looked orange

Adaeze makes scented candles at home and used to photograph each new scent at about 9pm, on the kitchen counter under the ceiling light. The glass jars came out orange, the cream wax looked muddy, and every photo needed brightening before she could list it. Her first thought was “I need a better phone.”

Instead, one Saturday she carried a single candle to every window in the house at 10am, 1pm and 4pm. The kitchen was too dark. The living room had sun across the table all afternoon. The spare bedroom window, at mid-morning, was soft and bright with no sun patch at all.

She set a small side table there, side-on to the glass, leaned a sheet of white foam board against a stack of books on the other side and turned off the ceiling light. Now she shoots new scents on Saturday mornings. Her next five listings needed no brightening, and the jars looked clear instead of orange.

What to do
  1. Turn off every ceiling light and lamp in the room, even in daylight.
  2. Put a small table within an arm’s length of your biggest window, side-on to it.
  3. Put the product on it. Stand so the window is to your left or right, never behind you or behind the product.
  4. Hold something white on the side away from the window and watch the dark side lift. Try something dark there too, and keep whichever looks better.
  5. Take the same photo at three times of day, and write the winner on your light map.
Try it this week

This week, take one mug to every window in your home at the same time of day and take one photo at each. It takes about 10 minutes. Write the best window on your light map.

The light map worksheet in the web book, on a phone, with a made-up example filled in.
Your light map, with a made-up example
The one-afternoon shoot checklist in the web book, on a phone, with three items ticked.
The one-afternoon checklist, ticked off on your phone

The tools

Three things to keep open while you shoot

  • WorksheetYour light mapWhere and when the good light is in your home or shop, plus your after-dark lamp setup. Fill it in once, then add to it as you learn.
  • WorksheetYour shot listEverything you’ll shoot in one afternoon, grouped into setups, so everything on the same surface in the same light gets shot together.
  • ChecklistThe one-afternoon shootThe day before, the first 30 minutes, the shooting and the last 45 minutes, to tick off on your phone as you go.
The shot list worksheet in the web book, part filled in with an example.
The shot list, with a made-up example filled in

Who it’s for

For the person holding the phone

For you if

  • You make and sell things, and you photograph every new product yourself.
  • You run a cafe, bakery, salon, studio or small shop and post photos of your work.
  • You shoot at the kitchen table, in the living room or in the shop after closing.
  • You film yourself talking and can’t stand how it sounds.

Not for you if

  • You want a camera course. This book is for the phone you already have.
  • You want help with your logo, your colors or what to post. Other books on our shelf cover those.
  • You want a promise of more sales or followers. Nobody can honestly make one.
Get the book, $15

9 steps · 3 tools · read tonight

Your questions

Before you buy

Do I need a newer phone?

No. If it takes photos of your family that you’re happy with, it’s good enough. The book gets the most out of the phone you have, whatever the brand.

Do I need to buy lights or a lightbox?

No. A window by day, one lamp after dark (a daylight bulb costs a few dollars) and a white sheet or board. A phone tripod (about $10 to $25) and a clip-on mic (about $20 to $30) are named as optional, and you can skip both.

My place is small and cluttered. Will this work?

Yes. You need about three feet of table or floor near a window or a lamp. One chapter is about building that corner and keeping everything else out of the frame.

Does it cover video?

Yes: holding the phone still, light on your face, and making talking videos sound clear. What to film and what to say belong to another book on our shelf.

Will better photos get me more sales or followers?

Nobody can honestly promise that. This book makes your work look the way it does in real life. What happens after that depends on a lot of things.

How long does it take?

About 56 minutes to read. The first light test takes 10 minutes. The one-afternoon shoot takes about four hours, with the shot list written a few days before.

Shoot Professional Brand Content From Your Living Room

Read it tonight. Shoot on Sunday.

$15one price, no upsells
Get the book, $15

A web book: read it online and download a copy. Nothing is posted to you. No refunds: you get the whole book straight away.