Laura Vegas

a few nights ago, on facebook, a fellow scrapper suggested that i do a tutorial-of-sorts on  photographing layouts. i thought it was a great idea. i have been asked quite a few times on tips and suggestions for getting great photos of layouts and projects. so, i thought i would show you how i take photos of my layouts. and then link you to a few friends of mine that have shared their ways, as well. since my way isn't necessarily the right way.

 

we had a super foggy and dreary day today. and i will tell you this. i can never get a decent shot of my layouts when it's dark and dreary. i'm always chatting with fellow designers and hearing "i'm waiting for the sun to take pics of my finished projects", "it's raining today, so i can't get pics of my project", "crud. i'm so last minute on this project, and now i don't have any sun left in my day to get a photo of it". lol! natural sunlight is key to a good photo. luckily, the sun came out in full force for about 15 minutes this afternoon. just long enough for me to grab a layout, and take a few shots for this post.

i always take photos of my projects in my scraproom. not because it's my scraproom. but because it's the one room in the house with good natural light. i have this large window at the front of the house, and i always have my layouts just to the side of this window, so that the lighting falls nicely on the layout. i crack open the blinds to let in as much sun as i can, without casting any shadows. 

 

i also have this smaller window, on the side wall of the room. i also open these blinds, to let in even more light.

 

when i'm ready to photograph a layout, i clear off the one end of my desk, since i'm taking the photo from the opposite side of the desk that i sit at. i grab this large jar of buttons. no particular reason. it just happens to sit right on the little drawer unit by that small window, so it's convienent. i also grab this piece of thick chipboard, that's just a tad bit smaller than 12×12 in size. btw: this is a much older layout of mine, that's been shared before. i had it out to mail to the mommy of this adorable cookie lover, and figured i would  use it for this post :)

 

i use the thick chipboard piece to back my layout, so that it stands up straight. and i prop the chipboard and layout up against the jar of buttons. i get it as straight up and down, as i possibly can. if it's tilted back at all, against the jar, then you'll get a warped look to your layout. you want it as straight as possible.

i bring my chair around to the other side of the desk, and as close to the window as i can get. i angle the layout, so that the sunlight from the front window is hitting the layout, but not causing any glares or anything. and i try not to place my layout in front of the smaller window. if that window is behind my layout, it messes with the lighting.

 

then i zoom in with my lens, until i get a shot that looks pretty much like this one here. i use my 28-135mm lens, since it's my everyday lens on my camera. you want to shoot straight on to the layout. not looking down, or tilting the lens down. i usually sink down into my chair, so that i'm at eye level with the layout. do your best to get it straight, so that the layout isn't tilted to the left or right either. although if it is a little crooked, you can adjust that in photoshop.

and don't just take one photo. take about 6-8 photos. if never fails, that only one of them will be totally in focus and straight. lol! better to have choices, then to have to go back and re-shoot the layout. this photo above is straight out of the camera. it's a little on the dark side, compared to what my layout looks like in real life.

 

that's when i go into photoshop and adjust it to look as close to my real layout as possible. i usually just need to do a "screen" layer, to lighten it up. although sometimes, the colors are a little dull as well. so i will adjust my coloring, if needed. i sharpen the layout, and then i'm ready to crop it.

 

this shows a screen shot that i took in photoshop. you see those little marching ant lines around the layout? that's where i'm cropping. personally, i leave a little space around the edges of my layouts. some people prefer to crop all the way to the edge of the layout, with nothing else showing. just personal preference.

 

this shows a screen shot of my final crop. i then resize it for the web. i usually do at least 9×9 (or up to 12×12), at 72 dpi.

 

and here is what you would see here on my blog, or in my galleries.

 

for detail shots, i just lay my layout right down on my cutting mats on the desk. nothing fancy. the difference in the detail shots, is that angles are good, and i tilt the lens like crazy. get down low, get at an angle, and tilt the lens to get a decent amount of that section of the layout as you can. this also helps show the textures, and dimension on your layout.

 

then i zoom in and take the shots. once again, i take several shots so that i have choices. and so that my chances improve for getting a shot that's in focus. this shot here was not cropped at all. just lightened up a little.

that's pretty much it. i stick to this same spot in my scraproom, usually at the same time of day. because i know it works. one think i should add. if i have a two page layout to photograph, i do the same steps. except i move my white embellishment box over from the side of my desk (you can kind of see it, in that first photo of my room). i use two pieces of thick chipboard, and prop them up up against that. the box is wide enough, that it supports both pages together. i photograph them together, side by side. and then i do each of the pages seperately.

and because my way isn't the only way. i thought i would pass on these links, to a few friends of mine that do it a little differently. in case their ideas work better for you.

lynn ghahary did a tutorial on how she photographs her layout. she takes her photos in the bathroom, of all places. you can see her post HERE.

maggie holmes did a great tutorial on how she photographs her layouts, on the studio calico blog a while back. check out THIS blog post of her's, where you will find the link to the tutorial.