Project Photography - MFT Creative Chat

It's time for the MFT Creative Chat. The My Favorite Things Design Team Creative Chat is a monthly feature, where we are challenged to explore our creative spaces and share valuable organizational methods, tools, and shopping strategies with you. You'll be able to peek into our creative spaces, ask questions, and share your own ideas in the MFT forum. This month, we were asked the following questions:

Show us your project photography setup.

What type of camera do you use, and what settings do you prefer?

How do you edit your photographs? Walk us through your standard editing procedure.

I apologize in advance for such a long post and many photos :)  BUT I hope you find something useful in it!  I have no training whatsoever, so everything you will see in this post is what I have learned from the internet, fellow bloggers, and my camera manual.  It may or may not be the "best" way to do things :)  Let's get to it.

My photography setup is pretty ugly!  I have a homemade light box made out of white foam board purchased from the office supply store.  My original light box was 12" square and was made from cardboard and tissue paper.  My 4 year old had an "accident" with it so I recently made a larger & sturdier light box using this tutorial that Wanda Guess directed me to.  The final size of my light box is 20" wide by 15" tall by 15" deep. 

I have three shop lights, which were under $5 each.  The bulbs I use are "Sylvania micro-mini CFL Daylight (6500K)".  Each is equivalent to a 100W bulb.

My camera is a DSLR - Canon EOS Rebel T1i.  The lens I use is the lens that came with my camera - 18-55 mm.  I shoot in "Av" mode - aperture value.  This allows me to set my aperture and change some other useful settings such as exposure and white balance.  I would encourage you to read your manual - it is your friend.  On my old Canon point & shoot, I could shoot in manual mode and change these settings. 

Here are the settings I use:
Aperture : 4.5
Exposure Compensation : +1/3 (sometimes +2/3)
ISO : Auto

ETA:  The flash is always OFF.
I also set a custom white balance each time I take photos.  I find this gives me truer colors and eliminates some of the weird color casts you sometimes get.  To do this, I turn the lights on in my light box and position my card.  I have my camera set to AWB (auto white balance).  I position a piece of white cardstock in front of my card so that it is in the same lighting conditions as my project  and take a photo with the white cardstock filling the frame.  I use a piece of Sweet Tooth cardstock :)  You can also use a commercially available gray card.  On my Canon, I go into the Menu (button at top left of LCD screen) and select custom white balance under the second tab, scroll to the white cardstock image, and press "SET".  The camera will adjust the white balance using that photo.  Back in your camera settings, change your white balance to the custom icon.  I "think" on Nikon DSLRs there is a button you press while taking the photo to set a custom WB.  I am not sure if you can do this with most point and shoots.  However, you will have pre-set modes you can try out.  Below, you can see a comparison of a few of the pre-sets on my camera.  The bottom picture is a comparison of photos taken with AWB and the Custom WB.  You can see how using the custom setting really warms the image and the colors are more true to life.

Now that my custom white balance is set.  I am ready to take a few photos.  I use automatic focus and have my AF point display turned on and set to automatic.  The AF points will light up as red when you depress your shutter halfway to focus.  You will know the areas that the camera is focusing on by these red dots.  I try to make sure at least a few are over important areas of my project - the sentiment, main image, embellishment, etc.  I take a bunch of photos, then transfer them to my computer and choose the best one.  Now we are ready for some fun :)  My editing process is fairly simple and does not take that long, even though I have LOTS of photos to guide you! 

I am on a PC and use Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 for my editing.  This version is from a few years ago, but I have not had the need to upgrade.  This really was the best $89 I spent - well worth it.  Actually I think my husband bought it for me for Christmas :)  But definitely worth it and not that expensive.  I use it A LOT for blogging and personal photos.  I open my photo in "Full Edit" mode, and the first thing I do is "Crop" with no aspect ratio set.  I like a little bit of space around my card, but that is a personal preference.  Click the check box to approve the crop.  {TIP:  You can use the arrows on your keyboard to move the box around and/or click and drag on a corner to rotate it a bit.}

The next thing I do is create a duplicate background layer.  I usually leave the name as the default and change it later.  Click OK.

I go over to my Layers palette to add an adjustment layer, which is the half moon icon.  The first adjustment I do is the "Levels".

You want your histogram to stretch across nearly the entire box.  I usually only move the right most slider just to the right of the histogram, which will lighten my image considerably.







The next thing I do is adjust the shadows.  This is done in a pixel layer, not an adjustment layer.  I click on the "Background Copy" layer that I created in the beginning and adjust the shadows from that layer.

The Shadows/Highlights window pops up and may be on a default adjustment setting.  I generally only use the "Lighten Shadows" slider and will adjust to somewhere between 15-25%.  After I click OK, I rename that layer by right clicking on the "Background Copy" layer in the Layers palette and selecting rename.  I rename this layer "Shadows".  {TIP:  In your Layers palette, clicking on the "eye" beside each layer will effectively undo the actions in that layer.  You can toggle each layer on and off to see what effect each edit had on your photo.}

The next edit I perform is to adjust the "Brightness" using an adjustment layer.  Generally I only use the Brightness slider and adjust it to somewhere between +5 and +15.

The next step in my process is to sharpen the image.  You want to do this on a "flattened image".  However, I like to have a psd file with all the layers intact.  A good work around is to use the "Stamp Visible" function of PSE.  This command flattens all the layers into one layer at the top of your Layers palette, while keeping all layers intact below it.  Stamp Visible is a keyboard command - CTRL+ALT+Shift+E.  The uppermost layer on the right is the result of this command and contains all your edits in one layer.  Now I use the "Adjust Sharpness" feature while this layer is selected.  I will also rename this layer "Sharpness" :)












In the Adjust Sharpness window, I select "Gaussian Blur" and set the amount to somewhere between 20% and 50% with a radius of 1.4 pixels.  Play around with these settings to see what you like.  I just arrived at these by playing around, and I am sure there is room for improvement.  {TIP:  If you put your cursor over the preview window and click and hold you will see the before sharpening image.  This is great to see what effect your values are having.}  There is also a High Pass filter you can apply in PSE to adjust the sharpness, but I find the adjust sharpness window to be a bit easier to play with.

So, now my editing is done.  I save this file as a psd prior to flattening to preserve the layers, just in case :)  After saving, I flatten the image.  Put your cursor over the Layers palette and right click to see this menu.  Select "Flatten Image" and all your layers will merge into one.

I have been working with my full size image up to this point.  Now I will resize the image for my blog.

I set the resolution to 72 pixels/inch.  Be sure the constrain proportions box at the bottom is checked.  This will allow you to change one dimension and the other will automatically change with it in the correct proportion.  I change the width to 600 pixels, which allows me to insert my images at their original size in my blog.  Be sure to "Save as" a jpeg after resizing.





Here is a comparison of my straight out of the camera image and my edited image.  This all took me about 5 minutes, even though it looks like a long process :)

I like to add a vignette around my image to soften the edges and hide the seam of my light box a bit :)  To do this I use the rectangular marquee with feathering set to 30 px, outline my project, invert the selection, and fill in.  {TIP:  Prior to inverting the selection, you can move your selection around with the arrows on your keyboard to make slight adjustments.}

Here is my final image with vignette and watermark.

Here are the supplies for this card.  The layout is the June SFYTT.

Stamps:  Who's that Girl Enjoy the Ride (MFT)
Papers:  On the Sunny Side (MME), Whip Cream (MFT), Light Kraft (The Kraft Outlet)
Inks:  Memento tuxedo black (Tsukineko)
Accessories:  Pretty Posie Die-namics, Fishtail Flags STAX Die-namics, Circle STAX sets 1 & 2 Die-namics (MFT), Linen matte finish button collection (Buttons Galore & More), Twine (The Ribbon Carousel), Copic markers, Jody boosters

If you are still reading, thank you so much for stopping by and sticking with me - I appreciate it :)  Stop by Kim's blog to see the other designers participating today - I can't wait to see what they have to offer.  I am sure I will be tweaking my process after today :)  Have a great week!  Oh, don't forget - Teasers start tomorrow!!