I am often asked about my camera and how I take the photos to get accurate colours.
I have no training in photography at all, thank goodness for digital cameras!
The camera is a Canon EOS 450D, and I use a light tent and daylight photographic lights.
The yarns and fibres are lit from one side only because it gives a better impression of the light and shade and how that affects the yarn or fibre. None of us walk about in shadowless daylight, even in the height of summer at noon.
The background is cream children's art paper... about 1.20 a roll I think - I have tried the white background which came with the tent but I find the paper easier to use... I don't have to iron it for a start!
I don't tweak the photos for colour at all. I don't use photoshop or any other software and I use the iPhoto standard set-up on the mac to upload/download. Occasionally I adjust the focus, but I never adjust the colours.
You see what I see.
So, without further ado, I give you Do It Yourself 3 Ply.
After some thought I'm offering these as 50g half-braids. I planned to do them as one third braids but several of you said that for a three ply you would prefer 150g of fibre, and of course 2 x 50g is fine if you would prefer a two ply yarn.
Picking three colours at random.
A burnt orange/copper, a dusky pink and a warm chocolate. Who would have thought that the pink would fit so well.
The same chocolate and burnt orange but with a lemon yellow (including white zesty bits) instead of the pink. I haven't changed the camera settings or the lighting rig or position, this is just one photo after another.
Now let's try three new colours.
This time it's a group from the same sort of colour family, but the top one is a blue toned purple and the bottom is a pink toned one.
Keep the pink in the middle, and add a much brighter pink on top and a very bitter chocolate with blue/purple tinges at the base.
Keep the bitter chocolate which now looks much less warm without the neighbouring pinks, and add a duck egg blue-green and a sky blue.
And finally, keep the duck-egg and add olive green and a slightly paler blue.
Remember, I haven't adjusted the camera at all. The slight alterations in the background tone are entirely due to reflected light bouncing off the fibre and onto the paper.
All of these braids are hand dyed so within each one there is variation and movement, these are not flat toned machine made solids.
I will put these in the shop in an hour or two. There are eighteen colours which means (I think) at least a hundred different combinations ... I am sure one of the mathematicians amongst you can tell me the magic formula for working it out. (Please... I would really like to know!)
All of them are superwash BFL.
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