Airman in Needlepoint

[onechordwonder]

I also wanted to show off my spiffy (I hope) new way of taking photographs. I made a cheap DIY lightbox so goodbye wood floor backgrounds.

[benjibot]

Funny, I made a cheap DIY lightbox last weekend too. I think, I'm going to need to make a few modifications or just start over with a new box though. I want to take better pictures of my stitching, but most of them are unframed. I'm going to try cutting a hole in the top, but I might need to redo the background to allow for flatter objects.

Here's the only cross-stitch photo I've done with the box:


Though, it seems to work pretty nicely for 3D objects:


What sort of lighting are you using? I grabbed a couple of $5 halogen worklamps. I only have a little Sony point & shoot, but it does allow for some white balance. I need to go back and play around with it.

[Amanda]

That little mac is awesome!

Reminds me of when I was running Mac OS 7.5.3....good times.

[onechordwonder]

Funny, I made a cheap DIY lightbox last weekend too. I think, I'm going to need to make a few modifications or just start over with a new box though. I want to take better pictures of my stitching, but most of them are unframed. I'm going to try cutting a hole in the top, but I might need to redo the background to allow for flatter objects.

What sort of lighting are you using? I grabbed a couple of $5 halogen worklamps. I only have a little Sony point & shoot, but it does allow for some white balance. I need to go back and play around with it.

I'm just using regular household lamps. I'd eventually like to make a nice lightbox, but I just need to get some nicer photos than my usual "I threw this on my floor and took a picture of it" for my store, so a cardboard box, some contact paper, and two household lamps are enough for now.

I am just using a point and click too and I don't pay much attention to the settings but I do run each photo through photoshop's auto-levels feature first. Sometimes I slightly adjust the brightness and contrast, but only for a subtle effect - otherwise I find that the colors kind of distort. I put the dragon (AWESOME, by the way) through the auto-level (didn't adjust B+C), and here's what came out:



I don't know if that's preferable or not. I'm a little new to this photography thing.

[jelibe]

Its like you put the picture through the white wash, Lol. Whites are brighter with photoshop!!

[benjibot]

I don't know if that's preferable or not. I'm a little new to this photography thing.

It might could be. I seem to err on the side of warmer (read "yellower") colors when I'm tinkering around with them afterwards. The original images tend toward yellow when I get them off the camera thanks to the halogen lamps, though it's lesser now that I've begun to learn what settings to use on the camera itself.

I'm just running them through iPhoto. That's the basic photo organization and manipulation tool that comes in the iLife suite which is usually bundled with the Mac. It's a pretty solid little application, but not really a powerhouse when it comes to photo balance or whatnot. I wish I knew more about this sort of thing.

Earlier this morning I ran a few photos I took with and without the lightbox through The Gimp, which is a open source application that's sort of like Photoshop. Even with the automatic settings they came out pretty good, but it seems like a lot of effort just to fix up a quick snapshot.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm really enjoying this process. I'd never had a good reason to understand photography before. I still don't really understand it, per se, but I'm sure enjoying the learning process.

I'm also glad to see that you are taking better pictures because this means I can see how you make these awesome plastic canvas embroideries. Now I can see where you use each particular stitch.

[onechordwonder]

I don't know if that's preferable or not. I'm a little new to this photography thing.

It might could be. I seem to err on the side of warmer (read "yellower") colors when I'm tinkering around with them afterwards. The original images tend toward yellow when I get them off the camera thanks to the halogen lamps, though it's lesser now that I've begun to learn what settings to use on the camera itself.

I'm just running them through iPhoto. That's the basic photo organization and manipulation tool that comes in the iLife suite which is usually bundled with the Mac. It's a pretty solid little application, but not really a powerhouse when it comes to photo balance or whatnot. I wish I knew more about this sort of thing.

Earlier this morning I ran a few photos I took with and without the lightbox through The Gimp, which is a open source application that's sort of like Photoshop. Even with the automatic settings they came out pretty good, but it seems like a lot of effort just to fix up a quick snapshot.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm really enjoying this process. I'd never had a good reason to understand photography before. I still don't really understand it, per se, but I'm sure enjoying the learning process.

I'm also glad to see that you are taking better pictures because this means I can see how you make these awesome plastic canvas embroideries. Now I can see where you use each particular stitch.

Ah, I tend to go towards stark, blinding white. I was thinking about experimenting with scrapbook paper and fabric for backdrops, though I think the white works ok.

As for making these things, I have a tutorial on my blog here:

http://onechordwonder.blogspot.com/sear ... l/tutorial

And I take close ups for my shop - maybe I should start posting them as well as the full shots. Here's airman close up:

[jelibe]

This is a very impressive close up..I can see quite clearly now how you acheive that amazing background. Your tutorial is great but sometimes you need to see the technic up close. I can also see now why you use all 6 strands of thread.

[johloh]

nice pics, I use a diy light box too.

the colors also are always off. But just adjusting the RGB (color balance) in photoshop always cleans that up. I also ALWAYS go for striking blinding white too. It makes everything look clean and sharp. also, since youre starting up your etsy shop good photos will make all the difference! good luck with that!