How to Take Detailed Photos of your Knitting

From WikiKnitting.com

1 Introduction
2 Supplies
3 Light Box
- 3.1 Materials
- 3.2 Construction
4 Lighting the Scene
5 Tripod
6 Using your camera
7 Adjustments for swatches
8 Results
9 External Links

[edit] Introduction

Now that you've finished your intricate lace scarf, you want to take pictures to show off the beautiful stitch detail to the world. If you try to take a close up shot without making a few adjustments, then you could end up with a blurry photograph that doesn't capture the true beauty of the scarf.

Taking good close up photographs of your knitted work requires us to jump into the realm of macro photography. Which is taking very close up photographs. You do not need a professional camera or a studio to take great macro pictures. Just a few simple items, you may have on hand or can get inexpensively.

[edit] Supplies

Digital Camera with a macro mode (check your manual or the online spec sheet)
Light box (see instructions below)
Tripod
Light source

[edit] Light Box

A light box will allow you to diffuse the light and give you better results. Professional photographers use much fancier umbrellas and screens, but this homemade lightbox will work for our purposes.

[edit] Materials

Find a cardboard box that is at least 12"x12" (no need to buy one, you can get a used one for free at a grocery store)
Tracing paper or parchment paper (Tissue paper or a thin white napkin would also work, but they tear too easily for my taste)
Scotch Tape
Box cutter or sharp scissors
White poster board

[edit] Construction

Cut large squares out of 3 sides of the box, leaving at least 1-2" around the edge
Tape a piece of tracing paper over each open side of the box.
Cut and tape a piece of white poster board to the inside of the box to serve as the background for you photos

Materials	Cardboard Box with Sides Removed
Interior of the Finished Box	Exterior of the Finished Box

[edit] Lighting the Scene

Lighting the box can be accomplished in different ways depending on what lights you have on hand. There's no need to buy a special flash or equipment. If you really get into this you might want to, but I'm assuming you just want an inexpensive way to take good closeup shots.

Use a strobe flash attached to the hot shoe on your camera
- This assumes that your camera has a hot shoe and not a built-in flash. If you don't have a strobe flash then use one of the other methods.
Using a table lamp placed very close to the box
Using a clip on desk lamp pointed at a paper covered box side

The goal is to have all of the light in the box diffused by the tracing paper. Unless you are using a strobe flash I recommend turning your built-in auto flash off. If you are using a strobe flash, make sure to place it outside the box.

With Flash Off

With Flash On

Lighting is one thing that can really change the look and feel of the photo. I recommend playing with light placement and even the type of light bulb you are using until you get something you like.

[edit] Tripod

A tripod is a requirement for this type of photography. Humans just can't hold the camera still enough to get a good photograph. If you don't have a tripod, you should get one. If it's not in your budget, then you can use a stack of books or a table top instead. However, you will lose a lot of control when you try to shoot the photos.

[edit] Using your camera

[edit] Macro Mode

The macro mode on your camera will allow you to get very close to objects and then photograph them without having the photo come out blurry. If you don't use the macro mode, then you won't be able to see the stitch definition.

With macro mode on

With macro mode off

Your cameras manual will have instructions on how to enable the macro mode. Lost the manual? Most camera manufacturers now have their manuals available online. Just go to their website and search for the manual by the camera model number.

[edit] Manual Mode

The manual mode will allow you to customize lots of aspects of the photo. There is only one setting that I've found really matters for this, the light source.

In manual mode you can tell the camera about the light source you are using. Is it a sunny day, cloudy day or are you indoors? Since we are using artificial light indoors, we wan to change the setting to Tungsten. Changing this setting to tungsten (a light bulb symbol on my camera) made a huge difference in the color of the items I was photographing. Before changing this setting, they all looked washed out versions of the actual yarn color. Once I changed the setting, the color was almost a perfect match to the actual yarn color.

Light Source Set to Tungsten

Light Source Set to Auto

[edit] Timer

Use the timer feature on your camera. Even with a tripod, I have found that the camera moves too much when I press the trigger to take a picture. Using the timer allows the camera to stop moving before taking the photograph. On many cameras the timer delay can be changed so you don't need to wait 10 seconds before the photo is snapped. Just remember to change it back so you're not caught mid stride running back to the family photo at the holidays.

[edit] Adjustments for swatches

Swatch pinned to a felt covered foam block

For swatches I have found it necessary to pin them to something and photograph them vertically.

Use a rectangular piece of foam purchased at the local craft store.
Place a piece of black or gray felt over the foam to give a good background for the color of the swatch.
Use quilting pins to hold the swatch in place. Usually they can be effectively hidden.