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Some useful tips for taking photos of your contest entry...
One easy way to photograph smaller items is with a homemade
"seamless backdrop". This is very easy to set up.
Arrange a small table so that it is near a window or a very
bright light source. Stretching from the top of the table down to
the floor, you can place either a sheet, a tablecloth or best of
all, a large piece of construction paper. Attach the paper or cloth
with tape or you can use weights across the top. See:
The nice thing about using paper is that you can get it in large
rolls and different colors and it does not have wrinkles and creases
like cloth can have. Photographers call this seamless paper and it
is available at many photo stores but large sheets of construction
paper from your local craft store will work just as well. Don't use
paper or a cloth backdrop with a pattern. The idea is to keep the
viewer attention on your project, not to distract them with a
background pattern.
For our table setup, we used a roll of white paper and arranged
it so that there was plenty of window light on the area where we
were taking photos. To get nice even light, we put a sheet over the
window to soften the light. Direct sunlight can create very harsh
shadows and you want to avoid that.
When taking photos of items on your table top, position yourself
so that the light from the window is coming over your left or right
shoulder. It's also very important that you fill your camera's
viewfinder with the item being photographed. Here are several
examples of photographs taken with our very simple setup. Using
paper gives us a very nice even backdrop and having a sheet over the
widow behind us, made the light nice and soft. Here are examples.
One of the easiest ways to photograph a garment is to simply have
someone wear it while you take a photo. When photographing a model,
keep the following in mind:
- Make sure the background is not busy. A white wall, hanging
sheet or even a very dark background outside will keep the
viewers eyes on your knitting or crochet, rather than the photo
of aunt Martha hanging on the wall behind them. In this photos:
We made sure that the background was dark and that the
photos were taken outside on an overcast day, to avoid harsh
direct light.
- Make sure the other clothes being worn by the model do not
distract from the garment that you are trying to photograph.
Your model might be wearing an absolutely beautiful sweater that
you spent weeks making, but the yellow skirt with the big blue
dots is getting all the attention in your photo. Keep the
additional clothing being worn by the model as neutral as
possible. This means white, gray, black or muted neutral tones
with muted patterns. You want to emphasize the clothing you
made, not the clothing you bought.
- Get close to your subject. You want your garment to almost
fill the the viewfinder of your camera. If your garment is a
sweater, frame your photo so that it fills
as much of the frame as possible. You may have an award winning
sweater, but if the model wearing it appears as a tiny dot in the
photo you are submitting for the contest, the judges are not going
to be able to see it.
- Whenever possible, avoid using a flash and direct sunlight,
which can create very harsh shadows. Shoot photos in indirect
morning or the evening light, keeping the sun or a bright light
source like a window, behind the photographer. Overcast days and
shady spots are also great for nice even lighting. Just remember
to keep your background as clean and uncluttered as possible.
- Include close-up details. After you get your wide shot of the
entire garment, you might want to include a close up shot that
shows your work in more detail. For example:
Close up of afghan
Keep in mind that these are very basic tips that should work well
for someone with a point-and-shoot digital camera. As long as the
photographer keeps the light over their shoulder and also keeps the
background "clean", you should get some good quality
photos of your project.
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