I hope everyone here in the US enjoyed their Thanksgiving celebrations!  I certainly did and took the opportunity to take a mini-blog break at the same time.  This post is inspired by my role as shop critique thread starter for the Etsy Mud Team, which I recently revived after a bit of an absence.

Shop critiques are usually scheduled for 3 shops at a time and are voluntary for folks who want a constructive critique of their shop.  Most often, photographing ceramic work is where most sellers need improvement.  Let’s face it, taking photographs is tough and it’s not just about clicking the shutter and uploading the image to a computer – though it certainly is easier with digital photography than film.  It is even trickier when it comes to photographing work that one hopes to sell online where the listing description and photos are all that the buyer has to go by in order to make a purchase decision.

Inexpensive Homemade Light Box

There are a multitude of options for taking product shots and I am only showing but one – using an inexpensive homemade light box inspired by Strobist Blog which uses clamp lights, light bulbs, piece of seamless white drawing paper cut to size to fit in box, and a simple prop.

Side view of light box

Total upfront cost if you have to purchase everything new =  $39.50.  Chances are that you already have many of these items on hand and your cost will be < $5.00.

Supplies:

• $14.00/2 energy saving 100 watt compact fluorescent light bulbs
• $24.00/2 clamp lights with aluminum reflectors
• $1.00/drawing paper cut to size
• < .50/trace paper cut to size – I have rolls of trace paper from landscape arch school that I used, though it’s also sold in pads
• free recycled box
• and a bit of tape

Tools needed:

• scissors
• box cutter or X-Acto knife
• ruler
• pencil and eraser
• scrap cardboard or self healing cutting mat

Ceramic pendant to photograph

I set up my light box one morning on my kitchen counter before it was even light outside and began the process of photographing some ceramic jewelry to list for sale in my Etsy shop.  Etsy allows 5 slots for photographs per listing and I encourage people to use all 5 slots since it’s tricky selling items online when a buyer can’t touch or see an item in person.  Ideally, each photograph will offer something new – whole piece, detail shots, different angles, and I always like to offer the flip side of a piece of jewelry or the foot of one of my pots (some might not think it’s important, but I like seeing what the foot looks like before I buy something – I want to know if it has one?, or does it have a wiggle wire bottom?, or whether it is just flat?).

Before diving into the Photoshop tutorial, I would like to point out that there are a number of free photo editing programs out there – I just happen to have Photoshop CS2 loaded on my computer and this is what I am comfortable using.  Just google free photo editing software programs and lots of web based and downloadable program links will pop up.

I would also like to credit Lisa Lapella who wrote a tutorial on her blog that alerted me to the use of the Photoshop “curve” tool.

I also want to mention that I’m using an older Olympus C-7070 digital camera and I am becoming more familiar with the settings of my camera.  The settings that are very important for photographing small items are the macro buttons (which are often depicted by flower symbols), ISO (affects amount of light coming through aperture), and white balance (there are often presets such as day, night, florescent, outside, etc.) – though I am still learning my camera’s settings.  In the meantime, I’ve been able to correct some of my photographic shortcomings by using Photoshop.

Pendant opened in Photoshop before adjustment

So, let’s get started!  As you can see, after taking the photograph of my pendant in the light box and opening it in Photoshop, it has a gray cast to the image.  I want to lighten this up a bit so it doesn’t look so washed out and really make it pop off the computer screen.

Note: I used a bit of wet clay to prop the pendant up in the light box – an alternative is using pliable wax or poster putty.

Open and use the curve tool to lighten background

Type “Ctrl + M” to open the curve tool – I am used to using keyboard short cuts to save time when I edit 100+ photos in a sitting.  To do it the long way, simply click on “image” from the top bar, then “adjustments”, then “curves” to do the same thing.  You can either click and drag on the line in the curves tool box to adjust brightness and contrast, or click on the white eye dropper bottom right and then select a space on the photograph to adjust.  It might take some playing around to get a good likeness without distorting the color of the item you’re photographing.

When I’m happy with the way it looks, I simply hit the “enter” key on my keyboard.  Note: if your image gets out of control and is no longer representative of your item, just click cancel and start over.  You can use the undo key, but it only goes back 1 action.  Or, click and drag the last action from the “history” box that you want to undo into the little trash can icon – though this will affect all actions that follow the one you want to delete.

Next crop the image if desired

Next, I will crop my image because Etsy uses a square shaped as thumb nails and photos of items for sale.  The crop tool is on the left hand side of the Photoshop workspace. Or type “Ctrl + C” for the crop tool short cut.

Select crop tool preset

You can set up tool preset for frequently used tools.  I have 3 tool presets set – square, another rectangular shaped one for Etsy that I use when my photo is not easily resized to square shape if I haven’t left enough space around my item, and one for Trunkt that has very specific & odd pixel dimension requirements (300 x 311px).

In the case of this pendant, I select the “square” crop tool preset.  As an alternate to using a tool preset, is to hold the “shift” key while dragging the crop button to constrain the cropping to a square shape.

Cropped image

Once the crop tool is selected, I simply place the tool on a section of my image and then drag the crop tool to the opposite corner.  Once I have the basic size and composition set, I can move the area to be cropped by selecting the move tool which has an arrow and a little cross type thing next to it in the left hand tool box.  I can then move the square area I’ve selected around as desired.  When I’m happy with the photo and it looks good to me, I hit “enter” on the keyboard to crop the image.  If I don’t like the way I cropped the image, I select “edit” from the top bar on my screen and then “undo” or I can type “Ctrl + Z” for the short cut.

Note: While I eyeball my photos to see what looks right, you can get very specific and enable the grid and ruler for precision.  Go to “view” on top bar, then click on “ruler” to enable ruler, and “show” – then “grid”.

View image size

When I take photos of my work, I always take them in “High Quality” setting which is labeled HQ on my camera – though, I can take them as a RAW, TIFF or SHQ which are higher quality and much larger files than HQ.  For online work, HQ is plenty big.  I can also take them at a lower resolution by selecting the appropriate resolution from my camera’s menu screen.

To see what size my newly cropped image is, I type “Ctrl + Alt + I” to open the image size box.  I can also click on “image”  on top bar, then “image size” to open the dialog box.

Change image size

For the web, 72 dpi is sufficient and Etsy, specifies images no larger than 1000 px in any single dimension.  I normally default to 800 px and always have.  It’s plenty big and if printed represents 11.11″.  Obviously if I were submitting images for a juried show, book or magazine submission, I would use a higher resolution based on guidelines provided.

Once I’ve entered the resolution and pixel dimensions, I hit “enter” on keyboard or “ok” in the dialog box.

Smaller image

Once, I’ve made the image smaller, I have to save it to my computer so that I can upload the new image to my Etsy shop.

Save image

I type in “Ctrl + S” to save the image to my computer.  Note: this affects the original photo file that I have uploaded to my computer.  If I wish to preserve the original file for later use, I can type “Ctrl + Shift + S” (or click on “file” – “save as”) to save as a different file name.  I will now have 2 images of same shot on my computer – the original and the newly altered one.  Sometimes this is good if I want to upload the same photo to different sites or to keep the original files away for future use or posterity.

Rinse, wash and repeat for each photo. Believe it or not, I can cruise through 100 or more photos in a about an hour.  The hard part is taking them.

It’s really important to have a filing system for photographs – I stress this because I have been a lax filer, and have lost images, altered originals, can’t find image I need when I want it fast, etc. etc.  For work like my inexpensive ceramic jewelry piece, this isn’t so critical, but for one off ceramic pieces that I no longer own, it’s a problem.

My final listing can be seen here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17845165. Notice, I’ve added a prop to one of my photos just for contrast.

Light cube with graduated seamless photo back drop

I do prefer using a graduated dark charcoal gray to white photo backdrop for photographing pottery, although some people have been successful creating a catalog type product photo set up.  It just depends on the venue and audience.  I have found that using a graduated backdrop (like the one above) also eliminates the need to adjust photos, other than cropping and image size adjustment, in most cases.

Large 30 inch x 20 inch piece of drawing paper

In pinch, for less than $2.00 for the cost of paper, the make do set up above would work a lot better as a photo backdrop than many of the photographs I see on Etsy.  Simply place a large piece of paper on a table or other item against a wall and photograph outside on an overcast day or at dawn or dusk to eliminate nasty direct sunshine glare.  Different colored drawing paper would also work as a backdrop including black, gray, and something that would contrast well with the work while remaining neutral.

Have a great week,

~Cynthia

Pint size stoneware mugs

Last week, local Colorado painter, Stacey Peterson tagged me with the “7 Unusual Things About Me” meme and since I’ve already done this at least twice, I’m twisting the rules just a tad.

• Put a link in your posting to the person who tagged you.
• List 7 things for which I’m thankful.

So here’s a list of people, things and events for which I’m thankful:

1. I am grateful for my husband, daughter, mom, in-laws and extended family who I love very much and who support me unconditionally (most of the time). 
2. My friends in both real life and virtually – our connections mean so much to me.
3. My current life situation that has allowed me to explore motherhood, clay and art without having to work full time at another job.
4. My teachers past and present – it is truly a gift and calling to pass on knowledge.
5. My dogs Zuzu and Danzig who give me so much joy, amusement, occasional irritation and who greet me with great enthusiasm whether I’ve been gone for 1 minute or 1 week.
6. Opportunities and the freedom to do whatever I want – it really does feel like the possibilities are endless.
7. Having a roof over my head, food on my plate, clay on my wheel.

I know these seem really general, but when it comes down to it these represent the core of why I’m thanking my lucky stars this holiday.

• I am supposed to tag 7 other bloggers at the end of my post and to let them know – but I’m not.  If you feel inclined, feel free to add 7 Things You’re Thankful For on your bloggie.

For my US compatriots -  Happy Thanksgiving!  For my international visitors, I am sending you Thanksgiving wishes in the spirit of our national holiday.

~Cynthia

Finding One's Way with Clay by Paulus Berensohn

One of the perks of being a member of the Colorado Potters Guild is being able to check books out of the library.  Finding One’s Way with Clay by Paulus Berensohn happened to catch my eye the other day and I have enjoyed reading and looking at all the photos in the book.  It’s an older book, but still available new and used.  I was just a lass of 6 years in 1972 when this book was first published!

I was looking for some project ideas I could make with the kids in my after school clay class and found a couple of interesting ideas in The Spirit of Clay by Piepenburg that involved pinching pots – so when I saw the cover of Berensohn’s book, I was captivated.  I have a fairly primitive studio & mobile studio, so his projects really appeal to me since hands and a few small tools are all that are required – no expensive, heavy or complicated  equipment needed.  I want to do make some humble pinch pots now.

One of the interesting things about the book is that it actually feels very current, which is why I keep double checking the publication date.  Additionally, the photography by True Kelly is fantastic (especially her artistic shots of Paulus) and lends a sort of timeless quality.  I did get a hippie vibe from the author and photos which is further confirmed after reading this 2007 interview published in The Harvard Crimson Magazine.

Meanwhile, I attended the semi-annual Colorado Potters Guild Potluck yesterday afternoon and enjoyed getting together with the other members socially.  Following lunch, we had our formal meeting and it was announced that I will be taking over the Guild’s website duties – yes, call me webmistress from now on.    I plan to vamp it up a tad and will be moving the site to a Wordpress Platform.  The project will be done slowly over the course of the winter – so no urgency.

On another note, ever want to know how your writing style stacks up with the Meyer’s Brigg Personality test?  Type your blog url into Typealyzer to find out.  I am apparently a ESFP – performer:

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead – they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation – qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

With that, I bid you adieu for today,

~Cynthia

Tic Tac Toe, Ryan 5th grade

The second session of my kid’s after school clay class began 3 weeks ago and I aspire not to repeat lessons that I’ve taught for the past year, unless requested, because I have a dedicated core group of returning students.  I’m a fairly democratic teacher and give the kids a vote, though I am allowed veto power if I feel strongly about a project – and I have one of those coming up on the horizon – kids were rolling their eyes at me.  The kids had never crafted any games, so I put this on the docket for the first class of the session since the project is a little labor intensive.

I made some paper templates for classic games such as tic, tac, toe and chess & checkers, along with printing out the rules for each and also found a gazillion games on About.com, including many that use a 8×8 board like chess and checkers.  I also allowed the students to make up their own games and that is what most of them decided to do.

Rolling ball labyrinth game, Jasmine 5th grade

My daughter made a variation on the classic wooden labyrinth puzzle that I used to play as a child.  One of my great aunts kept this puzzle in her basement rec room and I would steal down the stairs while visiting and play this for hours.

Chess and Checkers board game, Natalie 4th grade

While I really encouraged the kids to make an 8×8 game because there’s so many games based on this template, only Natalie did.  She made her pieces to be used either as checkers or as chess pieces.  For checkers, she needed to make 24 playing pieces (12 each person different colors) and for chess, each player needs 16 playing pieces per player.  Her solution was to make 32 flat pieces like checkers and then she stamped different designs into the pieces which signify whether the piece is a rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, and glazed 1/2 in lavender – 1/2 in pink.  Pretty clever!

Made up game, Cole 3rd grade

Cole made up his own game with little animal playing pieces and one giant die.  I’m not sure if he has actually drafted the rules yet or not, but his game sure is cute!  Cole is my little owl obsessed sculptor – nearly every class, owl iconography makes its way into his work.

My daughter graduates from 5th grade this school year and I have warned my students that this might be the last year that I teach the clay class which is part of the after school enrichment program.  After class on Tuesday, one of the parents asked me if it truly was my last year teaching clay after school – not very fair to get their kids addicted to clay, is it?  Teaching the kid’s class is truly a labor of love – there’s a lot of work involved before, during and after class, and I don’t charge much since it’s one of the ways that I can give back to the school by making it affordable and accessible.  The PTA also provides scholarships for kids who want to take enrichment classes and that might not be able to afford it otherwise.

Most public schools have some sort of enrichment program including, sports, arts and crafts, technology, foreign languages, drama, science and more.  It wasn’t hard to get my class up and running once I proposed the class to the PTA and School Principal.  I did have to go through security screening since I’d be working with children, but since I was already licensed to substitute teach through the state of Colorado, all that info was already on file with the district.  If I didn’t have the license on file, it would have been easy to fill out the background check application, get fingerprinted and return to the school district.

There’s a demand for these kinds of kid’s activities and I could fill up my class 5 days a week if I had the energy.  It’s something to think about for those of you who are interested in teaching, yet haven’t been hired by an art or rec center, many of which are often fully staffed.

Meanwhile, I just received an email from the programming director at the Art Student’s League of Denver yesterday.  He put the call out for summer art camp proposals for next year – ack, I’m not sure I can project that far in advance.  Last summer, I taught 4 clay camps — 3 at the Art Students League of Denver and 1 at Anderson Ranch Arts Center and I’m not sure I want to do more than one or 2 camps next summer.  Teaching takes a lot out of me.

I’m almost current with my to-do list; though between yesterday and today, I’ve put in way more than my goal of no more than 2 hours of daily computer time.  Sometimes, necessity calls and I just have to oblige her – it doesn’t hurt that we’re having a bit of freezing rain today and it’s colder than heck out in my garagio.  I did manage to squeeze in a few studio hours, but it was more busy work cleaning up my kids stuff, loading their work in the kiln – but that frees up time for my own work this afternoon and tomorrow.

Toodles,

~Cynthia