Photography 101

I am stepping out of my comfort zone here with my first real blog post having to do with photography, not clay necessarily.  Although I am taking pictures of my pots, which I know pretty well, the act of photographing them has landed me in unknown territory.  I know what I want to see.  Making the camera understand that is like, well, trying to talk to an inanimate object.  After many days of shooting at different times of day for the right natural light and re-reading the camera manual and calling my trusted professional photographer friend (who happens to be responsible for almost all of the high quality images on my site), I am beginning to get images I feel good about.  I feel like I just might pass this self imposed photography 101 crash course.  The real test will come when I try to repeat what I did today. 

You can see here some of what I think of as successful images.  Not professional by any means, but not too shabby either.  What sparked this attempt to take on such a beast?  My new etsy shop.  In order to keep my shop current, I have to learn to take my own good images.   You can see my earlier tries by visiting my etsy site, clicking on any of the thumbnails to the right will take you there, and hopefully you’ll see my progress. 

Now, since I am really a potter, this week will be spent cleaning the studio and making new pots.  Unless the light is just right, I may have to wash my hands and click a few clicks.