After yesterday’s post, a reader wrote in asking me to print an unobstructed shot of Big Momma. In all actuality, I did not have that sort of shot until last night after my friend Dan, a professional photographer, came over to do the shoot for me.   Although I usually do all my own photographic work, I do it by luck, not by knowledge, as I have never had any instruction.  It was as much fun  to watch him work as it was to receive the  finished professional shot.

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First of all, it’s not an easy job to shoot a large, dark, piece of fiber art.  Dan got a good likeness in both tone and color.  (He did not even have to photo shop the image to make it perfectly straight and square!)

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He used four times as many lights as I do, positioning them at angles, several feet from the rug, each at equi-distance spots on each side.

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I usually just make a spot on the wall and shoot  - immediately outside of the line of sight ,the room is usually in chaos.  Dan had me move away everything that was remotely  close to the rug so there could not be any  unwanted shadows or reflections.  (Luckily, he stayed around and helped me move things back!)

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One would expect a professional photographer to have all sorts of snazzy equipment and that’s exactly what Dan brought.  The only thing I provided was the Diet Coke.

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It took much longer to set up for the shot than it did to actually do the shooting.

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I usually get on my knees to pray for a good shot – Dan gets on them to do a light check.

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After almost 1.5 hours of prep time, the actual shoot took just moments.  However, it was worth all the effort.