Brainchild Update: It’s A Girl!

Remember the brainchild I told you about a few weeks ago?  The raise-money-for-adoptions-via-online-thrift-store baby of mine? 

Well, she’s alive and growing.

Just kidding!  That’s not really her.  And I’m not really pregnant.  But some days, a girl’s just got to do what a girl’s got to do, right?

If you’re confused, read on:

As many of you so kindly pointed out, buying used clothing online has some drawbacks.  You can’t examine it for stains, you can’t try it on, you can’t match the colors…etc, etc, etc. 

BUT, you said if I could somehow manage to post good pictures…you might consider it.

So yesterday, since I was tired of web design and not in the mood to go out scavenging bargains…I decided to do a little experimenting with my (new!! thanks, Tim) camera.

My early attempts were pitiful.

Absolutely pitiful.

I decided to start with my stash of maternity clothes, mostly because they were all washed and ready to go (I did two huge loads of laundry while photo shooting and now have a whole closet full of ‘normal’ clothes to experiment with another day).

Here’s a few examples from take one:

Needless to say, I quickly realized that the ‘lay out on an air-mattress approach’ wasn’t going to cut it.  But what else was I to do?!  All my pregnant friends are at least 2 states removed.  And I sure don’t have a baby belly, even though I did overeat at Christmas.

Enter a plastic bag, three pillowcases, a belt, two bras, and a skin-colored cami.

Oh, yes.  Extra padding in all the right places.  Maternity model coming right up!

I still had a few more kinks to work out, though.  First, I tried taking pictures of my reflection in the mirror. 

Note to self: when taking pictures of one’s reflection in one’s guest bedroom mirror, one must disable the flash on one’s camera.  Once I realized that, the pictures turned out…okay.  Still not great–a little fuzzy, a little mirror distortion, a lot of awkward arm angles.  All in all–a self-portrait fail.

Next I tried positioning the camera so that the lens faced out into the room and the picture screen was reflected in the mirror.  I used this handy dandy little antique delft bowl (turned upside down) that just so happened to be on the bedside table to make a tripod of sorts. And you know what?  It worked fairly well.  All I had to do was set the 10 second self timer, position myself so that I was in the picture (I could see the projected image in the mirror), and let the camera do its thing!  Of course, I dinked around a little bit with the zoom and the room lighting–but here’s what I ended up with straight out of the camera:

Still not exactly professional, but a huge improvement from my initial air mattress idea, don’t you think?  I was pretty pleased with myself by the time I put my camera away for the day.

Later on, when I was looking through all the shots, I decided to get really brave.  I’ve never done much with photo editing software–but with nothing to lose, I figured I might as well see what the ‘edit photo’ button on Microsoft Office Picture Manager could do for me.  Quite a bit, actually! 

Oh, I’m sure I’ll continue tweeking and re-photo-shooting…but I’m pretty excited about my progress. 

Lastly (but not leastly) I opened an account on flickr so I can store my photos online, which will cut down on downloading time both from my end (blogging) and your end (loading my blogging).

Soooo, what do you think?  Any self portrait and/or modeling tips?  Would you buy that cute denim maternity top for oh, say, $3-$4, even if you couldn’t try it on?  Am I totally crazy?  Or just totally cute with a pillow-case belly?  (I e-mailed a picture to Tim, and he said it was pregolicious.  I’m taking that as a good sign, even though when I showed them to Pop, he just laughed and laughed and said, “Well, I guess you can’t believe much of what you see anymore!”.) 

Continuing on, my brainchild still needs a good name (the working title is currently Adopt Me Thrift), a good website (there is absolutely no way I’m going to be able to create what I have pictured in my head.  No way.  But maybe with Tim’s help?), and a bunch more inventory bought, photographed, and posted.  Sigh.  Can anyone say 11 month gestation?  That’s my goal: up and operating (assuming I’m still gung ho about the whole thing) next November 1, just in time for National Adoption Month 2011 (think of the potential publicity!).

Until then, you can find me at the drawing board.