Playing with a Feather and Photography

I did a little free motion quilting practice yesterday in the thoughts that I could use the result as a background image for some new business cards.


The quilting was fun, the colors fabulous. I used a variegated turquoise, purple and teal thread from Superior Thread's Rainbows line on black Kona cotton.

I forgot how hard it is to photograph black quilts. Not to mention I am severely lacking in photography skills.


There's the flat horror of using the flash:


Poor focus, even though I used a tripod and the 2 second timer to keep from shaking the camera:


Used the landscape setting by mistake instead of the portrait setting which gives a better focus at close quarters:


If you can't beat them, join them......Something about the above photo clicked with me. Fiddle some more with camera settings and it's starting to look like an artistic background.


Now to go fiddle with the computer to make my business card. But which one will I use?


Maybe I'll stick to the above picture. I sometimes feel like I'm at the eye doctor when trying to edit a number of pictures, "Which one looks better, One or Two? One or Two?"

What do you think?

19 comments:

  1. Beautiful, I love the last one, but also the blurry one IS really cool.

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  2. The bottom picture looks gorgeous! I would use that one!

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  3. Things to consider, is the pic going to fill the complete business card, if so what color will the lettering be, will it show up when printed over the pic, will the pic be too distracting or make the main focus of your contact info "disappear", will printing the pic at 100% coloration cost more to print. Personally I would use the out of focus one and have it fade out even more. Your contact information should be the made focus. Another option would be to have a small thumb nail pic of the last one on the card.

    I love the thread you used.

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    1. I’m thinking I might do a vertical card with the pic on the upper half and black on the lower with white or turquoise lettering for my info. Or I might use the blurred one, cropping to get the lighter portion to then do a white transparent overlay with black lettering.

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  4. Awesome quilting! The last one and the first blurry one are best. imho. After seeing a photo of one of my quilts, I'm horrible with a camera; a quilt author suggested that taking photos of quilts from an angle while they hang vs straight on spotlights the stitching and texture.

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  5. I prefer the sharp image, since it's about quilting, not simply artistic design

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  6. I like the 3rd to the last one that is out of focus. The last picture is great but I think it might be hard to read lettering on it if it's for a business card.

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  7. I find the crisp image easiest to look at. Would you not put your details on one side of the card and the image on the other side?

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    1. That's a great idea! I hadn't really thought about the other side of the card.

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  8. The very first one at the top of the post seems best hands-down to me.

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  9. Your quilting is amazing. I love the second one for a business card.

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  10. Well, whatever picture you select...the quilting is amazing!!

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  11. I like the clearer ones, at the bottom and the top.
    It will look great with the photo one side and text the other, as you have said you would do. Will you use the blues of the threads for the text? Or maybe they are too light to show up well on card, unless the card is similar to the background colour of the cloth you quilted on? Brilliant quilting by the way. I'll be glad when I am that good! cheerio

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  12. I am also liking the very first pic in the post.The depth of field adds way more interest....and put your info on the other side.

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