I was going through my backlog of projects that needed to be photographed for Ravelry today.  (You know- the projects that you forget to get a picture of until they’ve already been worn or given away.  They just sit there in your Ravelry queue with their big blank photos taunting you.  Drives me nuts.  It’s not just me, right?  Right?)

Anyway, it struck me that I’ve never shared my highly-technical photography setup.

And by highly-technical, I mean not technical at all.

I use a simple little point-and-click camera (I think it’s actually more than 5 years old, and its battery only holds a charge for about a half hour at a time, but it still works!) It’s an Olympus FE-360, if anyone cares.I really like it because it’s simple to use (and I know next to nothing about cameras).  And, I like it for taking pictures of knitting, because it has a macro and a super-macro feature for taking closeups.

Macro is used for taking pictures less than 4 feet away:And super-macro is used for taking close ups from less than a foot away:It’s not fancy, but it works for me!

The other part of taking decent knitting pictures is the light.  I always use natural light, and try to avoid any light that’s too bright or direct (luckily, in Seattle, that’s not usually a problem).  If you use a flash, or overhead lights, or try photographing your project in bright, direct sunlight, the colors go all funny, and everything gets weird and shadow-y.  (Like I said, technical.)

To get indirect natural light, I set up a big piece of foam core on a little rolling shelf, set up next to a window.  I can roll the shelf around to get the right amount of light (if it’s a gray day, like today, I’ll set up right next to the window.  If it’s brighter, I’ll move further away).

And then I take my pictures!

And that’s basically it! It’s not a fancy setup, and I’m not a professionally trained photographer by any means, but this is what I’ve figured out works for me.

I hope this helps with your photographs!

Do you have any tips or tricks you like for your photographs?  I’m always looking for something new!