Playing with Photography - A Tutorial

Once upon a time, when I did a lot of work for design teams I spent soooo much time on my photographs. I am finding that I don't have the patience to set up a scene with props, get out the SLR camera, transfer the photos to my computer and edit them in Photoshop. I look at Pinterest and blogs and see the most beautiful photos but I know just how much work goes into making them look that way. Kinda like the real photos that you see that show the pretty photo and then back up and show the mess that surrounds the photo set up. It really makes me laugh.

credit - Geraldine West

For this round of experimentation I am using a piece of poster board, two extendable lamps and a small cake plate that I purchased at Michaels. Notice how the poster board is curved at the center, this  helps so that there aren't any disturbing lines in the photograph. The reason for two lamps is to light the background behind the photograph and then the front of the card. It isn't perfect, I could use another lamp or two, but I really don't want to spend the money.

Instead of using my SLR camera I am taking advantage of the great camera on my IPhone XSMax. I don't use a flash as that blows out the photo, in other words it's just too bright and the white balance is all over the place. I edit the photo on my phone. The things I usually play with are the exposure, highlights and the cast. Sometimes I mess with the shadows. I send the photos to my computer and place them in my blog post. It is so much easier than working with my SLR and then Photoshop. The only thing I am missing is a watermark. I will figure that out though.

So that's where I am at right now as far as photography goes, keeping it clean and simple like my cards. Well the cards are clean, but not simple. Simple is deceiving.

Here's how the card in the above photograph turned out:

A fun note, the Happy is die cut out of felt.

I hope this helps someone out there have a little more success with their card photos with less expense and time.

Alicia