Last day at Lake Tekapo

Today we drove up to Mt Johns, where the Observatory is. We have been trying to do the skygazer tour the last 2 nights, but mother nature has not co-operated, and the cloud cover was too heavy. That will have to be something we do on another trip I guess, but today we at least got to experience the amazing view from the summit. The weather was not great - very windy and overcast, but still definitely worth a look. And tonight I had fun playing with the photo stitching software within PhotoShop and made some photo montage panoramas....

Another hotel room...

I've had a mixture of relaxation and busyness this week. Spent the first few days after we got home vegging out and washing clothes. Didn't get much of the planned school work or puppy planning done that I intended - I became the queen of procrastination... Later in the week, I unexpectedly got accepted for a juried art market that is on next Sunday, so suddenly I have a LOT to do in a short period of time. I spent 2 days torching - need to get a couple more done, then I will be making jewellery and getting a display together. I'm hoping it will be a good venue to promote my beadmaking classes, as well as sell beads and jewellery. I need to get my school planning finished before wed too... Eek!

I have also spent a bit of time editing photos this week, so I will post some random favourites over the next few weeks, that I haven't posted yet. Right now I am in a hotel room in SA, as we are picking up our puppy and making the 8 hour drive home with him tomorrow. Be prepared for numerous puppy pics... :)

Lights, Camera, Action!

The blog topic on Flaming Hot this week is about photographing beads for sale. I used to be a bit haphazard about the style of my bead photos, but after experimenting quite a bit over the years, I am now fairly consistent with the style I like. A lot of bead artists photograph their beads as strands, sometimes even with crystals or silver spacers included. That works really well for some people, but I have never felt 100% comfortable using that approach. I feel like I am putting preconceived ideas into the heads of potential buyers, as to how the beads could be used in jewellery. And I know that jewellery designers can come up with some amazingly creative ways to string beads (Just check out my friend Lisa's site for an example!). So, I have discovered that I am happier with a more random display of my beads, what appears to be a haphazard arrangement, (but that usually took ages to arrange!), generally combined with some clear overhead shots of the beads arranged flat, so that all the details are clear. I also think its really important to ensure the holes/ends can be seen clearly (as these can often be 'problem areas' on newbie beads), and both sides of major focals. I love being able to include multiple images, to show a range of combinations and viewpoints. I'm so glad I finally worked out how to use a html template for the auctions sites, so that I can upload as many images as I like, while only paying for one image to be hosted. The other thing about the way I photograph beads... I am a shocking procrastinator. I only seem to take photos when I have a great pile of beads cleaned and ready to go, and then I force myself to my little 'studio' set up. I have a very small, portable, fabric softbox to diffuse my lights - high wattage from the hardware store, and they are incredibly bright and hot. It is physically uncomfortable due to heat and glare, and I have burnt myself on the lights more than once. So, I do have an excuse for putting it off... really.