When I need photos to sell patterns, I send my finished objects to my sister-in-law-Shannon Guest with a mood board and a check. But not everything can be outsourced I do need to make clear photos for tutorials and Ravelry finished object shots.
Right before Thanksgiving as my deadline came near for the article on Miniature Herringbone Stitch (MHB) for Knit Edge Magazine, I started pulling my hair. What if it was raining on Saturday, the only day Dan could hold the camera over my shoulder as I moved through the steps of grafting MHB? What if I forgot to ask him to hold the camera and we ran out of Saturdays? Then I realized that I could improve the process of grafting MHB, and I lost a slightly overcast Saturday when Dan could have taken photos because I was figuring out the simplified process some more. At which point, I stumbled on a blog post by PlanetJune about using foot petals and a tripod to make good tutorial photos of your own hands.
I showed it to Dan, and he said, “Oh, I could make that for you.”
“That would be a wonderful birthday present.” I replied, thinking, “Oh blank, my birthday is AFTER my deadline.”
But Dan read my mind, because first the tripod arrived in the mail – the magnetic tripod! I stuck the camera to my fridge to catch myself cooking on the new stove in that oh-so-flattering over the head angle.
I started filming the tutorial with the 25 second delay so I could get my hand back into position after hitting the shutter button. It was so smooth – no more worries I’d forget to ask Dan to work with me when the light was right and he wasn’t at work. With my Ott light sideways and the back of on of Ben’s old poster displays behind the work, I had a simple backdrop too.
But the birthday presents weren’t done yet. Dan ordered pedals from e-bay, and stayed up really late to fit them to my camera (he took a connector from a broken stereo he hadn’t thrown away yet for part of the connection.) The next day I shot my tutorial again (because I’d realized yet another simplification…how inconvenient these realizations are!) But the re-shoot only took 5 minutes.
5 minutes!
