Is Good Photography A Challenging Task?

One of the first things I learned when confronted with having to photograph my jewelry creations for my Etsy shop was that it wasn't going to be easy for a photo challenged person such as me. I'll be honest, most of my personal photos up to then were awful. I cut off everyone's head whether I liked them or not, everything was fuzzy and to far away to really see. Sigh!

I had to learn to do this! I went out and bought a Canon power Shot camera. One touted to be a miracle worker...it would correct shake, it would correct lighting, etc all automatically. O.K. I figured that I could probably learn to use. So I began and oh boy, the photos were still bad. Not as awful as before but hey baby not exactly good. Edges of necklaces were getting cut off when I put up the pictures on my shop on Etsy. Would I ever learn??

Then I started to really look at the pictures that made it to front page in treasuries and I started to put together treasuries too. LIGHTBULB!!  I realized that the pictures of items  that appealed to me were pictures that didn't necessarily show the entire item but enough of it to fill the frame and be sharp and obvious, then I'd be interested in seeing the actual listing for the item.

So, A few things I have found and that have helped me to take better photos.:

      1. Macro is number 1. Make sure that you really are taking a close up of the item so that as much detail as possible shows.

      2. Plain Background. Yup, don't use a confusing or conflicting background. White is best or a color that allows the details of the item to show. Don't use a print behind a print! 

      3. If Using A Model. Remember the ITEM is the focus of the picture not the person wearing it!  This is one area where it is permissible to "cut off their heads" or at least part of it.
     4. FOCUS. Yeah, well I still have difficulties in this area. Fuzzy pictures don't entice customers.
I'm finding that Jewelry is perhaps one of the most difficult subjects to photograph and I keep learning more techniques and redoing/updating photos. My shop still is not as photogenic as I would like it to be. And some colors could drive me totally over the edge. Amethyst is one of my favorite gems to work with and one that I have such a hard time getting to photo in it's realistic color. Purple always comes out too dark when I do it, no matter how I play with the lighting when taking the picture...sigh.


Anyway I could continue on  and on but this post is long enough!
However, let me say this...... if you have any advice for those of us who are photo challenged and MUST take pictures of their products, please please do let me know. 


Oh and since today is Thanksgiving ( better known as turkey day)....Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Jewelry And Life Inspiring Ideas

An article in one of the many jewelry making magazines I read really caught my attention. So much so that I had to get the book the article was based around. This was a quick (2 page) article of little parts of the book Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland, 122pgs, Image Continuum Press. These two photographers have hit the creative nail smack, dab on the head! Yes, I had to get the book and I agree it's good. Allow me to give you an excerpted sentence or two from page 118: "In the end it comes down to this: you have a choice ( or more accurately a rolling tangle of choices) between giving your work your best shot and risking that it will not make you happy, or not giving it your best shot-and thereby guaranteeing that it will not make you happy. It becomes a choice between certainty and uncertainty. And curiously, uncertainty is the comforting choice."

What they are saying about creating art (jewelry,painting,photographs, etc.) applies to everything in life; Life is an Art in my opinion.