How do you photograph your quilts

[Wanda M.]

Hi Everyone, I've added a couple of quilts to my profile lately and it occured to me that it's pretty tricky getting a good photo. I find that with a medium to small quilt, I can hold it out nice and flat while standing on a chair and my DH takes a photo. With a bigger quilt that's wider than my "wing span", it's hard to stretch it far enough for it to hang straight. (my Santa quilt).

How does everyone else do this? We've thought of clothes pinning it to the gutter, getting another person to hold it with me, etc.

I know "the photo guy" has tips, but they don't always work in our homes. Ideas? NA in sunny NY

[Wanda M.]

Nancy,

My DH, bless his soul, helped me to put hooks on either side of the white garage door. I then took a pole no longer being used in the old hoghouse, but U can easily get a section cut at the local hardware store and I ran heavy clothesline rope thru the pole, made a permanent loop at one end and then left the other end that is wrapped around the opposite hook straight. I do put sleeves on all my quilts now and they slide on the pole easily and with only a step ladder I am abe to get my pics done. Most of the time I have no one here to help, but an extra hand is nice if it is available. When done, I just wrap the rope around the pole and put it away until it is needed again. BTW, I did try using just the rope 1st, but the quilts sagged in the center. Hope this gives you an idea of what may work for you.

TTFN, Linda in SD

[Wanda M.]

For most of mine I laid them out on the bed upstairs and then held the digital camera as high in the air as I could to look down on them. For my MIL's we hung it on the clothesline outside, but it was too low so the bottom folded over :cry: My next big one I am going to try and find a way to hang it on the side porch railing.

[Margo C.]

The latest issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine has an article about a quilt guild that found a way to hang quilts from the ceiling for their annual quilt show. It involves a couple of pieces of chain and binder rings to hold up the poles and the height is adjustable! I work in our unfinished basement, and am going to try this system from the ceiling joists! Yet another advantage of working down there, but it does limit the pictures to the height of the room.
Let me know if you need to see the picture from the magazine!

[Eileen K.]

Didn't Ricky and Alex have their photo guy-Gregory Case-do a demo on how to photograph quilts?
eileenkny 8)

[Eileen K.]

my most recent quilts/pics (1st and 3rd on my profile) have been done by taking my design wall outside to get good light-- my wall is 2 4x8 sheets of heavy foamcore, with white polar fleece pinned into the top. It's "sticky" enough to hold a completed quilt (although my current project may be too heavy... )
Now, if I only wasn't always in such a hurry, I could probably get some really great pics, but I tend to be finishing right up until deadline, so the photo is almost an afterthought....
prior to these, most were DH holding, (his wingspan is far greater than mine!) or a son on each corner. Once DH was standing on the top of his truck to keep the quilt off the ground! Thank goodness for photo cropping!
Florence

[Eileen K.]

I built myself a quilt rack. Originally I used it only at the annual quilt show to highlight our group's favorite quilt. But now I use it to hang out in the garden to display my quilts. I do this when the ground is dry. It only took 4 2x4s and a dowel to build it and I did it myself.

If I need to I can crop my picture so the quilt is highlighted. I sometimes have to edit the pictures in a photo editor software.

Hope this helps.

[Eileen K.]

I usually hang my bed-size quilts on the clothesline outside on an overcast day and then take pictures. Works well....except in the winter when the quilts end up hanging in the snow!

[Eileen K.]

My Bjoern makes a greate quilt rack when it comes to BIG quilts...you would never know he is there :lol: But ever so often I LOVE to take my quilts outside :wink:

[Lynn K.]

I hang them with OLD sewing machine needles on the wall over my bar that overlooks the living room. I use the old needles as they can't harm the fabric - they leave small small holes in the wall up high where no-one will see them, and then when I'm done, I have the bar back!

PS: Did you know you can use the graph paper tool in iPhoto to get them straight to crop exactly? Just learned that on my iMac which I'm still using as tho it was a PC. Hard mind-shift to make!