Photography

I've had several questions asked about how I take the photographs I post here on the blog, so today I thought I'd share that.  Below are two pictures of where I took the photographs for the two projects below (or if you are viewing this entry under all my Tutorials, the green floral card HERE and the pumpkin card HERE.)

I usually take all my photographs outside, in natural indirect light -- I find my camera focuses a little better and colors are truer.  If it's very cloudy and/or rainy some days, I still photograph in the same spots and if a photo turns out a little too dark for my liking, I can usually adjust the contrast in my photo editing software just fine.

The first spot is on my back covered patio -- it faces northwest and is usually protected by direct sunlight until late in the evening.  I just drape an old white tablecloth over a box and use that as my backdrop.  As you can see, the tablecloth needs some ironing but since I usually crop my photos pretty closely, that doesn't matter!

I take my photos closer up, obviously -- I'm just giving you the whole picture here.  Normally, I shoot my photos in the "automatic" setting, so the camera does all the focusing and exposure work for me -- I find that works best for now (until I can learn to use it better manually!). 

I usually adjust the 18-55mm telephoto lens as far out as possible and the just move the camera close in to the project, until the project fills the frame.  In other words, I'm using more towards the 55mm lens length further away and not the 18mm length with the camera up close to the project -- make sense?

The second spot is on my front covered patio, which faces southeast:

This spot usually gets quite a bit of morning sun but this particular morning was partly cloudy, so I didn't have much glare from the direct sunlight -- until I wanted it for a closeup of the sparkle I was trying to capture and just waited a few moments for the sun to peek back through the clouds.  I usually prefer the indirect lighting, as I think direct sunlight usually washes out my photos a little, the colors aren't as true, and I don't care for the shadows it leaves behind the project or popped-up details in the project.

If I must take a photo after daylight, I do that indoors under the Ott light (natural daylight) lamp that sits on my desk and just make a backdrop out of cardstock:

So, no fancy light boxes here -- just the natural outdoors most of the time.  I think that if you fiddle with the lighting features in your photo editing software, most of the time you can make do with the resources you already have!

Comments

[Kacey]

1.

AMEN Sharon! Thank you for saying that you don't NEED a light box; God knows I don't NEED to buy another thing (well another thing that isn't directly related to paper crafts anyway) :-) Love your latest cards!

[Michelle R]

2.

Great post! I am photography-challenged! Built my own light box, doesn't work, so I'm back to outside light or under my OTT light.

[janice]

3.

wow!
thanks so much for sharing that in such wonderful detail!
what a great tip!!!!

[Michele]

4.

Thanks for sharing; it's good to know how others do this!!

[Julie Brooks]

5.

We got a little peek into your stamp room in that last picture! When do we get to see the entire room???? PLEASE!!! *wink*

[Lorri Feidt]

6.

Thank you Sharon. I am wondering what I am going to do come winter as I live in Minnesota! I think I will need to be pretty darn quick taking those outdoor pictures!

[Rose Ann]

7.

Thanks for the pointers and tips. I can use all the help I can get...lol.

[Christi]

8.

Thank you for the tips! Your pictures are incredible. TFS! :)