Flashback Friday!

It's been awhile since I've participated in ChristopherandTias Flashback Friday posts and I am looking forward to it this week!

Now, I'm thinking that eventually I should find and post a picture that I actually remember...well. BUT in my defense, I do remember *parts* of this picture. I remember that truck in the background that my older brother and I were washing (I promise the truck was the original target...he got in the way). It was huge. Even when I got bigger than I was at three years old, it was still a huge truck. I remember taking a lot of family trips in that truck and camping and trying to drive it. We had it a long long time. I also remember the house that this picture was taken at. We were living in Idaho at the time. I'm pretty sure my momma made the outfits my brother and I are wearing (not sure where my little brother is, but I'm sure he has a matching outfit too).

Polaroid Love

Earlier this week I was looking for a working, vintage polaroid camera to add to my very lonely digital camera so that she would have a friend. I found a few fantastic ones on Etsy, of course but in the search for film for said cameras, I discovered that there was basically NO WAY I can afford this hobby. The film for these cameras is quite expensive (especially to my on-a-college-budget-and-uploading-digital-pics-to-my-laptop-is-free diet) so lets just enjoy some these pola-lovelies for the day.

Autumn Reprise by jiorji

Polaroid Print by futurowoman

on the line by alicebgardens

Polaroid Diptych by samophoto

Wise Wednesday - Taking Better Product Photos

Today's installment of Wise Wednesday is brought to you by the husband and wife team of Nomadcraftsetc and Nomadglass as well as a new shop opening in March, Nomadcraftssupplies. After reading a very useful post they had written in the Etsy Forums, I asked if they would be willing to write a guest blog post about how they take amazing shop photos and they very graciously accepted! In the following article, they describe in intimate detail how they set up for the best product shots. Be sure to check out their shops, their website and their blog!

My husband and I have had our online Etsy shop for one year(January 7th is our etsyversery) and have always struggled with pictures. Look at our first few sales and look at our pictures now and you will see we have come a LONG way. (by the way I say we, it is my hubby and I that acted like contortionists so I will talk in the 3rd person)

We have played with every sort of lighting source, been outside, inside, daylight, moonlight and spotlight...EVERYTHING you can think of for taking a great picture we have tried. We finally decided to stop over thinking the whole picture thing and decided to make it simple. VERY simple.

We have a LARGE window in our kitchen(small kitchen) and our dinner table is right next to it. PERFECT. Our camera is on its last leg. It is a hp photosmart r837 with 7.2mega pixels. We have it mounted on a $12.00 tri pod which we use to carry the camera. It cost, maybe, $80.00 about 2 years ago. This just proves you don't need a fancy camera. We put the camera on close up mode, with the flash off and set the exposure compensation to +.5. This effects the white balance and how steady the picture is.

For setup, all we do is prop up a piece of black or white poster board that we have folded in half (cost = $0.50) on the table with a coffee canister behind them so that they don't fall flat.

We use the (natural) light from the window as our lighting source. The best time of day is usually noon, but we can get great pictures in the morning and in the afternoon too. Depends on how well our camera is behaving! One of us will sit in a the chair on the side opposite where the light is coming through the window and get down to eye level with our product, this is the best position to get all angles.

Then we take 5(no more and no less) pictures of each item. We don't spend more than 2 hours per week actually taking pictures-we go with the philosophy that time is money.

5 pictures gives us room to fill all picture spots on Etsy if they are all good pictures. These 5 pictures include: 1 focal shot, 2 angle shots, one shot of the back side of the piece and one size reference shot(like the items you see in a hand).

If one out of those 5 pictures isn't perfect we delete it and will replace it with one of us working in our shop.

Oh, and the only thing we have to do to our pictures is crop them-rarely do we have to lighten, darken or manipulate the picture in that way. We use Photobucket as our photoshop program. FREE and easy to use-plus online storage for all of our pictures so we don't ever lose anything.

We do about 250 pictures per week for 2 shops so this method is what has worked for us as far as getting good pictures and time conservancy. So, our 5 best tips for getting a good picture(or what has worked for us anyways): 1. Have consistent backgrounds-depending on your items a neutral/plain colored background is great! 2. Natural light, whether from the window side or outside, works well. An overcast day seems to work the best. 3. TURN the FLASH OFF!!!! 4. Get pictures from all angles, this will let the viewer "Feel" the item with their eyes. 5. Once you find something that works-run with it! Don't change a thing!

Thank you so much for this post, I will be trying out your techniques as soon as my studio is unpacked!

Deep Waters and Starlit Skies Shrug Pattern

This pattern has finally been listed! I first showed you the yarn back in this post and now the garment is complete and the pattern has been finished :)

Tuesday Learn to Knit Day 4 - Purling

Alright, so how did your first projects come along? I would really appreciate some feedback on these lessons so that I know what I can improve in the future :) Also, suggestions for future projects and questions are always welcome!

This week we are going to continue with dishcloths (because I'm teaching you the "other" basic stitch and I don't want you to get bored with a big long scarf or project and also because I'm sure you still have a little bit more of the cotton left). We are going to make a checkerboard patterned cloth this time :)

First, CO (cast on) 24 stitches like I showed you in this post.

Knit the first 4 sts, given the directions in this post.

Now for the purling: With the 4 K (knit) sts in your right hand and the remaining 20 sts in your left, take the yarn from the back of the work between the two needles so that it is now in the front.

Insert the right hand needle from the back to the front of the middle of the stitch (basically, do a knit st backwards). Wrap the yarn around the needle from right, around the back, to the left and back to the front as shown.

While keeping this new loop on the right hand needle, pull the rhn (right hand needle) back through the stitch in the direction you put it in and slide the st off the lhn (left hand needle).

Purl 3 more sts so that you now have eight sts on the rhn.

Continue in this pattern (K4, P4) to the end of the row.

Repeat 4 more rows (5 total) in this pattern.

For the next 5 rows, P4, K4 all across the needle.

Every 5 rows, switch back and forth so that you form a checkered pattern. Continue in pattern as set until desired length and bind off and shown in this post.

Gardening

by sweetharvey

Sweet Little Vintage Shop

Well, I guess "little" isn't exactly the right word, with over 100 items, RollingHillsVintage keeps my attention with a plethora of some of the most adorable household items.

I am in love with vintage Pyrex bowls and these showcase the size and durability in my favorite color!

I would love to grow a leafy vine out of this small planter.

And who wouldn't enjoy a cup of tea poured from this teapot? So simple and sweet :)