shop setup: photography part 1

In high school, I was the historian for the Spanish club. Dorky, yes. But it was the only way to insure that I was taking the photos and didn’t have to be in the photos. Plus, I got to be in charge of making the scrapbook. I was terrible at it. The photos, that is. I rocked that scrapbook:

See? I painted an awesome cover. Then I took an awful picture of it: flash fail.

I can spot a good photo, sure, but take one? Goodness no. Long ago I resigned myself to having a crappy point-and-shoot camera and taking crappy pictures because, hey, it never really mattered.

I love it when decisions like that come back to laugh in my face.

So, now I need to know how to take good photos. To its credit, Etsy supports an amazing community of people genuinely interested in helping each other out. And thankfully, some of them are rockstar photographers. Like bomobob, who seems to be some kind of celebrity in the forums — and for good reason. He’s been busy posting very, very helpful information on product photography lately, and he’s been kind enough to compile the various threads over on his blog. (He also provides links to the forum threads, if you’re interested in reading the hundreds of pages — yes, hundreds! — of posts.)

But before I get into all the superbly awesome bomobob info, I need to back up a bit — because all the information in the world does me no good if I have no idea how to put it into practice. And all the advice I found came down to this: Read the manual.

Wait, what? Seriously?

Yes. Read the manual.

Ugh.

You know, just some light summer reading.

Now, folks, in real life, I’m an editor. This means I get paid to read, and I fancy myself pretty good at it. But here’s a true story: It took me over a month to get through the 60 or so relevant pages of my camera manual. Why? Because I am busy taking notes and experimenting with the camera settings? No. Because that crap is boring. Boring and sleep-inducing.

But — sigh — it’s important. So here’s my advice, if you’re thinking maybe you need to pull out the manual (and if you’re still reading this, there’s a good chance you do):

1. Do take notes and experiment with the camera settings while going through the manual. It helps.
2. Don’t attempt to read the camera manual while
1. sitting in bed late at night.
2. curled up on your boyfriend’s comfy couch under the softest blanket ever with a cup of hot tea.

Now then. Even before I started reading my camera manual and the forums for photography tips, I decided to build myself a light box. (Is anyone else wondering why I seem to be writing this post in reverse?) Bomobob proves that lightboxes aren’t really necessary, but since I’m not exactly good at this photography thing, I figure it doesn’t hurt to give myself as much help as possible. I used the instructions over at Drawings in Motion for a simple, “dove-tailed,” collapsible box of foam core. Pretty genius, if you ask me. Add some fabric for a backdrop, commandeer a perfectly sized base from Brandon’s making adventures, and slap on a couple clamp lights, and you’re in business.

Coffee table, rendered useless.

It’s not the most elegant thing, and it does prohibit the use of my coffee table, but I never really go in my living room anyway. Here’s hoping it works. Next time, I’ll attempt to compile all the great photo tips I’ve collected, and we’ll see how close I come to getting some decent pictures.

Meanwhile: I know a bunch of you people are photographer-types. Have any tips for a hopeless amateur?