Point and Shoot? Not Always That Easy

We've all taken less-than-great photos of our knitting, right? You take the time to select the right color, the right fiber, the right pattern, spend weeks knitting it, but when you go to photograph it you realize that your purple is blue, the reds are suddenly hot pink and your browns mysteriously look gray. I've cursed at my camera a time or two (or ten) asking it why it couldn't just take a photo of the yarn the way I see it. There are times when I wax nostalgic over actual film and dropping it off at the Fotomat booth and waiting a couple of days to see the photos. Those older cameras didn't automatically adjust my lighting or my color or try to determine who the main subject in the shot was and whether or not they were smiling and if there was a cat in the corner that also needed to be in focus. They just took the damn photo.  

I had a great opportunity to join a class last week hosted at Fuzzy Wuzzy Yarns in Arlington Heights, IL called “How to Photograph Your Work” with instructor Franklin Habit. It sounds like Franklin travels around a bit teaching classes at local yarn shops and conventions. If you see him in a listing of upcoming events, I highly recommend that you sign up for one of his classes. He has a great teaching style.

I learned a lot in his class, which was focused primarily on lighting (natural vs. bulbs, intensity, light sources, angle, flash, backgrounds, etc.). I actually already do a lot of what he suggested, but I know that I need to spend some more time with the camera’s manual settings to really perfect my images.

These are just a few of the things I practice when shooting my work ...

Where I shoot depends on what time of day it is. Early in the morning, I tend to use light from my north-facing office window. In the afternoon, I use my south-facing dining room windows or my north-facing front glass door. On occasion I will use my bathroom with overhead skylight. Having said that ... nothing is ever set in stone. I shoot in all locations in the house to see which one produces the best shot. Here’s an example of the same yarn shot in three different rooms with natural lighting with the same camera settings at the same time of day. (1) office – north-facing light, (2) bathroom – overhead skylight and (3) dining room – south-facing light. In this example, the third photo is the one that represents the actual color of the yarn best. 

For large projects like sweaters, I photograph them on myself using the timer function on the camera. I always get a full shot and then take some additional detail shots to show off any intricate work. I will sometimes also hang it and photograph it just to show how it looks flat.

My Foam Display Board

I use a very large white foam display board that I purchased from an office supplies store to photograph smaller pieces or just act as a background. I very carefully took an X-acto knife and cut the board on one side, then folded it in half to create a white bottom surface and a background surface (see image on the right). These also come in black. 

I very rarely use the flash when photographing anything (people, fiber, animals) because it tends to create shadows and lights my subjects in a really undesirable way.

I try not to rely too much on the camera’s display to judge whether or not I captured the color correctly. For example, when I was photographing my Owl sweater, the camera’s display kept showing it as a hot pink even though the yarn was really a burgundy. When I downloaded the photos to my laptop, it showed up true to color on my screen. Franklin made a good point about this too in class. Everyone will see the images a little differently based on screen calibration or resolution. My laptop screen might show a burgundy as the true color, while yours may show it slightly brighter or darker. 

And finally, I always shoot the subject from different angles. I find this particularly helpful when shooting details like cables or lace. A flat cabled hat looks fine, but a cabled hat on your head or a display form looks even better in a photo.

I've been considering taking some photography classes at my local community college. I want to be able to understand my camera better and really take advantage of all it has to offer—way more than just the auto settings. Having a camera and only using the auto settings is kind of like owning a Ferrari and only driving it 20 mph down side streets. Sure it gets you from point A to point B, but you never get to really open it up. I'm ready to take my camera and get everything out of it that I can!

My Favorite Photography Subjects