Photography and a Design Tip

I decided to start doing the white background for my jewelry, so I'm slowly transitioning all my pieces to white and I'm actually enjoying the photography itself.

I take all my pictures outside on my shaded front porch. I set my white balance to "cloudy day" and make sure that I've got a lot of light coming into the shot. (I think that's the F-stop? Somebody correct me if I'm wrong) I just know how to work it on my camera, if I got a new camera it would take me another month to get my dials right.

I'm getting better and the shot below has had no photo editing done to it except for cropping it to make it square for Etsy.

 All of these newly photographed pieces with their super stark white backgrounds are now in my Etsy shop. The Steampunkery above are all the pieces from this summer's issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry.

I thought I'd leave you today with a design tip. My newest obsession is Design Star on HGTV. I love watching a bunch of people get creative within the same set of parameters.

This is my living room in the new house and when we moved in, I knew it was going to be a challenge with the strange half-high ceilings in the room, so here's what I did:

Using a laser level, I taped a line all the way around the room that was level with the half-ceiling above the fireplace. The bottom of the room is painted a kind of sagey green while the top half is painted two hues up but in the same color family. (It looks almost the same color as the ceiling, but it's not by just a hair)  

My main reasons behind this:

1. I wanted to break up what would have been these huge walls of just one color.

2. I wanted to make a clean transition where the wall juts out.

3. I didn't want to paint the ceiling, and I also didn't want that stark transition between the wall color and the ceiling color where there was no crown molding.

If you're thinking that your house needs a bit of an update, I can't tell you how a fresh coat of paint makes a room feel. If you've got sofa pillows, or a great painting, pick a different color from either of those that will still flow really well with your furniture and re-paint the room, it's an instant update and it makes the whole house feel new and clean.

Good luck!

Oh, and I HIGHLY suggest Design Star on HGTV if you want more great ideas!

Enjoy your week!