I'm taking advantage of this brand new bundle of fabric that I just picked up yesterday for this shoot. To keep things real, I'm going to share my photos unedited (they are uploaded at their original size, but displayed on X-Large), and let you know what I like and don't like about them. Then I'll edit a couple of my favorites to see the difference.
This is my favorite of all of the pictures I took. I pretty much LOVE everything about this picture, with the roses in the background slightly blurred, the stack of fabric slightly cut out of the frame and slightly crooked, and the warm feeling of the photo in general. I took this in my backyard. The sun is shining brightly, but the fabric itself is in a shadow, and the light is just right I think.
Ok y'all, I started with my favorite, so it's all downhill from here, haha!
This one was taken in the same spot, but on a white sheet, and no natural background. I think somehow the white backdrop cools the colors off, and takes away from it. That seems weird because you would think that white would show the fabric best, but in this case, it doesn't.
I actually don't think this one is bad, if you can ignore that the bottom two fabrics are completely obscured by the grass! The green sets the colors off nicely, and I like natural elements in my pics. I can't really decide whether or not I like the fabric stack leaning. Maybe it makes it more interesting, or maybe it's just annoying.
Now for the inside photos!
This one was taken in my dining room, which has lots of natural light in the afternoon. My table is dark cherry, so the sheet makes a better backdrop. This one could use some cropping at the top.
Another one in the dining room on the white sheet. I don't really think I like the shadows that were created in this picture, although the fabric does jump right out.
So, here's the thing- I actually don't mind editing my pictures, and since I exclusively use my iPhone, I don't really think there will ever be a time when I won't need to edit at all. Here's the trick I've found to using my phone- When I email my photo to myself, the phone gives several size options to make the email file smaller. I always email the photo at "Actual Size" which is the biggest. This gives me a HUGE (like 2500 pixels) photo to start with, and keeps the quality good.
I use picmonkey to edit, and although it does annoy me that I can only upload one pic at a time, I like the features it has and it's easy to use, so I'm okay with it. Every single photo on my blog is cropped, resized (to 600 pixels wide), and sharpened slightly. If I need to, I'll also add light to my photo.
Here are the two outside photos edited-
Both were resized to 600 pixels, cropped very slightly, and sharpened. To me, the difference is monumental.
My two favorite inside photos-
With the inside photos, I still cropped, resized, and sharpened, but I also had to do a little bit of color adjustment. The white sheet and indoor lighting were cooling off the warm colors too much, and the colors didn't look "true." I increased the exposure, decreased the contrast to soften the shadows, and then saturated the color a little bit. They're okay, but the outside photos are much better.
I want good photographs on my blog so I always take outside photos if at all possible, but I won't delay posting on a project if I can't get outside pictures. On the rare occasion when the weather is bad, or if I'm trying to get a post out at night for a particular reason, I just do what I can and hope that my writing and my projects speak for themselves.
You should hop over and check out some of the great photography posts at Plum and June's Quilt Photography Workshop. And since this fabric stack is brand new this week, I'm also linking up to Sunday Stash which is being hosted by Heidi at Fabric Mutt this week!
