How do I photograph my projects, you ask???

Quite often I have people emailing me asking how I take good ((cough)) pictures of my projects.  I always have to laugh at that because I am soooo far away from being a good photographer by any means.  I also don't have any type of photo-editing software on my laptop.  And I'm quite critical of my picture-taking, or lack of skills thereof.

So here's what I do to try to make my pictures look okay:

1)  I start with my really ugly homemade (extremely inexpensive) photo light box.  Here's some great instructions for you to create one of your own, which are very similar to how I made mine. 

I have 2 lights set up on either side of my box, nearest the front with the lights shining in from the top.  One light is an Ott light, and the other is actually a very similar one that I found at Walmart in the craft/sewing dept.  Just know that you need lights that give natural light, not the yellowed tones of standard bulbs.
(Note:  I don't use this set up for my layouts, as they won't fit.  I only use it for smaller projects...)

Here's an unedited before picture of my card, taken on a day that is gray and dreary, making my photo really fairly dark, even with some diffused lighting...

2)  Now I have to edit my picture.  This is where free is good.  I upload my photos to Photobucket.  Then one at a time I EDIT them.

3)  Once in EDIT, I first CROP, then adjust the CONTRAST and BRIGHTNESS to reach the desired lighting I didn't manage to capture in my extremely limited photography skills.  (I so need a class...  lol)

4)  Then before I save my edited picture, I add my name and blog address in a TEXT box.  Then SAVE it over the original.

5)  After it is saved, I right-click on my edited picture and save a copy to my laptop to upload here on my blog.

It sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it?  But it's worth it and after you do it a few times, you get used to it and it doesn't seem so bad.  Except on those days that Photobucket is being extremely annoying, which does happen from time-to-time.  Ugh!

So now here's the same photo after I've edited it. 

I hope I've answered your questions, and maybe even for those of you who didn't want to ask.  :)

My really ugly photobox... LOL

I've had quite a few people ask about what I'm using for my backdrops in my photos of my artwork. I made my own photobox out of a large cardboard box, tissue paper, white poster board and painter's tape. Here's a picture of my photobox, and I wasn't lying about it being UGLY... LOL. But hey, it works!

I first cut the flaps off the top part of the box. I then cut out the three sides of the box, leaving about an inch border on the edges. I taped on the tissue paper over these openings, covering the three sides that were just cut out. Then you just take white poster board and tape it in place -- do not give it a crease so it will give the illusion of your artwork floating.

Now what I don't have is proper lighting. You are supposed to have some terrific lighting coming in from both sides, but I don't have any special lighting. I just take my pictures in a well-lit room.

Oh, and on a side-note, you can buy actual photoboxes online. But these work well enough and I like that I'm recycling/reusing a cardboard box!