Photography help needed! This one is a challenge to photograph!
 

I need to photograph my animal shaped quilt so that it looks like an animal shaped quilt and not an animal shape appliqued to a rectangle.
I've laid them flat and shot from above. You get all the detail, but it looks, well, flat. I'm thinking about draping it over a porch railing or chair. Then you get the dimension and edge, but you lose the detail.
The photos will be for a website, so I probably should just give it up and hire a professional. But I want to take one last stab at it myself. Any help out the? I've seen some amazing photographs here. How would you shoot these little quilts?

I think they look great the way you've photographed them.

Shoot it vertically, in natural light, on an overcast day, with no flash, aiming the lens at the center of the piece.

The best quilt photography advice I've ever found is from Holly Knott, a photographer who just happens to be a quilter.
http://www.hollyknott.com/stq/

There are also lots of product photography articles on Etsy and Handmadeology.
http://www.handmadeology.com/categor...tography-tips/
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2013/the...e/#photography

Ditto what Charsuewilson said.

Put another object in the photo with the quilt to show scale. Like a ruler or tape measure, (or child if you have one handy). LOL

I agree with placing something in the picture to indicate scale. The other thing that might help would be to place the quilt on a wood floor or carpet with thick pile or a table - something that it couldn't be attached to, to make it clear that it's not appliqued.

Your quilts are so cute!!!

Could you hang it with clothes pins on a line to show the shape of it against something "not solid"?

Then maybe have a child stand next to it to show the scale of the quilt.

Why not a photo of a happy child cuddled into it?

If you feel the detail is not shown enough, then show a 2nd picture, like what you have posted here. However, there is a bonus in not showing it flat out, as it makes it harder for someone to copy your work! Think about the number of patterns that do this!

I like this idea along with the pictures you have you can see its a quilt, but I agree its hard to determine size so a child cuddling with it next to the other picture will indicate how large the item is because it could be the size of a mug rug or a quilt but I wouldn't know because you could be zooming in on it