Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Photo Project Woes and Tips

This past weekend I started a project to redo some of the awful photos in my shop. As with many people photos are a constant struggle with me. First they are too dark, and then they are too bright. Even after adjusting the settings on my camera and creating a light box, I still have to open them in Photoshop to adjust the brightness and contrast. It is a never ending, vicious cycle! Although I’m still not 100% happy with my final product I thought it would be helpful to pass along some tips that I’ve learned since starting. Please take them with a grain of salt as I am by no means a pro!


  • Create a light box (or use natural light) – my apt doesn’t get too much natural light so I created a light box. Do not be lazy like me and put off creating a light box. It was the best thing I have done and it only took about 20 minutes!
  • Learn about the manual settings on your camera – after I learned what the exposure and white balance were, my pictures naturally came out nicer.
  • Use a tripod with a timer – if you have problems with blurry photos I recommend a tripod. I got one for less than $20 at Target. Even when using the tripod, use your camera’s timer. Even on a tripod, snapping a photo can make the camera wiggle. Using a timer prevents camera shaking resulting in crisp, clear photos.
  • Position your items in a fun, eye-catching way – I found that this can be difficult when using a tripod. Luckily my camera has image stabilization so can get by without always using my tripod.
  • Use a photo editing software – even after I adjust my camera settings I always need to edit my photos. I typically crop, adjust brightness and contrast, and resize my images.

Customizable Hand Stamped Silver Charm Bracelet

Wire Wrapped Beaded Heart Pendant Necklace

4 comments:

  1. I LOVE the colors of the African Opal bracelet!!! It is so pretty! All the other pieces are beautiful too!

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  2. I think your photos look great! I'm finding that a combination of my homemade light box and natural light in a window works pretty well. I've got a small tripod that I should be using though!

    I wanted to also thank you for your comment on my blog. I'm glad you're going to check out Hearts for Haiti - it really feels good to know you're contributing, even if only in a small way. No way is too small, really.

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  3. great tips!

    we've definitely had quite an experience figuring out how to get the photos 'just right' and even now they are still not quite there.

    we sell a lot of vintage clothes as well, and put them on (human) models so for us utilizing off-camera flash will be a huge help as well. we did this with our last photo shoot and the pics turned out on a whole nother level (none listed on our etsy site quite yet) -- an amazing resource for off-camera flash is http://strobist.blogspot.com

    thanx again for the tips
    xoxox

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  4. I second you on making the light box. I made mine in about 30 minutes using a large cardboard box with the sides cut into big windows, and some parchment paper taped over the holes. I think it cost me about $2.50 total, including the tape.

    I also have found the macro button feature on my camera makes a HUGE difference. Thank for the great ideas!

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