Inside the Studio...Tips & Tricks

We interrupt our normal posting to bring you this special feature on photographing and videoing your work.  :)

Turns out - a LOT of you would like to know how I photo and video.  So, I'm providing this inside look at my very unglamorous and cheap economical setup.  For starters is my camera.  It's a Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.  I didn't pick it out - a camera savvy buddy did and said I'd like it.  He's right.  It works, it's easy and I love it.

This is where I take photos of my work.  Currently it's all hanging from a shelf that spans two bookcases.

Under it is my cricut, and there's no extra table top area in my current setup, so it hangs from a shelf that came with the house.  Free!  The background is white foam core board that has been scored on one side and bent to form a bottom and a back.  There are three clamp lights I picked up from Target during the back to school sales that each hold a 75 watt (no idea what the new equivalent is) daylight bulb.  DAYLIGHT BULB is very important.  I only have one Ott light for my desk, so I use daylights in the photo area.

I do most of my work and photographing at night when there's no natural light.  This is why I have such a crazy setup.  Here's what it looks like all lit up like Christmas.  :)

I swear, between my overhead room light, my desk light and these three things, you can see the glow from my room at night in outerspace.  The hubs thinks I'm crazy, but he says do what works.  :)  It works.

Now - it looks okay, when I take a photo, but it still needs editing.  I use PicMonkey.  It's free, easy and fast - my cup of tea!  My blog friend and fellow consultant, Vicki Wizniuk, has already created an amazing tutorial on how she edits in PicMonkey.  I edit nearly identically to the way she does so there's no need to reinvent the wheel.  Go see Vicki's tutorial HERE and then head on back to me.

Here's what my desk looks like when it's video time.  Yep, those are the same lights.  Right now, I'm moving them over for videos.  After the total destruction and reinvention of my room (hopefully later this summer) I'll have a one spot setup so I won't have to move lights anymore.  That will rock.

You can see I currently set my tripod on some photo boxes for extra height....yep it's all about the glamour here.  I'm hoping to make a swing arm for the new spot because I really do work right around the camera when I video.  It's a little awkward for me, but it gives a great view for you guys which is what's important.  Most of the time I watch my hands on the camera screen but sometimes I need to peek around the side for a bit.

From there I edit in the software that came with my computer.  It's called Windows Live Movie Maker.  It's nothing special, just what I had and it has been fairly easy to learn and work with.  I don't put in a lot of complicated edits or fades and I'm usually talking the whole time so it works for me right now.  Maybe someday I'll get fancy.  For now, I'm sticking with what works.

I hope that helps answer some questions about my setup.  If you have any other questions, just ask in a comment below and I'll post the reply here so everyone can see.

Thanks for stopping by!