Pro Teaches How To Photo Quilts Properly

Gregory Case is a professional photographer specializing in photographing quilts and other art.  Photographing art and quilts uses different techniques than photographing people and other objects.  You may have taken photos of a quilt or painting and wondered why the photo doesn't turn out right, giving the quilt justice.  We interviewed professional photographer Gregory Case to share with us some tips on how to make your photos of your quilts look stellar.

As quilters get better at their craft and their confidence and competence improves, often time they consider entering quilt shows or posting their quilt images online on their blogs or websites. Unfortunately, most entries in juried shows fail due to poor photography images, as do quilt images on websites and blogs. Thus, these photography tips will help you improve the quality of your quilt images for shows or web viewing.

We chose four problems most often encountered by jurors in quilts shows and by students in my photography classes. The reality is that once you enter a juried show or post your photo to your blog or website far more people will probably see that image, than they will ever see your quilt.

• Problem: Distracting Backgrounds
  Solution: Photograph against a blank wall ideally painted white or very light color. If a wall is not available crop the quilt image in-camera or using image editing software, such as Photoshop Elements or Photoshop without cutting into the edges of the quilt. Don’t show your hands, feet, the family dog or cat, etc. in the image.
• Problem: Keystoning
  Solution: Keystoning is created when your camera is not at a 90-degree angle to your quilt, making your quilt looks distorted (wider at one end and narrower at the other).  When photographing your quilt, your camera should be aimed at the center of your quilt at a 90-degree angle and at a distance far enough back to capture the entire quilt. However, for larger sized quilts you may not have enough space to move the camera back. One popular option is to place the quilt on the floor and climb a ladder then photograph it from high above. However, this often times creates a problem called “keystoning.”  While you can solve this problem with image editing software, it works better to keep your camera as close as possible to a 90-degree angle to your quilt. 
• Problem: Blurred Photos
  Solution: Almost all cameras have an automatic focus feature, use it! Additionally, along with using automatic focus, I strongly recommend using a tripod when photographing your quilts. 
• Problem: Improper Lighting of Quilt
  Solution: Whether you light your quilt using natural light (outdoors) or with indoor (studio) lights, make sure all four corners and the center of the quilt are evenly lit. Before you put your camera away, make sure to download your image on to your computer and review it on your monitor. Do not rely solely on the camera’s LCD screen to judge the evenness of your lighting—that screen is too small and thus too forgiving. And while reviewing your image on your computer screen, check to make sure all four corners and the center of the quilt are in focus. 

By following these tips, you have eliminated the majority of the problems seen in quilt images in juried show entries, websites, and blogs.  

Gregory Case and Elena Morera have photographed quilts and textiles for over 7 years. Their work has been published in over 80 different publications and Gregory is the staff photographer for the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. They have recently moved to Colorado and their new web site (www. gregorycase.com) design, featuring lots of quilt and textile images, will be completed sometime in April 2010.

Comments

• Good advice! For a more detailed (and profusely illustrated) description of how to photograph quilts, you may also want to look at http://www.hollyknott.com/stq/
  by Andy Baird on 21 June 2010 at 2:40 p.m.
• I work with the photos of quilts taken for classes and have to deal with all these problems. Photoshop can only do so much. Great advice
  by Kris Jacobson on 12 April 2010 at 9:03 a.m.

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