... on learning. Always learning.

I've been taking lots of photos lately. I've made some more wall hangings out of my cast plaster seedpods, and I set one up to take some pics. It was mid-morning. There was strong but diffused light flooding in from one side of the house.

Using Photoshop, I get the seedpods themselves to look good, but even after adjusting the levels and contrast for an age, I can't get the background to become anything but mid grey without blowing out either the seedpods or the cables. I tell you, these white mobiles are a challenge to photograph. Every time I do I seem to come up against a different issue! I write up an Etsy listing for the wall hanging but these photos look way too heavy on the page.

Mid afternoon. I notice that the sun, now beaming in from the other side of the room, has lightened that white wall considerably. Pulling the white under-curtain over the glass doors acts as a big ol' diffuser and the wall is looking very promising indeed. I set to... again.

This time I'm able to get a much brighter result without anything blowing out, and it certainly makes the Etsy listing look more appealing... I think. I'm torn. I almost prefer the look of the first set, as those white seedpods really look lovely against that mid-grey. The second set is cleaner, somehow, but almost... less interesting?
I can't tell! What do you think?

... on light.

I've just learned a valuable lesson. Actually - I think I'd already learned this one, but forgotten it. I'm photographing a couple of new things for my Etsy store, and so, on autopilot, I pulled out this lamp I sometimes use that has a special photographic daylight bulb. I set everything up, turned on the lamp, took some shots, and then opened them up in Photoshop. I was pretty happy with them - until I tried to tweak the levels to get rid of the yellowish look to the white plaster seedpods.

No matter how much I fiddled I couldn't get it right - and the more I looked at it, the more purple the background seemed. What's more, none of the five photos I'd chosen for the listing looked like they belonged together - they all looked like they were taken on different days in different rooms under different lighting. Gah! I was so frustrated I had to walk away and go and play with the chooks for a bit.

When I'd calmed down, I tried again. I re-took all the photos, with no lamp. I opened up the blinds and doors, and just used the natural light - it's an overcast day here in Brisbane. What a difference!

A very moderate tweak to the levels and contrast, and already a much better result. All the pics look like they match. The pods aren't yellow. Thank goodness!

So - remember that, you. Just put that bloody lamp away and never use it again, will you!? Okay!