During September, I was give the Versatile blogger award by Adithi’s Amma Sews; and also from SewingCafe with Lynne thank you so much to both Adithi’s Amma and Lynne!
Now the rules are as follows, you have to write seven things about yourself… well, I’ve done a few of those before (in the sidebar at right) and truthfully I have nothing further of any interest about myself to add. Yup, I am a pretty boring person… and what is more this is not supposed to be about me, although if I do feel like sharing any little titbits of what is going on in my life I will blurt it out at there and then, but pretty much this blog is all about my sewing, knitting or general fashion-related stuff as it inspires me.
So.
The last time I did one of these I wrote 7 things about couture sewing I had picked up from reading the excellent and highly enlightening instructions in Vogue 8333, and I decided that was a far more fun and interesting thing for people to read about than boring old me, so I decided to go down that path again… this is supposed to be a versatile blogger award, right?
So to be a bit versatile; today I shall touch on a completely different subject of interest to me and probably all bloggers like me documenting their handmade creations… photography. People have left me lovely comments saying nice things about my photography, so while I am no expert and what I know about the actual technical side of photography could be written on a pinhead with room to spare, and a real photographer might read this and laugh at my naivety; I do still like dabbling in fashion photography in my own silly small-scale way and take some pride in my photos. So thought I would just jot down a few little things about taking photos of myself and my work that I have learnt along the way.
1. Background
It might seem obvious and therefore not worth mentioning, but this is a biggie. The background of your photographs is really important and there is a big difference between a background that will highlight your creations to advantage, or alternatively swamp them into insignificance.
Aaaand; not particularly vital and not something I obsess about, but I do find myself semi-consciously seeking out photo spots that will enhance my creations. I certainly don’t let it get in the way of my life, but if I see a good spot around about I will often tuck it away mentally for future reference. Also, there are suitable spots, and there are unsuitable spots. Let’s just say, if I have made some new bathers then I will pick a day I am going to the beach to bring along my camera. And if I am photographing say, a beige dress, then it’s probably best not to sabotage my creation by standing in front of a beige background.
Take these two examples, two pictures of the same dress. Below is one taken before I had grasped that a contrasting background would show up my dress better. Below that, I had started to twig that an attractive setting might make a difference. Which do you think is the better picture?
2. Natural light vs. Flash
A tricky one. I reckon natural light is far superior if you can get it. I haven’t yet taken a photo of myself with a flash in which I didn’t look terribly ill; on death’s door even. Or at least ten years older than I am… so I nearly always “force flash off”. But I’ve heard that professional photographers can do wonderful things with a flash, and I really should take the time to work out what those things are….
In the meantime, take these two examples, below is a photo taken at nighttime, with a flash. Horrible, no? Below that, the same trousers in the daylight and sans flash. Which do you think is the better picture?
3. the Direction of your light
In general, shaded outdoor light is the best for giving naturalness to your clothes, and providing a true indication of colours, textures and details. And if the light source is behind you, you will just be a featureless silhouette in front of a bright beautiful background, and no one will be able to see any details of your creation at all. Take these two examples… below I took this photo without thinking enough about direction of the light. Below that is a similar outfit, taken in the shade. In which can you see the details of the outfit better?
4. Black
Black is “special”. Generally speaking (without access to a studio set-up), bright or strong light is necessary to show any details at all of a black ensemble… Take these two examples, two pictures of the same dress. On the left is one taken when I thought that shaded natural light was the best option for all my photographs regardless of the colour of my garments, on the right is one taken when I had realised that black might be an exception to this rule. In which picture do the details of the dress stand out better?
5. Posing
I believe that a natural stance suits my personality. For me personally, the typical blogger’s stance with one hand on the hip and smiling straight into the lens, is not very natural and sorta too aggressive for my own style. I did this a few times in my early days of blogging and now those photos make me cringe, because in real life I am quite shy and that sort of stance is not me at all. Now I just aim to be as relaxed and hopefully the least dorky that I can. A big cheesy grin is just not very me, although I try to smile at least a little bit in some of my photos since my husband told me I am always looking too serious. Incidentally, my posture has improved outasight since I started taking photos of myself. I am not super tall, but I am certainly taller than most of my friends, and I think that was making me slouch. I could see that in my earlier photos and I’ve stamped that out. That is one area I can definitely say where blogging has really improved my life!
Take these two photos; below is early blogging days. A dreadful and cheesy pose, right? Below that, a similar outfit but I think my posing and my posture has improved enormously and is a lot more natural.
6. Perspective
well, again a biggie. I’ve found that the most flattering angle for a photo is when the camera is situated quite low, say at low hip height, and certainly no higher than waist height. The worst angle is if somebody taller than you is taking your photo, from their full height, and one ends up looking munchkin-like up into the camera… with a big head and tiny weeny little feet down below. This isn’t because you actually have a big head and teensie weensy little feet, but is just how it looks from the perspective of the camera. Do yourself a favour (as Molly would say), and if a tall person is taking your photo get them to crouch down to squatting height. Or get yourself a tripod and open for yourself a whole new world no longer to subject to the whims of your family’s photo-taking willingness nor availability…
Take these two examples, two pictures of the same dress. On the left is a picture taken by my son at his full height in the days before I had worked out how to take my own photos, on the right is one I took myself with my camera on a tripod at hip height. Which has the better perspective? (the two photos of my black dress above have exactly the same issue!)
7. Crop
I usually zoom out as far as possible when taking my pictures, reasoning that I can always crop later if necessary. This is a better option to the alternative, ie taking a few pictures only to later see that your head has been chopped off. Take these two pictures, below is the unadulterated photo. Of course you can see only rock and sky (I agree, this might be preferable…), but the dress is a tiny no-detailed speck in the midst of rocks. Below that is the one I used in this blog. It is exactly the same photo but cropped to show off the details of the dress.
Don’t let the beauty of your background overwhelm you!
This is the biggest for me. Often I am so smitten by the beautiful locations I take my photos in I don’t want to crop anything out. But it is better to be ruthless since I am trying to show off the details of my creations and not just a lovely location… below is the uncropped photo. Then the cropped version; well, now you can actually see some details of the skirt!
Now, I am passing this award on to some other blogs that I like reading… your mission should you choose to accept it:
Ana, of Stepalica
Andrea, of Fabric Epiphanies
Caroline, of Church Sexy
Shannon, of Mushywear
Tanit-Isis, of Tanit-Isis Sews
Oh wow. Honestly I see what you mean about cropping being necessary for the technical details of a sewing blog, but those uncropped pictures are lovely. I think it's a combination of the amazing locations you have access to, your years of sewing experience showing in the quality of the garments, and what I'm guessing is an amazing camera, but those uncropped pictures look like a magazine spread. You might consider posting links to the uncropped versions!
I always appreciate your photographs. They look lovely, and I get little sneak peaks of Australia, someplace I've never been. Thanks for sharing your tips!
(p.s. I am taking all these notes very much to heart, assuming that I one day finish anything I'm pleased enough with to post pictures of!)
I love SO much that you take your pictures outdoor …. The light is indeed amazing, he background you choose usually complement your outfit… and I love discovering your country!
btw, my favorite outfits in this post are the ones with the gray pants, especially with the white shirt.
Thank-you! All this information on photography has been noted and memorized. (not quite) I can see that there is still hope for me – I keep trying to improve in this area. Unfortunately, we are now getting into that time of year when outdoor photos are pretty well an impossibility, so I will have to continue to figure out the indoor lighting issue.
Thanks for the photo tutorial. This is one of my goals for this coming year…to master the photo shoot:)
A well deserved award!
I'm in love with your photos, they're always beautiful, and what's best – they show off your garments in the most flattering way. I'm quite aware of the bad quality my photos have, and I've been thinking of the ways to improve them. Your tutorial comes so handy. The only thing I lack is the time to actually go out and take some nice photos!
Congrats for the award and thanks so much for passing it to me, I'm honored!
Thanks for the tips – your photos are always awesome! 🙂
Great post, Carolyn! I have figured some of this out myself, but there is always more to learn. You are an expert at this! Congrats on the award – you are one of the most versatile bloggers I know. 🙂
It was nice to see you on the Vogue facebook page!
Thanks for the photo post! I'm in the "take a grainy flash photo indoors at night after the kids are asleep and I've finished sewing" camp. I don't usually have time during daylight to get outdoors and take photos, and with dark and dreary winter coming on, I'll have to make more of an effort.
My cousin is a commercial photographer and he gets great indoor flash shots because he uses a flash diverter (I believe that's the name). I'm amazed at the difference.
Vicki
I quite frequently admire your photographs so, thank you for sharing these tips! I certainly blushed a bit when you mentioned posing. I feel quite awkward in front of a camera and always do the uncomfortable hand on hip. Perhaps a tripod would help me with that in addition to angle. Great advice, great outfits! Well-deserved award!
Those are really good tips. My mom has been an amateur photographer for a long time and often makes us do thing that seem a little off when taking our family photos! Your right that having the subject off center is more pleasing to human eyes, just watch a news broadcast for off center subjects.
I think it really gives you an advantage to live in such a beautiful location that has mild weather most of the year, and you work from home so you can go out at optimal times of day! I'm mostly relegated to early mornings when the light is brightest in my sewing room. And lately it's way too cold to go out side!
As everyone else has said, your photography is lovely, both cropped and uncropped. I think in the art world, placing things off centre is called 'magic thirds'. Better proportions and more pleasing to the eye!
I know enough to turn on the camera, see the item in the screen and push the button. Some nice tips in your post :O).
What a very useful post! Great tips here – now to only work up enough nerve to actually take my tripod outside the house! (Toronto – too many people. Although, given the default craziness level of many people living in my city, maybe taking a photo of yourself with a tripod wouldn't stand out that much?)
great post, lots to think about. love you comment about posing and trying not to look too dorky. I always feel that way 🙂 your backgrounds really do enhance the photos.
Ever heard of the rule of thirds? They pound it into us in art and art history classes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds
These are such great tips! You do a wonderful job showing off your creations.
I adore you sunset maxi-dress. The location you chose for the photo shoot is perfect.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Great tips by the way. I am a little envious of your photographic know how so it is good to be able to pick your brains. Now I will have to trade in my shoe box on the outdoor table for a tripod!
These are great tips Carolyn. I think I need to get a better camera and tripod. I don't think to go outside to take photos, but the light would be so much better. I obviously didn't learn much from my father (who was a photographer!)
Your photos are always stunning, so I guess I should take note and learn!
Thanks, this will be fun!! I'll have to think of a topic to post about, sewing related perhaps … I'll be mulling it over. I really like your post, not too much technical speak about lenses and focal distances, but more about how to compose your own photos. I need to work on posing, as I end up with the cheesy blogger grin most of the time. I'm usually in a rush so don't have time to think about composing a nice photo. There are plenty of places I could use and really experiment, I just don't allow time most of the time.
You show the most beautiful pictures of all the sewing blogs out there; I figured it must be magic and can't quite believe it's due to this handful of (admittedly helpful) tips! Thank you anyway, when I grow up I want to sew like you, live in a a sunny place and take beautiful pictures… Speaking of which, the next-to-last picture of you by the sea (uncropped) is out of this world, just breathtaking!
An excellent tutorial.
May I offer one more technique to add to your bag of tricks?
If your camera will allow it, try setting it to a shallower depth-of-field, or lower f-stop number. That way you'll be in sharp focus and your background will be slightly blurred.
This is a very informative post. Thanks for sharing what you have learned. Someday I will invest in a new camera, when I can stop investing in fabric and patterns 🙂 There are so many lovely backdrops where I live too, but it is so hard for me to make the time to get out and take advantage of them. However, when I have, I have been really pleased with the result. I like how you try to be your natural self. It really shines through. And I appreciate the effort you make to post beautiful photos. Your blog is one of my favorites to visit. When soccer season ends, I'll be more consistent with my visits. On a different note, I smile all the time. He he. When I was working as a staff nurse at the hospital here I once had a colleague tell me she overheard a conversation about me by a couple of other staff nurses. One of them was trying to tell the other one who I was. That nurse described me like this, "You know, the one who smiles all the time." That was funny. And yes, I do like how you are cropping your photos so that you are little bit off center. Thank you for thinking of me with the Versatile Blogger Award. You just made my day. And guess what? I am smiling 🙂
Thanks for all the tips. I suck at photography so I found the tips very useful. Photos are what stop me from blogging more about my creations. I just wish I had your beautiful backgrounds to use, not to mention your gorgeous Perth weather. It's hard to photograph outside when it's cold and rainy all the time. 😉
Thanks for this very useful, and informative post.
Unfortunately, the hand on hip, with cheesy blogger grin, which provoked blushes here too, is a huge improvement for me from my pre blogging photo pose, which was usually hiding behind someone else and scowling ;). At least it displays how the clothes look on a body. Maybe one day I will be able to look natural in photographs!
You have beautiful photographs on your blog, and I am glad that you still make them useful for viewing the details of the clothing, a combination which is very difficult to obtain IMO. I am inspired to try harder with my photographs.
Great tips! Thank you! I'll have to pass them on to the Boyfriend who takes most of my sewing creation pictures for me. I really need a tripod and the guts to go out in public by myself and take goofy pictures.
I'm so glad you posted those tips. I'm still trying to get my head around taking so many photos of myself and your tips will really help. You really do live in a beautiful part of our country!
I always think your photo's are terrific – now I know why! Great tips. I do some of them already and I will be trying the rest of them to see what kind of results I can get. Thanks for sharing them.
Thanks for accepting the award and passing it on!
I loved this post which has some real good tips i can make use of. I always end up feeling my photos don't do justice to the lovely outfits i make, somehow should allocate atleast 1/10 of the time for photoshoot, out of the time i spent (hours) on making the outfit! will keep this in mind!
Aww, thank you for the award!
And the photo tips 🙂 I usually use the take-wide-crop-off-centre method, as well—although I rarely have such stunning backgrounds to work with.
Hopefully every blogger will follow your advice :-). As to the last point, you're just instinctively applying the golden ratio rule (simplified as rule of thirds) http://fmphotocourses.blogspot.com/2006/10/advanced-composition-and-golden-ratio.html
I think we're all so trained from infancy to considering objects based on golden ratios to be beautiful that often we use it even unconsciously..
I'm in love with that uncropped beach photo! Those are some very good rules/tips for taking pictures! I used to dabble in photography before I started sewing, but I can't seem to get my head around following two hobbies at the same time. Your pics are so beautiful, maybe I should take your example and make documenting my garments in the very best light part of my sewing experience…
I learned about the rule of thirds / golden ratio in Arts class back in high school. I think it was Leonardo da Vinci who first used it… 🙂
Great post. I agree with you about the posing. Sometimes the things are very repetitive… (why all the magazines shows models with the mouth half open?)
Your photographic skils have improved a lot!
To show the garments cropping is great, but the rocks and the beach are awesome, they deserve you to show two photos… like you did here.
Kisses.
Wonderful post- I have always admired your photos. X
Lovelly tips !
Thanks for the great tips. Your photos are the best I've seen in sewblogland.
Great tips, thank you so much for this! There is a million things here for me to learn, so thank you so much! 🙂
Let me join in with this choir of praise for the post. Photographs are my sensitive spot for two reasons- 1. It is always cold and rains a lot- hard to find a warm enough day to get out of the house for many of my creations. 2. I have no-one to take the pictures, the way I would have taken them.
oh yes one more reason- 3. People where I live don't really go out to the beach in little black dresses LOL I might be stoned for that LOL
But I loved the advice and the examples for each case really spoke for themselves! Thank you Carolyn!