Dec 4, 2010

Behind the scenes of an etsy photo shoot...

I was trying to photograph a few milkglass items for my etsy shop when a certain cat named Cookie decided to jump into the frame. (She's not for sale, guys!)

But you can see my little set-up that I use for photographing for etsy. I use a small table that I've layered with 2 fabrics--a heavy white canvas, then a sheer polyester-ish fabric (it's really dress lining material). Why two? The white canvas nicely smoothes the surface, then adds brightness to the sheer top layer, enhancing the blue hue. Next, I iron the fabrics on the table. Sometimes I will leave a crease in to help me position/align objects (these always get cropped out, of course).

The table is placed by a south-facing bay window that I have in my kitchen. It's a shame because all the fancy architecture in my house--1920's molding, a marble fireplace, a huge front window with plantation shutters--is in the North-facing front side. Since I live in a brownstone on a narrow street, facing other brownstones, this room is in a perpetual Cavern of Darkness. Like the Motel 6 ad slogan, I always have to leave a light on in that room.

Anyway, the only time I get crisp sunlight in the kitchen right now is between the hours of 2pm and maybe 3:30. This leads to me running around the apartment like a madwoman, muttering to myself about how I'm about to lose the daylight. That said, I always keep my props close by and do really simple vignettes like the one above, with vintage books.

All that, and then a cat jumps into the frame.

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