Tips & Tricks: All About Lighting

For me, one of the biggest challenges with blogging is sharing my artwork.   I have two kids, (they both play sports), two part-time jobs, a mountain of laundry and housekeeping chores, and most of my crafting is done at night.  A big problem for the night time crafter is that it's dark when you want to take pictures of your stuff. 

I was asked to do a product review for The Daylight Company for their Daylight at Home tabletop lamp and I have to say that this lamp has solved a crafting issue for me!

OK, here are my SOOC (straight out of camera) shots of the same card -- one is taken at sunset/late afternoon, in direct sun.  This is THE recommended lighting for photography.  The other picture is late at night, with just the daylight lamp.  I'm not using any flash on my camera. 

I love how both pictures turned out.  You can tell, there is a definite difference.  The colors from the lamp picture are more intense.  The colors from the outdoor picture are muted.  My camera was set on "auto" for both, but the camera still interprets the surroundings, so that probably explains the difference.  If I knew my camera better, I would have set it on "manual" to get a more true comparison. To my eye, the actual card is somewhere in the middle of these two pictures.

Here's a picture of my crafting set up, taken at night, so you can really get the feel for my crazy crafting conditions. 

See the reach on the lamp?  Love that.  It also has a magnifying lens on it for detailed work. 

Here's just the lamp:

OK, so here's my review:

I love the lamp.  LOVE it.  The lamp I had before gave out sort of an "orangy glow" that I was constantly correcting with my camera white balance and Photoshop.  This lamp doesn't do that.  

I'm not sure that I'll use the magnifying glass feature.  It does snap out, if I decide that it gets in the way.  On the other hand, I'm already 41... eyes aren't getting any younger!

I'll try to come back and do a "part two" that discusses camera settings and Photoshop tricks just case you're stuck with an "orangy glow" lamp too!

Comments

[Rebekka]

Great pictures, thanks for this information.

[Kim Dellow]

Fabulous comparison. I find lighting such a problem for my photography, the daylight lamp makes such a difference. TFS. Kim

[Ellie Augustin]

Ha that is so my set up... LOL...and yes I love my daylight lamp too ..but at times I still get ugly pics I just need more practice I Think? :)

[Amy, Ottawa, Canada]

The colours just pop with the daylight lamp ... love that.

[sunghee]

I always love seeing how others take photos of their creation as I'm trying to improve my photographing skill. I can't wait for your photoshop tip/trick. Thank you!
I glad (heh?) that you have a mountain of laundry. It was bit cold here yesterday but I put a short on my son cuz I did not have any clean pants for him. And I don't even work!

[Donna]

Great tips, and I've tried all those things EXCEPT using my OTT light! duh! Thanks for explaining to help budding photographers such as myself. I recently tried moving a card around in different parts of the house at the same time of day, using "auto" and it made a huge difference! TFS your info!