Great Photos Can Make a Big Difference in Your Success
Great images of your work are essential to your success as a craft artist. Of course, having great work is of utmost importance, but if you don't have professional looking images of your work, you will find less opportunities to sell your work, succeed in competitions, or get publicity for your work.
If taking your own pictures seems daunting, then budget to have a professional photographer take pictures for you. Even if you take your own pictures for your website, or for sites such as Flickr, Etsy or eBay, you may still want to have a professional photographer take pictures for the more high stakes opportunities.
It is possible to take your own pictures, and be successful in getting publicity, or generating sales. But it takes the right equipment, and lots of practice.
Start With a Little Help from the Experts
Photographing Arts, Crafts & Collectibles: Take Great Digital Photos for Portfolios, Documentation, or Selling on the Web (A Lark Photography Book)
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 01/09/2009) 
List Price: $24.95
When and Why Do You Need Good Photos
- Entering shows.
- Submitting articles.
- Entering competitions.
- Creating marketing materials; business cards, postcards, catalogs.
- Publicizing your work on the web; website, Etsy, eBay, Flickr.
- Submissions for books about your media.
- Publicity photos for galleries or shots carrying your work.
Early Photo; Distracting Set-Up, Poor Camera, bad lighting, poor editing.
Camera Considerations
Having the right equipment is essential
I have used both a Fujifilm camera (4 Mp) and a Canon Powershot (8 Mp). I love the Canon, and can recommend it as a very versatile camera with excellent quality images.
- SLR or Point and Shoot? If you have the funds, an SLR digital camera is the best option, but it is not always within the price range of many artists. Fortunately, for about 1/3 to 1/2 to the cost of an SLR, you can get a digital camera that will do the job.
- Macro function. If you work is small in scale, then it is important to have a good macro function on your camera. This will allow you to get in close enough to fill the frame with your item, and maintain sharp focus.
- White balance. In order to make sure your colors are true, a white balance function is important. Different light sources give off a different spectrum of light, affecting your photo. White balance control can correct for this in how it records the image.
- Pixels. Bare minimum, you need at least 4 Megapixels, ideally, you want 8 Megapixels or more. Higher megapixels will allow you to have a larger image at high print resolution.
- Zoom. Optical zoom is preferred over digital zoom. But in most csses, you will not be using the zoom function to photograph craft items.
Lights, Camera, Tripod!
Good Lighting and a good background will help set off your work to best advantage.
The Rest of the Equipment Essentials
- Tripod Your item may be perfectly still, but you will probably have a very slow shutter speed to have the best quality image. In order to get a nice sharp focus, a tripod is essential.
- Lights Good quality light, ideally in the white spectrum of light, will help produce the best quality image. But you also need a way to soften the lights so that you don't have glare or hot spots on your image.
I have found the best solution from tabletopstudios.com. Their EZ cube set-up, with lights, and the cube to filter the light works like a dream for me. I tried many other alternatives, jerry-rigged various set-ups with plastic bins and clip on lights, but nothing,...nothing...,has worked as well, or as easily as the EZ Cube.
The cubes come in a variety of sizes, in some cases large enough for a chair. - Background The gradient gray background is the "gold standard" in fine craft photography, particularly for small to medium sized objects. It allows the work to be the center of attention. The gradient background made for photography is available through tabletopstudios.com. It is easily scratched, but it photographs beautifully. There is virtually no grain, and the camera will not focus in on the paper instead of your work. I noticed a big difference when I finally got the gradient backdrop. Tabletopstudios.com also offers other alternatives to the gray background.
- Software Photo editing software is essential to creating the best quality image. From cleaning up the dust particles in the image, to making slight adjustments in color balance, contrast, etc., will bring the picture to life.
- A Model?? If your craft item is a wearable, you may want to show it off on a model. Drama students are often a good source for a model.
Cameras on Amazon.com
Amazon can be a great resource for more than books.
Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Amazon Price: $108.49 (as of 01/09/2009)
List Price: $149.99
Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS 8.0MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Amazon Price: $549.95 (as of 01/09/2009)
List Price: $449.99
Fujifilm Finepix S1000fd 10MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Zoom
Amazon Price: $174.60 (as of 01/09/2009)
List Price: $199.95
Fujifilm Finepix S700 7.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom
Amazon Price: $349.98 (as of 01/09/2009)
List Price: $199.99
Nikon Coolpix P80 10.1MP Digital Camera with 18x Wide Angle Optical Vibration Reduction Zoom (Black)
Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 01/09/2009)
List Price:
Model Pitfalls
Don't have the model look directly at the camera. The model should look down or away. Otherwise the viewer is drawn to the model's eyes rather than the work.
Shibori Fringe Necklace (Canon Powershot, 8 MP)
Practice, Practice, Practice
Finally, it take lots of time and practice to master the photo editing software. But it is time well invested. A few minor tweaks can make a big difference. Below are two images. The first has only been re-sized for the web. It is somewhat flat looking. There are bits of dust and scratches on the background. The second is after a few minutes of editing with Photoshop.
Image Prior to Editing in Photoshop
After Editing in Photoshop
How Did She Do That??
With lots and lots of practice!
The most valuable function on Photoshop is one I only recently uncovered....Curves. Curves is a powerful tool to quickly adjust the white balance, the contrast, and tone of your image. Curves is worthy of an entire lens. Here is a tutorial that is a great overview of what curves can do to help enhance your images.
After using Curves, I then will use the touch-up tool to eliminate dust particles and scratches on the background, or dust on my item. I will make the diameter of the tool about 15 to 20 pixels, and increase the image size to actual pixels. I then scan the entire image, cleaning up all the distracting debris. It is not meant to clean up defective workmanship. It is only meant to clean up the dust that seems unavoidable, but utterly distracting when the image is blown up.
Finally, a slight adjustment with the Unsharp mask tool helps give the image a bit of a pop. I usually set it to 55%. The change is barely perceptible, but it is real.
The final transformation can be seen in the difference between the two images above.
A Collection of Cranes (FujiFilm camera, 4Mp)
Sometimes It Pays to Hire Someone Else
When the need for a top notch picture is critical, and you are at the beginning of the learning curve, you are probably better off hiring someone to take your pictures.
Sometimes It Pays to Hire Someone to Take Your Photos
Even if you want to do it all yourself, it pays to visit the sites of some top notch photographers and see what you will be up against. And, if you ever decide you want to get some great photos, you will know who to contact.
- Hap Sakwa Photography
- Hap Sakwa is the gold standard of craft photographers in my book. He makes the work sing.
- Robert Diamante Photography
- Robert Diamante seems to have that intuitive understanding of light that all great photographers have. His art photography is stunning, in addition to top quality craft photography.
- Frank Ross Photography
- A ceramic artist I know swears by Frank Ross. Her work sells, and part of it is because of great photos.
- George Post Photography
- George Post is a well known and well respected craft photographer.
How Would You Rate Your Photography Skills
Photoshop Resources. What is Your Recommendation?
How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3: The art of creating photorealistic montages (How to Cheat in) by Steve Caplin
With his in-depth knowledge of the little-known se more...0 points
Organizing and Editing Your Photos with Picasa: Visual QuickProject Guide by Steve Schwartz
If you're looking for an easy way to find photos o more...0 points
If you're looking for an easy way to find photos on your PC, make a few editing fixes, and then share your images with others, look no further. Picasa, available as a free download from Google.com, makes it easy to instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures in seconds and sorts them into albums. From there, you can apply basic edits to your photos, burn them to CD, post them on your blog, or email them to fri...
0 points
The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) by Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski
Best-selling author Scott Kelby pairs up with Matt more...0 points
Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers: A Professional Image Editor's Guide to the Creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC by Martin Evening
Master the power of Photoshop CS3 with
an internat more...0 points
Photoshop CS3 Restoration and Retouching Bible by Mark Fitzgerald
The Photoshop CS3 Restoration and Retouching Bible more...0 points
Adobe Photoshop Restoration & Retouching (3rd Edition) (Voices That Matter) by Katrin Eismann, Wayne Palmer
Whether you're a professional photographer or the more...0 points
Did you learn any new tips? Anything you plan to try out? Let me know.
chefkeem wrote...
Splendid tips on improving your pics. I'll have to give this fabulous resource lens my hearty SquidAngel Blessing. :)
Posted January 08, 2009
Kleppins_Kitchen wrote...
Interesting lens. I really enjoyed the information and will be using the hints. Congratulations on your Graduation.
Posted November 15, 2008
seedplanter wrote...
Although I'm a nature photographer, I appreciate excellent lenses like this. You've included such good resources! (I agree...Photoshop's Curves tool is a keeper.)
I'm lensrolling this to my Backyard Photo Ops site, simply because you're a good photographer and this lens is such a great reference! Thanks!
Posted October 28, 2008
clouda9 wrote...
Wow...a wealth of information can be found on this lens...super lensmastery! Your pictures are gorgeous.
Spread the positive love on Squidoo this week. More info at my SquidTop blog http://oncloud9.squidtop.com/ or on the SquidU forum.
Posted October 22, 2008
Zion wrote...
Wow! This is a great info for all of us.
I really like your lens! so I gave you 5*.. how about that?!...
Please try to stop by my lens. I would really much appreciate if you could rate mine too!
Thank you so much!
Zion
http://www.squidoo.com/effective-best-acne-treatment-info
Posted October 21, 2008
a_willow wrote...
This is really, really good lens Judy! You offer some great tips on photography and I love items you have put here as samples!
Posted October 08, 2008
Hanwright wrote...
you've got a well-constructed lens here, nice to read and your photography skills are good! The pictures definitely look attractive.
Posted September 30, 2008
Margo_Arrowsmith wrote...
Heck, I even liked your bad examples! I do crafts and know just how hard photographing it is. Nice 5* job!
Posted September 29, 2008
Webcodes wrote...
Great 5* lens. One of my to-do lists is to learn all the functions on my camera. It's pretty amazing that now they are up to 12 megapixels and going even higher.. can't wait what the future will hold.
Posted September 29, 2008
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