my little eye

Several people have asked me about my camera and how I take the photos for the blog. Well, it's not rocket science, I promise.

When I decided to write yarnstorm I didn't have a digital camera, so Simon donated his old one which had been languishing in a drawer since he'd taken up with a newer model. It's a Nikon Coolpix 885 and I think it's obsolete now (we were trying to date the camera last night and reckon it's four to five years old). If you look carefully at the photo, you can see that the battery compartment is held together by Sellotape and has been since I went to New York in March.

I dread the day it falls apart, for this has been an amazing little camera. I'd never used a digital camera before the blog, and it wasn't difficult to master. I am not lying when I say I point, focus and shoot. I don't have any special lenses and only discovered the macro setting earlier this year.

What I love is that it records the colours I see. I have learned that the light conditions are all-important. I use a very deep and wide, south-facing bedroom window-sill which is painted off-white as my 'studio', but take photos only when there is no direct sunlight or when it's overcast or cloudy. Bright sunlight washes out colour and makes it difficult to use the screen. As I also dislike the effect of using a flash, I don't take photos at night-time or when it's dark.

As you know, I love still-lifes and little groups of objects. This was taken indoors in an airy, pale blue kitchen which is suffused with classic English seaside light. This tones down the bright colours and gives an pearlescent effect.

I don't fiddle with the photographs once they are taken. I don't Photoshop them in any way (I don't know how to) and the only adjustment I make is to crop the ones I like. So this is the original picture,

and I cropped it to balance the composition and to eliminate details around the edges. I never crop drastically as I think this spoils the quality - if I wanted detail, I would take a close-up.

Photographing outdoors is great in this country - one of the few advantages to grey skies. The biggest obstacle is unwanted matter in the background (I realise that this is my way of seeing things, not everyone's). So I concentrate on filling the screen/viewfinder with the objects I want to see and often take several photos of the same scene as the smallest change in my hand/body position can make all the difference.

So, although these photos look similar, I much prefer the second one because it cuts out the more raggedy planting in the second plant pot and draws the eye to the wonderful orange zinnia/purple bench combination.

I'm fussy about composition, too. This was an existing grouping I found and although there was more I could have photographed, I was choosy about what to frame in the photo.

I don't often get 'scenes' right as there is too much extraneous detail which distracts. But every so often I like a middle-distance photo, and here a touch of sunlight within the picture works well.

This is about as dark and moody as I can get without recourse to clever photographic techniques (I know they exist because when I was at university I spent a great deal of time in a dark room with a photography-mad boyfriend...but didn't learn a lot about photography). This was just a matter of luck in capturing the mellow afternoon light.

I take photos almost every day now and clearly practice does make a difference. But the basics remain the same - careful selection of subject, good light, lots of photos from which to make a selection, and no fiddling with the images apart from cropping (it's a reality issue for me).

And a good camera. When the Sellotape no longer holds it together, I'll definitely be looking for a new Nikon Coolpix.

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All the photos in this post were taken in July at my friend Marilyn's house on the beach near Whitstable.

Comments

[michelle]

Do you know anything about the blanket on the back of the chair? Is it double crochet, or afghan stitch? I might need to make a version of it. Of course I wouldn't have all those lovely colors, but I'm sure I can come up with some crazy mix.

[Tammy S.]

How interesting. :D I just wrote a post last week on this very subject. I even linked to you, as a source of my inspiration. You have a great eye for photography!

[Fiona]

Thanks for the great photography tutorial. I'm new to blogging and digital photography and feel I definitely need to improve my photo taking. I'll definitely be following some of your tips. Your pictures are always so beautiful.

[Mary from California]

I have a Nikon SLR now, but my daughter is still using my very old Coolpix and it is still going strong. I like your photos very much, thanks for posting about your techniques.

[Mara]

Thanks so much for sharing your picture taking technique's. Inspiring. Your sense of color and composition are wonderful.

[Tiel S-K]

I think it is the colours in your home and your environment that are amazing. The photos are good, but the colours make the photos.