Trying to improve product photos - any suggestions greatly appreciated!

[photonewbie326]

[h=2][/h]

Hi everyone. I am trying to improve the photos of my wedding invitations and am not having any success. I am using a Nikon D3100 with two photo lights with umbrellas.

The first photo in this listing is one of my most recent photos: NEW Abigail Wedding Invitation Ranunculus by CricketPrinting As you can see from the photo, it is dark, muted, and flat. I've been shooting in Manual mode and the settings of this particular photo are: f/9, iso-400, and 1/20 sec exposure time. I have adjusted the white balance to 'preset manual' which had a great impact on the color of the photos, but they are still far from where they need to be.

I am hoping to get my photos to look more like the images in the below link - bright, crisp and beautifully showing the texture of the card stock. NEW The Talavera Wedding Invitation Sample Set by inkylivie Any suggestions or help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
Brittany​

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Get the book "Light, Science, Magic" to understand and learn to use light for product photography.

Same as your clone thread.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Learn photography.