repeat (repeat) photographs

a little insight on how to take photos in an organized and streamlined way.

we knew the huge box of letters (217 of those bad boys) was worth the price we paid, but we still had to take pictures, edit and list each one of them...all the while making our listing price ($2.50) worth it. and, for a while, the thought of taking all those photos overwhelmed me and annoyed me, so the letters stayed in their box. and then, one sunday, i just decided it was time.

along with my regular photo props (table, white poster board, tripod), i also rounded up a chair, little removable sticker and a sharpie.

i had both letters and numbers to take photos of, so i thought through how i would label them all --so it would be consistent, and more important, easy to understand down the road when our thought process was forgotten and all we had were 'letters in our shop.' so, for the letters, Z1, Z2, Z3 and so on. and for the numbers 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b....etc.

so, for example, i grabbed all the Zs. there were four of them. i made little stickers with the code number on them Z1 - Z4...and set the stickers aside.

next, since all the letters were the same size, i made light marks (so they aren't seen on the photos) on the poster board on the edges of where each letter will be placed for the photograph. by using a tripod and making these marks, i spend far less time getting the piece in the right spot and getting the camera in the right spot and focused in the right place.

*this was the last piece of the puzzle to figure out,
but by far, the best and most crucial piece too.

i didn't want the sticker to be on the plastic when i took the picture, but i also knew i needed the sticker in the picture so i knew how to name the file when i edited it. my solution? since i knew i was going to crop to a square, i could look in the view finder, and place the sticker on the wall right out of the square area around it. (another reason to keep the tripod and letter in the same location). i put a tiny x on the spot i needed to put all the stickers.

then, right after i took the picture, i took the sticker off, put it on the bottom corner of the letter, and started a stack. and then repeated. and repeated. and repeated.

this is the photo right out of the camera. see the itty bitty white mark half way between the Z and the right edge? that's the sticker.

after i took the 200+ photos, i had to edit them. believe me. they sat for a few days. i didn't want to see a plastic letter for a good while. but, since my system, and therefore my photo, gave me what i needed, i didn't worry about forgetting little idiosyncrasies.

now, re-read this 217 times. 
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz