Photoshoot Day

I love photoshoot day–especially when the light is like this. It's fairly daunting, and this time around, there's a hard deadline, since gallery night is tomorrow. So, if I don't get decent shots of the pieces today, they'll be gone and sold (hopefully!) tomorrow evening. Really wanted to make sure to capture them before I send them out into the world.

The apartment is pretty incredible on sunny and cloudy days (and rainy days, and thunderstormy days...). I'm grateful every morning for all the natural light we get because apparently, that's a thing that's become increasingly important in my old age. [Pauses to take multivitamins] Today, it's a mix of sun and clouds, and all this gorgeous light is streaming in from every direction. Step 1: Find the best light. Today, looks like the bedroom is my best bet. Feels like a giant lightbox, since all the walls are white, the curtains are sheer, so it's diffusing the light coming through, and the bed is all white and light, bright shades of gray. Took some test shots on the bed, right in the center of the room.

Toyed around with the idea of using this speckled surface for the photos, but it was way too distracting.

Makes for such an interesting visual though.

Is the light better from this angle?

Nope–it’s MUCH better from this side.

After deciding on the back room for the light, it was time to figure out the background, the set-up, and where to put the tripod. Found some old paper I was using for gouache painting, and it was perfect. The texture was exactly what I was looking for, and even the raw edges were making me happy.

Unedited shot

Processed shot. Brightened it up even more.

Chimichanga was very helpful, as usual.

And Måns too!

Giddy up! It's all set up, and we're ready to roll. Even The Goose has joined in, lining up the pieces for the shoot. 22 pieces in this batch–the most ever.

The shoot itself was really quick; Måns and I are a well-oiled machine now. Very happy with how efficient we were, but was also still concerned about how long it would take me to process all the shots. 

But it looks like all my photo editing practice with vacation photos is paying off. All-in-all, 4 hours: the set-up, the shoot, and processing all the shots for 22 pieces. BOOM. Feeling like a beast. Also, Lightroom is a dream. Have been editing in Photoshop until recently, and Lightroom has changed my life. 

I mean, look at how these shots turned out. The light is so delicious. Going to brighten them up a bit more, but really liking where they're headed already.

Glossy, glossy photos–all from this beautiful mess.