Macro Photography Means Close Up!

You know, it's taken me at least two years to understand Macro Photography. I've learned a lot in that time. I've learned huge amounts about photography. I bet I could ace a beginner's course!

Shortly before Spring 2009, I finally figured out that "natural light" can come right through a window in my warm house! That was helpful!

Naturally, I am always taking the longest route to the goal that I hope to achieve. It's just the way I am. I know this about myself, so even if I don't achieve my goal right away, I know I can learn something!

Probably in late June, someone mentioned the words "close ups", when referring to macro photography. That was one big bright lightbulb that went on! Whew! You mean, Duh!

Finally, I think I have the process down! Yay, me!

So what you can take from this post, are two things. If you want to take pictures for your Etsy Shop, you need to have natural light and a macro setting on your camera that you actually use.

It's the coolest!

When I finally figure something out, I'm probably the last to know, but in case you didn't know, that's what you need to understand about macro photography for your Etsy Shop. It'll save you two years, if you're anything like me.

Craft Show Preparation 101: The ETSY Eco-Chic Craftacular Craft Show at Whetstone Community Center

Well I don't really know how I got myself into this one but I am certainly glad I did!

I am a member of Etsy Team Columbus and on the outreach committee. We met one day and WHAM! we started a craft show! It has been a great journey. There is a lot involved. There have been bumps and tight turns and learning. That's what I love the most is learning all about what it is that I am doing. I will never stop learning and I don't think anyone should. Learn something every day.

The Eco-Chic Craftacular is a juried arts and crafts show onto which an ecological flair has been placed. We have eco demos. We have recycling. We have crafts and art derived from the things that at one time would have been considered landfill materials. We have quality. We have team effort.

Preparation for the Eco-Chic Craftacular has been challenging. There are so many things that need to be considered in order to have a successful show. We are about fifty percent complete as far as laying the ground work. We had to secure a place and secure a date. Then we had to get a team member to make us some graphics. And another to make a website. We're neary full for vendors and the sponsors are coming through for us as well. Next there will be publicity to arrange.

It is live. It is a live being at this point in time and growing as it should be.

If you are a vendor, good luck to you!

If you are a sponsor, thank you!

I will post more about the Craftacular as we get closer to May 16 and 17. A wrap-up entry the week following our very first team show!

Photographing Beautiful Jewelry Finally!

Well I finally caught on! This is the result of at least two years of hard work. Well, maybe the last two months were the most intense, but I think I have the procedure down, and now I can move on to the decoration part of the photo. I read all the posts about photographing jewelry. I re-read them. I took about a million bad, really bad pictures. Yet, every single time I posted a picture that I thought was an improvement, it looked the same. Too dark. I went to the forums and asked. Too dark. I purchased a new camera. Still too dark. I went to my Etsy Columbus Team members and they said,,,,"Just use photoshop and clean it up." My vision of using Photoshop meant using the "eraser" tool to turn everything white. Nothing worked. So I took all the constants in my quest. I had a lightbox that was huge, so I cut it down. My camera settings were on Macro and No Flash. I had two "utility" lights with 100 watt compact flourescent daylight bulbs. I bought two more lights and two more bulbs. You know if it's too dark, you add more light. Still too dark. Still too dark. I went back to the drawing board time and time and time again. Finally, I started turning the "wheel" on my Canon A590IS. This wheel changes the type of picture you are taking. You want to take a snow picture, put it on snow. You want a portrait, put it on portrait. I took a picture at each setting. I kept all the other contstants constant, with four 100 watt bulbs. I put them on my computer and FOUND the setting that I needed! Yay!!!! The old setting I was using was automatic. The new setting was M for Manual. It has a MACRO setting and it has a No Flash setting. I took two lights away. This may not be perfect, but I am going to use it for a while. They are so much better to me. They are very comparable to others. It's time to post and sell my hand-made jewelry on etsy with my new and improved photos. Have a great day!

About Volunteering and MLK and Barack Obama and Heather

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Happy Pre-Inaugeration Day! I am a core member of Etsy Team Columbus. So I am on a committee and there is one person that just joined our committee and you know what she wants us to do? She wants us to all consider volunteering!!! What? Why do I want to do that? I am on this team to mingle and learn from like minded fellow artists. I am on this team to sell my jewelry. Now you want me to do what? I can't believe it. I don't have time to volunteer. I only have enough time to run up and down the highway and earn a living. I don't have time to volunteer, there aren't enough hours in the day! I don't have time to volunteer and you can't make me. So what does that Barack Obama do? The guy I helped vote into office. The guy whose hand I shook while I was in Philadelphia. What does that whole Obama family do? They volunteer on Martin Luther King Day! I didn't vote for that, did I? I can't believe it! Oh, so now I HAVE to volunteer! So ya take the lemons and ya make the lemonade. And you share your skills and the results of your labor. And everybody is happier than they would have been if you hadn't done something! Oh! Now, I think I can! Now, I think I can squeeze a few more things into my day!

I think I could figure out how to add volunteering to my agenda. Okay, I suppose it's probably taken a little longer than the time its taken to write this to decide that I need to volunteer. I know it's taken a lot of soul searching and prodding to arrive at this decision. I'll be on the volunteer wagon in my neighborhood. I'm gonna look forward to it too.

Gee, thanks a lot Heather, and Barack and oh, yeah, Martin Luther King!

Jewelry Marketing Idea Turns into a Weekend Project

Happy Saturday! It's up to ten degrees and I'd really like to take a drive in the country. We've got a lot of snow and I think the pictures could be fantastic. I've got a snow setting on my new camera too! Can you imagine, a snow setting? Technology is something else! So as I wait for my precious husband to get ready, I thought I would write. I am preparing a portfolio that I can carry down to my friend's place of business to sell my jewelry. One simple request via email and my mind creates a weekend portfolio project. It's gonna be beautiful when I get done! It's going to be portable. It's got to help sell the jewelry or I can recycle it into something else. I'll be using a large sheet of cardboard that I'll get from packing at work. I am continually amazed at the amount of recyclable materials that I can get from packing materials. There will be a little cushioning on top of the cardboard and then I will cover it with fabric. The cardboard is folded like a notebook with a spine that will accommodate the hanging configuration inside. It'll have handles. I'll take some pictures and post them when I'm done. I love the idea of using black and white velvet on the inside. Not together though. At least I've learned that jewelry needs solid color presentation. Whew! Is that a term or what? Solid color presentation as opposed to a loud print presentation! I know anything will work but I want the best presentation ever. Solids are a must. Well I just heard the bathroom door. I think that must be a good sign. So I'll see ya later. I'm off to a drive in the country and a stop at the fabric store. Could a Saturday afternoon get any better? I think not!

Happy Beaders with Too Many Beads or Too Few Beads

Happy New Year and to all I wish you SUCCESS! Success in all your endeavours. I have many beads to convert to jewelry. It's simply amazing how one can have so many beads in such a - okay - midsized area. And yet, I can look at them and cry that I don't have enough! Tragedy, that's what it is. As an artist, I believe that I can create what ever it is that I want to create. So I got all these beads and have kind of depleted my stock and I suddenly believe that I don't have enough. Do you have this problem? My hands are itching to bead something. I'll let you know what I end up creating. I have enough beads to do several sets of jewelry. I have a mind that for some reason has not come to terms with it. Oh, my land! This is the dip in my beading career! Doesn't "beading career" sound nice! I plan to keep my beading career as I learn to market and sell my beads. That is what I need to learn. Perhaps the dip is only a shift. Perhaps as my supplies of beads has dwindled, I've felt more pressure to expand my business. I have noticed that as I have developed my business, there are many more facets that I need to explore. So maybe I don't have a beading career problem after all! In dealing with a smaller supply of what I need to make my hands happy, I am finding that there are other things that I need to learn. Marketing and selling for which I will need consistency also. That will feed my supply facet, and therefore keep me from crying about not having enough beads. That should make my hands happy too! I want happy hands!!!