Photography Tricks

Photography does not need to be so complicated! Don't be afraid of it, or too frustrated about it. These are practical and SIMPLE tricks I do every time I take pictures of my work.
In this section, all you need is your surface, a good amount of natural sunlight a transparent white plastic shopping bag and your camera! THAT EASY!!
Before I start with each step, set your camera in macro setting. If you don't know what this is, please refer to your manual. This setting is the most important setting right now, especially if you want to get up close. **Remember you won't be just taking a few pictures for one item! I take at least 10 pics to get a few great ones, and I delete the ones I don't want as I go along.**

1. I tool a picture in direct sunlight. You can see how dramatic the lighting is. There is too much contrast preventing the ring details to show up. Notice the amount of black values there are especially in the crevices of the wood? This look may be appealing to some, but I want the ring to be the most important feature.
2. Here is the trick!! A white transparent plastic shopping bag! Make sure the bag is mostly white, otherwise the color may cast a bit of that color onto your item your trying to photograph. I took a picture of how it looks from a distance. You can see the ring barely in the center of the picture.
3. Ahh, look!!! ALL I did is put the plastic bag in front of the sunlight to diffuse the light. This is a mini version of a light box! You may have to play around with the bag to get the look you want. It's all about experimentation. These are only meant to be guides.

If you don't have room to spare for a HUGE light box, this is a great solution to your storage challenge!! The only con to this technique is if you have windows that only face one direction you have a few hours to get your pictures taken. So plan accordingly.

UP CLOSE
Here is a before and after of the same pictures next to each other. You can see even better the detail of the wood and the overall appearance of the ring ... all because of a plastic bag!!!!

GOOD LUCK! Let me know if you've had any success with this technique!! I'll share the success stories on my blog! You can see more of my photography in my etsy shop!

Working on Photography Tutorial

♥ ♥ Happy Heart Day ♥ ♥
A few updates!
I'm still working on a pictured tutorial for taking better pictures using natural lighting (sunlight) that I'm planning to be up this weekend. The tricks and suggestions are simple and the tools I use I can guarantee you will have in your home.

For now here is a piece I finished just for fun. I really like the clean look of a half drilled semi-precious stone. I can let the bead be the main character of the piece, and there are no wires that need to support in it's roll to stay adhered. I'm uncertain if I'll continue doing jewelry this way but thought I'd share my results. What do you think? Would it fit in my shop?

How Toos

As an art director who worked extensively in photo art direction, I was SO fortunate to work with amazingly talented photographers and stylists that passed their "tricks-of-the-trade" on to me. It is now that now I greatly benefit from all of those experiences for taking my own photographs. I've been asked through the years who does my photography? And I'm so proud to admit it's ME!

I'm going to share what I've learned and learning to pass on to YOU, and hopefully you can also benefit from my own tricks.

Stay in touch!

•Cathy