I really enjoyed this post on photography over at the food blog Omnomicon and the ensuing discussion and thought you might, too. It’s about photographing food (and let me tell you, it’s not easy!), but the lessons and tips apply to photographing any still life, whether it’s chowder or a pair of mittens or a quilt. I know a lot of crafters struggle with trying to capture the beauty of the things they’ve made for their blog or online shop, so hopefully there’s some useful info here!
In the post, Aleta argues against point-and-shoots because of their lack of control, but what do you think? Do you have any tricks for taking good photos and making the most of your equipment?
14 thoughts on “Photographing Things”
Comments are closed.
ADVERTISEMENT
Support Make:
Join Make: Community Today
Join Make: Community Today
I really liked this article (and comments). I play around with a p&s (Canon S5IS) and can get some decent shots, but I still have a lot of learning to do. I never use a tripod, but after this article, I think I should try it to see if it makes a difference.
I’ll tell ya, though, my summer pics are tons better than when I try to fight the winter grays and short daylight hours. I’m playing with a new Ego light (fabulous), but that doesn’t help the candids of my kids.
I am definitely on of the “strugglers” with photographing my crafts, especially in my terribly dim apartment. Thanks for steering me toward some answers, and keep it coming! I’d love some ideas about how to set up a shot, angles, and lighting. Thanks.
Well, being able to control all the settings on an SLR is handy but as long as you provide enough light and remember to focus properly then you’ll take a good image. It’s just a bit easier with an SLR so if you have one then use it.
Eye-opening! Thanks for the link!
I use a point and shoot to photograph the food for my blog (and the articles I write here at Craft). It works, I’d rather an SLR, but the point and shoot is what I have for now and I’ve found ways to make it work. It’s definitely not totally useless. I am lucky in that mine has a macro setting (f 3.3), and I can adjust a couple settings and manually set the white balance. I never use a tripod, and I often use a white foam board to reflect light
it depends on the Point and shoot but most these days have a fairly good selection of control, like white balance and macro, and shutter speed and iso
besides its the user not the equipment that makes an interesting picture, a little grain or colour shift isnt going to be a problem if you have a good eye for what your shooting and get a interesting composition. after all some people get great shots on camera phones or pinhole cameras.
you can think art rather than advertising when taking photos, and a P&S is more than good enough for taking pics for the web.
there’s plenty of tutorials online about what camera settings mean, and how best to use it when taking pics.
like all things practice read your manual and experiment, until you get the best image you can.
Thanks for the link to this great article. A friend has asked me to shoot her food for a Vegan website that she’s starting and I’ve been trying to find good advice online – now I have it.
Thanks!