Photographing clothes without a mannequin

A mannequin costs between forty and two hundred euros, takes up the corner of a room you probably do not have spare, and only fits one size range. Most resellers do not own one and never will. That is fine — plenty of high-performing shops never use one — but it means choosing deliberately between the alternatives instead of defaulting to whatever is quickest.

There are three, and they are not interchangeable.

Flat lay: the workhorse

Laying a garment flat and shooting straight down is the fastest method and the most consistent, which makes it the right default for volume. It is also the least flattering, so it needs the most care.

Surface. Choose one and never change it. A large sheet of plain fabric — a bedsheet in a neutral colour works — beats a wooden floor because it has no grain to distract from the garment. Iron it. Creases in the background read as sloppiness in a way creases in the garment do not.

Height and angle. Get directly above the centre of the garment. Shooting from your standing height at an angle causes keystoning, which makes one shoulder look wider than the other and quietly signals "amateur" without the viewer knowing why. Stand on a chair if you have to.

Shape. A garment laid down flat is not a garment shape. Fill the shoulders with a folded towel underneath, straighten the sleeves so they follow a natural line rather than sticking straight out, and square the hem. Two minutes of arranging is the difference between a jumper and a heap.

Steam first. This is the step everyone skips and the one that shows most. A steamer costs less than a mannequin, takes thirty seconds per garment, and removes the single clearest signal that an item came out of a bin bag.

Hanger: for structure

Anything with structure — coats, blazers, tailored shirts, leather jackets — photographs better hanging, because the shape is part of what you are selling and flat lay destroys it.

Use a wooden or padded hanger, never wire, and hang it against a plain wall rather than in a doorway. Doorways put a shadow line behind the garment and a hallway behind that.

The mistake here is hanging the garment too high. Photograph at the garment's own centre height, not from below looking up, or the hem flares and the shoulders compress.

Worn: for drape and fit

Worn shots outperform everything else for anything where fit is the question — dresses, jeans, knitwear. Buyers convert better because they can see how the fabric moves.

You do not need a model. A friend for ten minutes, or a tripod and a self-timer, covers a whole batch. Faces are optional; a lot of successful shops crop at the chin, which sidesteps the awkwardness entirely and keeps focus on the garment.

The trade-off is honesty. A worn shot on a body markedly different from the buyer's is not more useful than a flat lay, so state the model's measurements in the description if you use them.

Which to use for what

• Knitwear, t-shirts, casual tops: flat lay, shoulders filled.
• Coats, blazers, structured jackets: hanger.
• Dresses, jeans, anything fit-dependent: worn if you can, hanger if not.
• Accessories, bags, shoes: neither — photograph them as objects, on a surface, with something for scale.

The detail shots matter more than the hero

Whichever main approach you pick, the sale is usually made in the secondary photographs. Buyers of second-hand clothing are looking for reasons to trust you, and specificity builds trust faster than beauty.

Photograph the label. Photograph the care tag. Photograph any wear you mentioned, close, in focus. Photograph the inside of the collar and the hem. A listing with eight photographs including four detail shots converts better than one with four beautiful photographs and nothing to examine.

Consistency beats quality

The last point is the one worth remembering if you remember nothing else. A shop where every item is photographed the same way on the same surface at the same angle looks professional even if every individual photograph is merely adequate. A shop where each item was photographed in whatever way seemed reasonable at the time looks like a car boot sale even if some of the photographs are excellent.

Pick a method, pick a surface, pick a spot in your flat, and use them for everything.