Touching the Past: RESOLVED: Improve my photography

At the top of my list of resolutions for 2014 is a goal to improve my photography. Every time I look at my pictures on Zibbet, I cringe. I so admire sellers who are able to take clear and cohesive photos for their shops. I've tried and tried to improve my pictures but it's hard to do that when I don't even understand my camera. So part of improving my photos was also a resolve to learn more about my camera and how it operates.

If you're like me, you don't head to the manual - you go to Google. Google is one big manual, right? At any rate, I think I looked through at least 50 different sites. Unfortunately, I found that most writers assume the reader has some knowledge of photography and her camera. So, what they said made no sense to me.

But then I found this series "31 Days to a Better Photo" written by a professional photographer. As I started reading, I knew I had found a winner - even though the second entry urges you to find and read your camera manual. :)

The series is worth reading in its entirety, although some of it was over my head. What I came away with was an understanding about shutter speed, ISO and aperture - how they work together and how you use them to take pictures WITHOUT FLASH (she says you should never use flash, even for inside photos). She also talks about white balance and something called a histogram.

Of course, I needed to apply what she had said about those concepts to my camera, so that's when I got out my manual. I learned how to control the aperture on my camera and how to control the ISO. I also know how to change the shutter speed and white balance. I've learned that I need to keep the ISO relatively low in order to keep the noise in my pictures to a minimum. And I wanted to use the histogram as a way to keep my pictures from being over or underexposed. I learned that my camera does not have a histogram to use when the picture is being taken but does have an exposure indicator which I can bump up or down depending on the amount of exposure I want. Something else I learned is that photo editing software will also have a histogram. I have a Mac so I use iPhoto to edit. I never really paid attention to the graph I was seeing but I'm now controlling all my edits using the histogram.

Because I shoot all my photos indoors, I also purchased two of those big aluminum reflector lights at the hardware store. I saw this recommended on another site. They were relatively cheap and I use daylight bulbs in them. They have clamps so I can put two chairs next to my photo area and clamp the lights to the chairs. If I want to keep the lights from reflecting in whatever it is I'm photographing, I put a piece of tissue paper over the front of the light. The other thing I've tried is to use tinfoil as a reflector to get more light where I need it. I just wrap a piece of cardboard with the tinfoil and place it where I need more light and less shadow.

I am also trying to take most of my photos in front of a window. This really helps I find when I photographing glass.

I have a long way to go. For instance, I still have my camera set on auto for white balance. I know I'll never be a professional. But I believe the photos I've taken since I learned more about my camera are a great improvement and make my shop look more cohesive. Take a look at these befores and afters: