Take better pictures of your needlework projects or artwork

Do you wish you could take better pictures of your needlework? Or want to learn how to photograph paintings and other artwork with your digital camera?

Perhaps you want to sell finished items on ebay or etsy? Or maybe you need to send photographs of your work to magazines for publication. You might want to share pictures of your hobby with other stitchers online or just capture a record shot for your journal.

Do your photos end up as blurry shots, with distracting highlights, wonky frames and no detail? Read on to discover ways to improve your results and take better pictures.

Of course the beauty of digital photography is that you can see your pictures as soon as you have taken them. If you didn't get the results you were looking for you can try again straight away. But often we can see that a photograph needs improving, but are not sure how to do it. So let's start by looking at a sample shot and see where the photographer went wrong.

It is obvious that a lot of hard work went into this prize winning piece and the stitcher was justly proud of the silver cup and rosette she was given.

However we can't really see the work clearly and instead have lots of unnecessary background in the shot. This is because the framed stitching is vertical but the photographer chose to shoot in landscape format.

If she had moved the cup a little closer to the camera she could have turned the camera on its side and eliminated some of that messy background.

And talking of the background, the horizontal line where the blanket finishes and the wallpaper beyond is visible, distracts from the main subject.

The photograph was taken using the in built flash and this has resulted in more distracting elements. Because the framed stitching has been propped up at an angle the flash was not powerful enough to light it evenly from front to back, leaving the top and the ribbon too dark.

Now the purpose of this page is to show you how to take better pictures, rather than to pick fault, so let's see how we could have improved this shot by using the tips below.

Take better pictures - Lighting

If a framed picture or painting is glazed, using a flash is NOT the best lighting option.

Perhaps the photographer above tried her first shot without, and found the result to have a yellow cast? As it was taken indoors, the cast would have come from the normal incandescent light bulb. Without getting too technical, light is measured by the Kelvin scale, and anything lower than 5000K (daylight) will give a warm, yellow to reddish tint to your pictures. Household lightbulbs have a Kelvin colour temperature of 3800K.

Your digital camera does have a feature that can cope with this. It is called the White Balance setting. Left on automatic you will get yellow/orangy pictures under normal light bulbs and a greenish tinge if you photograph under fluorescent tubes. Check to see if you can manually set the white balance on your camera to avoid this problem. By holding a piece of white paper in front of the lens and pressing the white balance button you can trick the camera into deciding that the paper is white whatever light source is shining onto it. Take your picture at this setting and it will eliminate the colour tint.

If there is not enough light indoors to photograph without the flash, why not utilise the daylight lamp that you use to sew by? If the light from it is too strong you can diffuse it by placing a milky white plastic in front of the lamp. I find empty milk bottle cartons are useful for this or you may have a plastic box around that will do the same job.

If you stand the lamp to one side of your needlework project it will help to show the texture of the piece by causing slight shadowing to one side of the stitches. This is a good digital photography technique to use if you want to take better pictures of raised needlework such as stumpwork, Brazilian embroidery or silk ribbon embroidery.

Take better pictures - Getting closer

If you want to take better pictures of smaller needlework projects then a macro feature on your camera will be helpful. This is shown on most digital cameras by a little flower symbol; either a button or on the mode dial. Using this setting will allow you to focus closer and therefore fill the frame with the stitching.

The macro feature on some cameras will allow you to get as close as 1cm whereas others will only focus from at least 12 inches away. Check your handbook for information on your own camera. If you can't get close enough, set your camera to its highest quality setting and shoot from as close as you can get. Then when you download your pictures you will be able to crop in closer and not loose too much quality.

Take better pictures - Getting it in focus

As you move the camera closer to the subject you may run into the problem of reduced depth of field.

This term refers to how much of the shot is in focus, from back to front. When you are taking a landscape photograph you probably want the grass in the foreground and the mountains in the background to all be in focus. Not a problem. But when you focus closer this distance can be as little as a few centimetres.

We can increase this distance by picking a small aperture on the camera. It can be confusing to anyone learning photography, but the larger the number, the smaller the aperture. So by using f16 rather than f4 you will maximise the amount of subject that can be in focus. Click the following link to read more about how shutter speed and aperture work together to give correctly exposed photographs.

The problem with picking a small aperture is that a correspondingly slower shutter speed is necessary. This can increase the chance of camera shake and therefore blurred pictures. As the needlework is unlikely to move we need to try to keep the camera still by attaching it to a tripod or standing it on a flat surface.

Take better pictures - Squaring up

Did you notice in the picture at the top of the page that the frame wasn't square to the edges of the photograph? If either the subject or camera is tilted you can get this effect, which can spoil an otherwise good shot. There is a way to straighten it up in photo editing software later, but it is better if we can get it right when we take the photograph.

Keeping the camera square on to the subject is easy, if we attach it to a tripod or support it on a flat surface. Some tripods have a built in spirit level so you can check it is in the correct position. Check out the page on choosing and using digital camera tripods for more information.

Either standing the framed needlework against a wall (again check the wall is straight with a spirit level) or laying it on the floor will ensure that your photos end up with no distortion. But remember to keep the picture flat against the wall, don't tilt it. Having some bluetac in your camera bag can prove useful here to keep it straight.

The steps to taking better pictures of needlework

Going back to our photo of the dragon that won the silver cup, we can now attempt to improve on that first shot. By using the tips below you will be able to take better pictures in no time!

Find a blank, painted wall and blue tac the picture to it. Make sure it is straight! Stand the silver cup in front being careful not to cover up any of the stitching
Turn off the flash on the camera
Position your daylight lamp off to one side
Manually set your white balance using a piece of white paper
Set your camera level on a tripod
Choose aperture priority and set it at f11 or f16
Press the shutter gently to avoid shaking the camera
Check the result, make any corrections and reshoot if necessary

You can use the same techniques for photographs of paintings or printed matter. I hope these tips have helped and remember to use the contact me page if you have any further questions.

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