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Does anyone have any tips for lighting when taking pictures of the cards to upload? Mine always seem to be on the dark side, or too bright. If I try natural light I get my shadow on the card. If I lay them down, they look out of proportion from top to bottom. If I stand them up I'm at the wrong level and again they look out of proportion. Very frustrating, and I call myself an avid photography hobbyist! Any and all help appreciated. Oh, yeah, I havent been able to figure out how to scan them in either!
Scanning will smoosh the lumpy parts and create other shadows.
before I had some lights I used a west facing window of my house at a certain time of the day when the light was good.
the idea is to not have direct light and yet you need to be able to bounce the light to the card. just like shooting a portrait of people and trying to get the skin tones right. so, after the window years and before the now lights I used to put a piece of cardstock on the table that I craft on under two ott lights moving one to the side and one kind of offset in the front and a second piece of cardstock behind the card. and I just cropped the lights out of the shot later.
sometimes too your settings on your monitor will make the card look brighter or darker. the things I see of mine at home my brightness on this monitor was way too high so, I kept trying to dim things down then I would see something of mine at work and go why is it so dark... :lol: ( I turned the brightness down on my house laptop)
anyways the good news is if you are shooting digital that its not costing you anything but your time to figure out your sweet spot for light patterns at your house and or positioning your card. I like mine a little on an angle more than straight on because, I tend to have lumps on things but, I don't like total angles of profiles it makes it harder to read the sentiments.
sometimes too if you are using different post processing if you "let" the program pick your camera lens for you sometimes that distorts the proportions too. so, its another thing to look at. hth
I don't have a good area for natural light and in PA with the weather going outside isn't always an option. So I set up a shelf on my book case in my stamp room that I use for taking my photos. I just attached a moveable light to the shelf and keep it there. Isn't the pretties set up but it serves the purpose.
I've had much better success in photographing my cards since I made a light box. Here's a tutorial similar to or maybe the actual one that I followed. I think I spent about 18$ on the lights and maybe a bit more for the bulbs. I need to redo mine as my sides have gotten weak over time. Not only is the light better, but I have my box on a chair and that makes it an easy height from which to photograph.
This is my photo set up - this is an upper shelf on my desk, and the back and base are art canvases. To the left I have a piece of cardboard covered with foil paper to reflect back some of the light from the right (Ott Lite there). It's sort of like a light box!
I don't have a good area for natural light and in PA with the weather going outside isn't always an option. So I set up a shelf on my book case in my stamp room that I use for taking my photos. I just attached a moveable light to the shelf and keep it there. Isn't the pretties set up but it serves the purpose.
OMG, Joyce! This is so true! I had such a hard time getting good light for photos after moving to Pittsburgh! I'm glad to hear it's not just me. Only later did I discover that Pittsburgh is in the top three cloudiest cities of the US, ranking right up there with Portland and Seattle. That explains everything! ;)
I always have trouble taking pictures of my cards and layouts because I don't have any natural light coming in. I usually try to go outside and do it but impossible to do during winter. Going to try some of these ideas..thank you for sharing !
It can be a challenge to get a good photo. I had to play around with settings on my camera but I use a set-up like Dini shows in her photo except I have a folding light box that I purchased on E-Bay for $20 dollars. I use 3 Ott lights as well. I find if my photo is a bit dark for whatever reason, I can brighten it up a bit in my editing program which is free called Picasa.
My issue is that when I take pictures of my cards, the text seems to get distorted. I have been trying to figure out why. I will check out the tutorials people posted - which I appreciate.
This is my photo set up - this is an upper shelf on my desk, and the back and base are art canvases. To the left I have a piece of cardboard covered with foil paper to reflect back some of the light from the right (Ott Lite there). It's sort of like a light box!
Dina, it looks like the only light in the room is from the Ott Lite... is that how you take your photos, with the room light off and only the Ott Lite? I'm really struggling, I have a pop-up light box that my sister gave me, it came with two lamps and a little tripod. So far the only help has been the tripod because my hands are not steady, lol.
The problem I have with the light box is that no matter where I set up the light box in my craft room, I still get a weird shadow from the room's ceiling light. And I don't have a ton of space to set up the light box with the lamps either. I usually end up taking pictures in my teeny tiny kitchen, since that is where the best light is, but I really wanted a semi-permanent space once my craft room was set up. :(
OMG, Joyce! This is so true! I had such a hard time getting good light for photos after moving to Pittsburgh! I'm glad to hear it's not just me. Only later did I discover that Pittsburgh is in the top three cloudiest cities of the US, ranking right up there with Portland and Seattle. That explains everything! ;)
You make me laugh out loud. I live in Seattle area, been fighting this for years. I am moving to a light box, asap.:p
Photographing cards for SCS
