The Crafters Guide to Taking G

Heidi Adnum's book is suitable for amateur and professional crafters who want to show off their latest projects to best effect. Offering simple practical photography advice, the author takes novice snappers through the steps to ensure great images, from how to make a lightbox and avoid camera shake without the aid of a tripod, to using natural light and how to capture detail in the work. It's a must-have for those keen to show off their craftsmanship.-Craft Business Many step-by-step photo sequences and examples of successful shots walk the reader through the process. With the ongoing popularity of sites like Etsy (on which Adnum authored a series on photography), this book is sure to be sought after by anyone who wants to sell his or her goods online.-Library Journal USA "This book is TERRIFIC. Paging through this book was like reading a Who's Who of craft photography. Of course, the photographs are fantastic, and the book is as gorgeous as it is informative." --Austen Gilliland, CanadianLiving.com's Craft Blog "This book is the ultimate reference for crafters and bloggers looking to improve their photography on a budget!" - Mark Lipinski, host, Creative Mojo "I really appreciate the thoroughness of this book. The first section alone is worth getting the book if you want to stop using the automatic mode on your camera and switch over to manual mode." - CraftBuds.com "This is the book that I wish was out there when I first started blogging and selling my handmade goods... I pretty much devoured the book in one sitting. It's a must-have for makers, bloggers, and sellers." --Craft Business

How do you make your work stand out amidst the sea of handmade crafts populating websites and magazines? The answer, says Heidi Adnum, is great photography. Luckily she reveals how to take fantastic pictures without expensive professional equipment, offering simple, practical advice presented with the maker in mind. This is one of the best and most friendly books we've found on the subject and will have you capturing the sumptuous detail in your work in no time. --Embroidery Magazine

I am warning you ... Crafter s Guide to Taking Great Photos: Fool-Proof Techniques to Make Your Handmade Creations Shine Online is full of eye candy! It s a heavy book (192 pages), easy to flick through, beautiful images, wonderful styling, high quality, cool craft and design products, printed on light shiny paper. This book is full of inspirational images that will give you lots of ideas on how to present your own work. From composition to lighting and styling it takes you step-by-step through each, based on what story you want to tell about your creative business and product collection. It will give you the confidence to create your own images, and show your work in the best possible light. It explains clearly and in a very friendly, jargon-free way how certain effects have been achieved. Each image (and there are loads!) shows the exact camera used with full technical details. This book is very up-to-date in showing you how to use and edit your images for online use, such as your website, online marketplace or Pinterest. It really shows you what you need to do with your presentation and images to stand out in very competitive online market places such as Etsy, Folksy and ASOS Marketplace. The main part of the book shows in separate chapters how to photograph specific products, such as fashion and fabrics, fashion accessories, jewellery, knitting & needlecraft, ceramics, art, books & stationery, and home accessories. For each of these areas Heidi explains what the challenges are with specific and practical tips on how to solve them. There is a common problems & FAQs section for each that are really the main real life questions you will have on how to make your images and work look better. But it is the last part that I think is one of the most useful parts of the book: finishing up and getting it out there. It shows clear screenshots on how to use basic editing software, and how to adjust exposure or how to correct colours. In my career I have worked with hundred s of design images as a fair coordinator, and from that experience I know how important it is to get images send by makers in the right format, correctly labelled and saved. These pages show really clearly what you need to do as a maker. I bet many craft fair organisers and press contacts will thank you for following these simple rules too! It might actually make the difference in you getting into a show or publication, or not ... --www.thedesigntrust.co.uk