I'm tired of my quilt photos not being up to scratch, and am hoping someone can shed some light.

I'm using a Canon S2IS and a tripod. I'm using auto, but am happily playing with settings to get accurate colours. But whether I take the photos inside or out, with flash or without, although the centre of the quilt is usually sharp, the edges are not - of course it is worse with bigger quilts. They're hung vertically and anchored so they stay as flat as possible and don't move, and I position the camera centrally. So what am I doing wrong?

I'd love any suggestions please!
Thanks.

It sounds as though you are using the incorrect aperture. Is it possible for you to post the settings you were using? If they were hung vertically this is no doubt the reason. Instead of using f3.5 or something similar you may need to go up to something like f11. You would definitely need to use a manual mode to achieve this as most p&s cameras are set up for portraiture I believe.

HTH
Cheers, Cass

If the whole quilt is on the same plane of focus (ie flat and square to the camera) it should all be in focus if part of it is. Perhaps the lens on your camera is not sharp to the edges? You might be able to find out how the camera performs in this regard somewhere like http://dpreview.com.

I agree, sounds like your aperture is too big.. are you standing above it while its on the floor or something else?
If so that sounds like what it would be.

Hi Emma: Nothing new to add, I also think it's an apperture thing. Just wanted to say G'day LOL.

(Anyone seen this chicks quilts? They are absolutely DIVINE )

I did check out the quilts. They are wonderful!

Thanks for the tips and comments! I've another quilt close to completion, so will switch to manual and change the aperture settings when I photograph it. I'll see if I can record which settings I use so can see which work best.

I just had a look at the photo details in flickr (how do I view them elsewhere, without having to upload them?) and they show the aperture at f4 (as Cass pretty accurately guessed), and mention a 'target aperture' of 11.7 - is this suggesting that would be a better option right there for me? If so, it certainly confirms your suggestions! I'll try it out as soon as I can,

Hey lovely,

I would suggest you find a shadey spot to hang your quilts well out of any breeze so they don't move at all. Then set your camera up on a tripod or a table if your don't have one to limit camera shake. Set your apperture to maybe betweeen 8 and 11 (I am not great with smaller appertures so someone else may be able to help you out here much better). Get as much soft light happening as possible. The more light the faster the shutter speed you will be able to use.

They're hung on the back verandah - almost touching the wall, and anchored at the bottom - and I photograph them before the sun is directly on them. Now if the weather would cool down, I'd set my next one up and test the apertures out; I'll try a few F-stops for comparison.

It didn't work

I tried every f-stop, with all the other settings on auto, and then manually setting the exposure. The photos seem more out of focus than ever, and the colours are awful!

I was hoping this would be an instant fix (yes, optimistic I know!) so I could get the quilt photographed this morning and mailed this afternoon - now it won't get off until next Tuesday.

Hi,
I'm not sure what your camera can and can't do, but have you tried changing the metering mode? Oh hang on, that's just for lighting . I'm getting there girls

i also agree with the larger apperture. But with that in mind i learnt something called the 'who cares appeture' for subjects on the same plain which is a f8 to 11.

I would also do the metering thing and have it on matrix (or whatever yours is called on your camera. This will have the exposure correct for everything in the frame).

Good luck

May be a long shot but have you adjusted the viewfinder focus to suit your eyes?

Do you have a steady hand? perhaps moving as you push the shutter release? What is your ISO set to? What is the fastest shutter speed you used? I think if it were me I would start at f/8 with my ISO on 400 and set my shutter speed to get the correct exposure. If I still couldn't get a fast enough shutter speed I would bump the ISO to 800. And seriously consider a tripod or something else to sit the camera on to eliminate camera shake.

Hi Emma!

Another tip - use the timer function on your camera so there is absolutely no way you can move it once it's set up on the tripod and timed to shoot on it's own. I still haven't managed to photograph my own quilts properly yet so probably no help, but I think if I actually had time to try properly it wouldn't be so bad. Normally I am photographing them at the end of the day when the light is it's worst and I'm trying to get the shot in quickly before the sun goes down, or before Austy gets into something he shouldn't or he melts down because he's so tired.