Challenge Yourself -- Change Up Your Photography

It would be surprising and weird if an oil painter created a huge, beautiful canvas of gorgeousness and then tossed it on the floor...under a table of 3 year olds eating chocolate cake and strawberry jam.


It would be a little uncomfortable to watch a high fashion designer create the most beautiful dress (that surprisingly actually covered all body parts for the first time in fashion history) and then see him crumple it up and throw it to the bottom of a laundry basket and then cover it with army uniforms from a 3 week field exercise. (My husband says they don't shower on those things.) (I told him they should.) (I didn't win.)


It would break my little heart to know that talented cookie ladies and gents don't care if or how they take photos of their incredible and unique creations.You are too talented to let it all fade into oblivion.


By their very nature, your cookies are intended to be eaten. Destroyed, in fact. They can, and should, disappear without a trace or second thought. And then what? I hope that first, you are taking photos of your proudest creations. (And even some of the not-so-proud creations. We all need to look back sometimes and see how we've changed.)


And I hope that second, you are giving some thought to the photos you are taking. You don't have to buy the most expensive camera on the market.... but you can if you want. You don't have to take photography classes... but take them if you are interested. Spend hours taking photos...ONLY if you want to. Two minutes is fine too. Using props? Again.... totally up to you. Do what everyone else does.... or DON'T do what everyone else is doing.... but for heaven's sake.... don't keep doing what you've always done.


The best way to challenge yourself is to change. Do something uncomfortable. You will never get faster at running by lying on the couch. And you will never take better photos unless you try. If you usually photograph your cookies on a plate from straight above... put them on a piece of paper and shoot from a 45 degree angle.

 If you usually photograph white-on-white... try a black background.

 Pile your cookies all together...

... or line them up neatly.

Take photos on a book shelf...

or patterned scrapbook paper.

Take photos of the whole set...

...or just one cookie.

You don't have to be amazing at taking photos.... You just have to try. Your challenge, for the month of March, is to change up your photography. And your prize?

A 2ftX3ft vinyl photo backdrop from ink and elm. And let me just say that if you've never seen their site, go ahead and pencil out the rest of your day. They make BEAUTIFUL backgrounds!!

MARCH CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

1. Try something different with your photography. Anything at all that you want to try that is different from how YOU normally do it is okay!
2. Please make a new set of cookies for this challenge instead of linking to a set you made previously. You have an entire month. There's no rush here.
3. Post a link to your photo down below before midnight on March 31st.
4. You may enter as many sets as you like, as long as you are trying something different with each of them.
5.  Winner will be drawn via random.org and will have one week to reply.


Oh --- one more thing. You do NOT have to have a blog or public Facebook page to participate! You can post photos at the Cookiers R Us Forum or on Flickr. Both are free to sign up. Upload your photo. Click on your photo and then grab the link from the top. Click on the blue "Add Your Link" button below all the pictures and paste that link. 

And... actually a few more things. If you *are* interested in taking better photos, here are some great links to get you going --
Parchment Paper Light Box from The Bearfoot Baker
Cookie Photography for Dummies from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle
Photo Editing for Cookie Makers
A Collection of Photo set-ups
Make Your Own Photo Background  from The Bearfoot Baker



Georganne
Georganne

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