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This is an amazing site! If you wait long enough, you'll get the answers to all your questions....I just posted a question to one of the stamping blogs I subscribe to re: the beautiful photos of her cards and how does she do it? I've grieved over the lackluster pix I've taken and submitted! And I have a digital SLR..it is a great camera...it's my photography skills that are lacking! I do have a photo editing program, but I admit it did not occur to me to put my cards through the program!! Anyway, this is extremely helpful and very timely for me...Thanks so much to all the experts....
__________________ Susan (John 14:6) SCS Fan Club Member My Blog
After reading all the tips and advice in this thread, here's my feeble attempt. I actually took the pic in the bathroom! The lighting is pretty good in there. I wish the card wasn't at such an angle, but oh well. I got some of the glitter to show up.
I also attempted the watermark, but I only have Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. I couldn't get it to be as see-through as JulieHRR's.
To Jessica...I'm so surprised you would call your attempt "feeble"...I've seen the pix on your blog and they are great...some of the very ones that I've admired! In fact, I tried to subscribe to your blog ...when I clicked on the Subscribe sentence, I got a "do you want to save this" message and it went to My Pictures...very strange...did it several times and could not subscribe! Sooo I added you to My Favorites and I will just have to view your blog that way!
__________________ Susan (John 14:6) SCS Fan Club Member My Blog
I gave picture taking a try and I couldn�t believe how easy it was! When I tired it way back when it took forever to get everything right that I finally gave up and just scanned everything.
Thanks Emily for starting a great thread with lot�s of wonderful ideas� whoo hoo I�m so excited! I have to go take another picture� :mrgreen:
To Jessica...I'm so surprised you would call your attempt "feeble"...I've seen the pix on your blog and they are great...some of the very ones that I've admired! In fact, I tried to subscribe to your blog ...when I clicked on the Subscribe sentence, I got a "do you want to save this" message and it went to My Pictures...very strange...did it several times and could not subscribe! Sooo I added you to My Favorites and I will just have to view your blog that way!
Thanks, Susan! I guess I defined my attempts as feeble because I'm such an amateur with no training whatsoever. This thread has really helped, though. Also, thanks for letting me know about my blog subscription service. I'll have to look into that. I'll add that to my blogging goals this weekend! It's so cool that you added me to your faves. :mrgreen:
Another camera person here, I find it works best for me, that and my lack of a scanner! I always shoot with an OTT light on both sides of the card or project. When shooting during the day, I make sure all the blinds are also open. If at night, I also add the halogen can lights in the ceiling. Generally a white background, usually just white cardstock propped up behind and on the table. I use the Digital Rebel XT and keep it on auto, shooting about 15 inches away or so. After I upload, I take it into Photoshop to crop and such, rarely do I ever adjust color or brightness, the color is always spot on.
I struggled so much trying to get a good shot of this scrapbook page. There is a sheet of acetate over the top of the cardstock and photo, which is horrible to photograph. No matter how I angled the camera, the Ott lamps and my own shadow, I got a glare. After about 45 minutes of trial and error after error after error, I went into a completely dark room, covered the bed with a black cloth and got this shot. The page took less time to make than to photograph! I just don't have time to spend an hour photographing a card or scrapbook page in addition to making it! Someone has to make this whole process easier...
thanks so much for all the fab. tips. I need to get a white backdrop cloth I think. I've been photographing my items with a black background and it's not making my camera happy!
Tiffany
__________________
Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~ Pablo Picasso
I don't have a scanner and have been uploading my photos directly to the pc. When I look in my very small gallery, I've noticed that the pictures appear dark and you can barely see them. Thanks for the tips. I'll have to try it on my next upload.
I prefer camera shots over scans. Scans just look flat to my eye, and unappealing, but that's merely a personal preference.
I tend to take shots in good natural daylight, with a piece of pale toned, or white card stock underneath and propped behind. It helps reflect the light. Often times, however, I don't have "great" natural daylight. I live in a frequently grey and rainy climate. ;) So, I typically use a daylight lamp to illuminate my artwork. My camera is a Nikon CoolPix 3.1 MP, and I set it to macro and am typically about 12-18" away, depending on the angle, and what gives the best shot through the viewfinder. I also typically shoot multiple times from several angles so I can later pick the one that best showcases the project, just like professional photographers; I can rarely get it with just one shot. OK, more like never. Hah! :rolleyes:
After uploading the image to my computer, I use Adobe Photoshop Elements to crop out extraneous background, edit the shadows, brightness, contrast, and colors to best duplicate what the card looks like IRL. I also use it to apply a transparent watermark so that in the event my images are stolen online, the credit source is still on there. Step-by-step tutorials for creating watermarks with PE are online at About.com, so I won't bore with details here.
HTH,
Thank you, thank you, thank you - I've been trying to figure out how to do the watermarks - is Adobe Photoshop Elements the only program you can do it on? guess I'll have to invest in it if it is ---
I agree that digital photos are the way to go - but also have the problem that I'm usually stamping at night and if it's cloudy the next morning I'm sunk! You should see me lining up my cards on the deck - kneeling down with my butt up in the air snapping pics before I go to work! The things we do for our creative outlets!~
__________________ Julia Aston Proud member of SCS Fan Club and Dirty Dozen Alumni, former DT member on Color Challenge My Blog
This is an eternal cause for frustration for me.. I like to scan things, but I just can't get the colours right :(. But when I take the picture, just like you, there isn't enough light (as I also soooo 'need' to take the picture in the evening.. the worst time). I just wish I could show the cards exactly as I see them! But I don't think that will be happening *sigh*.
I'll have to go back & read everyone's responses later but just wanted to say that as I'm going through the gallery, I'm definitely drawn to the wonderful pictures of cards. Some of these ladies (& men!!) really have a knack for taking great pictures. I'm still learning ~~ sometimes I think I should go back to scanning, lol. But I do think the pics looks better.
HOWEVER ~~ I cannot for the life of me take pictures of red or purple ~~~ especially when I stamp black, like a background. I have a card somewhere that had a red base, & I stamped paisley BG in black & the picture looks horrible, & I really worked on it in my editing program. It's a mystery to me.
Julia you should be able to add a watermark to your photos using almost any other photo editing software. What software do you have?
Hi Keri - I use the software that came with my Canon camera - I guess I need to check and see where I might find a watermark option - so far all I've done with it is crop! before that I just used the software that opened when I went into my my photos file.....
thanks - I'll check it out and see what I can find!
__________________ Julia Aston Proud member of SCS Fan Club and Dirty Dozen Alumni, former DT member on Color Challenge My Blog
Julia what you want to look for is the option to open two files at once and then the ability to copy the watermark option and lay it as a transparent selection on the photo you want to watermark.
Michelle, it could have to do with the lighting...what do you use when you are taking the pic? Flash?
Hi Keri - I use the software that came with my Canon camera - I guess I need to check and see where I might find a watermark option - so far all I've done with it is crop! before that I just used the software that opened when I went into my my photos file.....
thanks - I'll check it out and see what I can find!
Check to see if you can edit opacity/transparency and then just add text to your photo, and make it partially transparent - that is a basic watermark.
Camera vs. scanner: Camera when it's daytime! I found that if I had any dimension on my card, I had to smoosh it down on the scanner or it would be blurry on the lower layers. My scanner also changed colors at will.
The best tip I can give for photographing is to use the closeup - or flower setting if you have one on your camera.
Keri ~~ I always take my pics in natural daylight (which can vary here in Wisconsin, lol). I always take one with the flash on, & one with the flash off. Open them in my editing program & pick whichever one looks best. Sometimes, though ~~ I wonder if it's just my monitor that shows those colors badly ~~ I did a card recently (red & black) that I thought looked horribly blurry, & mentioned this in my description. People commenting on that card said it looked fine to them ~~ so who knows.
It certainly could be your monitor..I know my monitor needs to be calibrated...I just have not had the $$ to buy the software to do so....I hope all my pics aren't horrible on others screens! LOL
Check to see if you can edit opacity/transparency and then just add text to your photo, and make it partially transparent - that is a basic watermark.
dumb question here. so when I am looking at a picture on my computer and it has the add text button, that is what I can use to make a watermark instead of going to paint and just using that?
sorry for the run on sentence.
__________________ Debra the Debrameister Nagigator Mingler Gallery My Blog: Yellow and Blue SU Creative Crew Design Team Member-May-August 2011
Debra yes you can add text that way but if you want it to be "transparent" you need to see if you can adjust the opacity setting of the text you plan to add to your picture.
Debra yes you can add text that way but if you want it to be "transparent" you need to see if you can adjust the opacity setting of the text you plan to add to your picture.
Thanks.
__________________ Debra the Debrameister Nagigator Mingler Gallery My Blog: Yellow and Blue SU Creative Crew Design Team Member-May-August 2011
It certainly could be your monitor..I know my monitor needs to be calibrated...I just have not had the $$ to buy the software to do so....I hope all my pics aren't horrible on others screens! LOL
Your pics look great to me.
__________________ Debra the Debrameister Nagigator Mingler Gallery My Blog: Yellow and Blue SU Creative Crew Design Team Member-May-August 2011
dumb question here. so when I am looking at a picture on my computer and it has the add text button, that is what I can use to make a watermark instead of going to paint and just using that?
sorry for the run on sentence.
I meant to add your text in your photo editing software - all photo programs should have that option.
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I didn't read replies so I don't know if I am repeating anything. I bought a natural sunlight lamp at costco. I use it at my desk as it offers awesome light! Then I do the paper backdrop right under the sunlight lamp and take a picture of it under the lamp. It takes awesome pictures! That is my tip of the day!
P.S. you can take a look in my gallery to see what my cards look like using this.
I didn't read replies so I don't know if I am repeating anything. I bought a natural sunlight lamp at costco. I use it at my desk as it offers awesome light! Then I do the paper backdrop right under the sunlight lamp and take a picture of it under the lamp. It takes awesome pictures! That is my tip of the day!
P.S. you can take a look in my gallery to see what my cards look like using this.
That is similar to what I do but I have two lamps and I bounce my flash...
Julia what you want to look for is the option to open two files at once and then the ability to copy the watermark option and lay it as a transparent selection on the photo you want to watermark.
Michelle, it could have to do with the lighting...what do you use when you are taking the pic? Flash?
Thanks Keri! I'll see if I can figure that out on my program! Boy, am I learning things!
__________________ Julia Aston Proud member of SCS Fan Club and Dirty Dozen Alumni, former DT member on Color Challenge My Blog
I scan mine although I suspect sometimes they would be better by photo. I find that I can never get the lighting right or exclude the surroundings properly so it's easier to scan and only takes a minute.
I just made my own lightbox... according to THESE instructions... and I am VERY satisfied. I use a rubermaid tote draped in interfacing... with three clip lights attached. I set my camera on a tripod... no flash... macro zoom.
I ALSO just learned how to "set my white balance" on my digital cam... and that made a WORLD of difference. Here's a sample of the results I am getting with the lightbox... it's not *perfect*, but it's better than what I used to get. Plus I use photoshop elements... and I tweek the color a but there... lighten it up... remove some yellow or make the tone "cool" rather than "warm".
OH... I also had to play around a bit with lightbulbs for my lightbox... I found that I needed a high wattage, and that the "natural light" bulbs didn't work for me as well... they just weren't BRIGHT enough. I bet an OTT light would be awesome with my lightbox... but the budget just doesn't allow...
For myself, I prefer the scanner just because it's already hooked up to the computer, and it's faster and easier for me. I then bring up the file in Adobe Photo Shop to do the color corrections. I hold the card up to the monitor and compare the color values to get the closest match. I also adjust contrast and brightness if needed.
However, if you are submitting your work to magazines, book publishers, contests, for artist portfolios, your blog, etc., then the photo is superior because of "presentation" value. Emily, your work is worth the extra effort.
~ Kathy
__________________ I love talking about nothing. It's the only thing I know anything about. ~ Oscar Wilde
Oh, I just saw an ad on another page for photos on stamps (postage stamps). You could put a photo of your stamped card on the postage stamp! Wouldn't that be cute? the possibilities....
~ Kathy
__________________ I love talking about nothing. It's the only thing I know anything about. ~ Oscar Wilde
To help with glare from on camera flash....just cover it with a facial tissue adn let it flash anyway...It reduces the output and can save your photo.
You can buy a fairly inexpensive light box at Wally world or many places online that gives you white, blue or black/gray background choices. I use simple digital and complex SLR and have no trouble shooting good photos of objects/cards.
__________________ c-mouse-If you can't say nuttin nice--don't say nuttin at all. Thumper. Pansy
Card Sketch Challenge 1-227 done only 396+ to go to be caught up!!!!!
I use to scan but now I exclusively take pictures because of the better results I can achieve. Taking a picture with natural lighting makes all the difference in the world. No scanner can pick up all the details a picture can. Just my opinion.
I myself can not use the scanner part of my printer. That's thanks to Vista. But I do like the effect of pictures better. My stamp room is a sun room that is full of windows. I just take 2 peices of mat board (I have many different colors) and prop one in the back on one on the table. Set the camera on no flash and click. Then I make any "tweeks" when I upload it to my computer.
It's actually the easiest for me.
__________________ Take a looksie at my blog HERE
While your at it stop in at my SCS gallery HERE
*Proud SCS Fan Club Member*
To help with glare from on camera flash....just cover it with a facial tissue adn let it flash anyway...It reduces the output and can save your photo.
You can buy a fairly inexpensive light box at Wally world or many places online that gives you white, blue or black/gray background choices. I use simple digital and complex SLR and have no trouble shooting good photos of objects/cards.
SHUT UP!!!!!!
You are GENIUS!
*smooch* TFS that tip!
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
