Saturday, January 14, 2012

Craftsy Update=)

Hello all!!

We finally got our first snow day! Woot Woot! And with all that extra time, I took on a project I've been dying to do (for like THREE WHOLE DAYS!!!). A Photography Light Box!

I have had tons of pictures to take of my PrettyPickle earrings because I made a bunch for craft shows, plus I found several awesome fabric recently I just had to buy for earrings!!

So, here I am with a ba-jillion pairs of earrings, waiting to make it to my etsy page. The difficult thing was lighting. I don't have great windows or areas in my house in which to take pictures. I try to do it outside when I can, or in the 2 hours we get good light by the kitchen window. This was a difficult thing to do!!! Bad weather, never home at the right time, inconsistent photos.....I was getting frustrated!

Here is what my pictures used to look like. Set up on the kitchen table, with a cloth underneath. Nice detail, but a little on the "homemade" side.

So, I made a light box. The photos are A-Mazing!!!!
Yea, I took that picture!!! Isn't it cool! Looks so professional right?!?

I started off with looking up some tutorials on how to make these things. I went to pinterest.com first of course. I found some great ideas!! I ended up going with one that included a translucent white tote.

At first, I just set up the box and used two lights that I already had downstairs in my craft room. The pictures were ok and worked up pretty good with an editing website (my fav is picnik.com). But I knew I could do better.
Before picture edited using picnik.com

I went out today and got some daylight bulbs, 2 clip on lamps ($5 a piece), and a large piece of poster board. As soon as I got home, I started assembling! I cut the poster board down to size and curved the top as I fit it inside the tote to give a seamless look in the background of the photos. I draped some fabric to soften the lighting more. I clipped those lights on, turned them on, and started clicking! I am very impressed with the outcome. I wish there was a little less shadow, but seriously, I'm not complaining=). 


After using picnik.com for minor editing (very little actually!!!!)

Here is my light box in full. Not expensive at all to make, but super profession outcome.


Here is a picture of the craft room. I rearranged some things and added some dressers for storage. 
I would really like to put in some floating shelves lined with jute baskets for organizing my fabric, but thats gonna have to be another day=).



Well, I just wanted to share some of my crafting adventures with you all. Enjoy=)

5 comments:

Rachel said...

I am so impressed!! The pictures look amazing! That's a lot more than I've been willing to do for my coaster pictures on Etsy... and I'm sure it shows. :)

Kathy, Mom said...

Looks wonderful! Sounds like you had a fun, productive day. Way to go girl!

Glenave Curtis said...

You are doing such creative things and enjoying it, too. I love to read your postings.
Mamaw

Aunt Becky said...

Great job! The pictures look wonderful - and your craft room is great. Love seeing your projects.

Aunt Donna said...

Oh, this is the coolest thing I have seen in a long time. Your pictures (or should I say "photographs"?) are so professional looking. My guess is that this will make your etsy site more attractive to buyers. I've just got the smartest nieces!! You girls with your craftiness on Etsy. So neat!

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