We love seeing your projects made in Red Heart yarn! You share tons of pictures on social media, especially on Facebook and Instagram (#redheartyarns). We've gathered some tips for you to take better pictures of your projects, so the focus is on your hard work and everyone can see what you're doing. 1. Use a decent camera. The camera on your smartphone is most likely completely fine; we take many of our blog pictures with our phone cameras! If you have an older phone, however, it might not take very good pictures. A newer smartphone will probably take nicer pictures than the point-and-shoot digital camera bought several years ago. 2. Clean up the background. Remove as much clutter from the background of the picture as you can, so the focus is on the projects. In this context, "clutter" can be objects, but also patterned backgrounds such as a striped rug or floral sofa. Compare these two pictures -- even though they are otherwise poor quality, see how much difference a clean background makes? 3. Minimize shadows by using natural light and no flash. Natural light looks much better than artificial light! We know it's quite tempting to stay up late to finish a project, weave in your ends, and then take a picture to show it off. But your hard work will look so much better if you wait until morning to take that final picture. You don't need to go outside for natural light; just move near a window and adjust the blinds. Depending on the time of day, you might need to adjust your location. Strong shadows can distract viewers from your project. 4. Post large pictures. If you post a small picture, we might not able to see all of the detail. Go ahead and post the picture at the largest size your phone or camera will take. The social network will scale it smaller for you. 5. Give context to your picture. If you crop in super tightly on your project, it can be harder to see what it is and how big it is. If you have your yarn in the picture, it can add some interest and give a sense of scale. 6. Steady the camera. If the picture is blurry, we won't be able to see your hard work. 7. Take multiple pictures from different angles. Experiment to find the best shots! You can share one or many images on social media.
