Sunday, June 19, 2011

And always use a safety net

There are some things best left to the professional and we are humbled again at our attempts to shoot pictures of our work.
How hard can it be we think- we bought the cube, we bought the background, we own a camera.
Ha! We are humbled!
After a day of messing around we are back to square one.
Of the photo's we shot there was not one we felt we could use.
Not one.
We know this is a learning curve and we know we can easily set ourselves up for failure and we have .
But is there a point where you throw in the towel and declare defeat?
I think we are there.
We use to set aside a few pots a year and take them to a professional.
The pictures were good and useful.
When an opportunity came along we just pulled one from our bag of tricks and sent it along.
This only goes so far as you realize you are sending the same pictures too often with nothing fresh in the larder.


So back to the drawing board- a class maybe.
Practice - maybe.
Just dumb luck- maybe.
I will continue to just put my point and shoot stuff here and meanwhile we will work out a way to get someone else to do the real stuff.
We know a guy.....now where is that checkbook?

HAPPY FATHER"S DAY!
M

10 comments:

Michèle Hastings said...

we have had pretty good luck with a long back drop that rolls out and a light on an adjustable arm with what appears to be fusible liner rigged around it with coat hangers. we use foam core board on either side to bounce the light around. it aint pretty but it works for us! i will give you a call when we have it set up and you can come over and see how it works.

Anna M. Branner said...

I definitely feel your pain!!!

Linda Starr said...

Love the lamps; I swear I took better photos before I got my cube by taking them outside in north facing light at my last house. In this house I am now setting the cube on the counter in the second bathroom which gets morning light and I get pretty good photos there.

Here's a link for my outdoor photo set up:

http://bluestarrgallery.blogspot.com/2009/08/sneak-preview-barrel-fired-pendants.html

Mrs. G. said...

Stunning lamps, M!

JLK Jewelry said...

Dumb luck seems to work best for me (upon occasion!)

cookingwithgas said...

thanks for the comments and we will continue on with our dumb luck just to see if we can turn it into better luck.
Call MH will come take a look.

Unknown said...

Practice, practice, practice! That's what works for me. Yesterday I took my cube outside and the lighting was fantastic- love those sunny says. There is a lot on the etsy site (their blog and in their 'handbook') that discusses how to photograph wares. It's more about lighting than anything else. I just use a point and shoot too.

Lori Buff said...

I just got a cube and will be setting it up today. Now I'm a bit anxious about the results.
I did talk with a professional and got quite a few good tips, a class or workshop could be very beneficial to you.

Hollis Engley said...

Meredith, let me know if you want a look at my setup. It's extremely simple and seems to work just fine. Some people will quibble about hot spots, and if you and Mark are like that, my setup might not be for you. But if you like the studio photos that I post, there's no reason you can't get them just as good. I shoot all my own stuff.

cookingwithgas said...

Yes- Hollis we would be interested and maybe hot spots are overrated??