DIY: Beginner's Photography Backdrop

I don't have any WIP shots for this because...um...I suck.

Honestly, I got WAY way way into it once I started and there was just no time to go get my camera.
Plus, Kyle had to leave for work in a matter of hours and I wanted to make sure I got it done.

This was something that just sort of sparked in my head and I went with.

I used:
2+ yards muslin fabric ($5.89)
Sewology Eyelet Kit ($2.99)
Sewology Eyelet Refills ($3.49)
Tea (FRESH BREWED, over the stove)
Sewing machine + Thread

Things you should use to make your life easier:
Iron

This is literally thrown together. Work with me.

Step 1. Seam all the edges to one nice, flat, level seam. Or, as even as you can get.
Step 2. Pick which side will be your top. Double it over an inch. Sew it into place.
Step 3. Attach your eyelets following their directions in the 1 inch top.
Step 4. Tea dye the fabric (I used the tutorial here).
Instead of tea dyeing, you could just dye it with fabric dye. Throw some tye-dye swirls in there!

Then mount it using hooks onto a bar or even shower curtain thingies. Easy and simple for a beginner to use.

Also, to give you a size ratio, this will work for my kids in portrait all around. Landscape, however, will be a bit difficult. It'll have to be close-ups or them sitting on the floor. Individually, of course. Like I said, this was a "BAM in my head let's run with it" sort of thing, so size wasn't a huge deal for me. If/When I make another one, I'll make it much bigger.

However, I'll need some area to make it work.
Yeah, I heard it in Tim Gunn's voice, too.

I don't have the structure to mount it (yet, that's a WIP) so here's a thrown together set up to give you the idea.
Also, please excuse the lighting.
Double also, my typical sit down for photos child is in school right now. I had to use Gabe. I apologize.

This would be great for a beginner photographer that's wanting to grasp some studio photography practice without shelling out an arm and a leg for backdrops.

Or, you know, the SAHMs like me who try to do everything on a budget, including photographing our kids.

No Neglect Here.

I swear, I'm not. But right now, money is TIIIIGHT. AT&T sideswiped us with this ungodly high bill, it was like 2 or 3 payment cycles rolled into one. We can't afford it. Or much of anything else.

So all our services are shut off. And I'm borrowing WiFi right now.

From the comfort of my own bathroom.

BUT. I have this rant that I want to get out. Just real quick.

If I had a dime for every time one of my Facebook "friends" bought a DSLR, and then on the same day started their new photography business, I'd be the richest bitch in the world.

No lie.

It's none of my business. It's whatever floats your boat, right?

Right?

Fuck. It's one of my biggest pet peeves.

Alright, listen. I'll probably receive a TON of hate for saying all this and, I will openly tell you 100% that:
1. I'm no professional photographer.
2. I'm no one to critique a photographer's work.
3. I have PLENTY about photography I still have to learn.

But what it boils down to is this.
You buy a brand new DSLR. You take some pictures. You throw them up on Photobucket or whatever free editing program online and do a few "enhancements". You slap a "watermark" on there, which is typically beyond pointless and redundant and makes your work look more like that of a 5 year old. You open your photography business that same day, claiming your "PASSION for photography" has always been your life's dream and you have a "NICE camera" to work with."

No.
You're an effing fauxtographer. People are beyond stupid to be paying you money for your shots.

Folks, fauxtographer's are a dime a dozen.
A PHOTOGRAPHER? They're worth the money.

/end rant.
Oh. And I was a photographer at Sears Portrait Studio for some time. I still won't claim that I'm a photographer. I'm an amateur hobbiest, so-to-speak.

How I Edit My Photos

When I upload photos onto Facebook, it's no surprise that the quality drops. But that's okay. I deal with it.
I typically upload them into an album, and then I upload the edits into another album, one I made specifically for edited photos. Pretty often, I get messages from people asking what I do to my photos and what programs I use. It's kind of mind boggling, to be honest. I've seen professional photos and mine aren't there. But I figure I could just post this for the people who are curious.

I'm using a MacBook Pro and Adobe Lightroom.

First, I upload my photo into Lightroom.

All of my photos are shot RAW. Because of this I can change the white balance if I choose.

You cannot do this with JPEG.

I almost always select "Auto Tone". I can always undo it if I don't like it.

From here, I click "Develop". I can choose a preset if I feel like it, but I only use them if I'm wanting to achieve a certain look. There are hundreds of presets you can download for free online, or you can buy them.

Typically, I will boost up the blacks and contrast. I like a lot of contrast in my photos.

I also bring up the clarity. Sometimes the vibrance and brightness, but not always.

Then I always boost up the sharpening and detail. I also throw up the luminance to kind of remove the grain/noise. Not a ton, though. You don't want the photo looking like you smudged it all over the place.

You can end it here, or you can throw a vignette on it. For a vignette, I like using a preset. You don't have to, of course.

Then simply click File > Export.

Type in all the info you want/need.

Then you just click Export and wait for it to finish.

Pretty simple, not near as elaborate as most photographers, I'm sure. But it works for me.

And there you go. Easy peasy.
And now you know exactly what I do and how I do it.
Don't be scared to experiment with your photos. That's how you learn the best, in my opinion.

June Photo Challenge - END.

I made it halfway through June. Woohoo, right?

Well, I'm over it, as bad as that sounds.
Typically, I'm not a quitter. I mean, I have a bunch of WIPs in my craft room, but I eventually see them through. But this? This just got old for me.

I appreciate what the challenge gave me. I learned a lot about how I'm comfortable to handle my camera, what the best ways are for me to shoot different things, but at the end of it all I got really sick of having to take photos of things by a list. I prefer candid shots of my kids over anything else.

I still have a lot to learn about my camera, but I'm going to do that in my own time. For now, I want to get back to blogging food and crafts and stuff. And to do that, I need to not have to worry about taking a certain photo and trying to get it to look right.

So, goodbye June Photo Challenge. It's been fun.

June Photo Challenge - Day 16

Day 16 - Mason Jars/Jelly Jars

These are repurposed jars I made for a reward system for the kids.
Okay, not "made". But...I mod podge'd the letters onto them. And then I painted the lids with chalkboard paint. I'm not sure how well that'll work yet, but I planned on making a post about the whole system. So we'll see. :)

June Photo Challenge - Day 15

Day 15 - Motion

What gives more motion than bubbles that magically float in the air?

I love bubbles. I'll never grow out of that love.

June Photo Challenge - Day 14

June 14 - Someone You Love

Oh, my dear husband.
He deals with so much craft crap.
I love him so much.

June Photo Challenge - Day 13

Day 13 - Reminds You Of Childhood.

Daring duck of mystery, 

Champion of right, 

Swoops out of the shadows, 

Darkwing owns the night. 

Somewhere some villain schemes, 

But his number's up. 

(3-2-1) Darkwing Duck (When there's trouble you call DW)

Darkwing Duck (Let'sget dangerous) 

Darkwing Duck (Darkwing, Darkwing Duck!) 

Cloud of smoke and he appears, 

Master of surprise. 

Who's that cunning mind behind 

That shadowy disguise? 

Nobody knows for sure, 

But bad guys are out of luck. 

'Cause here comes (Darkwing Duck) 

Look out! (When there's trouble you call DW) 

Darkwing Duck (Let's get dangerous) 

Darkwing Duck (Better watch out, you bad boys) 

Darkwing Duck!

June Photo Challenge - Day 12

Day 12 - Sun Flare.



Lookie! There's a bunny caught in my flare!

June Photo Challenge - Day 11

Day 11 - Silhouette

<3 My babies.

June Photo Challenge - Day 10

Day 10 - Animal.

This is Izzy, aka Isabel, aka Izzerkinz.
And I chose her picture for today because..well...I haven't yet posted any photos of the disastrous hair cut I gave her. She's uneven and choppy and just rough looking. It definitely didn't make her any cuter, though she honestly wasn't all that adorable to begin with.
Kyle loves it, though. He's always wanted a straggly looking mutt.

Click "read more" for some more photos of her before and after her hair cut.

June Photo Challenge - Day 9

Day 9 - Fresh Fruit.

Nomnomnom. I love grapes.
I hate cleaning them. And picking them from the stem thing.
But I love 'em.

June Photo Challenge - Day 8

Day 8 - Sunset

The best I can do from my back porch. You make do with what you have. :)

June Photo Challenge - Day 7

Day 7 - High Angle

If you couldn't tell, getting a high angle shot is pretty difficult for us short folk. However, I was able to climb ontop of the loveseat and capture the homo sapien male species in his natural habitat.

Thanks, Kyle.

June Photo Challenge - Day 6

Day 6 - Books.

I don't think that J.K. Rowling had any idea her magical world would turn into such global phenomenon.

I personally didn't get to see the moves until I was 17. I didn't read the books until I was 19 (I think). I grew up in the religious family on the block, the one that didn't celebrate Halloween, the one that judged EVERYONE and decided their faults and mistakes were their one way tickets to Hell, yeah. I grew up in that family. Don't worry, I'm not like them.

The Harry Potter series entrapped me into a whimsical world of magical creatures, unshakable friendships, and love that I never knew was possible for any family to have. They are, bar none, my favorite series to read.

Thank you, J.K. Rowling.

June Photo Challenge - Day 5

Day 5 - Breakfast Today

The mug says hot chocolate. My heart says coffee. Yes, this is a very typical breakfast for me.
The best part of my waking up really is Foldgers in my cup.

June Photo Challenge - Day 4

Day 4 - Clouds

Kinda hard to do when there's no clouds in the sky, but I did my best.

June Photo Challenge - Day 3

Day 3 - Hands

Special thanks to Gabe for that wicked Hi-5. :) I love my boy.

June Photo Challenge - Day 2

Day 2 - Your Favorite Shoes

I'm...barely ever out of flip-flops. Even in the winter. I get a lot of crap for it.

I deserve it, actually.

Kyle and I went to St. Louis in March for an Evanescence concert (which rocked, by the way. Amy Lee was SO much better than the last time I saw her) and I wore my flip-flops all day while we walked around St. Louis. We went to the zoo, the Arch, and just had a day of it. Me, being the idiot that I am, removed the calluses off my feet the night before, which were on my feet to begin with from the rubbing against the plastic on the flip-flops all the time. Needless to say, I came home with 10+ huge blisters on my feet.

But I still wear them all the time.

June Photo Challenge - Day 1

When Abby from Projects For Your Nest posted the June Photo-A-Day challenge on her blog, I didn't know about it. I stumbled on it on Pinterest.

But you should SO check out her blog. No lie.

I figured it was about time I do one of these.

Day 1 - Self Portrait.

Ohai. :)