November 4, 2014

Perturbing Pattern Pics

Today, I had planned to announce that my latest knitting pattern, Cabled Cushion Cover, was ready for purchase and instant download from my Etsy shop. Yep, that was the plan. But the photos are not yet up to snuff, which annoys me to no end. I mean, how could I not know while I was studying photography over 20 years ago that I really should take the studio lighting class? How could I not have predicted that I would need to take fabulous product photos in my future? [Since you can't hear the tone of my thoughts, take my word for it, those last two rhetorical questions are slightly sarcastic and good-naturedly self-deprecating.]
Problem #1. My light box is too small to accommodate the pillows, even when the shot is cropped to size, as below.
Problem #2. I can't manage to get even lighting with my clamp lights. 

Problem #3a. Cleaning up these particular shadows is beyond my Photoshop skill set. Notice, the shadow below the aqua pillow is aqua and the shadow to the right of the orange pillow is orange. My usual shadow reducing technique does not apply to opposite color temperatures.
Problem #3b. Erasing the shadows and edges of the light box from the left and right of the frame is also beyond my skill set. I can do it, but I'm not satisfied with how it looks. It looks touched-up. Ergh.

On the plus side, the pattern is written, edited/tested, and designed in Illustrator. (I knit that aqua pillow sham following the directions as a troubleshooting run.) All it needs is a few photos. Later today, after I recover from spending most of yesterday failing to edit not-so-great photos, the pillows come out of the light box for another attempt.

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