I Can’t Show You This Yarn

I’ve dyed two skeins of my lovely sparkly Lucina yarn in the colourway Southeasterly.  It’s an amazing blend of deep purples and seaweed greens.  The sparkles in the yarn shimmer in the light, and it is absolutely gorgeous.

And my camera simply won’t photograph it.

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My camera has always struggled with purples.  Time and time again, they come out more blue than they really are.  I’ve tried adjusting all sorts of things on the camera — the white balance, the colour settings, the exposure compensation — but to no avail.  I’ve tried manipulating the colours after I download the picture to make them more realistic, but they refuse to play. Purples come out blue, and a horrid garish blue at that.  And so I have no way to show you what this yarn really looks like.

Which is a real shame, because it’s beautiful.  It took my breath away when I pulled it out of the dyepot.  The colourway is Southeasterly and is much like the yarn I dyed in this colourway before

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But this time, it’s so much more intense, so much more striking.  And then with the sparkles too…

I wish I could show it to you, I really do.  But you’re just going to have to believe me when I say it doesn’t look like this.  It really doesn’t look like this — it is so, so, soooo much better.

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And if there are any photographers out there who can tell me what I am doing wrong, I’d be incredibly grateful for any suggestions.  …Or, better yet, if there are any knitting photographers who want to come round and give me a lesson on capturing better purples, there might be a skein or two of yarn in it for you..!

The Lure of Yarn Photography

There is something about photographing yarn…

I just love to do it.  I don’t consider myself much of a photographer, but when it comes to yarn, it seems so easy to get really stunning photos…

To put the macro lens on and then get in there nice and tight, really get the detail of the fiber,  so close you can almost feel it…  almost smell it…

And when the light is soft, the sun setting at the end of a glorious summer day…  And when the yarn is pure silk that grabs that light…

And reflects it straight back to the camera, so the light seems to float, the yarn fairly glows before the lens…

Well, I find it really hard to stop taking pictures…

There’s a reason it’s called Yarn Porn!