This was a very interesting meeting. Mike came to visit us and gave a great presentation. He'd lots of examples of things we should and shouldn't be doing. I was so busy listening that I forgot to take any pics of the proceedings! Sorry Mike, and Val who came along to assist him.
What did we learn? Well, how to position our subject so that the light falls on it, and so that the background stays there and doesn't become the main focus of the picture. Most of us had brought along cameras, or had phones that took photos so we laid out some of the items brought along for show and tell and had a go. Lighting was an issue in the room. OK it's lovely and bright, but not natural so the lens sees it differently. Everything has a yellowish tinge. Colours aren't true. What to the eye looks a nice red, looks more maroon when photographed and also changes in different parts of the picture. The computer screen changes the colours too. This is Janet's crochet blanket.
Using a flash will also change the colours, as will whether it's directly at the subject or directed elsewhere and lighting up the area. This is a child's cardigan knitted by Sylvia
Backgrounds are important too. They can be distracting if cluttered, hid the subject if too bright e.g. taken in front of a window. And of course we all know the classic of getting the rubbish bin or washing in the background if taking photos outside. If it's a garment laid out like we were, then the colour of the background. Imagine this white jumper by Sylvia if it was on a white background. It wouldn't work as you'd not see much of the lace pattern.
One other photo I took was of a part knitted sock and some beaded row markers Liz had made. Great and simple idea if you want to keep track of rows without counting 100's. Liz had made two different sizes for different weight yarns.
There was so much more that we learnt, but this post is quite long enough. Hopefully you might notice an improvement in our photographs.
Our thanks to Val and Mike for a very helpful evening.
