The Importance of Background Colors

I'm using these three pieces of fabric to illustrate how much difference your bead's background color makes.

 Each one gives you a very different feeling, even with the exact same pattern on them.

Do you feel that to get stuck in a rut by using the same colors all the time? If so, what can you do to 

change things up a bit?  Besides being conscious of what you're doing, how about considering the time of year it is?  Different colors tend to be bought during different seasons.  And as I'm sure you know, we're headed into the red and pink season right now.

These three fabrics also help show which colors stand out more against each background.  We've always heard that complementary colors show up best against each other.  The green background, makes the red/coral colors really show up.  And the darker red background, makes the bright white rice really pop.  

I've been making sushi beads for years.  And after comparing these three fabrics, I know that at shows, I'll be displaying them against a green fabric.  These background colors really are important for a variety of reasons.  

When I'm debating colors for a pattern or combination, sometimes I'll make just a quick little donut bead with the colors together on it.  I don't bother annealing it, because I want to see it right away.  I just carefully lay it down (far enough away from me in case it breaks) on my work table.  When it's cool, I can see if my colors are what I want.  Sometimes I notice that there's a reaction that I don't want or the colors don't look as well together as I had planned.  This can be a great time saver in the long run for you.

Now get out there and mix it up a bit.  Let's see what you can do to make your colors stand out and be the superstars they're meant to be.

Starting Early on New Year's Resolutions

I'm starting one of my business New Year's Resolutions early.  I'm trying to improve my photo backgrounds on photos that I post for my Studio Marcy Etsy shop.

I've gone through the phase of the colored backgrounds, and the gray backgrounds and now I'm on the "white" backgrounds.  My artistic concession is to sometimes keep a bit of the shadow, while I white out the rest of it.  You can see my mermaid beaded ink pens  with two whiter backgrounds and one original.  Quite a difference, isn't it?

Of course it would help if my original photos were better and I will work on those too.  But for right now, Photoshop Elements 4.0 and its Magic Wand Tool  is my new BF.

If you've got a Photoshop trick for improving photos, please feel free to post it in the comments section.  I think we can always use some helpful hints and new ways to do things.

Photo Tip: Have Your Cake and Eat It Too!

I wanted to show you the difference in a slight change in my chocolate cake bead photo editing that I did this weekend. I think it makes a positive change and wanted to share it with you.

The lower photo shows how the photo was originally edited. I used the aluminum take out lid that I wrote about in an earlier blog. I used my Photoshop Elements 4.0. Please note, I am far from being an expert in this and seem to bobble along and get by.

I posted that bottom photo as my chocolate cake's first shot in my etsy listing. And then looked at it and wondered what would happen if I tried putting a white background behind it instead.

So I tried the magic wand tool with it. Which is often how I remove the background and after clicking a few times, was able to remove the pinkish background. I noticed that I still had the reflection from the aluminum, which was the part I really liked on it. So voila. I went to "edit" and "fill selection" and chose "white." It turned out like this top photo and I really prefer it.

Do you have any little photo tricks that you wouldn't mind sharing? Please let us know.

And until then, enjoy the chocolate layer cake a la mode with dripping vanilla ice cream. Yum.

Just for fun, here is a recipe for a delicious double chocolate layer cake from one of my favorite recipe sources, epicurious.com.

Experimenting With Photography Backgrounds

As much as I love very plain light backgrounds for photographing my glass pieces, once in a while I try something new for a little variety.

Here is blue enamel on a hanging aqua heart lampwork pendant, which is one of my pieces photographed yesterday.  Check out this background.

So here is my latest experiment.  I used the cardboard aluminum foil lid of my take-out food container.   

Some of the things I like-

1. It reflects light and made the darker day natural light shooting a little brighter.

2. It shows up as mostly "gray",  which works well as a very neutral background.

3. (Don't laugh at this one) It will not get wrecked if there are a few drops of water on it.  I'd better explain this one.  I clean my beads first thing in the morning and then I photo them almost immediately afterwards.  Sometimes they haven't dried all the way, and a drop or two of water comes out.  It can wreck the paper I use as the background, due to the water spots.

4. And depending on the item photographed, sometimes it reflects some of the work and adds a little artistic flair to the image.

I'll have more items in my Etsy shop later today and through the week, which use this background so you can compare them.

Do you have any photographic backgrounds that are a little different and you like?  Please comment and share them with us.