Tips for creating great photos:
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 1:38PM Notice that I didn't say for 'taking' great photos. You don't have to take great photos for them to be fabulous! I get a lot of very nice comments about my photographs. And, yes, it does help to have an eye for it, but really, like a magic trick, you just need to know the secret steps. Secret, because so few people share them! So.. I'm spilling the beans!
Nice, bright, crisp photos are especially critical for places like Etsy, Artfire, an Ebay where you get one chance to catch shoppers and your window is SMALL. You can have the newest and greatest, but if your images aren't up to par, you're loosing sales. I'll show you how to go....
Ok, the above example is a bit over done, but you get the idea.. the differences are huge!
- First, I am assuming you have a camera and/or know how to put images on your computer and find them. (I have spent hours looking for pictures because I can't remember which file I put them in!)
- Next you need a photo editing software. Most printers now come with one. I have an HP and it did come with software. I used it for along time until I found....
Photoscape. It's free, fabulous and easy to use!! Did I mention it's free? (this is an unrewarded post.. meaning I received nothing from the creators to promote their product).
- (the most important) Always try to shoot your images in natural light (not direct sunlight as it works just like a flash). For some photos you'll need to turn your flash off (check your camera manual). Flash is harsh and causes many deep shadows and shiny brights. A dark photo can be brightened but deep shadows are very hard to remove. This means often times moving your work to a brighter spot in the home (during the day) or even taking them outside (in the shade). Also, if your shutter is open longer you will need to hold the camera STILL. I exhale as I am taking the shot or rest the camera on a tripod, stand of books, chair back, etc... digital cameras are great as you can check the photo to make sure it is crisp. If not, take another and another.
Above is the unedited photo I took of my workspace. Bright window center means dark on the sides. I did not use a flash.
Using Photoscape, in the photo above, I increased the Brightness and Gamma Bright and adjusted the contrast. Already tons better!
In the image above I cropped out some of the mess in the corner, bloomed the dark ceiling corners and sharpened. (Talk about your sun filled room.. a bit different than reality.)
Above, I resized the image to 500 pixels wide, rounded the corners and added my name in the corner.
Typically I stop here but you can do a lot of other stuff too! Like....
Borders, frames, text bubbles, filters, etc... It is lots of fun and you you'd be amazed at the quality of image you can produce from one you'd think wasn't usable.
I hope this was helpful! The best thing you can do is play, play, play!
Enjoy!
xoxo~
Abbie
(don't forget to enter my Giveaway in the post below)
Oh, and I am Thankful (days 3 & 4) for my husband, who tolerates my silliness and loves me unconditionally. Love you!
Reader Comments (9)
HI Abbie, thanks for sharing the secrets......I have to check out that program you mentioned, although I like working with my Paint Shop Pro Photo X2.
Smiles, you way! Anke ;)
Ha it worked!!!!!!!
This looks incredibly cool -- thanks for sharing.
I'm not sure it's owned by Google -- there are Google ads on the page (which is probably how the developer gets some $), but the copyright statement at the bottom of the page says: COPYRIGHT (C) 2001-2009 MOOII TECH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
But CNet gives it four out of five stars. http://download.cnet.com/PhotoScape/3000-2192_4-10703122.html
There, I fixed that.. for some reason I thought it was provided by Google. :P When I first grabbed the software (a year ago..) I was on a Google page but perhaps they advertised there. Thanks for the heads up!
I love how colorful your workspace is! Very inviting :)
Beautifull!!!
Regards
françoise
Great! I usually end up spending hours "fixing" photos with Picasa, but I still can't seem to end up with that extra special brightness and ethereal scene that you created. Thanks for the tips, back to playing for hours...with Photoscape! ^_^
THANK YOU! I can't tell you how much I appreciate that you shared that with everyone. I am a brand-new blogger, and not much of a photographer. I have been wondering for the last few weeks how I would ever be able to post decent photos, since I have a meager camera, and an even more meager budget to purchase photoshop. How wonderful! From a total newbie- you're the best!
Posting of tips! How sweet, sweet, sweet are people like you, who do so! Thank you.
Aunt Amelia