Through May, Red Heart has been hosting a Snap & Win contest! You can enter to win a $100 yarn prize package by sharing photos of your baby knits. I know this is the end of May and you’re looking at the calendar with a slight panic, but there’s still time left. This contest doesn’t wrap up until May 31st.
Dust off your tripods and get ready for the full photoshoot experience. Click through to enter the contest.
Let’s go over the requirements for submission to Snap & Win. I know this is always the most confusing part for me. The photos don’t have to actually have a baby in them, have no fear about getting permission from parents and scheduling time with a baby for a photoshoot. Your photos only need to have something knitted (or crocheted) for a baby, made with Red Heart’s yarn.
You don’t always need a baby as your model. This is a photo from a free pattern on Red Heart’s website called Personalized Baby Blanket. The pattern is for crochet, but can easily be adapted for knitting.
If you’re having trouble placing your garments in a favorable position without a model, and you have no cooperative baby handy, I suggest substituting fur babies. It will add a bit of interest to your photos. On more than one occasion I have shamelessly used my cats to model kitted things. I did have to bribe them with treats, pets, and no small amount of grovelling, but they didn’t seem to mind too much.
The love of knitting runs strong in my cats. This blanket was knit from Red Heart’s Super Saver yarn in a color that is discontinued.
Aside from the ah-mazing Snap & Win prize, your photo could be featured on Red Heart’s website. Try to get the best possible photo you can. A tip for photographing your garments; make sure you have excellent lighting. Natural lighting is best, colors are more true-to-reality and if you’ve done any fancy stitch work it will look great! While natural light is best, direct, glaring light is not. My favorite thing for diffusing natural light is sheer curtains. It softens the light very well, and they’re a neutral color, so it doesn’t give an unsightly hue to my knitting.
The photo is a little darker than I would like it to be, because normally you don’t try to show what is diffusing your light. Those would be the curtains I am talking about. Yarn doesn’t normally give off a glow, so why should it in your pictures?
For your actual submission, I have peppered the entry link throughout this article, you can also click here. There’s an enter contest button, which opens the submission form. You’ll be required to enter your name, email address, upload your photo, caption your photo, your birth date, skill level, and if your interest is knitting, crochet, or both. Then click the very large ‘Enter’ button beneath that! Officially entered!
With Love, the perfect baby garment yarn. Check in May 30, 2017 for coverage of the newest addition, Stripes!
Two winners will be randomly chosen and announced on June 8th, 2017. The Snap & Win contest will close May 31 at 3:01pm EST. I know we have many talented knitters out there; this is your time to shine! May your photos be adorable and good luck to all of you!