Still struggling with product photos for the remodel. If you don't mind, tell me which one of these you prefer?



or



I'm not sure whether the border on the first is too much, particularly for a line of items that is designed to be more casual and mainstream. On the other hand, I also worry that the second is too modern, and "fashiony" rather than "artsy." (The other product line I'm doing, for items that are less casual and mainstream, will definitely be getting bordeers.) The product box will be going in a prim frame, too.

I suppose I should also say what I'm aiming for, too. Aesthetically, I'm going for an Art Nouveau look inside the store. I'm trying to present my stuff as artistic and a bit retro -- usually elegant, sometimes a bit out there -- and Art Nouveau, besides being a style I use in some of those things, also encompasses those qualities. Art Nouveau things can range from the elegant and mainsteam (e.g., Mucha's paintings) to things like this (NOT WORK SAFE) room, which is still elegant but hardly "normal" -- and I'd like for my products to be seen as doing the same. (I would, of course, also like for my products to actually do the same.)

I can't and don't want to compete with people who are making things that look like fashionable RL clothing, so I'm going to be trying to position my things more as art than fashion, if that makes sense. Not that I'm setting out to make stuff that's ugly (well, I do have a gloriously rusty outfit I want to make at some point), but nobody's going to be going down an RL catwalk (let alone an RL street) dressed in anything resembling Queen of Heaven, you know?

Anyway, I'm trying to do all this branding stuff properly, and that means obsessing over considering carefully small things like the presence of borders on product photos.