Here are a few of my favorite tips if you are just beginning:
- Select a camera that will do nice close up (macro) shots. This is very important.
- Hold the camera steady - if you can't, consider using a tripod and the timer button on the camera
- Use a simple background. A light grey, black or light blue works well. As an option you could use a pretty piece of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper with a gentle pattern. Stay away from pure white as this tends to confuse the camera and sends the white balance in a tizzy.
- Use natural lighting if at all possible. Shoot by a window, but not in direct sunlight. You can also take your project outside and choose a nice shady spot. This helps avoid shadows. Lighting is so important - so give attention to this particular tip!
- For nice detail shoot the photo in as high of resolution that your camera will allow. Mine is 8mp. The higher the megapixel the more detail in your photo when enlarged.
- Here's an important one.....if emailing your photo to your Flickr, Photobucket, Facebook or to me to share, please resize the photo down to an "email version". Most photo editing programs will allow you to resize these photos to send quickly over the internet. If you are using Photoshop, simply click on FILE then SAVE FOR THE WEB and this will do the trick!!
I photographed this on a patterned piece of scrapbook paper. While the paper has a light pattern to it, it doesn't detract from the Friendly Plastic pendant.
You can see that the patterned background that I used above would not be a good choice for displaying a variety of beads, such as these beads created by Liz Welch. She effectively used a lighter grey background to highlight each and every bead.
This is an example of a close up photo. Liz used a black background to make the individual bead stand out. The photo is clear. Just a word of caution, be careful using black backgrounds, since they could come off as greys, blues or purples.
Have fun with the photography and stay tuned tomorrow as I give some more advanced tips!
Email me your photos!!
Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.
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I bet as these visitors come again, and find more and more things in my studio, their FP creations will become more and more out of the ordinary. They had never heard of FP, say nothing of the fact they had no clue what could, or could not, be done with it. It reminded me that we all need to remember to occasionally try to think about our art with such a clean slate, absent of knowledge and/or influence! … 
