This month I’m drawing inspiration from Jenny, aka. Cashmerette. Not only does she inspire us all to eat cake, she has great pictures, too! I’m intrigued that Jenny has local sewing friends act as her photographer – as someone who prefers a tripod, I really wonder what that would be like? Jenny wrote about her own quest for better blog photos in the summer of 2014, which includes lots of good tips. I remember that post being really useful to me, so I thought I’d pump her for a bit more!
1. You’ve written before about your photography techniques, including taking pics in the golden hour before sundown. When I try this, I look orange in the setting sunlight! What am I missing?
I usually take my photos a good hour before sunset so it’s rarely *that* orangey… but maybe being further north than me makes a difference! Also, my skin looks good in yellow light, so it could just be a skin tone thing.
2. How many shots will you take on the average shoot? How do you know when it’s “enough”?
I take about 100 – 150 (I know! Crazy!). Normally a sewing blogger friend is shooting so we’re all pretty patient with each other 🙂 I usually flip through some of the photos on my camera to see if they’re coming out well and we keep going until we think we’re doing OK.
3. In posts this summer from Grainline and Sewaholic, lots of sewists commented that they are put off blogging because they feel uncomfortable in front of the camera. Do you have any suggestions for building confidence?
I think it’s mostly a case of practice, practice, practice – the more you do it the easier it is! It it also easier if you don’t have too many observers while you’re shooting so it’s good to scout places near your house that are a little sheltered or away from traffic.
4. You’ve perfected the “caught in action” shot: walking, breeze blowing your hair artistically, skirt twirling… in focus, while smiling! What’s the secret?
Taking tons of photos! My favourite thing is spinning around, with my arms loosely by my side – I go side to side and we take tons of photos. We often get a single good one out of maybe 30 – 40 spinning photos!
5. Any other photography tips and tricks?
Make lots of angles with your arms, legs and rest of your body – it feels really weird, but looks great on camera!
Thanks for the advice, Jenny!
Your homework, should you choose to accept it:
Spinning, jumping, running, bicycling, karate chopping, swaying side to side to get wind in your hair – you name it! I’ve never succeeded with action shots in the past (How many pics do I have of me landing from a jump? A lot, my friends, but zero pictures of me mid-air.) but I’m going to take Jenny’s word for it and take an absurd number of pics in hopes one works out! (And if nothing else, there’ll be a great collage of awkward action shots, right?)
One of the takeaways for me this month is that taking more pictures will give me a better chance of each pose working out. I already take a lot of pics per session, but I’m going to challenge myself to take a few more frames in each position. I have a bad habit of standing half out of frame by accident, so I’ll particularly focus on moving side to side to make sure I’m in the darn picture!
How many pictures do you take for each project? And which do you find more reliable: tripod or willing photographer?
ps. All photos belong to Cashmerette, of course!
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Crafting A Rainbow 
The angles thing is definitely a good suggestion. When we pose pretty comfortably, the pics look odd most times. It’s usually when we contort ourselves in some uncomfortable position that the pic comes out like “YASSSSSS” lool
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I really struggle with this one myself! I can’t keep many thoughts in my head at the same time while taking pics, so if I’m thinking about angles then my face goes crazy, or if I try elongate my chin forward to avoid a double chin, then suddenly something else goes wacky. Maybe one day it’ll be second nature? I need Tyra to help me! 😉
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What I love about your pictures is that the backgrounds make it look like you are wearing them in your daily life, just hanging out, doing errands, etc. I think this is inspiring!
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I like seeing pics of everyday style, too. I enjoy on IG seeing older clothes pop up again – sometimes in blogging I wonder which clothes will get worn, and while looked good in posts but turned out to be duds!
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These are awesome pictures! I’ve been paying attention to the picture settings and poses in various blogs this month. There is a big difference and many factors that make outfits look so good – not just the sewing. It reminds me of cooking where presentation is so important. This month’s homework will be a challenge. I’ll give it a try!
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That’s a great connection! Food photography is dark magic – I don’t know how people take sure appealing pics of food, when anything I snap looks so unappealing! There really is a lot that goes into making a sewn garment look great. I do think feeling good in it is the most important though – a smile will cover a lot of sins! 😉
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Soe good tips. I haven’t even done my last lot of homework yet. To much of the day job encroaching at the moment. I am so up for this though. Will try to catch up this weekend. Xx
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Tsk, tsk. Homework late? Detention for you! 😛
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Great tips! I don’t take a lot of pics because I don’t like trying to pic the best ones….and my photographer is usually in a hurry. I will try to get more action photos though…they always look fun.
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Whatever you are doing, it works for you! Proof that there are many ways to do everything!!!
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You are not the only one with a million pictures of landing a jump but none in mid air. 🙂 Can we blame gravity? Surely it’s heavier in our locations.
I’m gonna try to do the homework this month because it sounds like fun. 🙂
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I dearly hope we can get some hilarious outtakes from this homework, if nothing else!!!! OF course, it is suddenly so cold that I don’t want to go take pictures outside…
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Great tips again. Jenny is so lucky to have sewing friends taking her pictures! My husband’s limit is six pictures max, and he won’t notice when my collar is half in, half out. So I use my trusty tripod, resulting in me looking…not like me. I just can’t smile naturally in front of a camera when nobody is there to crack a joke. Will try the angles thing next, we’ll see if it comes with a good natural laugh or totally clueless facial expressions 🙂
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I really can’t imagine having friends who would take pics for me! Like, really… just can’t fathom it! Must be nice, though! I use a tripod because I’m a control freak – my husband would also take 6 pics for me, but then I’m too busy worrying what the shots are like to have fun! 😛 We’ve all got different processes!
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Jenny does have such lovely photos. I like the angles recommendation- good stuff! All of my movement shots end up looking really goofy, but I am taking one for the team… here’s my completed homework assignment… jumping in a jumpsuit: http://cookinandcraftin.blogspot.com/2015/10/mccalls-6083-jumpsuit.html
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OH. MY. GAWD. I haven’t commented on your post yet, but hot damn, those pics are a amazing and made my day! Did you used to be a gymnast? You jump so high! And smiled at the same time! Amazing. Love.
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Wow – some great tips here! My hubs usually takes the photos for me, and if he’s feeling particularly into it we take tons of photos, but most of the time he takes the bare minimum. I find that my photos seem to turn out well when we’re kind of joking around and laughing. They look more noticeable that way I guess. I’m thinking of getting back on the tripod band wagon to play around more, but it’s hard to get the focusing right and what not. I am loving these posts though!
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Some of my favourite pics are definitely when my husband was being really silly behind the lens. For me though, it gets stressful – like, he wants me to have fun, but I’m worried about if he’s remembered to focus the shot, or where we have to be in 5 minutes. He used to take my MMM pics for me but now I prefer the relaxed pace of a tripod!
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Jenny does always have such great action shots! My kids often are in the process of making me crack up which has led to some interesting shots and me being a little more unguarded in front of the camera. My favorite actions shots were some of the ones for my Giants’ fan dress. It was fun to take on a character of sorts and use all my props for that one. Hmm… I’m not terribly sure how many shots I take in a session because I often take a big bunch and scrap the ones immediately in the camera that are obviously not right. I am slow in the photo editing process, and dumping bad pictures as they come up saves me a little time over the whole session.
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Very interesting post! I will never be the type of person who can tolerate taking 150 shots, but it’s comforting to know that it can take that many to get a few good ones.
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