Tag Archives: photography

What is Saving My Product Photos

Posted on January 9, 2017 by | Comments Off on What is Saving My Product Photos

Last week, I posted on the Tiny Dino Studios facebook page about playing with my foldio, and I got a bunch of questions about how I liked it. Before this past week, I’d only used the foldio a handful of times, and mostly with my phone. And after that, I’d never taken the time to edit the photos, but holy smokes you guys, the little light box thing is totally worth it!

Mocha Morning Soap

Here is one of the new product photos I took last week using the foldio. It’s not perfect, but it is light years ahead of the photo of the same product I took a few weeks before that on my desk using the window for light.

See the difference?

Box of Chocolates Special Edition Valentine’s Day Soap

Here’s another soap that just finished curing. It’s scented with chocolate and lavender, colored with cocoa and red oxide.

Good Vibes Soap with poppy seed swirl and calendula petals

This is brand new, and has a couple weeks left on the curing shelf. I call it Good Vibes because it’s a very earthy, fresh, relaxing essential oil blend of sandalwood, eucalyptus and patchouli. I also adore how the poppy seed swirl turned out.

I’m not the most composition-minded photographer out there–and I call myself photographer in the sense that I hit the shutter on my little canon power shot and a photo results–but I’m really glad I have my foldio. While there are some of my photos where I couldn’t edit around bad composition (see below), it’s not the foldio’s fault I barely pay attention to whether my shot is in focus. It’s designed to photograph small things. That’s why it’s only ten inches wide.

See how you can see the edge of my back drop and the sides of the light box? The soap is true though!

With a little conscious effort on my part, I can really improve my product photography with the help of my little light box. So, while this is what I have, I’m going to say that any light box will help.

I’m going to keep practicing my photography, focusing on getting more usable pics out of each photo session, and paying more attention to how I line things up. But editing photos this time around was so much less frustrating than usual. Hooray!

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Etsy Shop is Back Open!

Posted on August 16, 2014 by | Comments Off on Etsy Shop is Back Open!

Good morning all. It is August 16th, and as promised, my etsy shop is back up and ready to go.

Stop in and browse around. I have new sock, lace weight and handspun yarns, as well as some new spinning fiber.

How do you like my new photographs? I’ve been meaning to do this for about two years now. In some ways, I am sorry it took me so long to get up off my ass and do it, but in others, I am glad I waited until I had all the right pieces. My dining room has some of the best natural light in the whole house, being lined with windows and all. That, paired with my vintage cherry blossom table cloth (the first thing I ever bought on etsy ever right after it opened) and my new pottery, everything came togther so beautifully.

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My table cloth, just to refresh your memory.

Now, I’m off to do some spinning so I have a bit more handspun to offer up for sale. What are you up to this weekend?

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Knitted: Red Beret, Also, Knitting in Action!

Posted on November 19, 2012 by | Comments Off on Knitted: Red Beret, Also, Knitting in Action!

So, cripes, about a month ago I went on a wonderful camping trip with some friends of mine to a place that’s very dear to me– I mean, it’s where I go for nearly every fall break.

Anyway, because one of the ladies I went with is 1) a terrific photographer who 2) planned on shooting a few rolls over the weekend, I made sure to oh so casually wear pretty much exclusively knitwear. I ruined the all-the-wool-all-the-time effect by layering a windbreaker over the whole ensemble, but, hey, it was cold: we walked up along the ridges all weekend, got hella windburn, and woke up with our tent encrusted in ice.

Nic took lots of photos, but I selfishly picked out the ones featuring my knitting, since that’s what this blog is all about. Also, to pre-explain: the Highlands are home to a bunch of sweet lil’ pon’s.

So, um, there’s my hat, doing a great job as a hat.

Guest starring Cormo Rusticus,

and an extra pair of gloves that came in handy,

and my pretty-much-all-time-favorite-knitted-thing, the Peerie Flooers vest.

All photos © Nic Anthony

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On My Mind: Scandinavia

Posted on August 11, 2012 by | Comments Off on On My Mind: Scandinavia

Maybe it’s just the deadly-hot weather of dried-up August, but I’ve been dreaming of a northern summer.

© 2008–2011 Nina Egli and Family Affairs

I’ve had my eye on the Swedish Summer dress since the Family Affairs Spring/Summer 2012 collection debuted back in March. For me, though, the really alluring part isn’t so much the dress as it is the description:

…you have been making blueberry jam all day in your summer cottage in the middle of the Swedish woods, it’s a full moon tonight and you are going for a skinny dip later…

I mean, of course you are.

photo © Hilda Grahnat

What’s more, the wonderfully talented photographer Hilda Grahnat just posted photos of her post-blueberry picking dip from a few weeks ago. It really is what a Swedish summer is made of!

Photo via Fantastic Frank

On the non-summer side of things, I’ve fallen pretty hard for the Pia Wallén Crux Blanket, which is unfortunately a) very expensive and b) now only available in cotton flannel (instead of WOOL, like God intended). At least I know I’m in very good company– and I feel like someone I know (I guess it’s Susan?) often says that the cross on the Swiss flag is the greatest piece of design that exists.

Anyway, I have it in mind to make a quilt version– I guess out of the different greys of old men’s suits, like the quilt that hangs in my parents’ downstairs hallway. It looks like Celine has already made a beautiful Crux Quilt– plus, hers features a grey ombré background– so I know it definitely can be done!

I don’t know if the next step is to go spend $50 on a pile of old suit jackets and start cutting squares, or if it’s to find a similar quilt pattern and modify it. If anyone knows anything about quilting, I’d appreciate hearing it.

It’s old news, I know, but this article from the New York Times about Minneapolis’ Bachelor Farmer also has me wishing I lived somewhere colder (or, at the very least, near a restaurant inspired by the New Nordic Cuisine). Just, listen to Noma’s Claus Meyer:

We have got Mosc ox, reindeer, juice turnip from the arctic area, king crab, slow growing Limefiord oysters, Greenlandic ice water flounder, grouse – the one bird in the world than in the most intimate way communicates the flavours of its territory, ancient local cow, pork and lamb varieties, more than 50 species of wild berries from the forests; broke berries, cloudberries, artic bramble, cowberries… Berries that have only been sampled and tasted by few people outside the Nordic region.
And, this, because it seems to be straight out of Babette’s Feast, and I thought that things in Denmark had maybe changed since Dinesen wrote:
The unambitious home market demand was mainly the result of a 300 year long evil partnership formed by ascetic doctors and puritan priest. In together they have led an antihedonistic crusade against the pleasure giving qualities of food and against sensuality as such. The idea of organizing beautiful meals with great food has been considered a sin. The philosophy they so successfully communicated was that if you just ate something of inferior taste and did it in a hurry instead of enjoying too much you would get a long healthy life and end up in heaven.
And, ugh, now I want this book, too.
As such, we planted a row of rutabagas– which word, you know, means root ram (ram, as in male sheep. No idea why that’s the word.) in Swedish– last Wednesday.

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Vacation, all I ever wanted

Posted on July 24, 2012 by | Comments Off on Vacation, all I ever wanted

Last weekend we hopped in the car and off we went -- destination Cape Cod!

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Don't worry, Ian didn't drive the entire way.

The last time we took a proper vacation was the year before Ian was born, so we were long overdue. We opted for the big-ass family vacation -- the three of us plus Jim's mom and aunt, and his brother and sister and their spouses, all sharing a house in Brewster -- and it was awesome.  

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This was Ian's first time at the beach. He was a little wary of the water (these days, he's not even really a fan of the bathtub, so that was not at all unexpected) but otherwise loved it.  Which was good -- for weeks, every time we mentioned going to the beach he would solemnly say, "no, Ian stay home."  We have no idea why he was so convinced that he wanted to stay home, but in the end the promise of getting to play in the sand and wear his beloved baby suit (that would be "bathing suit" to the rest of you) was enough to convince him.

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After a couple of hours, he owned the place. He wouldn't go near the water on his own -- the above picture is one of the very few times he let his feet touch it at all -- but he was happy to wander around in the dry sand and play.

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I love the beach and have such happy memories of all my beach vacations as a kid. It was awesome to see it through Ian's eyes. It'll only get more fun from here, too.

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We had a bit of a setback, as Ian had a fever for a couple of days so he and I had to stay cooped up at the house, but thankfully it never progressed to the point of needing medical attention, and the rest of the time was awesome.  We ate lobster and steamers and mussels, and poked around shops, and saw lots of Angry Birds (all birds are "A-bee Burns", as far as Ian is concerned, you see), and had a nice dinner in Wellfleet for our anniversary, and rode our bikes, and visited the docks in Hyannis so Ian could see all the boats...

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...and we were in Provincetown for an awesome thunderstorm on Wednesday. (I took, literally, about 250 shots of the same scene, hoping for a good lightning shot. I was just about to give up when BAM. Finally. Not bad for taking a picture from the window of a car without benefit of a tripod.)

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It was such a wonderful week, full of fun and family (and yes, we managed to have nine people crammed into a little house without one bit of drama. I think we deserve a medal.)  The only problem was that it wasn't long enough. I've already made the executive decision that next year we're going for TWO weeks.

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Back To Blogging.

Posted on July 12, 2012 by | Comments Off on Back To Blogging.

Zac and I went on vacation a few weeks ago, and I brought a camera down to the beach with us. I wanted to have a photograph of myself in my new bathing suit.

This picture of Zac untangling a crab from his net is the only one I took, but I’m happy with it.


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Mondays Are For Photography

Posted on April 2, 2012 by | Comments Off on Mondays Are For Photography

It has become my Monday morning routine to photograph all the yarns dyed and / or spun in the previous week and post everything to etsy. Every Monday I am astonished at how much work I did over the previous week. Sometimes I forget how much I get done because dyeing and spinning yarn doesn’t really seem like all that much work. I remember all the work on the computer I do (which is a lot) rather than the actually production aspect, so when I pile up the yarn for the photo shoot, I am always satisfied with the stack.


You can’t quite see everything in that photo, but the sock yarn on top is my favorite. I called it dino hide and that as much of the color makes me giggle with joy.

I worry during the week about having enough inventory for the farmers market, but then I look at my apartment overflowing with yarn and fiber, and I get over it. Frankly, I need to get some of this stuff out of here.

Some of the other photos I took this morning:

Handspun local Lincoln yarn


carrot juice sock yarn


ember worsted yarn

And a bonus FO:

Yesterday afternoon I finished Ebbtide. (Raveled here)

This pattern was the most recent Knit-A-Long hosted by the Knit Knit Cafe Podcast. It was actually my first KAL, but was announced right as I was giving in to a shawl-knitting fever. As soon as I saw the pattern, I knew which yarn it had be made out of, and I cast on that same day. The shawl is knit out of my Protoceratops Yarn, which is my absolute favorite. There was just enough yardage to make the larger shawl size (I did bind off one row early.)

I will have Ebbtide on display (not for sale) at my farmers market booth this summer, so if you live in the area, you can stop by and see it in person so that I might enable you further.

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Photogenic

Posted on March 29, 2012 by | Comments Off on Photogenic

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I finally pulled out the negative scanner and finished scanning that last giant pile of negatives I unearthed in the scrapbooking boxes. I *think* I am all done with those. Next up is the gargantuan task of going onto Flickr and orienting them all in the correct direction and labeling them as best I can.  Some of the last stuff I scanned is from our trip to Hawaii in 2003, shortly before we switched to digital.

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Strike a pose . . .

Posted on July 30, 2010 by | Comments Off on Strike a pose . . .
My daughter has a gorgeous camera . . . expensive, sophisticated . . . but she says my Easy Share Kodak has many of the advanced features her camera has.  Only problem is I haven't learned how to use them.  Riann has been taking some classes and is willing to share her knowledge with me--my plan is to take her up on her offer.  And I just learned that my friend, Cindy, at Jacob's Reward Farm, is having a photography workshop on September 25th--given by Ellie Ivanova.  I know Ellie has a web site, but I can't find her card to list it for you.  But here's a link to a few of her photos--she does gorgeous, over the top beautiful work!  Ellie's photos.  I'll definitely be attending that workshop!

In the meantime, here are a couple of the photos I took this morning.

I can't remember when we planted this apple tree . . but it was at least ten years ago.  This is the first time we've gotten anything close to real, edible fruit.  In fact, there are two apples I spotted on the tree!  I'm embarrassed to say that I just noticed them this morning when I took Mac out.  But you can be sure I'll be watching more closely now to make sure they're "safe."

I think it was even longer ago that we planted these day lilies. In fact, I remember that Riann was a brownie at the time because I was her troop leader and one of the mothers gave me the bulbs.  So it was probably 25 years ago (or more) that these bulbs were planted . . . and they're still flowering.  Amazing!

Does anybody know what these are?  They're in our butterfly garden on the north side of our house.  I came home one Saturday and Big Daddy had planted this beautiful garden.  I've enjoyed it so much.  I thought it was cool that there was still dew on this flower when I took the picture this morning.  Very peaceful.
These beauties are in the back yard--around the pool.  Again, I don't know what they're called, but aren't they pretty?
And the day just wouldn't have been complete if I hadn't included a look-see at the pictures I took at my niece's house last weekend.  Stacy, and her husband Dell, have two of the cutest kiddos I've ever seen.  Elizabeth is five months old and the happiest, sweetest girl ever.  What a little lover.

And JD could.not.be.cuter!!!  What a sweet, precious boy--and he is all boy!  Look at that beautiful head of hair.  Did I say he couldn't be cuter?  Adorable!!














Cute kids, beautiful flowers, marvelous fruit . . . but don't you agree I need photo lessons?  This coming from a photographer's daughter? 

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