My photo taking "aha" moment!

This weekend I was working on my kit for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog and was trying to figure out a way to get better pictures.  My camera is not fancy and I don't have alot of photography skills.  I envy people who are able to get really great shots of their finished cards and layouts.  So I decided to poke around online and see how the kit clubs were showing off their products.  I noticed three things:

1.  Natural lighting
2.  Interesting backgrounds
3.  fun display containers

Here is what I came up with to try and integrate those things in my display photos. 

First I pulled out some white foam core boards that I had sitting around and some patterned paper:

Then I found a good, natural light source (a great window with lots of light...I also can use my front bay window) and put made a "stage" with the foam boards:

Pick some patterned paper and prop it up on the foam board (like wallpaper, but not glued down).  You could also use fabric and even put some cardstock down as the "floor":

Then just put the object in front of the patterned paper, get down on eye level and take the photo.  Looks prettier already!

I also decided to find some pretty containers to display some of my stuff that I wanted to photograph (a neat trick that I saw on alot of kit clubs).  My husband thought using a gravy boat was a bit nuts, but I like it.  I also turned the candle sticks upside down because the bottoms have more room to store things.  Look at how much nicer my embellishments look with a little TLC photography: