Bee says practice, practice, practice!

On Sunday I went on a mission...to buy a set up for taking photos. I thought I was only going to buy a couple of lights but then again I wasn't actually sure. You see I know very little about taking photos but apparently I'm learning. What I've learned so far in silver smithing has been easier! Words like blown out mean something entirely different when you're torching...thoughts of running for cover come to mind. Then add expressions like "depth of field and shadow detail" and I'm really lost. Technically I understand the words just not completely in the context of photography. I took a product photography workshop a little over a year ago. It was great fun...okay I lied...I didn't understand a word the instructor was telling me. I was so frustrated...I mean how hard is it to take a photo?!? Apparently a little more involved than point and shoot if you want images of jewellery that are good enough to attract customer. Anne-Marie was a great instructor (check out her site) but it's the same when someone tries to explain my cell phone to me...my eyes glaze over and my brain freezes! She kept talking about something called exposure value...exposure what!! Everybody else in the class was clicking buttons and looking like they had a clue! I just pretended I did and couldn't wait until I returned home to figure it out when no one was watching.

One of the things that I learned from the workshop was that it didn't have to cost a fortune to have your own set-up for taking photos at home. All I needed was two whiteboards, some parchment paper and something as a background for the jewellery. I gathered the gear to do just that and it was fun...for awhile. I gathered shells, pieces of driftwood, kelp root balls, rocks and whatever else I could find to use as a background. It took forever to set up the stage!! I became more interested in how the background looked than I did the actual jewellery. Something was wrong with that picture...yes pun intended. But the first time I needed to take a photo on a really grey and cloudy day it just didn't work. It could be that I didn't know enough about what I was doing...nah...that couldn't be it! I had an idea and sometimes that can be a dangerous thing for this Bee.

If you know me or have read any of the previous posts you know that I love tools so why not better tools for taking photos. So back to the beginning of the post where I went on a mission. Why buy a couple of lights when they have this great kit that has everything you could need to take good photographs. Just one thing...they forgot to include the elves that would take the good photos...I mean really. I'm thinking a little tent with slightly translucent fabric, point the lights, aim the camera and shoot...right? Wrong, you actually still need to pay attention to the shadows, depth of field and all manner of other things. Obviously not the brilliant answer I thought I had to a problem. So now it's back to practice, practice, practice. On a brighter note the lights really made a difference...yes I know another pun...it's a talent.

So moral of this story...new tools aren't always the answer (gasp)! Sometimes patience is an underestimated virtue that needs to be taken seriously. Failing that...read the manual!

Lights, camera, and no action...that's the next photo.

    

Okay there's really no action...I'm just faking taking a photo!
Looks like I know what I doing though.

 

I did take some photos and while far from perfect they will do until I take the next workshop!

    

Check the photo album for more information on the rings.

Comments

[Barrie]

I took the same class, and don't remember a thing from it! LOL! Oh wait, one of the other students showed me how to set my white balance. The rest was just jibberish to me! LOL Your set up looks great - what kind of lights are those? And by the way, what's wrong with point and click? That's what I do ........ oh wait, most of my pics suck anyway! LOL Keep up the great work, I'll just copy what you do! :) (I'm kidding! ..... sort of!)

[Anne-Marie]

You really have done done well, photography does require a lot of patience and practice and I'm impressed with your progress, makes me proud :)

BTW I have lots of empty 35mm film canisters to recycle, would you like me to drop them off somewhere?