I run photography workshops for my local camera club; last Saturday we tried photographing local crafts:
We had advertised for local craft workers to bring some of their crafts to be photographed. Our intention was not to put professional photographers out of work but to give us practice in photographing different subjects for people who wouldn’t employ a professional – they all take their own photographs using compact cameras. The deal was that they can use the photos that we take for promoting their business and we can use them in our portfolios for promoting our photography. Neither party can sell the images or prints direct.
Although we had a couple of cancellations, we still had plenty to keep us busy – the time flew past. There were 8 of us from the club doing the photography using 4 different set-ups that we brought along. Five different craft workers brought along their crafts.
The first photo that I show is of a ‘rag doll’ as the craftswoman calls it. But here the dolls are more than rags: she uses vintage materials and creates superb works of art as you can see with this Jack Frost. It must stand close to 3 feet high. It photographed very well, as did her other dolls. Some took the photos against white or mottled backgrounds but I preferred the black.
The next craft worker made button jewellery using both new and vintage buttons. I had problems getting decent photographs of these – some turned out a bit blurred (I’ve no idea why), but I do like this one of the two button ‘people’:
For this image, I placed them together holding hands with one ‘looking’ at the other – I think this works well, especially with the flash creating ‘eyes’ on the right hand one.
We also had a craftsman who makes models and wall hanging works from driftwood.
One of the issues I had, and was experimenting with, was that of backgrounds. I wanted to try something different to plain black or white backgrounds. For this I was using a hop sack-like curtain material. In this image it was OK because I managed to get the background fading into a blur, but this didn’t work as well in the others that I took.
We also had a lady making items out of felt and similar materials:
This is a handbag that she made (only finished it that morning). This one worked quite well against the black background, but the other items I struggled with. Hopefully, I have a set of photographs that are better for her than those taken with her compact camera.
To take this photo with the bag standing on a black background, I passed a couple of loops of black cotton around the handle and had a colleague hold it up – this worked quite well. I believe that the black background makes the colour stand out.
The final crafts we photographed were hand-spun wool and knitwear:
Here the craftswoman had supplied various props to help photograph her work including a spinning wheel and other items. Here I show a hand knitted hat and scarf based on her wool. I took several photos of this from different angles and heights – this one worked the best.
You can see the full selection in the gallery.