Sunday, August 25, 2013

Quilt Photography Workshop- August Edition



I don't know about you guys but one of my BIGGEST problems is photography! I mean, I love it! I think it'd be AH-MAY-ZING to become a photographer, pictures are the best! But, if I can be blunt for a moment, my problem is....I SUCK AT IT! Seriously.... ISO, white balance, aperture.....Whaaaaat???? Photography is a VERY important part of a blog...so, I've been doing some research. And when I saw that the lovely Beth of Plum and June was hosting a Quilt Photography Workshop over on her blog I couldn't resist!!!!!
From what I gather the workshop is going to be Bloggers helping each other out (isn't that what blogging is all about?)! Beth will be sharing some tips she's learned along the way as well as having a monthly Linky party for all of us to link up to!!!

Let me be honest with you though, I don't have many tips so I dunno how helpful I'll be, but hopefully I will learn a few things along the way!!!
This month Beth wanted us to focus on FABRIC photography....as quilters/sewers we all have plenty of that right!?!? :-) After reading Beth's post I don't think I had the right idea for my post, but I'm going to go with it anyways. I have 3 different stacks of fabrics, all of these photos were taken INDOORS, and GASP at night!!!!!
I have a nice camera....it's a Canon Rebel, but just because the camera is nice DOES NOT mean I will get good pictures! Aaaaaaand, I kind of lost my manual *face palm*!!!! One thing I have learned in my research (beside really needing your manual) is that AV mode is FANTASTIC!!!! The camera still does a lot of work but, the AV mode makes me feel like I can take better pictures! LOL!
So, what I've done is taken all the pictures with my camera set on AV mode, I didn't mess with any setting (basically because I DON'T KNOW HOW!). I have edited most pictures I'm about to post but I have a few that I left unedited so you could see the difference!
  I edit ALL my pictures with Picmonkey, I love this site! It is sooo user friendly!!!

Alright, enough rambling...let's get to the pictures!
(this photo is edited)
This was a stack of recently purchased fabrics.

(this one is edited)
Anyone who knows me knows I love a rainbow of fabrics...so I just had to get fabrics in all different colors!
(this is the unedited version) Can you see the difference? A lot darker and the colors aren't as pretty!

(this is edited, but only the color) The camera did the blurry part, which I love!!! I dunno why but I really like the effect of this picture....it's probably just because I'm crazy like that!

(edited) I even climbed up on a chair to have a different perspective!


Here is the unedited version. Sooooo dark, but I guess it didn't help that I was taking the pictures at 11:00 AT NIGHT, huh?

(edited)
Yep, love me a rainbow of fabrics! This stack is actually being transformed into a project for my Sewing Room Swap Partner!

(edited) I like the blurry background in this picture, again, not me...this was all the camera's doing!

(unedited)

I've actually kind-of set some goals for myself for my photography...wanna know what they are? Sure you do!!!
- Take pictures during DAYLIGHT!
- Get my new pressing board made so I can have a "less busy" background!
-Try to find my manual for my camera....or download one!
-Try to learn more about ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and white balance

If you haven't already, go check Beth's post and all the other wonderful blogger's linking up!



~Hope y'all are having a GREAT day!!!~

8 comments:

Karin said...

Hi...that is exactly how I feel about photography. I struggle big time and spent a lot of time editing my photos. I see that your camera does the blurry bit...I like that but for the life of me cannot figure out whether mine does this. I think I shall experiment a bit with my phone over the next month. It's fairly newish and has an amazing camera. I shall also look for my manual for the camera...

Amira@littlemushroomcap said...

It is time consuming to take great photos.. I totally understand that. I usually have only night time too! So I am glad there are photo editors. It is better than no natural lights and no editing for sure!

Mary said...

I used to spend a lot of time reading about and practicing photography techniques. Then everything went digital and I lost all interest. The business is from your aperture opening. The darker it is the larger the opening and the less sharpness. You can adjust this (F-stop) and it is a balance with shutter speed and light.

Kristin said...

I think your photos are actually really, really good, your presentation or arrangement is a bit unorganized looking. I use my phone for pictures and am realizing I may need to upgrade to something better.

hydeeannsews said...

I think you did just fine on your photos. =) you make good use of editing. as you practice and learn from others more, you'll get better pictures up front and have to do less editing. have fun playing and learning!

✾Jamie Lee Cooley✾ said...

What a great link up! I think your photos look really good, and the fact that you took them indoors at night makes them even better! I have the same camera and always switch from modes when I'm taking each shot, just to see what looks best.

Laura C @ littleandlots said...

I am also nervous about my photography. I abandoned a couple of blogs years ago because I wasn't willing to take the time to make good photos. It takes a LOT of time to take good pictures, stage them, edit them, etc. My goals are EXACTLY your goals. Especially the manual-finding part, eep.

These are really great indoors-at-night photos. I actually couldn't really tell that until you mentioned it!

SharynB said...

Your goals are just like mine, I guess we will get there if we prtactice!

I do love your photographs of the fabric stacked better than the ones scattered, but thats just me. I really like the colours.