Today on the blog I thought I could share some behind the scenes fun from one of my work photo shoots. You guys are always wondering what I’m up to so I thought I would show you. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of working with JST Knitwear Designs and taking some images for her latest design, a poncho in gorgeous Eden Cottage Yarns 4ply.
In Ireland you can’t really bank on the weather and myself and Jen have had some terrible luck in the past with the weather. We have been rained on, battled the wind while trying to do shawl shots and it’s been too dull and grey to have attractive images.
This time we worked indoors with a backdrop (that didn’t always do what we wanted) with lighting (both natural light and a kit) and it was hilarious but came with its own set of challenges.
Jen’s design is inspired by boardwalks and the lines that form between the planks. She wanted to incorporate the colour scheme to match a storm seascape both calm and light with a flash of dramatic colour.
As we were playing we decided to do some fun relaxed headshots that captured Jen. It’s so hard to be in front of the camera when you don’t want to be so I’m glad that we could capture a few that had her present but also looking away from the lens. We tried some with flowers, props and then just a few relaxed ones laughing and in the end, all of the photos that both of us liked were from the last 30minutes of the shoot
Indoor kits are trickier to work with even with diffusers and trying to get the backdrops to be just what you want them to be. I always prefer to shoot outdoors but the weather just doesn’t play ball sometimes.
I also like to deify the rules when it comes to knitwear. I love having the sun behind the image. Yes the person is dark but the lace and stitch patterns often glow much better than shot in reverse. Photographing knitwear seems to break most of the portrait rules too but if you are interested in taking better images of knitwear stay tuned for my next craft post as it is a tutorial.
As for Jen’s beautiful poncho, you can find it over on Ravelry here along with all the information you need to knit one of your own.
