Category: Good to Know

MMXII::13::EDITING A PHOTO A DAY IN 2012

Phew! I wasn’t sure if I could get this in today, I was on a ridiculous mission to complete shipping of all my orders in one day.  I tried, I have been up since the crack of dawn trying to  do so, but failed.  I don’t even know why I tried (most rational people don’t expect same day shipping, right?), but I wanted to see if I could–I couldn’t.  In between all of this I had an hour to shoot. I usually don’t shoot + ship in the same day, it’s not a good time, but I had this  dumb goal so I did. I know that I only get about an hour of good light each day now (there’s a HUMONGOUS construction site going up right next door to my quaint little flat, insert sad face here). I styled and shot with my hour allotment, which really would have been more useful if I ate instead of took photographs, but I threw pragmatism to the wind today. After I had been shipping for 13 hours straight less the 1 hour for a ‘photoshoot’, I  realized I needed to do my edit–Wha?  I pulled out this hawk, I had wanted to tackle him (her?) for a while now, so happy I did.  I feel like I could keep going on this, but I am pretty happy with the result. Assessment? Not a bad day, not a bad day at all.

I will be editing a photo a day for the remainder of 2012::Project MMXII, this is my ‘after’, you can view the ‘before’ here.

VERLA IVANS ARROW SET

These unique arrows by Verla Ivans caught my eye last night.  Like most individuals in the blogosphere I have succumbed to the arrow trend, but haven’t pulled the trigger on adding any to my abode. I love how creative these are with their fun color palette (she has them in neutral colors as well). The internet never ceases to amaze me in what one might find. If you will be leaving me for the weekend I wish you farewell until next week, have a happy weekend!

MMXII::12::EDITING A PHOTO A DAY IN 2012

MMXII::12::AFTER
I have been trying to mimic a Polaroid feel for pretty much as long as I have been editing photographs. You would think that I would have cracked the code by now.  I haven’t.  I think this comes close in the soft, creamy/dreaminess and works well with the subject of this photograph.  Last year I was in NYC and had just missed a huge traveling butterfly exhibit at the Natural History Museum,  I was crushed.  A very sweet curator in the children’s wing had three small butterfly specimen trays, woefully forgotten and in such disarray that they didn’t have any rhyme or reason to them, she allowed me to take my time with them, but I found the halogen lighting in the room made the poor butterflies look even less flattering than they already looked.  With this effect I feel I have allowed some of their natural beauty to be showcased again in a much prettier light.
I will be editing a photo a day for the remainder of 2012::Project MMXII, this is my ‘after’, you can view the ‘before’ here.
 
P.S. I found a pretty good Polaroid Photoshop action here, it has the frame and everything.

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3 PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR SHOTS

I have griped on many occasions here about my struggle with my product photography. My first shop I only showed graphics of the offerings which was great because there was a nice consistency to the images, the downside in my opinion was that the client couldn’t really get a feel for the actual product. With the launch of Besotted Brand I knew I wanted to up the ante with product shots, the only problem is that my product photography skills were null. I was at a loss for a few months, but then I feel that things began to change.  I wanted to give you a few tips that have helped me tremendous amounts and for those of you struggling may help you as well, which I have listed below:

1. This first tip may make you roll your eyes in the back of your head, but I am going to share it anyway–Take lot’s of photos, all the time. In other words–practice.  Does that make you cringe?  I apologize, but truly the more bad shots I took the more good shots came about later as a result.
2. I took a class. Now I know not everyone has a budget for a class and this was not in mine either, but I figured I would forgo eating and see where the chips fall.  Bonus, I am thinner and more adept at my product photography skills.  The class I took was on line by Nicole’s Classes. I am a huge fan of Nicole, she graduated from a very prestigious (and impossible to get into) photography school, she has worked with the industries top photographers and is a success in her own right working with publications such as Real Simple. This is a great class.
3. I bought a tripod. Okay, I should state that I owned a tripod previously, or a poor excuse for a tripod, just flimsy and hard to work with.  I couldn’t afford the tripod that I wanted so I invested in the best tripod I could afford. The number one difference with the new tripod is that it has a quick release, making it super easy to pull my camera off the tripod and shoot at different angles. I adore this feature.  I bought this tripod, with this ball head.

These are only three quick tips, but I feel that they were instrumental in taking me from dark, dank and blurry shots to the shot above, which isn’t perfect but leaps & bounds better than where I was when I started. If you have any questions for me leave them in the comments and I am happy to try to answer them.

P.S. This is my new Parcel Twine Trio, I will be giving a set away next week, but if you can’t wait you can get your set here.

MMXII::11::EDITING A PHOTO A DAY IN 2012

MMXII::11::AFTER

I know, I know, you are thinking sheesh Miss B., you promised not to just have all your posts be about this insane project, blurgh!  Yes, I promised and I will keep my promise, it’s just that the last couple weeks have been monopolized by taking product photographs, editing for this project, getting ready for the Souvenir Foto School announcement, designing an updated blog and oh yeah, plenty of real work in there as well. In a word, I have been busy.  I also haven’t been in the best of health, nothing contagious (for all those clients I have been packing parcels for), I just have had a bad bout of vertigo, it’s the worse ever, it’s like you are on a very rocky boat at sea except you are sitting in your living room.  I don’t wish it upon anyone amongst you, ever. It’s a little bit hard for me to be creative and come up with new ideas for you here when I am seasick in the studio. This has happened a few times prior and passed after a couple of weeks, not what I would consider a good time. You know what’s good though?  I got in some new prints that I am actually happy with!  I just need to style + shoot them in frames and then I will add to the shop, of course I will be giving away framed versions here, so I hope that some of you need new artwork for your walls.
I will be editing a photo a day for the remainder of 2012::Project MMXII, this is my ‘after’, you can view the ‘before’ here.
P.S. I used one of these FREE Photoshop actions to assist with the edit!