Welcome! If you’re here, that probably means you spend hours of your life crocheting projects for your loved ones, or maybe to sell. Instagram is a great way to show off your skills to your followers and maybe get clients, it’s best to make a good first impression and that means taking great photos.
Here’s what I primarily use for photographing:
- Smartphone
- Google Photos (Free when you sign up for a Gmail account)
Really, that’s all I use for the majority of my photos. I’ve practiced a lot and really improved, so I want to share what I’ve learned from my experience.
Photograph in Natural Light.
Natural light is the cornerstone to taking beautiful photographs of your finished crochet project. Are you ever outside and are just awed by how beautiful nature is? When was the last time you felt that way looking at something in a dentist’s office? No offense to dentists.
Yeah, exactly. Natural light is a photographer’s best friend. It makes everything look better, including your crochet work, so find a space that gets some natural light. If a room in your house/apartment doesn’t get natural light, can you find a nice place outside? At a friend’s house?
Natural Light: Advanced.
Winter and Summer get drastically different amounts and kinds of light. I take note of what time of day my living room gets the most/best light and I’ll plan my photography session around then. Winter sessions have a shorter window than summer. Like, don’t be trying to photograph at 4 PM in January, it’s not going to work out too well! It’ll take some trial and error, but you can figure it out.
Get the right light for your yarn.
Different color yarns will need different kinds of lighting. When photographing a crochet project, you’ll want to show off the beauty of your work as well as the detail in your stitches. It’s important to get the right amount of light so you can see what’s happening but not too much to overexpose your work. A darker color yarn will need to be lit brighter than a lighter color yarn in order to see the details of the stitches. However, too much light can cause blow out in a photo, meaning there is no detail to be seen. It’s a balance, I’d recommend taking several photos and see which ones turn out best.
Whatever space you have, just make it look nice.
If you’re like me, you’re crocheting in your living room and that space has to serve many purposes, including photography studio. There’s nothing wrong with only having one area to work in, just make it look nice. Move the TV remote out of the way, vacuum the carpet, unplug and move the lamp out of the shot for now. Just make it clean, tidy, and nice. Make your space the best it can be and be proud of what you have.
Use bedsheets for backgrounds.
Some things, like a flat lay look good with a simple, solid color as a background. The rug on my floor is patterned, so I use a clean bed sheet as a backdrop. Ta-da! But remember to make it look nice, no wrinkles! Well, only a few wrinkles allowed! I’ll iron the sheet before photographing. Don’t have an iron? Can you toss it in the dryer with a wet washcloth for a bit? That should help. Do your best.
You don't need an expensive camera.
A basic smartphone has a better camera on it than the digital camera I used for my photography class in college. You can do wonders with a basic smartphone. My biggest piece of advice? Try not to use the zoom feature. If you want a close-up, get closer to what you’re photographing and have the camera focus on it. Using the zoom is generally not as good of quality and can have some distortion.
Use free apps to edit crochet photos.
Yup, that’s right. You don’t need Photoshop or other fancy technology to edit your photos. I use Google Photos to crop and apply a few edits to my crochet photos before I upload them to Instagram. I downloaded another free app to add text when I need to. But really, you shouldn’t need to mess with your photos too much, you should already have a solid foundation using the techniques above, the editing should just take your photos over the top.
Make your crochet project pretty.
This is where I’m still improving. Well, I’m trying improve on everything but you get the point. Stage your crochet product in a natural and appealing way. I’ve crocheted a lot of blankets, so my go-to is to drape them on my couch, or chair, or I hold them. Sometimes laying it out on the floor can be good to show off the pattern, but it can be quite boring and if you have imperfections they are sure to show up. For gifts, I’ve tied bows on them and taken some lovely photos. Side note: I love making bows.
What do you think? Was this helpful? Did I miss anything that you already do to make your photos awesome?
What do you want to read about next time? I’d love to know! Tell me in the comments!
