5 posts tagged “photography”
This last camping trip to Donner Lake proved to be quite spectacular. I like the outdoors! After I gave my camera to Christina, I've decided to work with an older digital camera that isn't as great as my other one. However, I was surprised that the photographs came out pretty well.
This past weekend, Mike and I drove down to So Cal to do some awesome diving and teach a couple of classes as well. I was really excited since it was the first time I'll be using my Sea & Sea DX1200 underwater camera. The camera equipment cost so much that I was wondering if the the outcome of the photos will be worth it for the price I paid. On top of that, the talk about the bright orange fish called the Garibaldi (California's State Fish) littered the whole island got me excited for days on end. The fish is such a bright orange despite the fact that the first colour to disappear underwater is red. Even at 30 feet, the fish is still bright orange. Some of my friends and students commented that it looked like I Photoshopped the image. Nope, sorry to disappoint you all, but these pictures are unaltered. They are taken only with the camera and flash/strobe lighting.
Some of my photos are available for sale on Etsy.com under the username of deebunny77. They are only available on 5x7s at $10.00 a piece. Some are altered and some are not.
I hate to say it, but I've been using my head as a mannequin to take photographs of all the hats I've knitted or crocheted. I could even use myself as the model for all my knitted products; however, I found that none of my friends have no photography skills. They’re the “Point and shoot” kind of people. So, taking a photograph of my own head is quite challenging and the crooked look of the photographs doesn’t look professional enough to insert them in my portfolios.
So, the last resort was to borrow a cosmetology dummy head from a friend. Sadly, the dummy head looks like it came from a horror flick like the “Exorcist.” The hair was cut really short and the gothic style make-up wasn’t working at all either. I would have to clean her up to make her looking somewhat normal. I started to clean her face with make-up remover, but sadly, the make-up had been on her for years that it was almost permanent. I had to resort to rubbing alcohol or something stronger to remove the darned thing. Her face looks a bit better, but I was unable to remove the rest of the make-up. Her hair is a mess as well. She had so much gel that I had to wash it to avoid damage to my hats. Despite the fact that her overall look improved, she still look freakishly scary. I had to put my make-up skills to use to make her look au naturale. Then again, I don’t want to waste expensive make-up on a mannequin. Then I had the wonderful idea of Photoshop!
Now that she’s semi-cleaned up, the next goal is to put all the hats I’ve made on her head. I’m also hoping to use my friend’s teenage daughter as a model for other items I’ve made. When I asked her last year if she would like to model, her father made a comment that this “gig” is the closest she’ll ever get to modeling since she only stands at 4 foot 11 inches.
As I took photographs of three of the hats I’d love to get catalogued, I was quite happy with the results. The original Casquet Hat photo was disastrous. After I finished the hat, I took a photo of myself wearing the hat and needless to say, I was looking rather tired. Although the photograph was pretty disastrous, the hat was a big hit. It’s made out of wool and acrylic blend yarn in a charcoal colour. My friend loved the hat so much she wanted one for herself. I still haven’t started her hat and she’s even asked me last week how long before I finish it. My response was “NOT!”
The next hat I was able to take a photograph of was the Stars Hollow Beret. It’s named Stars Hollow after one of my favourite shows “Gilmore Girls.” I could have named it “Flack Hat” after CSI:New York, but Stars Hollow was the better choice since the pattern looks like a bunch of stars as well. The hat can be worn in two different ways, as illustrated by the scary mannequin. Really, just look at how scary she is. This hat was also crocheted and since I had an abundance of Wool-Ease Worsted weight, another hat was born.
Finally, the last hat was the Hermoine Cabled Eyelet Hat. This was designed by another knitter, but I am posting it here to show my knitting skills and because I love cabled items. I don’t know why, but I just find them fascinating. The hat isn’t hard to make and it didn’t take that long as well. It does run slightly larger than I intended since I used needles that are one size too big. Since I’m not able to sell this pattern, I did make it for myself to keep my “noggin” nice and warm during the aeroplane ride to Jamaica. Sadly, I didn’t use the hat and it sat in my carry-on bag on the way to Jamaica, during my holiday, and on the way back to the States.