my creative space: product photography

I feel extremely lucky to have been asked by Etsy Australia to partake in their Professional Photography Workshop with the very talented Heidi Adnum on the weekend at The School.

Along with some other lovely creatives, we were guinea pigs to see if professional photography would help increase traffic and sales to our Etsy shops. I have been desperately wanting to improve my product photos for ages and I was so excited when this wonderful opportunity came up!

We had an amazing day, first Heidi went though some camera and lighting basics and then we got stuck into setting up our photography shots with lots of help from Heidi!

:: making things look pretty is a messy business!

It was such a fun, interesting and inspiring day but REALLY hard work too! I learnt so much... loved it! So here is the before photos of my Etsy shop:

:: do a bit etsy - before

This is what my Etsy shop looks like now...

:: do a bit etsy - after

 

And I also used a chalkboard background too, which I love too!

It's amazing what a bit of professional photography can do! I am SO happy with how my shop looks now!!! And the new photos have definitely helped with the increase in traffic to my shop! It makes me realise how important it is to have good professional photos!

It was such a wonderful opportunity and experience! I really hope Etsy Australia decide to do some more professional photography workshops, I would definitely go again!

Hope you have had a wonderful creative week... check out what other creative people have been up to at my creative space!

sunshine and cat pouches

It's been a very busy few weeks and I have been trying to get some new items in my etsy shop... not easy when you have a 3 and half year old to entertain and a list of 1,000 other things to do before Christmas... Yikes!

For the last week I have been waiting for the sun to be out at the right time of day to photograph the pouches which is 11am in a corner of my little mans room! Quite tricky when there is always somewhere to be at 11am everyday (playgroups, playgrounds etc.) But I got my chance yesterday... Woo Hoo! I did have to sit and wait for the sun to come out from behind the clouds quite a lot... slightly frustrating!

:: waiting.... waiting... waiting...

How do you do you photo's? Do you have a special place in the house? And has anyone got any good advice on 50mm f/1.8 lens for a Canon camera? I am thinking of buying one! There seems to be a lot of varying prices out there!

So I have some new cat pouches (sit up and flat) in my etsy shop at last... hooray! Thank you Mr sunshine :)

:: fuchsia cats grey pouch linen and cotton

:: midnight cats copper pouch 100% linen

I love having new things in my little etsy shop!

Right onto the next thing on my ginormous "to do" list.... Have a great day! :)

some inspiration

I just love Colossal it's such an wonderful and inspiring website of all things creative! Today there is some amazing photography work by Michael Shindler - Tintype Portraits! Love it!

I love this video of his process... how cool!

They are just so beautiful, don't you think? I REALLY want to go to his photobooth shop in San Francisco now!

Hope you are having a lovely weekend :)

photography: assignment #1 "bad photos"

I am joining in on a little photography course (online) from Stanford University which the lovely Halina from moments of a libra found! It's a great course so far! I have completed assignment #1 "bad photos" which just means get creative with exposure, movement, blurring, white balance and composition... so not "bad" really!

I took over 400 photos... yikes!!! A LOT of trial and error, but I had lots of fun experimenting and discovering what I can and can't/shouldn't do with my camera... I learnt a lot! I do love to experiment! I had such a hard time choosing only five photos.. I was really please with what I've done! :)

So here are my five photos for assignment #1 "bad photos":

:: 1 - poorly exposed - sunlight shining through blinds behind a red curtain

:: 2 - motion blurred subject - sunlight shining through blinds behind a red curtain

:: 3 - nothing in focus - trees and sky through mesh screen window

:: 4 - wrong white balance (shade) - bedroom ceiling light

:: 5 - poorly composed- travelling on a train

There are more photos from the group on flickr here! If you are interested in joining in, it's not too late as we are doing it at our own pace! There is more info over at Halina's blog here!

Hope you are having a great week... :)

photo challenge: face

Today, I'm playing along with The Paper Mama's this weeks photo challenge "face"!

The challenge: The challenge will be based around your children. Take or find a photo of your baby (or kid... or puppy... or kitty). Focus on the face!

Here is my little man enjoying his lunch in the bush :)

Ooooooooooo lunch!!!

Day 22 of blogtoberfest 2011 - blog everyday for October

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there :)

This week I'm joining in with The Paper Mama's photography challenge "Heart"!

We went to Toronga Zoo last weekend and had such a great time.. M just loves seeing all the animals but best of all he loves hanging out with his daddy! They were just so cute together! So in honor of fathers day, here is my little photo of them at the zoo, fascinated with the seals :)

I "heart" them xxx

Hope you are all having a fantastic Sunday :)

watercolour and photography

I am so happy to be back doing some watercolour painting! I don't know what it is about it that I just love so much! I really love playing and mixing the colours and the fact that it takes lots of "bits of" time to build up an image/painting, that suits me fine! I never knew I had so much patience, in the past I would want everything done/completed now! But alas these days it is just not possible with a very active toddler jumping around... so it's good that it does take lots of little "bits of" time!

My landscape watercolour from this post, is coming along really well... I still have loads more layers to do!! :)

:: landscape - some tree backgrounds

:: landscape -  some more tree details

I have decided to join in with The Paper Mama's photography challenge "Favorite photo from August"... seeings I have a new camera! It should be fun even though I still don't know how to use my camera very well :)  So this is my favourite photo from August: My little man helping me make orange icing for a birthday cake... his crazy hair and the look in his eyes is just SO sweet, I cried when I saw this photo! :)

note: apologies for the lighting in the watercolour photos... I'm still trying to work out the best way to photograph them and other drawings... lighting can be a bit rubbish at my place... it's driving me a bit crazy... anybody got any ideas they can share?

Hope you are all having a great week so far :)

birthday happiness

It was my birthday yesterday (Monday)... Woo Hoo and I am one lucky lady (I can't say lucky girl anymore...I'm a little bit old now)! I had such a wonderful day, lots of lovely birthday wishes, flowers, cards and best of all... I hang out with my little man! We went to play group in the park, we made a lemon and mandarin cake - he loved licking the lemon and eating the icing, he helped decorated it with strawberries and candles! He said happy birthday to me all day which was just beautiful! I don't think he really understands what it all means yet but knows it's a nice thing to say! I feel very lucky :)

:: yummy lemon and birthday cake
- taken with my new camera :)

I received such a fantastic birthday present this year... a Canon 550D camera! I was so excited!! It has been hiding under the bed for the last month! I've known it's been there and it's been totally killing me!!! Paxton's Photographic had a sale on about a month ago, Chris was working and we didn't want to miss out so I dashed into the city, bought it and then stashed under the bed for my birthday - sounds slightly crazy hey! Talk about torture though! Chris said why don't you just use it now! I said no way... I want to wait for my birthday... it just makes it more special! Man... I don't know how I did it! I now have it in my hot little hands and I am LOVING my new camera, but I have to learn how to use it now :)

:: me and my new baby - a new obsession!

I also received some birthday money from my gorgeous grandma and cousin (love them)! I have been dying to buy some lino cutting equipment and make some stamps, for ages - like I need to add something new to my "to do" list but I just can't help myself! I went to Art on King in Newtown where I have a reward card and they gave me $30 off my purchase!! I was so thrilled... anyone in the shop would have thought I had won the lotto :) I am so happy with my new toys, can't wait to get carving!

:: love my new toys

I feel like a very lucky duck!! But now I need to find some time to learn how to use my camera and make some stamps... hmmm I'm sure I can squish it into my day somewhere :)