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Thursday, October 6, 2011

What's Up This Week...?

Well, I 'm in the midst of day two where there is silence in the house and I can pretty much run naked all day if I want to! But since I don't have time for that I have been taking tons of photos trying to get everything new documented. I had to take a break for a minute so I thought I would share my photo set up with you and maybe it's something you might want in your studio.
Photo area in my studio
Here it is! On top of a set of wire drawers I keep a home made photo box, which basically is a cardboard box with white fabric. I didn't take any photos while I built the box but let me see if I can break it down.
  1. Find an appropriate sized, sturdy, cardboard box. For me this meant medium in size since I photograph mostly small items. For you gals that do larger paintings and collage you could definitely go bigger.
  2. Gather some supplies: white cotton cloth, fairly sheer & inexpensive, white duct tape (cheapest at Home Depot), sharp box cutter or exacto knife, ruler
I chose to leave the bottom of the box uncut for stability then measured about 1 1/2" frames at the edges of the other 5 sides of the box. These will be your cutting lines. Once I got all the pieces cut out I loosely measured the fabric to fit in the holes, then just taped the fabric around the edges and to the box. Do this for 4 of your 5 sides leaving one side open for your picture taking (I almost did them all!) Also make sure you use the white tape to cover up any exposed corners inside the box and cover the inside base with  your fabric. This insures a totally white background that is easily manipulated in your photo editing software. I also put two small circles of Velcro inside the back at both the right and left corners. This allows you to have whatever background you choose stay standing tall in the back and not falling down all the time driving you crazy!
Voila! You have a photo box!
I am currently hoarding regular lightbulbs that mimic daylight.  In the above picture you can see that I have the window open towards the back of the box and also a light to each side as well as one on a tripod pointed down over the top. You really have to play with these to get the effect you want.
Inside the box
Here's what the light looks like from inside the box.
Photo without cropping or adjustment, shot from the front
One more, a little closer...
Shot more from the top of the piece and closer
And just so that I can share what it is I am trying to photograph as a whole, here's my table full of stuff!
Stuff to photograph

Wish me luck! I may need it to get through everything on the table!

Until next time,
Susan

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the great info!

C M Rawlins said...

How clever and resourceful you are!! Thanks for the tips.

Ann Marie said...

Photo boxes are such the way to go. I need to set up something to use for taking better photos of my artwork. A box won't work, but I have another idea. I really like the props you use when photographing you jewelry. Nice job.

Shells said...

Wow, that is a great idea.

Deborah Velásquez said...
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Deborah Velásquez said...

Nice job. You will get through all that stuff on the table with your new set up. Looks like it will make things go faster. Let us know when you are going to post those photos!

Sherry Goodloe said...

Hi Susan - It was soooo nice getting a chance to talk to you today at Glitterfest. Nice seeing you again. I'm a follower of your blog now so I can keep up with you more often :)

Sherry Goodloe said...
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