Mostly just a question.
School is almost finished, this is the last week. I hope that school ending will let me get back to my felting life. I have managed to finish the first part of my planned book resistance workshop, but haven’t had time for much else. I want to get your opinions on the best background to take the pictures for the next part of the workshop. I can’t use my tabletop as it is much to reflective.
I will be using pink wool for the workshop. Please ignore the fold lines, I will wash and iron the cloth before using it for taking pictures. Here are the choices
Grey
Blue stripes
multi coloured stripes
and Poka dots
I am leaning towards the grey. The white resist shows up well, and the pink does too. I kinda like the blue stripes (they look grey on my screen)as it gives me something to line up with.
I will need to add something to the background to let me know I am in the frame properly. I think just some painter’s tape will do it. This is the view from the tripod, right now.
Jan bought me this doohickey to extend my camera further away from the tripod. It works with the ring light, but the ring light is too tall. The screw on the tripod is to short to add the ring light I have. I will have to find out the name of this thing and see if I can find one with a hole at one end and a screw at the other. It adds about 2.5 inches of reach for the phone/camera.
Back to the original question, which background do you like best?
26 thoughts on “Mostly just a question.”
100% the grey cloth for me, the blue stripes would be my second choice but some people might find looking at lots of photos with stripes gives them headaches. Just one thing to think about – what does the grey cloth look like once it gets wet? Would you be better to wet the cloth before you begin so you don’t end up with distracting damp patches?
It will be darker when wet. I hadn’t thought of that. so making it damp before I start is a good idea. Thanks
Agree with Terri!
Thanks
The grey one would be my choice too Ann.
Ok , thanks
Yes – grey for me too
Thanks, grey seems to be the pick so far.
I beg to differ I’m afraid. I think that the resist doesn’t really stand out enough from the grey background when viewing the image from my laptop, though if the grey becomes much darker when wet then perhaps it would work.
I actually plump for the multicoloured stripes because none of your items: resist, pink fibres or doohickey, are attempting to merge into the background. The lines are very clear and show exactly the edges of the articles placed on this background. In fact I don’t think any colour of fibre would manage to merge into this background.
I’ve no idea what the doohickey’s proper name is.
Ann
Thanks, some interesting thoughts. I was thinking the coloured stripes would be distracting, but maybe not.
Hi Ann,
My first question relates to the photos themselves. Are they photos of your process or of the finished work? Are they to accompany videos or will they be the main means of communicating your instructions.
I can only advise on what I did recently. When I made my recording I used a plain blue quick dry towel that got from one of the sports shops – just a cheap thing – but as a background it didn’t distract from what I was teaching. Then, during the editing stage, I stopped the video at appropriate places and screenshotted the frame, saved it and incorporated the photos into the PDF. I felt it was just a good way to link the videos to the PDF and that they might be more likely to trigger memory.
I am not sure if this helps you but again I would go with the least distracting background, which to me would be the grey. Feel free to email me if you would like me to expand this a bit.
Helene
The pictures will be of the process. I am not planning any video. I only have my iPhone12 and no editing software. Not that I would know how to use it. I should take a class but they always seem to be for high end programs like Photoshop.
My equipment is very basic Ann, a tiny camera which normally sits on top of my husband’s screen – I pop this on a normal tripod, (it looks really weird as it is so small) then position at an angle to the table. Just for future reference, the logitech camera is really reasonable in price (around Eur100) Software is a free download. My lighting was a ring light. To edit, I used Capcut, I went for the free version but ended up paying EUR12. for the month to get a more polished finish. I knew that once I had everything edited I could cancel my subscription so it focussed me on a quick turnaround. It was really user friendly and I didn’t attend a class – just played with it a bit, cursed a few times, learnt from my blunders and moved forward.
I know it’s too late in the day now for this particular workshop but if you would like me to go into more detail send me a quick email.
Helene
That program looks interesting. With the AI assist it would probably be fairly easy to learn. I did the making a resist . Now I have to do the layout and felting. I will have to do some experimenting. Maybe I can add video later.
Glad I could be of help Ann. Yes, it’s user friendly. There’s a learning curve but nothing too onerous. Best of luck. Hélène x
Gray all the way, big o would go with a darker neutral gray.
I agree, a darker tone would work better if it were an option.
Thanks. Ok, Grey but darker, I will see what it looks like when its wet.
I prefer the grey, but just to throw a spanner in the works I’ll vote for the polka dots!
Thanks, sure just to be awkward. 🤪
I think plain is always best. Darker grey would give a higher contrast.
thenks, I am going to try wetting it to see if it gets darker.
Grey for me. All the other options make my eyes funny……
Ok thanks, that’s good to know
the extender thingy was listed as ” Double Ball Heads Magic Arm With 15mm Ball 360° 1/4”Screw Extend Mount For Gopro DSLR Camera Monitor Video Light Mic” i think of it as an articulating duble ended ball head extender? i sent you some other options too. i am looking forword to setting up your studio and trying all the new toys out!!!
What a long name. Doohickey is much better. 😜We should have some time to do that this summer.