Hey guys!
I have a question for you- what are tips to take good photos for your patterns???
Please share your wealth of knowledge with me!
-pusheen
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Defiitely try to take photos with natural lighting (outside) if there is nice weather.
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Use natural/outside lighting and have an uncluttered and neat background!
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OUTSIDE. And in front of a non busy background
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Outside is good, also samsung phones on portrait mode :] (apple doesn’t take as good pics)
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i like taking them outside and i also take pictures in a corner of my room with nothing in the background
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Natural lighting is great!!!
Also i bought some scrapbook paper and i use that as backgrounds too! (it was from joanns R.I.P Joanns)
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I only have apple 
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I put my plushies on a blanket in front of my window so I have nice lighting and a soft background! The bonus is that I don’t actually have to go outside and touch grass 
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Howdy! I love photography questions! I’m a certified photographer from the New York Institute of Photography. And as some of you may see in the comments I leave on testers one of my favorite aspects of crochet is photographing my makes.
Lighting
As many have said here, lighting is going to be one of the things you want to focus on. In photography there are 3 main hours that we try to go for. The first 2 are called golden hour, which is the hour just after sunrise and just before sunset. The last is called blue hour which occurs during Twilight right as the sun has dipped below the horizon, but there is still light.
I personally use a light box for my photos unless the outside makes sense for my make. I have a professional one and one I got for $5 off of Temu with built in lights. I use the Temu one the most often because it is small and compact and most of my makes fit inside of it. However, light boxes are SUPER easy to make. You can make one out of a card board box, some tape, and some printer paper, or if you have it, parchment paper works best. Just cut holes out of the top and sides of the box, leave the bottom and the back, and then tape the paper over the holes, grab yourself a couple lamps, and boom you’ve got yourself a nice little diy light box!
I use a thing called a “light deck” which I can control the light strength and color on, but you can find super super cheap things at Wal-mart, heck I’ve seen some folks use cheap flashlights from Dollar Tree for lighting. Use what you have, take it from me, you do NOT have to be fancy, the amount of things I have jerry rigged for some of my shots is insane.
Control Your Background
This is something you hear a LOT about in photography. Controlling your background is just as it sounds. Don’t ONLY focus on the subject of the shot. Also focus on the background and foreground. Is there a dirty sock on the floor? Is there trash on the table behind your make? Is there some yarn vomit just out of scene that people can still kind of see? Just double check before you post your shot.
What I personally do for mine is I use scrapbooking paper. It’s 12" x 12", or about 30.5 cm x 30.5 cm roughly for my European friends, I put it into the back of my light box, and instant background. It doesn’t HAVE to be scrapbook paper mind you, It can be a plain colored piece of cloth, or a blank white sheet of printer paper. I like scrapbooking paper because it’s big, and it comes in like 10 billion cute patterns for just about any of my needs. That and, you don’t need a light box to do it. You can simply hold the paper behind your make, boom, your background is now in control.
Framing
This is similar to controlling your background, but this time you’re controlling your subject. Is your subject in frame, are they missing part of an arm or an ear. These little details matter in a photo. Don’t always take your photos from dead on in the center. In photography we have something called the rule of thirds.
The idea is you make an imaginary grid in your image of 9 squares (Like a tic tac toe grid), and you place your subject either on a line or at one of the intersections of the grid. This adds a bit more interest to the image rather than just throwing your subject in the dead center of the grid. You can google rule of thirds photography to get a visual of what I mean.
Try to not take photos of your make face on every time either, try turning it 3/4ths or maybe aim a little above or below, taking it face on can make some of the details look flat, especially the face.
Focus
Focus is something that can be a bit harder to control on a cell phone. I have an app called yamex camera that gives me more control over my cell phone camera, so you can try looking for that, but if you don’t want an app just make sure you scan over the definition of your make before you take the shot. Make sure what you want in focus is in focus. Don’t be afraid to stand back and zoom in a little bit, this can give you a tighter shot than just taking the photo at 0 zoom. Play around with it, and see what works best for you.
Editing
This is something that some people never really think to do with their photos, but it does make a big difference. All of my photos at MINIMUM will have the colors and lighting adjusted before I post them. Other photos I may do some heavier editing like adding some things to the background, or photoshopping out some pet hair (We have 3 cats and 2 dogs, and sometimes they just explode hair on my makes lol). I use an app called Photoleap on my phone for heavier edits like removal, but you can use the basic picture editing on your phone easily. I personally tend to boost saturation and vibrancy, change the warmth and tone, and then I lower the contrast to give my photos a softer look, but that’s just me personally.
Have fun and get creative
This is likely the most important thing anyone taking a photo can do. Get creative with your shots, be loose when you can. Is it Christmas and you just made a santa? Shove his fat little butt cheeks up on that tree, turn the lights on, and give him a photo shoot. I just made a prairie dog make so I took him outside and set him next to some dandelion puffs to “record him in his natural habitat” I have a couple details to add to a spider make I did awhile back, but I put magnets in his feet and bum and I am ABSOLUTELY going to be getting photos of him just chilling on the side of things (currently he lives on my PC tower)
Don’t be afraid to update the pictures either. If you made a horse and are going to the rodeo bring it along, get some new fun shots there. Make a bee and headed to a flower garden? Make an alien and going to the space museum next week, bring him along for a reminder of his home planet. There are plenty of things and places you can go and do that make for a great photo op.
I have an Angler fish tester I am working on, and I will absolutely be putting in a Dory Tsum Tsum toy I have into that shot because why not?
Hope that was the slog of info you were hoping for lol. If you ever need more help, or some advice, or just want to get thoughts on a photo feel free to reach out and DM me. I’d be happy to answer any questions or take a look at photos.
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Whoa i’m gonna use all that info! tysm you know a lot :)
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Thanks! I got 5 certifications through NYIP. I was a wedding photographer for awhile and did nature photography as well, so I’ve had plenty of practice. I’m not a practicing professional anymore, I’m just a home maker these days, but I’m glad my advice and knowledge can help people! I think the most important thing to take away is photography doesn’t require fancy stuff to make, just a little bit of information and creativity can go a long way!
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Wowww that’s a lot of useful information! Thank you so much!!!
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GREAT lighting . The background shoud make ot easy to see what the pattern looks like
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Just take photos outside be sure to be extra still and to tap on your project in the camera to focus onto it , I think iPhone takes great pics I have the option to make the picture clearer and I love it​
here’s a photo I took inside in horrible white light lol I’m definitely going outside for natural lighting but other then that I do feel like my iPhone did a good job with the photo!
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I have the same exact scissors lol
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I love them! I have many pairs but these are the sharpest and cutest ones I own!
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