Click that quilt !

Updated: Dec 6, 2020

A basic guide to using a mobile phone camera By Elvira

Before you start

1. As much as you can, try to take photos under natural light.

Your options are :

- a few feet away from well lit window.

- If the sun is coming directly towards the window, cover the window with sheer curtain or thin white dupatta to diffuse the light a little.

- outside in a shadow, play ground behind the building, etc.

- on the rooftop around 3-5 PM

- DO NOT take photos directly under the sunlight.

- 9-11 am or 3-5 PM is best time. Depends on where you live and the season.

- Try to take photos during the time when the sun is not very bright.

2. The Quilt should be facing the LIGHT source.

3. The same rule applies whether you take photos inside or outside the house.

4. Use an UNCLUTTERED BACKGROUND.

- Wall, Floor, in the garden

- Try to clean up the background as much as you can

PHONE SETTING

1. Check your phone memories and delete old photos and videos. Low or full memory will result in low resolution photos and we need to get the best resolution here.

2. How? Back up your old photos and videos on the cloud storage (Google photos is a good one). Sync your photos on your Google photos or other cloud storage and remove all the back up photos/videos from your phone.

CAMERA SETTING

AUTO MODE:

1. Activate GRID LINE – this is useful to make sure that the photo you take is straight and within a good frame.

2. Activate Auto HDR – the HDR will balance the light from all sources and will give a more balanced result.

3. DO NOT USE beautify Mode or Bokeh Mode. We want the whole quilt to be ON FOCUS.

4. DO NOT USE FLASH even if you’re shooting indoor.

EXPERT MODE:

If you are confident, you can try the EXPERT MODE on your phone. But if your photo shooting location is good, you won’t need to use this mode.

BACKGROUND SETTING:

INDOOR PHOTOS:

What you need:

- Wall or cupboard big enough to hang your quilt

- Photo Backdrop – white is ideal,

Grey or black if your quilt is light colored.

- Put on ALL lights. I like to use additional table lights and tilt the lamp shade upward towards the ceiling. This way you will get a nice natural feel light.

- DO NOT direct the lights to the quilt.

FAKE WALL BACK DROP IDEA FROM QUILTY LOVE -------- >

OUTDOOR PHOTOS:

- Look for uncluttered background like a wall, or rooftop terrace

- Rope and laundry clips to hang your quilt in case you don’t have a helper to hold the quilt.

LETS TAKE THE PHOTOS

FRONT and BACK photos

1. Stand back and take the photo directly across your quilt.

2. With the help of the gridline on your camera, position the camera at your eye level and make sure the quilt is straight and the edges are parallel to the frame[gridlines will help with this

3. Take a Wide Photo, which means take the photo with the background. Do not ZOOM IN. Don’t worry about the background now, you can crop them later after editing.

See below : uncropped image on the left and cropped image on the right

CLOSE UP PHOTOS

1. FLAT LAY

Lay flat your quilt on the floor. Stand on one end of the quilt and position the camera directly above the quilt. If needed you may stand of a chair or something higher to get a better angle.

2. CLOSE UP –close-up photo is to show the detail of your work. Focus on several part of your quilts that you want to emphasize or highlight.

Go close to the area or part you want to get a close-up photo. DO NOT use ZOOM. Tilting the camera at an angle, press the focus button on your phone camera by tapping on the screen on the area you want to focus on.