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Can anyone give my any tips for taking better pictures of my cards. Yesterday I took 3 pictures of my cards - they just turned out awful. In real life the cards (IMO!) were ok but when I uploaded them I understood why I didn't get many views - the photos were so bad they just didn't do the cards justice at all! I do enjoy taking photos and my other photos are fine but I just don't know how to make proper use of the light source and the photo always looks blurred to some extent.
Girls, your photos always seem to be fantastic - any ideas?
Mine turn out awful also! I am goin to try again today to take some decent pictures..I know there is something on here somewhere about taking better pictures..not sure where. Good luck!
Hi Jill!
The Friendly Critters card in your gallery is photograhed pretty good! And its very cute by the way...When I photograph my cards (And I dont have any fancy stuff to do it with, very basic) I photograph them by first taking the colors from the card I made and using it as a backdrop by propping the paper up on something and then have the card opened up on another piece on the table...I do this outside on a table thats pulled away from indirect sunlight...out on the backporch slighty under the overhang...My camera is set on macro (where the flower symbol is) be very steady once you get the angle you like...and take the photo very slowly and even wait a second after you take it...Upload it to your computer and if you have a photoshop program take it over there...and you can work more magic on it if you want to...Hope this helps!
Jill I forgot to tell you...dont use the flash at all and take your photographs in the daytime between morning and afternoon...I have even taken mine with an overcast and just brighten it up in photoshop....
I would add to StampGroover:
*Take your card pictures at a slight angle...not too sharp, but not straight on.
*Don't crop your pictures too tightly around the card. Have a small border of your background. If it is too big, you don't see the card, if the card fills the image, it doesn't look right. Can't describe what is "off" that way...it just is!
*If you are going to see some of the background, it can't be too busy!
I'll see if I can find a couple of blog posts that I am thinking of that might help.
Ok; I just propped mine on shelf with a piece of white cardstock both behind my card..and also under my card; and they didnt come out too bad..but I will try the other suggestions also!
Mine are far from perfect, but I ALWAYS take mine in natural light, no flash. I have tried everything else (lightbox, etc.) and I still come back to natural light. I made myself some black and white "easel" type backgrounds, but more times than not, I am too lazy to drag them out, so I don't have a solid background.
I haven't posted in a while, but if you look at my gallery, you can tell right away which one I took with a flash...to me it has a yellow cast to it and the colors are not "true" (Thanksgiving card). HTH!
I have learned that since I can't take a decent picture (macros setting helps a lot) that when I look at the ones in the gallery, I look with my "personal viewfinder" knowing they may not be really accurate representations.
When you learn all the secrets for those of us who are camera ignorant, let us know!
Does your camera have a white balance setting? I just use a small point and shoot but my previous camera didn't have white balance and all the pictures came out absolutely horrible - the white balance has made a big difference!
I live in a place with minimal sunshine - plus I work full time so I don't see the sun very often when I'm crafting. Propping a card up in a window wouldn't help me very much!
Hi Jill- I would suggest that you angle your cards (like you did in your friendly critters card). Also - if you have a card with a colored base, use a white background. If your base is white, then use a colored background - just choose some cardstock in the same color as one of the colors in the card. The contrast between the background and the card will make your card stand out more.
I didn't want to have to say this but - I didn't take the 'Friendly Critters' pic!!! My friend Mandy took it when I was crafting with her! Everyone seems to mention it!
I didn't want to have to say this but - I didn't take the 'Friendly Critters' pic!!! My friend Mandy took it when I was crafting with her! Everyone seems to mention it!
I found some really good photo advice on The Life Unrehearsed--The Creative Blog of Bonnie Rose Photograhing your Work. You might google that and take a look. It's helped me.
Personally, I think the pictures in your gallery are fine!!!! Just because you don't receive a lot of views/comments doesn't mean your cards aren't pretty!!! Keep up the great work!!
__________________
~Rebekah~ My mind works like lightning - one brilliant 'FLASH' and it's gone!
Hi Jill- I would suggest that you angle your cards (like you did in your friendly critters card). Also - if you have a card with a colored base, use a white background. If your base is white, then use a colored background - just choose some cardstock in the same color as one of the colors in the card. The contrast between the background and the card will make your card stand out more.
Angling cards is a great tip - it adds so much more dimension!!
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~Rebekah~ My mind works like lightning - one brilliant 'FLASH' and it's gone!
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Jill, looks like you might have been taking some of this great advice. your pink roses card looks good. a couple of additional thoughts for you - please watermark your photos for your own protection. you can do that thru various means - one of the ways to do it is to go to picnik.com and at least put in your name so that it gets carried with your picture in case anyone wants to download it (picnik is also a great photo editing package, too!)
I think your photo angle on the pink roses is just about right. the friendly critters is such a gorgeous card, but the angle is just a little too acute to see all the fabulous detail.
one last thought.. i generally look at the embellishment on my cards. if its something like a bow or other larger embellishment - i photograph it with the bow towards the camera and also away from the camera. sometimes - in a photograph - the embellishment can take away from the focal point. not always. but its worth taking a pic from both angles to see.
also.. if i have a sentiment - i generally photograph with the sentiment closest to the camera.
hope these help and your cards are fabulous
jaydee
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jill Smith
Can anyone give my any tips for taking better pictures of my cards. Yesterday I took 3 pictures of my cards - they just turned out awful. In real life the cards (IMO!) were ok but when I uploaded them I understood why I didn't get many views - the photos were so bad they just didn't do the cards justice at all! I do enjoy taking photos and my other photos are fine but I just don't know how to make proper use of the light source and the photo always looks blurred to some extent.
Girls, your photos always seem to be fantastic - any ideas?
I would also suggest if you're having problems with blurring that you set the camera down on something. I use whatever comes in handy to raise it up to the right height, (closed) ink pads, acrylic blocks, edge of a sticky note pad - you get the idea. Even if you're on the floor (which I do sometimes) you'll need to raise the camera a bit to get it all in the window. Since you aren't holding it, you should be able to get clearer pictures - at least that was one of *my* problems!
__________________ All inked up... and somewhere to go. My gallery, small but mighty... or maybe just mighty small! Come see my almost new blog... M'ija Stamps!
On my blog I have a quick tutorial on building a lightbox. There are also a few picture comparisons so you can see the difference it makes. Also, if you have any photo editing software, USE IT!
Lots of good suggestions here already. I wanted to address White Balance and free software to make adjustments to your photos once you've loaded them into your computer, and add a warning about jpg files.....
White balance - if your camera has controls for this then use it!! You'll have to take your camera off of Auto and into Manual. The display for White Balance would likely be a sun icon. Using your selection control scroll down to that icon then the choices should be available for you to choose. As you make each choice the lighting will change & is immediately seen through the screen on the back of your digital camera - some indoor lighting choices will turn the photo to an orange hue...just check out what happens with each choice & choose the most natural looking one.
One other suggestion I have is a free program you can download to your computer from Google it's called Picasa. Just put Picasa into your search engine & the site will come up. It allows you to make adjustments to your photos once they are on your computer. I enjoy photography but don't have & don't want Photoshop because it is so labor intensive & has a HUGE learning curve. Picasa allows you to do fixes to your photos very quickly and very easily. Just remember to save your photos with changes under a different name such as 3498 Lt Adj.jpg for a photo that the light has been adjusted on.
JPG images become deteriorated as they are copied again & again so always keep your originals without the adjustments. Each time a JPG image is copied it loses information (details of the photo).
my stamping space is the darkest corner of a shared hobby room over the garage ( i picked this corner on purpose knowing i own cardstock and stamps haha) so, before i had an light box i used to put one sheet of white cs on the table and one behind it and shoot the card with two ott lights catty corner from each other.
another thing i do (you have not mentioned what kind of a camera you are using) but, when i use the big camera ( its heavy ) i cant hold it under those light conditions so i use a tripod. this makes a huge difference when the light is low.
another thought is if you are using a good camera ( IE you have removable lenses and can change them out ) try shooting from farther away even when using the macro and then cropping later in your computer, getting the camera too close sometimes makes it not quite focused. and or if your angle is too extreme the depth of field will be off (and give you blurry edges)
Can anyone give my any tips for taking better pictures of my cards. Yesterday I took 3 pictures of my cards - they just turned out awful. In real life the cards (IMO!) were ok but when I uploaded them I understood why I didn't get many views - the photos were so bad they just didn't do the cards justice at all! I do enjoy taking photos and my other photos are fine but I just don't know how to make proper use of the light source and the photo always looks blurred to some extent.
Girls, your photos always seem to be fantastic - any ideas?
Many thanks,
Jill x
The key to my cards is my camera, I have a Nikon D60. But even taking pictures with a reg camera will work for you. I have a large flash and can angle it so it doesnt reflect off the card. If you dont have that option then take your pictures in a well lit room preferably during the day so you dont have to use your flash. Set up a backdrop for your card, I use an old priority mail box and stick a 12x12 sheet of cardstock to it with REMOVABLE tape so you can change out the background. Then I bought a glass top from IKEA (about $10) to use for the bottom to reflect the card. If you cant use that then just use a white or any clean flat countertop. Take the picture at a slight angle over the card, crop it where you dont see anything but the card, some background and bottom. You can see in my gallery how I crop. I use Google Picasa to edit all my photos and adjust the brightness or contrast if I need to. I also use Photoshop to do some of my editing but for quick edits I love Picasa.
Jill, I am bad on picture taking myself. But thank you for posting this question. I learned a lot of tips myself. I have to say, I don't think your shots were bad at all. But I do think your cards are BEAUTIFUL!
__________________ Karen I distrust camels, and anyone else who can go a week without a drink.
Joe E. Lewis
If you say they are often a bit blurred, I wonder are you too close for the camera to focus properly. Macro setting will enable you to get closer to your subject.
One tip I've learned is to take a deep breath, hold your breath and continue to hold it for a couple of seconds after you press the shutter button, as well as holding the camera still for a couple of seconds after you think the picture is taken. Digital cameras have a bit of lagtime involved in closing the shutter after a pic is taken, and any movement will cause blurring.
__________________ Linda E
Caution: You are entering an artistic zone. This is not clutter - this is creating. These are not pajamas - it's my work uniform.
I don't know if this thread has already been mentioned, but Pickletree has excellent detailed instructions on how to photograph your projects. Check it out here:
The tutorial by Pickle Tree mentioned above is great - thanks for directing us to it. But when I looked at it, I wasn't able to see any of the thumbnails. Does anyone else have the same problem with it?
__________________ Susan
My SCS gallery is here should you care to look! Or please visit my blog, Cardmaker's Garret.
Angling like some people said is good, UNLESS you angle it too much. I would rather see straight on than angled too much. I kind of like straight on because I can see the whole card.
I know I still have a lot to figure out and I'm planning on making a light box one of these days, but in the meantime:
-I made a little 'stand" out of the white backing that comes in SU designer paper packs.
-I use natural light but not direct sunlight (I have some in my gallery I've done at night with an OTT light and I think it shows... not as good)
-I use the "macros" setting on my camera (this really helps!!!)
-I angle the card slightly and take several shots and pick the best
-I use Microsoft Picture Manager (already on my computer) and adjust the brightness, contrast and mid tones
-I crop the photo to leave a slight, even border around the card.
I'd love to leave a watermark (and think it's a great idea) but I can't figure out how to do so without purchasing a program, and I'm not interested in cutting into my stamping budget for that.
Jill, Your cards look sweet, and nothing wrong with your photos. I'm always looking for ways to make mine better . . . here are a couple of things I've tried that have helped a lot.
I bought a cheapy hobby mirror at Hobby Lobby - I put my projects on the mirror and it gives a cool effect.
Don't rule out pattern paper as a backdrop, as long as it's not too distracting.
You can make a not-so-great card look great by the way you stage the picture. Add some buttons, a plant, a basket. I'd included all kinds of crazy things as backdrops.
Here's one where I used the mirror for the "floor", pattern paper for the backdrop, and staged it with Cadburry mini eggs and old lace.
My answer would be to take alot of pictures....I keep comparing and deleting until it comes to the final two...then I get my DH and ask him which he thinks is better.
Thank you StickUps - this is so interesting - I love these ideas! After I read your tips I took another photo of a card that was already on my gallery (I hated the original photo) and took one with a mirror. This made a big difference but when I went back to your blog and looked at your photos I realised that there were even more exciting things I could do to help my photos.
HELP! THE PHOTOS I TAKE OF MY CARDS ARE AWFUL!
Photographing your projects help
