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Hola...and how I edit my card photos...


Hola

Hola Friday! :) 

Here's my take on my guest blogger Amy's challenge to use at least three different patterned papers on a card...I used four! :) They were from a pile of scraps...I just went with a circular theme..I think it works??!!...*LOL*

The chipboard butterfly is from American Crafts, the pins from Heidi Grace, crochet doiley and handmade felt flowers. If you missed the tutorial on how to make these flowers, go to this post.

The winner of the last challenge - the stamping challenge is Smita who created her first ever layout! Congrats!

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Today I want to share with you how I edit my card photos taken in natural light.


I like to take photos by the window where there's nice natural indirect light (morning/evening). You need indirect light because direct light casts very harsh shadows on your card. I usually take a few shots without flash at different angles. This photo was taken at 8am.



I crop my photo in a photo-editing software (if you don't own one, use Picnik, it's free!) so that there are less distracting elements in the background. In my A Tea Party post, I used a piece of white fabric for my backdrop at this same window!


I brighten up the photo using the Curves/ Levels function. It's like flash on your camera but you have more control over where you want your light to be...


I use the hue/saturation function to get the colours close to my actual card. Then use the brightness/contrast function to add a little depth to the photo.  Add a drop shadow and you're done! :)

 So this is the process I go through for my projects. I do love the fancy props that others use to photograph their projects with but that takes a lot more time to set up. For a while, I wanted to build myself a collapsible lightbox but gave up when I realised how big it had to be to take shots of 12 x 12 layouts..*LOL* I guess this works for me because where I live, there's an abundance of sunlight! :)
How do you photograph your projects?
*Edited* This card was featured in the Create gallery under cards featuring handmade flowers...:)

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18 comments:

  1. What a lovely card .... totally loving the candy color... you are brilliant!!! ... I made the twirl flowers.... will upload soon...thanks Yvonne... xx

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  2. this is truly beautiful, great colors love that flowers I love it!

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  3. Loved the card.. and circular theme works well :)

    I generally take photographs in my balcony, any time during the day. My balcony is painted white & there is no direct sunlight over a lot of space, hence the project gets ample light. Then i do a little saturation/hue adjustment , brightness contrast adjustment and i'm done. I generally try to avoid cropping, so click the pic with minimum background.use Camera's Zoom functionality to avoid shadows on the project.

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  4. love it!.. EVEN UR SCRAPS ARE AWESOME! ;).. thanks for the tutorial!.. and congrats smita! :)

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  5. oh wow,lovely dp's and ur felt roses looks great")

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  6. beautiful card and thanks for the tutorial on how you photograph your cards. I am still in the learning process for this.

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  7. beautiful card and thanks for the tutorial on how you photograph your cards. I am still in the learning process for this.

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  8. Lovin' those flowers! Thanks for the tips too...wish I lived where it was sunny all the time!

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  9. Dang girl, you're fast on the challenge:) thanks for sharing how you photog!!!!! I really need to just break down and get a photo tent...too lazy to make my own....the weather is so unpredictable in washington...if we even get any natural sunlight..this morning it is dreary and overcast...I'm hoping it'll brighten up since I have a layout I need to photog...I do it on my front porch...with a foam core tri-fold presentation board...for cards I fold it so I can use the board as my base and backdrop....it's not a pretty sight...my neighbors probably wonder what in the heck I'm trying to do..then I just use Windows Live Photo Gallery as my photo editing program...

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  10. i am so bad about editing pics, i just try to take them in daylight LOL :D

    love the circle motif on your card :D

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  11. so cute...lovely flowers and layering!!!

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  12. Lovely card... i loved all the polka dots patterned paper

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  13. Thanks for the little tutorial! Super cute card!

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  14. Hey Thank you for the kind mention, Yvonne. :-)

    Hugs,
    Smita

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  15. Gorgeous gorgeous card!! I am in love with your felt flowers... Wonder when I'll try some! ;-)

    Smita

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  16. beautiful card.......sooooooo pretty!! love the colours.....amazing :)

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  17. The card is fabulous! Love how you photograph your cards. Thanks for the info on the photo editing software. :)

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Thanks for visiting my blog and taking time to leave a comment. I really appreciate it. Have an awesome day!:)

Cheers, Yvonne.