The Beauty Shots

 

Cats live in our world, but most of us know that's an illusion. (Cat owners know we live under their control/training in theirs.) After I wrote yesterday's post I got ready for bed, and where did Millie go?  Yeah.

This post is about Beauty Shots. Megan, my friend from Sydney Australia, would say the photo above is the perfect beauty shot. But Megan is biased. She loves Millie. (The feeling is mutual. Millie loves Megan too). I think a beauty shot should be a beautiful picture of the quilt in question in a setting that shows of the quilt to its best advantage. Outside in natural light is best. The point is to see the quilt in all its glory. Like most things, it is harder than it looks.

First, you need a good location. You want something big enough to hold up the quilt. This gate to the community garden meets that requirement.The photo above show that you need a bit more than that.

Secondly, you need good light. Good light will show off the colors of the quilt (yet not be too bright so light colors get lost) and the quilting, but not so extreme that all you can see is the quilting and not the patchwork. This photo shows you need something else though.

The third thing you need (aside from clamps, a step stool, a camera and/or an assistant) is a calm day. Wind is the enemy of beauty shots. A quilt of any size, displayed outside is nothing more than a potential sail. Clamps or weights can hold a quilt in place, but Mother Nature is unpredictable and stronger than anything or anybody. 

Just as in quilt design, I'm a big believer of taking advantage of every opportunity. In this case, the wind has flipped the quilt over so you can see the backing. 

The last thing you need is patience. Once I figured out the garden door OPENED, I re-positioned the quilt and then kept taking pictures. That's the most important thing. KEEP TAKING PICTURES. Sometimes you don't know until later that you took a perfect photo. Wayne Gretzky said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." 

Sometimes you know as soon as you take it.

 

(I kept the last photo full size, so you can click, and then click again to see all the details of the fabrics and the quilting.)