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Crafty Threads 'n' Yarns
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Rosie
Joined: 27 Jan 2007
Posts: 853
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 Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:16 pm Post subject: How do u guys take sutch good photos of your yarn etc ... |
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Any tips please as all my photos coming out very badly at mo & im getting fed up with it 
i wanna put my very small stash on ravelry but am put of by the problems of getting good piccys.
What do u use as background, what lighting etc ???
My camera is ok bit old now & i do use the display to get close in & the special flash for close up work too.
Any advice welcome 
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Rosie
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blueadt
Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 1856
Location: East Yorkshire, England
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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I'm pm'ing you now.
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Blueadt
blueadt_knits
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ClaireUK
Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 1816
19 December 1961
Location: Coventry
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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Can you tell me how to do it too please cos my photos are sooooo bad I cant use them. The flash always seems to go off and I get terrible glare on them : (
Claire UK
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Ravelry name: fibreclaireuk
Lord - please keep Your arm around my shoulders and Your hand over my mouth!! |
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blueadt
Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 1856
Location: East Yorkshire, England
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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| ClaireUK wrote: | Can you tell me how to do it too please cos my photos are sooooo bad I cant use them. The flash always seems to go off and I get terrible glare on them : (
Claire UK |
From my DH:
1) Photos are all about light, either you are trying to use light to show something off, or using light as a medium to 'get across a message'. More later..
2) Think about the background... look at the foreground, the thing you are focusing on.. then focus upon the background, does it show off the subject to the best extent? Is the subject busy? Yes - then you need a simple background.. Is the background in harmony with the subject, you're all knitters then you should know about clashing and harmonious colours..! If you move yourself around does the background change? And if so is it for the better? Which brings me onto:
3) Angles... With each photo you are trying to create a statement, be it.. "Look at the cable in my hand knitted socks.." or "Life, what is it about..?" so part of the way of getting that message across is through an alternative camera angle.. Think of the images you like the most, they are usually of something that is very recognisable but from a different angle, the ones i am thinking of is the the pictures of dogs/cats up really close, focusing on the nose... a really big nose and small body.... the different angle may help get the message across.. Get low, get high up (use step ladders?) or go oblique...
4) Subject, is it well lit? Is it showed off to its best.. if its knitting (and on this forum i expect it is so..) then i would suggest that just plonking it down on the floor is not going make it look good. Do you have any way you can show it off better? Do you have a model? If not then can you provide a better angle? Which comes to light, light is everything, be it strength of light, colour of light, temperature of light (yes light does have temperature!) or even lack of light? I use a piece of cheap lining paper bluetacked to the wall and 'poured' over the cooker to create a nice 'neutral' seamless background..
Light too poor forcing you to use a flash all the time? Get a small table tripod or put the camera on a box, look through the manual on how to set the self timer, switch off the flash and then use the self timer to take the picture without the camera shake induced by your hands.. But before you take the picture look at the light, is it direct? Is it hard (with really defined shadows) or soft (without those defined shadows)? Can you manipulate the light to show off the subject better? Can you use a reflector to reflect a little more light into those areas of the subject that dark? Reflector you say? Well at home i use a white plate or an A4 piece of paper to get a little light.. Or you can use a mirror?
Hard or soft light? If you are using a flash then you don't have much choice, the light is hard and direct.. there are ways and means of adjusting the light but its not for this post!
If you are using natural light (i say natural but i mean off camera flash..) then you have more chance to manipulate, can you use a desk lamp at a low angle to bring out the texture of the subject?
The last thing i would like to add to this post is if in doubt... fill the frame..
Get in close, not too close that its out of focus but close enough to make the subject the prime focus of the image... how many pictures have you seen where the subject is just a dot in the middle of the photo? too many me thinks... Photos that look good are the ones where the subject is in your face..... With todays point and click cameras the lens are usually small and the field of view quite wide, use the optical zoom (never the digital!!!) get in close if you feel it will show the subject off and get clicking...
Next - processing...
If you can not afford any software then my recommendation is
a) Picasso from Google
b) The Gimp - (no i am not being rude!) its a very, very good are package that is free..
If you can afford it..
a) Lightzone - brilliant for photographers.. Linux version used to be free ...
b) Lightroom - Adobe
c) Photoshop - again Adobe..
With any software crop out the crap around the edges, the stuff that detracts from the subject..
Learn how to use the levels and sharping tools...
and hey presto you will be creating perfect pictures very soon.....
next you have to look into the rules of two thirds...
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Blueadt
blueadt_knits
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jacquie
Site Admin
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 3225
1 November 1956
Location: Salt Lake City
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, blueadt, for a great, not too technical, run down.
The good thing about digital cameras is that you can experiment, taking loads of pictures with different lighting, angles etc and then pick out the best and learn from what you did, more or less instantly - assuming the usb lead hasn't gone walkabout again!
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Jacquie
Jacquie's Journal |
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franney
Joined: 05 Jan 2007
Posts: 7952
Location: Slap bang in the middle of Bromley, Croydon, Biggin Hill and that London!
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:48 am Post subject: |
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Thankyou Blue and Hubby, that's a great tutorially wotsit and will come in very useful!
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minniemoll
Joined: 04 Nov 2006
Posts: 347
Location: York, UK
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:23 am Post subject: |
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I find that if I have to take photos inside with the flash, they come out best if I take the photo from as far away as possible, zooming in using the optical zoom, then cropping as necessary - use a reasonably high resolution so you don't end up with a dot in the middle of the screen.
Standing on a chair with the object on the floor works well for large objects, for smaller ones I put them on a surface in front of a bright window and again stand on a chair. Heaven knows what my neighbours think
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Helen
My knitting blog |
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jeanette
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:34 am Post subject: |
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| I find that the photos come out better if I don't use the flash and make as much use as possible of natural light. Take photos at the window with flash off and see if that makes a difference. |
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n
CRAFTAs '07 Ecowarrior
Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 2796
Location: deep in a dyebath!
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:05 am Post subject: |
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My photos improved a lot when I "spoke" to Blueadt's DH... ie when she told me what he did. I used a piece of drawing paper from an IKEA roll of kid's stuff which is cream rather than white, and not shiny at all. I now have daylight photo lights, but for ages I just set up my "studio" in the kitchen beside the patio doors with a roll of paper draped over the back of a chair.
I've stopped the camera from flashing by using the AV mode.
Not sure about software. I use the standard iPhoto on the mac.
I don't have to adjust the colours in a yarn for the shop at all. They are now spot on with no tweaking needed.
n
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