Poor man's photography.
I was wishing to have a few of my spoons photographed professionally and when I researched online, I found that the going rate is about $55 per SHOT (not including shipping). Figuring that some of my spoons might have trouble being worth that much, I set about to see if I could get 'acceptable' results with out the expense. I have a high respect for those photographers that make craft work look good especially for Jurying purposes, but to be honest, $55 would cut hard into any profit I fool myself into thinking I might actually make on a project. I'm going to have to wait a while for my work to attract the deep pocket buyers before I can hire a professional photographer.
I had been using a white paper background and didn't really like it. I have noticed that the best shots of craft work seem to use a graduated background, and so my search led me to find the Varitone graduated background from Photo Tech Inc. I ordered the #928 in the 31" x 43" vertical format, vinyl. http://www.phototechinc.com/graduate2.htm With a $32 price and another $8 for shipping, my cost was about $40. I already own a digital camera, although it is just one of those fairly inexpensive 'point and shoots'. I think my wife paid $150 for it a year or two ago when she gave it to me as a gift. It is a Sony DSW-55 (I think) and what I love about it besides it's small size is that it has a remarkable 'macro' capability for its size. When I can hold it still enough I can capture the facets of a fly's eyes. It can see a lot that I can not.
Anyway, I set the background up outside on a patio table while it was overcast, so the shadows wouldn't be too strong. I had my camera set on 'macro' and white balance set for 'overcast'. I hurried the whole thing since it looked like rain setting in, I did not use a tripod and didn't spend enough time composing… but in spite of it all, my photos were much better with the graduated background. I want to do some experimenting with white balance, settings, shade/light, etc., but I think this can hold me off from having to pay the big boys for a while. You guys have probably figured all this out already, but I haven't gone back to read the last thousand blogs.
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I was wishing to have a few of my spoons photographed professionally and when I researched online, I found that the going rate is about $55 per SHOT (not including shipping). Figuring that some of my spoons might have trouble being worth that much, I set about to see if I could get 'acceptable' results with out the expense. I have a high respect for those photographers that make craft work look good especially for Jurying purposes, but to be honest, $55 would cut hard into any profit I fool myself into thinking I might actually make on a project. I'm going to have to wait a while for my work to attract the deep pocket buyers before I can hire a professional photographer.
I had been using a white paper background and didn't really like it. I have noticed that the best shots of craft work seem to use a graduated background, and so my search led me to find the Varitone graduated background from Photo Tech Inc. I ordered the #928 in the 31" x 43" vertical format, vinyl. http://www.phototechinc.com/graduate2.htm With a $32 price and another $8 for shipping, my cost was about $40. I already own a digital camera, although it is just one of those fairly inexpensive 'point and shoots'. I think my wife paid $150 for it a year or two ago when she gave it to me as a gift. It is a Sony DSW-55 (I think) and what I love about it besides it's small size is that it has a remarkable 'macro' capability for its size. When I can hold it still enough I can capture the facets of a fly's eyes. It can see a lot that I can not.
Anyway, I set the background up outside on a patio table while it was overcast, so the shadows wouldn't be too strong. I had my camera set on 'macro' and white balance set for 'overcast'. I hurried the whole thing since it looked like rain setting in, I did not use a tripod and didn't spend enough time composing… but in spite of it all, my photos were much better with the graduated background. I want to do some experimenting with white balance, settings, shade/light, etc., but I think this can hold me off from having to pay the big boys for a while. You guys have probably figured all this out already, but I haven't gone back to read the last thousand blogs.
Before:
After:
Before:
After: