Photographing Pages

I am new at this and that is evident in my postings. Can anyone give me any ideas on photographing the layout pages to upload.
Mine look awful, you can't really see the designs.
Any help would be appreciated.Any suggestions?

Hey there and welcome to sb.com!!

Here's what I do to get good, well-lit, straight photos of my layouts (see them in my gallery):
I use the macro setting (it may look like a little flower on your camera settings). I place the layout down in front of a window (my back storm door, usually) where good sunlight is coming in. Direct, glaring sunlight is not good, but you want enough light to where you don't have to use the flash. You can take the pic outside if that works best for you.

I stand in front of the layout, and lean slightly over it. I find I get a straighter, more accurate pic if I use the actual viewfinder and not the LCD screen, but you can play around and see what works best for you.

I line up two edges of the layout (usually the top and left side) with the same corresponding edges of the viewfinder or LCD. (It may help you to place the layout on something with a grid, such as a tile floor or a rug with lines in it, but you don't have to do that.) You can tell if it's not straight that way. Then, just take the picture and use a photo editing software to crop it. If you lined it up and took it straight, it should be a fairly clean crop. You may have to straighten it slightly in Picasa (or other basic photo editing program--I use iPhoto on my MacBook).

I usually take several pics and just use the best one.

Hope that helps and good luck!

LOL!! I was gonna answer this then I saw that Ami did and we do the same thing pretty much!

Thanks Ami! I was trying to take pics of my layouts for the first time today and it has not been pretty. Your instructions are awesome! I'll try again.

Very helpful. Thanks.

Use indirect light. Sunlight is best, but you can use lamplight, or other sources, you will just have to adjust your white balance according to the light source.

Keep the camera as parallel to the layout as possible. This helps keep it from getting a skewed perspective and distorting things.

It can be helpful to attach the layout to a board.. use white black or gray. It will help when you go to frame your shot, and later it makes cropping that much easier. It also makes propping that layout against a wall or in a chair easy. This lets you shoot straight on instead of standing over the layout which can be awkward and unsteady.

Tripods are your freind... a tripod can make things a lot easier, and it makes it possible to shoot your layout in lower light levels because you can use longer exposures without fear of motion blur.

On the macro setting... don't use it. There are a few technical reasons why it can be more of a hindrance to this type of shooting than a help. The biggest being what that setting and focal distance will do to the depth of field, causing parts of your layout image to not be as sharp as they could, or should be.

I know the inclination is to fill the frame with the layout. But it's not necessary. Today's digital cameras have enough resolution that you can crop quite a bit and still have a large image for sharing on the web.

Those are really helpful and pretty awesome!

I created a tutorial last year on this very thing. You can see details http://triplethescraps.blogspot.com/2009/02/tuesdays-tip-photographing-projects.html. Also, I have now added a piece of lace to the fabric in the tutorial. You can look in my gallery to see how it now looks with the lace. I love it. I hope this is helpful to you. Blessings,

I never thought about using the software to crop it to make it look better. Guess I have had a brain fart! LOl

Everyone here has wonderful directions for you.
Mine is simpler. lol
I lay it flat on my scrap table in my scrap room that has 2 can lights in it. I use the flash. I do not use the zoom. I tilt my camera at an angle so there is no glare. When I save it to my computer, I make the box around my layout & crop it. I save it cropped. When I post them, you can see every detail. check out my gallery. The 12x12 were from my camera. I have to take it a few times sometiimes. Many times, it is fine the first time. Good luck!