The photographic “vision” for “Take the Plunge” came early in the design process… unusually early! I hadn’t even finished designing some of the items when I knew exactly how I wanted to shoot the book. As the months rolled on and the samples were knit, washed, blocked, and ready to shoot – COVID, a gas shortage, and health issues (for both camera mom and me) kept hitting the snooze on our plans. I debated strongly about “just getting it done” locally as my Aunt and Uncle live 8 hours away (round trip). But the idea God gave me just wouldn’t shake free.
So, with just weeks left before the release of “Take the Plunge” (PDF version), we managed our trip down to Raleigh! I was overjoyed.
The shoot was going well. Camera mom was getting great natural light highlighting the knitting and jolly yarn from Malabrigo. And it was time for the “cover” shot – the one I’d been dreaming of for months! We did some “practice” shots before I “took the plunge”. On the count of three… one, two…
Aside: if you like the magic of the book, stop reading! As I mentioned before in “Fair Trade, Fair Price” I’m not a famous knitwear designer (after 10 years, that’s not changed) so I supplement the cost of production with photo editing jobs (and other freelance design work). By posting this blog I hope to show off what I can do in the hopes you (or someone you know) need a photo shop artist 😉. But it may demystify strictly knitters so heads up – proceed no further if you don’t want a peek behind the curtain!
Still with me? Okay, three!
Climbing out of the water, dripping wet knitwear dragging me down, I turned to camera mom. Did you get it?
WHAT??? We’d set the camera to burst shots and all the bursts were taken of me inhaling before I’d even taken flight. Okay let’s not let that happen again – we’ll do some more trial jumps with the wet cropped version!
All set, attempt 2. This was my last dry Plunge sample. Fingers crossed. Deep breath and…
NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
Always the optimist, I decided to play in the water to see if any other shots would work. Got some fun ones, but not the cover I had in mind.
Back in the mountains another trip to Raleigh wasn’t a possibility so with camera mom on a ladder with my camera and camera dad on a step stool with my cell phone camera (taking no chances this time) and Puddles by my side. I jumped, leaped, and otherwise made a complete humorous fool of myself 😉.
To photoshop, Batman!
And this
Became this
So excited! Yes, it was a “fake” photo, but it was based in reality 😉.
With the fun I had, I decided to tweak another one for the book. In this case, two burst shots got blurred together into one.
Shot 1 
Shot 2 (what a facial expression!) 
combined!
Thanks for reading!
If you’d like to “Take the Plunge” you can pick up your copy of the book in print here or PDF here (payhip, Ravelry, Lovecrafts). If you’d like to hire me to make some photo magic for you, contact me on Upwork here!