Thursday 14 June 2012

Trying to Learn New Tricks

Today I went off to a friend's house for the morning. I took some of the quilts I made last year with me and spent some time in my friend's garden taking photos. I am trying to improve my abilities in the staging of my quilt photos. I think I still have a long way to go. But I had to start somewhere.

And my friend's garden is a good place to start. Because it is nicer than my garden. And a lot less weed strewn. Thank goodness for nice friends with nice gardens!

Here is a sampling of some of the photos I managed to capture today.


I've got to learn more about light.
I might have to buckle down and learn to use himself's
'proper' camera rather than my point and shoot.


I think I am getting the idea of placement of the quilts.
Though I may just be deluding myself.


I have wanted a stack of quilts photo for ages.
I really need to take my bigger quilts out for a photo shoot too.


This is a  mosaic of shots all of one quilt.
Trying to capture from different angles to show it well.

So, you lot with more camera skill than me, hints, ideas, suggestions? That is if you think there is any hope for  me. I see such lovely photos of quilts out there. I just thought it was time I put a little more effort in.

Susan

29 comments:

  1. I like the photos to be as big as possible. Have you considered having one side column on your blog and then you could make your pictures wider?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I bought a proper camera a year or so ago and found the photos were much better - but lighting is always a critical issue, especially when it seems to rain all the time. I agree with LIQ above that bigger photos make a lot more impact!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Susan
    The very first picture is perfect as far as placement of the quilt and how it is centered up in the frame. The problem is the backlighting. Everything behind your quilt is beautifully lit, but your quilt is dark. Make sure that your quilt is well lit, even though direct sunlight may be too much, and of course make sure that the sun isn't behind the quilt or you get backlighting. In those cases you can try using a flash. The stack of quilts is very pleasing, but again the lighting is too dark. Sometimes I have to fix my pictues with my photo editing software to make them lighter. I hope that helps.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think your photos are fab! You can give me some tips :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. These look fab Susan, I have no advice though as I am a point and shoot kind of girl.

    ReplyDelete
  6. They look amazing. Lighting is always the key point. I live in a dingy little terrace so I always take picture of anything small right by the window, or anything big at my parents house. Liking the pink and aqua squares quilt, haven't seen it before I don't think?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your pics are great and so are your quilts! I like nice big light photos. But I get lazy and find I do a snap indoors in my poorly lit cottage and then wonder why they don't look very impressive. Photo editing software can be good for a spot of lightening, it's how the professional photographers get their pics to look so good. They just don't always tell us that!

    ReplyDelete
  8. if i told you something it would be the blind leading the blind because i know "nothing" i just point and shoot

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am not going to comment on the photo's because I also struggle to take them! But I will ask does your friend live in some kind of country estate, sheesh that's some garden! x

    ReplyDelete
  10. And your efforts paid off beautifully! Your quilts are just lovely here. They show your choice of color and fabric nicely. Great job! I'd suggest a bit more light, but that's hard do come by lately :)
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the staging of the photos and that aqua quilt is so pretty. I am reading the comments with interest as I really want to take better photos too. Step 1: I must learn to use the fancy DSLR camera that we own. Step 2: I must acquire a bigger garden or visit MIL more!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love the quilt stack! The pics look great, I think it helps when the quilts are beautiful x

    ReplyDelete
  13. The pictures are lovely. You could brighten a few up with one of the photo editing programs. Next time get your friend to hold a few of the quilts for you so you can position them with the light on them and then take the photo that shows the whole quilt, as I always to see all the details too. By the way, I love the quilts.

    ReplyDelete
  14. they are great pictures and really show off your quilts. I am always dissapointed with my photos!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I also like to make my pics as big as possible. I also try to get in as close as possible for some photos to get theft ails showing. Looks like you had a great time though!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ugh... Auto correct snuck in.... that should read "the details" showing. Sorry!

    ReplyDelete
  17. They look great - afraid I just aim the camera in the rough direction and hope for the best, especially if it's sunny and I can't even see if the subject is in the shot!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I like the photos, especially the over the fence photos. The quilts are all beauties

    ReplyDelete
  19. Next time you're not feeling good about your quilt photos, have a look at some of mine, you'll appreciate your own instantly!! (except for my beeast london pic of course ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. These pics are lovely - good to have nice areas to artistically drape them over! Like the new look of your blog page - sorry if you've changed it ages ago and I'm only noticing today (I usually catch up on the google reader and you can't always tell that design changes were made).

    ReplyDelete
  21. Very arty! I need to take a page out of your book as I have 'photo' issues. Di x

    ReplyDelete
  22. Amazing pics Suz! And I see you've been changing other things around too! Jxo

    ReplyDelete
  23. Good job on the placement. For the light, gies a shout later in the week when I'm more awake...

    ReplyDelete
  24. Use the P setting on your camera. It will pull in the most light. Unless you know how to use your ISO settings.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Love your pics Susan - I am always trying to find new and interesting poses for my quilts and other sewn things too!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Great new look to the blog Susan!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Happened to drop by again today... check you out with your fancy pants new look! Love it! I was going to offer to help you with it, but you seem to have it all under control, well done you!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Obviously I am not the one to give N.E.ONE direction in the quilt photo area but I rather like the lighting of the very last picture. I believe it to also be the same as the 7th photo. Regardless, I like it!

    ReplyDelete
  29. I have no idea about taking photos (I've had my camera less than a year and I think my blog photos are proof of my lack of ability!) but I do like the ones you've shown us! Your friend's garden looks amazing, is this the same friend that has the swimming pool?!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. I read them all and I love them all. I do my utmost to reply to comments as often as possible. If you comment and never receive a reply from me there is the possibility that you are a no-reply commenter.