Good Summer Light for Picture Taking

Below are a few recent pictures of my works, taking advantage of pretty nice summer light. I took a bunch, and then realized that the awful shade of green netting over the background blueberry bushes was not working, at all! So I had to retake them all, once the netting was done.

I invest considerable effort trying to capture my work. It's really tricky, because the light changes the appearance of the glass so much. I do the best I can... and frequently redo!

Find all these gorgeous wind chimes (and many more!) at Coast Chimes.

Lighting for Glass Studio

Lighting Challenges for Art Glass Studioe
Coast Chimes

Since moving into our new home almost 4 years ago, I have had the pleasure of space for a small gallery, so I can be open to the public and participate in our local Sunshine Coast Art Crawl.

A major challenge has been lighting. Many of my works fall into the suncatcher category, and really come alive when bright sunlight is shining through from behind the glass. We have a lot of rain, cloudy dark days, so it is really tough to explain to people dropping by how the glass is not showing at its best.

Lighting from behind with strong lights tends to blind people, as the light leaks out from behind right into their eyes. A lot of lighting also throughs the colors of the glass-- not natural, and not as pretty as sunlight.

I got the idea of using fairy lights, and ordered one sample string from Amazon. I thought they worked pretty well, and could work really well with a few more strings. Those on Amazon were expensive, and so I ordered five sets from eBay, for much less money. Sadly, those from eBay are okay, but just a bit less bright and a bit more yellow than my Amazon string. They do not shine through the glass very well. Sigh. Solution still not found.

You can visit my website to see all my wind chimes and suncatchers, photographed with natural sunlight behind the glass, of course. Visit Coast Chimes.

Natural Light for Picture Taking

Glass and Copper Kaleidoscope Wind Chime
available at Coast Chimes

Taking good pictures of my work is definitely one of the biggest, if not the biggest, challenge. But it is so important, I know I need to keep trying.

After determining that my indoor photo studio lights were not doing justice to my works with glass (okay for beach stones, driftwood), I moved back outside to take advantage of natural sunlight. Side-by-side, it was immediately clear that natural light was far superior. So I retook all the pictures. I was somewhat happier with the resulting images-- not thrilled, but less unhappy. I thought early morning, blue sky, indirect sunlight, was the best.

But there was one last kaleidoscope wind chime that I forgot to take pictures of. So although yesterday was quite overcast, I decided to get it done. Well, it turned out that the overcast sky was better than blue sky!

Now I think thin white high clouds are the very best. Today is more thick, grey clouds, so I don't believe that would be any good. But you can be sure that the next bright cloudy day, I will be back out there, trying to capture the perfect image.

Top Section, Detail Image, Kaleidoscope Wind Chime

Photographing my Work

Glass and Copper Kaleidoscope Wind Chime

Coast Chimes

Since moving from our old house, picture taking has been a major headache. It was always a challenge, but lately it has been a real problem. I moved inside to a photo studio, but the lighting was not nearly as nice as sunlight, especially for my glass pieces. Then outside again, which was okay, but I had to learn about the light on the new property. Then my wife started digging in the garden, which is very small, and I had to move again, and learn about the light, again.

I have a little corner with no dirt piles, an okay background, and on certain days, at certain times, decent light. However, we live on a hill with the ocean just below, and this, it turns out, creates interesting air currents (wind), and so it is a fun time trying to get a shot without the windsails flying around, the chimes twisting, the whole subject turning!

I have a ways to go, in my photo struggle. Right now, I am going out to struggle some more.

Let There be Light (and heat)

Click on the picture to see it larger

The 'new' workshop

As the days here on the Sunshine Coast get shorter, darker, wetter and colder, I can not adequately express how happy I am to have a dry, warm, bright workshop. A couple of weeks ago I finished insulating the ceiling and bought a small heater. Now, with very cool mornings, heaven.

For the past thirteen or so years I did all my work outside, in unheated, unlit spaces. My primary workshop was my old 'greenhouse' as pictured below. It was not bad. Just really cold on cloudy fall and winter days. And usually wet, too, as the condensation would collect on the inside of the roof plastic, and any banging or wind would set it to falling, just like rain even on dry days. Bad enough.

Although I still have to go outside when I use my large saw, or to cut long lengths of copper, much of my work can now be happily done in my new workshop. It may not look like much, but for me it is absolutely fantastic.

Here is the old shop:

Better Pictures

(Click on the image to see it larger.)

Mixed media kaleidoscope wind chime
Five true veridgris copper chimes
See this wind chime in the 'Artist-picks' section of my website

Has it really been over thirteen years that I have been making wind chimes, and taking pictures to sell them on the Net? Time flies.

You would think after all those years, all those thousands and thousand of pictures, I'd have picture taking down to, well, an art. But no. I still learn.

Despite the many new windows I put into the shop this past summer, there is often not enough natural light when it is cloudy, or when the sun sets so early. So I grabbed a 500 watt halogen shop light. That's bright!

It's so bright I got a bright idea. I took the lamp to the solarium where I take all my pictures, and found that it is very helpful. I used to use a small table halogen lamp to brighten the front, but that did not have much ooomph to it. This big boy is way, way better. Now I can have the great sunlight filtering through my glass from behind, showing the 'kaleidoscope' effect, and not have the front so dark that it looks like the wood is black. Good stuff.

So I just retook most of my kaleidoscope wind chimes, and a bunch of other works. New, and improved, pictures. I also made a whole lot of new woodwork pieces, taking advantage of what dry weather remains. As long as it is not too cold, or wet, I'll be working full steam ahead. (That explains why I have not had the time to post here for way too long of a time.)

More good news. With the economic melt down, I've increased the number of nicely marked-down (sale) items on my site. They are marked down enough so that they sell pretty briskly. I understand why people may not be in the mood to spend $177 or more on a wind chime just now (although that is, I believe, a fair price), so I offer some with a price that's too tempting to pass. Enjoy.

At last~ Decent light!

Beach glass inspired kaleidoscope wind chime. Five copper chimes with a beach stone clapper. For more information, or to bid on this wind chime, Click here.

It's been a long, cold, wet, dark winter. For most of my work, I'm outside in unheated spaces. So it's been hard. If it's not so cold my fingers freeze, it's wet, which makes working with wood very challenging. But the worse is trying to take decent pictures. For that, I need light!

At long last, the sun was shining yesterday and I broke my schedule of going to Vancouver each Wednesday to take advantage of it. The light was really great for only about forty-five minutes, and I can tell you that was a busy three quarters of an hour! I took over three hundred pictures (each piece gets numerous pictures, and then I choose the best of the lot).

It was worth it. There is no doubt that the image is the most important element for selling my work online. So I'm very happy to have been able to get some decent pictures. Now to finish sorting through them all, and to update those on my website, as most are not so great.

My new website is into version 4.5 now. It's getting there. More on that later.

Pictures say it All

The original poorly lit image, and the somewhat better retake. In my excitement over a new design, I often can't resist taking pictures under far from ideal lighting conditions. Then, alas, I later have to go back and retake the pictures. A time waster. The latest beach glass inspired garden stakes are available on my website (three for the price of two!)~ now with better pictures!

An ongoing time gobbler for me is taking decent pictures of my work. Clearly, for selling the piece, the picture is key. After nearly nine years of doing this, pictures are still is a challenge.

Most often I know all too well when the light is wrong, and that I should not be taking pictures. This happens after just completing a piece, and being so excited (yes, still, after all these years!) I go ahead and take pictures. I know the best light to show off my work~ late afternoon as the sun sets, or a little earlier on an overcast day. Too early, and everything is too bright. A little late, and everything is too dark. So there is a fairly narrow window of opportunity for the best pictures. But in my enthusiasm for a new work, I sometimes can't resist.

Often I end up going back and retaking pictures. Sometimes I am horrified by how poor the first pictures were~ no big surprise that the wonderful new piece didn't immediately sell!

After dropping my beloved old Olympus D-250 three times, it finally broke two years ago. After trying out several cameras, I chose a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2, and love it. The macro function is fantastic, and it has this steady shot business which helps to compensate for a wobbly hand. Often I hold a big light in one hand, so taking dozens of pictures with one hand, this anti-shake function saves the day.

All I need is some sunlight filtering low through the sky, this time of year around 6:00 PM. Just a little while ago, 4:00 PM was the time to shoot. It moves up a few minutes each day, depending on the clouds, and how the sunlight is passing through the trees as it sets.

Yep, pictures eat time. But they sure are important.