How to Photograph Your Own Work at Home

*Before I get too far into this, I want to make a quick little statement: THIS IS NOT A PROFESSIONAL WAY TO PHOTOGRAPH YOUR WORK. This is a way to get some photos of your work if you need them pretty quickly. Obviously, this method can be improved upon and become something awesome, but if you struggle with photographs, the best way to get them is to hire a professional. This is simply a shortcut if you need some photographs quickly for your website/resume, or to update social media.

The designer’s struggle: eat dinner this week or pay a photographer to photograph my work? Luckily, there’s a way that you can survive as a human & get some awesome photographs at the same time! Now, nothing will beat a professional photographer, but with some practice and some nice camera equipment, this can come pretty damn close. First, let’s go over what you’re going to need to accomplish this wallet-saving feat:

1. A DSLR camera (if you’re really in a hurry [and I mean like, you need these photos yesterday] an iPhone or really nice camera phone can be used.)

2. A lens - I prefer to use my 50mm 1.4 Nikon lens for things like this, because of the focal length. However, you can use whatever you like, though I would suggest something that can a least hit a 2.8

3. White paper or a white sheet, really depends on the size of the work

4. Some thumb tacks. Tape can also work, but these are cleaner

5. Passport color checker - *This is if you can get your hands on one. They are VERY expensive (I know, look how small it is!?), so if you can borrow one from a friend, awesome. If you can’t find one, it’s definitely not necessary. It just can make the editing process a little faster.

6. A messy bed (duh.)

7. (Not pictured) A big window

8. (Not pictured) A stand or table to work on

Alright, now that we’ve gathered all the necessities, let’s get started. Here I have posted a finished image of a perfume bottle. Looks pretty good, right? This only took me about 5 minutes from set up to post-process.

One key part of this is the light outside. I shot this when the weather was like this:

So, it wasn’t direct sunlight, but the day wasn’t overcast either. If you’re planning on shooting anything outside (which is an awesome way to photograph work in my opinion), an overcast day is going to be your best bet. However, if you have some direct sunlight coming through your window, find a translucent sheet or shower curtain and just hang it over the window to diffuse the light a bit.

Here is my basic set up:

I have this little drawer thing from Ikea that I pulled out to rest everything on. Then I pulled my desk chair up to have the paper be pinned to.

All I did was take two pieces of 13x19 paper and place it on the drawer (I used 2 because one didn’t cover it all the way), then placed a third piece on the chair & pinned it, then draped it from the chair onto the drawer & slipped it underneath. So that will be your basic set up. Obviously this can be adjusted to the size of the piece. You can even shoot this on the floor if you want to, as long as your piece is facing the window and the light. I’ve shot things in front of the massive window in the GAID lab plenty of times, as an example. This method can be used with any kind of backdrop that you want, fabrics, whatever. You don’t even need a backdrop, if you have wood floors & you want that, then just set it up on the floor & it’ll look great!

Now, when photographing, you don’t want to cast a shadow onto your work, so you need to get yourself basically to eye level with your piece (hence why using a table is sometimes easier). This is the eye level shot for my piece

As you can see, that’s some pretty nice light right there. Then, photograph away! Reposition your stuff as you see fit, change up backdrops, etc.

As for that little contraption called the Color Checker: if you managed to get your hands on one, all you need to do is set it up in your set up so you can see it and the subject/piece, facing the same light that your subject/piece is facing. MAKE SURE NOT TO TOUCH THE COLORED PANELS. These are hand painted and very touchy. Take one photograph with it in the frame, then take it out & continue as normal. If you take the photos into Lightroom to edit, you can take the eye dropper and hit this square on the checker:

This will adjust your white balance perfectly & save you some work.

The most important part about shooting your own work is making sure you have a nice enough camera to photograph it with. There are plenty of places to rent equipment from, and if you do this while still in school, downstairs in the Digital Fabrication Studio you can rent some camera equipment that should work great. If you are in a serious pinch and you need these photos pronto dente, then you can use an iPhone or smart phone. I’ve photographed pieces on my iPhone in this set up and no one has noticed a difference. Obviously there’s a megapixel difference and when you zoom in on the computer you're going to notice. But if you’re simply printing it out on a resume or posting it to social media, chances are no one is going to catch it.

So there you have it! A simple way to photograph your work without too much hassle. Hopefully this helps you guys out a little bit with portfolio looming.

PS: This could also be used as a setup to film iPhone or iPad apps (wink wink).