I have spent most of today catching up on photographing my work. I find that I take pictures as I work but I don't take "good" pictures when I am done.
What do I consider a good picture?
1) High Resolution: Preferably in Camera Raw so it can be cleaned up later but you have all the data to begin with.
2) In my mini-photobooth: So I have a consistant color background in all my good pictures.
3) Using indirect but natural light: The indirect light cuts down on reflection points that are too bright and the "outdoor" natural light bulbs give the right temperature so the picture is not yellow or blue which would then have to be adjusted for later.
4) Minimal shadows: I use 4 lights to help cover the entire piece.
5) Take the pictures in a dark room: This is so no other light can impact the colors, shadows, and bright spots of the picture.
Once I have several pictures in raw format, I bring the images onto my computer and open them up in Adobe Bridge. Next I decide which pictures are the best to keep, deleting the ones I don't like. Then I save them as digital negatives with the raw information embedded in the file, I don't make any adjustments at this time. Once this is done, then I can work with the file to bring down the over exposed areas and bring up those areas that are over exposed. IF everything is set up correctly, I should not have do any tweaking of the image. In today's batch, I did not make any adjustments so a big yipeee for me.
From the digital negative, I then open the image in Photoshop, crop the image, if required. At this point I would save the image as a high quality tiff file (jpg's can reduce the quality every time you open and then re-save the file) and I save a jpg just for posting; but now I add a copyright at the lower left corner and then do my saving. Once this is done, I also print out a picture to add to my photo album slash portfolio. You never know when you might be asked to show your work!
I am not happy with many of the pictures i have in my portfolio or have posted here on the website and redoing them is a big task. As a result, today I decided to just work on two items - start with just a few and then the task is not so over whelming. I am hoping to redo at least one per night when I get home from work.
Yet, some pictures I can't redo because I no longer have them, they were either sold or they were presents - which is why you have to stay on top of this; at least take the pictures, they can be worked with at another time but taking them before they leave your hot little hands is a must (yeah, lets see how long that lasts!)
Then along with posting new pictures here on the website, I shall also be rearranging the layout on a few pages, adding "my banner" in my chosen font (more Photoshop work), and posting a few more items for sale.
KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR CHANGES!
What do I consider a good picture?
1) High Resolution: Preferably in Camera Raw so it can be cleaned up later but you have all the data to begin with.
2) In my mini-photobooth: So I have a consistant color background in all my good pictures.
3) Using indirect but natural light: The indirect light cuts down on reflection points that are too bright and the "outdoor" natural light bulbs give the right temperature so the picture is not yellow or blue which would then have to be adjusted for later.
4) Minimal shadows: I use 4 lights to help cover the entire piece.
5) Take the pictures in a dark room: This is so no other light can impact the colors, shadows, and bright spots of the picture.
Once I have several pictures in raw format, I bring the images onto my computer and open them up in Adobe Bridge. Next I decide which pictures are the best to keep, deleting the ones I don't like. Then I save them as digital negatives with the raw information embedded in the file, I don't make any adjustments at this time. Once this is done, then I can work with the file to bring down the over exposed areas and bring up those areas that are over exposed. IF everything is set up correctly, I should not have do any tweaking of the image. In today's batch, I did not make any adjustments so a big yipeee for me.
From the digital negative, I then open the image in Photoshop, crop the image, if required. At this point I would save the image as a high quality tiff file (jpg's can reduce the quality every time you open and then re-save the file) and I save a jpg just for posting; but now I add a copyright at the lower left corner and then do my saving. Once this is done, I also print out a picture to add to my photo album slash portfolio. You never know when you might be asked to show your work!
I am not happy with many of the pictures i have in my portfolio or have posted here on the website and redoing them is a big task. As a result, today I decided to just work on two items - start with just a few and then the task is not so over whelming. I am hoping to redo at least one per night when I get home from work.
Yet, some pictures I can't redo because I no longer have them, they were either sold or they were presents - which is why you have to stay on top of this; at least take the pictures, they can be worked with at another time but taking them before they leave your hot little hands is a must (yeah, lets see how long that lasts!)
Then along with posting new pictures here on the website, I shall also be rearranging the layout on a few pages, adding "my banner" in my chosen font (more Photoshop work), and posting a few more items for sale.
KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR CHANGES!
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