The Bead Spot

(Photo by Bilal Aslam / FreeRangeStock.com ) I want detail in my beadwork photos. If I take a photo of a bracelet, I want to be able to get a very sharp image of the clasp, any designs, etc., but I just don't seem to be able to get it. Perhaps, I've thought to myself, what I need to do is get closer while using the macro setting on my camera. Here's how most of my beadwork photography sessions go. I place the beadwork under my bright light and try to find a good place to stand to get the photo. I set the camera to "macro." I move in, then focus. I'm still a little too far back. I move in some more and focus again. I'd still like to get closer to better show the detail of the seed beads. I move in some more. I'm finally happy with the distance, but now the shadow of my camera is in frame. I move the light source, but I struggle to find a place I can put it that doesn't cast a deep shadow on the side of the beadwork. I move back as...

Armed with the light/magnifier my husband recently bought for me, I am back at trying to take photos of beadwork . I spent most of Monday night putting the light and the camera at different angles, and I think I finally see some improvement, though I have a ways to go. Here is a side-by-side comparison. On the left is a photo I took last fall. I took it outside in natural light, but the shadows are way too deep. The photo on the right is the one I took using the light my husband gave me. I think the image could be sharper, but it's more true to the colors of the pumpkin earrings I made. I'm working on it; I'm determined to get the hang of this. Etsy shop additions I've added a couple of new items to my Etsy shop, both made by my older sister. She's been doing beadwork longer than I have, and I think she's got a great eye for design. Here are photos of her creations. If you're interested, please pop over to my Etsy shop, Beadwork and Woodwinds ,...

Over the past few weeks, when I've been away from this blog, I've been struggling to get decent photos of my beadwork for my Etsy shop . I haven't had much luck. I tried the tips for setting up an indoor home studio that I mentioned back in October last week and the week before. I searched for a full-spectrum light bulb. I bought poster board to reflect light back. I tried different ways to diffuse the light. All of that experimenting, and this was the best I could do: I debated whether I should post those on Etsy, and I decided to give it a try. However, the colors are wrong and the earrings are out of focus. They look better in the photos I took before and featured in my October post. Is it the black background? Do I need a different item to diffuse the light? Sooner or later, I hope, I'll get the hang of this. Until then, I have a lot of work to do. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising pro...

Teeny, tiny, little shiny seed beads can be so hard to photograph. I know to use the macro setting for small objects. After taking scores of photos by the light of my living room lamp, I've come to realize that taking photos outdoors on a sunny day will result in better, more true color. (If you scroll back through my previous posts and you spot a photo with an orange hue, it was probably shot in my living room.) I've read about, watched videos on and visited web pages that cover framing. And yet somehow, my photos still seem to often be off balance. But I'm a firm believer in the power of practicing tasks you want to get better at doing. So this past Sunday, I hauled a small table out onto my back patio, got a black handkerchief I bought specifically to serve as a background, and tried to get some photos of a pair of feather earrings I made.  Three versions (of many) that I took of feather earrings I made. The two on the left are too blurry. Only the one on the...

My latest project is another pair of feather earrings . I really like this pattern, but I'd like to create another one that doesn't look so simplistic. Feather earrings in progress. I've seen some gorgeous ones on Etsy (like these ), and I just think, "Wow! Maybe one day I'll be that creative, too." In the meantime, I've been playing with my new toy -- a Kodak PixPro camera. After six or seven years of solid service, my old camera was on its last leg. My husband, who takes photos of the comic books and action figures, et al, that he sells on eBay , said the old camera still works fine for him, so now its his, and I've moved on. I had a lot of fun testing the new camera's macro function as I took the shot above. I still could use a lot of practice with it, but new toys are always fun.

For as long as I've been beading, I've been wrestling with photographing my work. I've never been much of a photographer. Any good shots I have were the result of pure luck. One problem I have is that I have no idea how to hold a camera steady -- an absolute must when you're trying to get a photo of tiny little seed beads. My sister-in-law suggested I get a tripod, so I've put one on my to-buy list. However, even a tripod won't stop me from accidentally moving the camera when I click the shutter button, which clumsy me does just about every time I take a photo. So I went looking for a way to click my camera remotely, and what I've discovered is that I already have one -- on my iPhone. Did you know that clicking the "+" button on iPhone headphones will snap pictures? (Or at least it will on the iPhone 5 ... I don't know about other versions.) Now that I've found a way to hold the camera steady, I can start working on bigger things .....

Several weeks ago, I tried to photograph the black bracelet I made. I put my camera on its macro setting and used natural light just as recommended on Fire Mountain Gems. For some reason, my camera kept saying I was too close to focus. So I backed up and tried again; again, my camera wasn't happy. After repositioning several times, I was finally far back enough that the camera didn't give me the "whoa, I can't focus warning," so I snapped a photo. This was the result: No amount of zooming in or cropping made the detail on this any better. I figured at the time that the biggest problem with how it turned out was that I have no idea how to shoot beads. I've had some success with a few other things I've made, including this bracelet in progress: There is a difference between the two bead styles. In the first photo, the beads have a shiny coat. In the second, the beads have a matte finish. At the time, I wondered if the shine had something to do with...

I'm still having trouble getting a decent photo of my beadwork when the beads are shiny. I looked everywhere on my camera for the option to take it from automatic to manual settings, but I don't see anything that will let me do that. I don't know that I can really get a better photo without the aid of the camera's automatic settings, but I thought that with more options available, I might be able to find a combination that works. Hopefully, one day I'll get the hang of it -- without having to buy a new camera.

Today, I made a few attempts at getting a decent shot of the herringbone bracelet I made to use on Etsy, but I'm having a little trouble. I set up this shot outside, and as soon as I got it, I turned to go back into the house just in time to see my little girl try to walk to me and fall out the door. She was OK; the step from inside the house to outside is about 4 or 5 inches high. I think it startled her more that I screamed when I saw her falling than she was really hurt. After I sat with her a bit, she calmed down (and so did I). So I picked her up and set her down on the patio, then got in position to take the shot. For some reason, my little girl started crying to go back in the house. So I had to hold her while I tried to shoot this. I'm not sure if holding her factored into how little detail shows, but I'm sure it didn't help. Hopefully, I'll have time to do some more practicing.

Here's where I stand on the black bracelet I've been working on. It's in a herringbone stitch (I clarify that because the photo looks so awful). I've decided that if this looks good when it's finished, I'll make a necklace to match. This is s a similar bracelet I've started with my green beads. For some reason, these beads photograph much better, perhaps because they have a matte finish instead of a gloss. If that is the case, I'll need to do quite a bit of practice photography with the shinier beads to get a decent photo for listing it on Etsy.

A few days ago, two of my nephews -- one 11 and the other 8 -- showed me the projects they had been working on. The 11-year-old had made three dream catchers, which would rival anything I've ever seen at an arts and crafts show, and his brother made an earring, which also looked pretty good. He hadn't put the hook on it yet, but I liked what I saw. My mom apparently had showed them how, and I was very happy to see that they had spent part of their summer doing something constructive rather than just goofing off, which is how I always spent my summers.  Side note: I suck at photography. I've tried to take photos of my projects, but I just can't get the bracelets to look sharp like a lot of the jewelry I've seen on Etsy. I know I need to use the macro setting on my camera, but I honestly can't tell the difference between when I use it and when I don't. Maybe I just need to keep trying playing with it. Or maybe I just need a better camera. (Or maybe a...

Earlier this evening, I was sitting in my kitchen waiting on the turkey filets I had bought from Walmart to finish baking when I had an overwhelming urge to write something. So here I am, writing my first post in quite a few months. I had no idea it had been as long as it has since the last time I did this. Life, you know. Anyway, here is a quick update on what I've been working on. • First, there is this: This is the same gourd stitch bracelet I mentioned in previous posts, and yes, it's still a work in progress. I am only a handful of rows away from finishing it, but I noticed that it seems to bow a little across the top. I can't decide whether I want to pull another string through it to try to tighten it up that way or if I want to just pull out the stitches and begin again. Decisions, decisions. My husband says it's not noticeable. As a matter of fact, he says he can't see what I'm talking about. However, I think he is trying to spare me fro...