Cameesa - The Blog

New Cameesa Product Shots [Simple tutorial on Digital Photography]

Written by Kamil on November 14th, 2008

I learned a very valuable lesson this week: an entrepreneur must wear many hats and, at times, he must learn how to make his own hats too.  I was relying on a few friends and professional photographers to give me some pointers about taking new Cameesa product shots; fortunately, they were very busy and I decided to learn Digital Photography on my own.  Within a few hours I realized that the basics are actually pretty simple, and we were off to new product shots in no time.

Here is a quick explanation of digital photography and our new product shots.

When it comes to digital photography there are 4 important factors you must consider: lighting, film speed/ISO(sensitivity to light), aperture(amount of light), and shutter speed(time exposed to light).

Lighting

For quality shots, you want a well-lit background and an even better-lit subject.  Mark Apsolon has a great video on which lighs to use in your photo shoot.

In our case, we had five lights, two diffused lights shinning on the background wall, and three lights illuminating the subject (Andy).  Moreover, Andy stood 6.5 feet in from the background so his shadow did not appear in the shots. 

Film Speed/ISO

The film speed determines the saturation of the colors in the photograph.  Fast film (ie. ISO 80) requires a shorter exposure to the subject, and requires very good lighting; on the other hand, slow film requires (ie. ISO 1600) a longer exposure, but can be taken in darker areas.  If you are in a well-lit place, and objects are standing-still, then you want a low ISO,  like ISO 80.  However, if you are shooting something in a dark place, or are shooting fast-moving scenes, then you want something like ISO 1600.  Keep in mind that a high ISO number correlates to granularity in your pictures, so your pictures may come out blotchy.

ISO 100 & 3200
ISO 100 on left; ISO 3200 on right

In our case, we shot all of our pictures with ISO 80 in a well-lit environment.

Aperture (f-number)

Aperture controls the amount of light that gets into the camera.  The higher the f-number, then the less light will get into the camera, and more of the scene will be in focus; for example, f/32 will let little light into the camera and the entire scene will be in focus.  In addition, if you want the background to be blurry and the subject to be very focused and stand-out, then you should use a low f-number such as f/2.  Basically, aperture is used to adjust the depth of field in the picture.  Keep in mind that as you zoom in, the aperture may increase automatically.

f5 aperture f32
f/5 - wide aperture f/32 - narrow aperture

In our case, we used f/2.8 for all of our full t-shirt pictures because we wanted the background to be blurry and the subject to stand out. 

Exposure Time/Shutter Speed

Shutter speed controls the amount of time that the subject is exposed.  A fast shutter (1/500 sec.) can stop droplets of a waterfall because it is a quick snap, and has a short exposure time;  however, a slow shutter (1 sec.) speed can get that motion blur of a waterfall in moving pictures because the shutter is open for a longer time.  In terms of a stand-still picture, you want an exposure of about 1 second or a little lower so you can absorb the colors in the entire scene.

Shutter Speed
Long exposure of 25 seconds

In our case, the exposure was usually around 1/50 second so the colors in the picture were taken correctly

Summary

Majority of our pictures were shot at an ISO 80, with an aperture of f/2.8, and an exposure time 1/50 of a second.  Hope you guys learned a little about picture taking, and feel free to give us feedback on our new Cameesa product shots.

For more information

Check out this Tutorial on taking digital pictures.

Cameesa Tee Now Available in the Shop [New Cameesa T-Shirt]

Written by Kamil on November 13th, 2008

The long-awaited Cameesa Tee is now available in the Shop section of Cameesa.com.

A great big thank you goes out to Richard Fang (aka madeforyou) for designing it.  We are very excited about the way it turned out, check out the pictures below.

P.s., We have taken new product shots of our t-shirts if you want to check them out in the Shop Section.

Cameesa Tee

Cameesa Tee

Cameesa Tee


Categories: t-shirt Tags:

The Vinyl Lounge T-shirts are In [New Cameesa T-shirt]

Written by Kamil on October 31st, 2008

The Vinyl Lounge t-shirts are now available in the Cameesa Shop.

I was very excited and proud to wear ‘The Vinyl Lounge’ T-shirt, in memory of my best friend Gino.  I don’t think that it could have turned out any better.  For those that have not heard yet, there is a significant story behind The Vinyl Lounge.

Once again, thanks Ryan, and G, this one is for you:

The Vinyl Lounge

The Vinyl Lounge

The Vinyl Lounge

Day of Bad Rain T-shirts are In [New Cameesa T-shirt]

Written by Kamil on October 27th, 2008

We just wanted to let you know that our newest t-shirt, “the Day of Bad Rain” by the_jcw, can now be found in the Cameesa Shop.

Day of Bad Rain

Day of Bad Rain

Day of Bad Rain

Day of Bad Rain

Introducing ‘Assault Shirts’ [Our Chicago Friends also selling Tees]

Written by Kamil on October 17th, 2008

Assault Shirts Logo

I would like to introduce you to our friends, Assault Shirts.  In short, Assault Shirts is a Chicago-based T-shirt startup.  In long, it is an awesome place where you can find many artistic and cartoonistic designs….and can get custom tees made…..while looking at a futuristic, cutting-edge site.

Assault Shirts are experts at shirt customization, and they design t-shirts for bands, sports teams, radio stations, and pretty much everything else.  So, if you need a shirt but don’t know how to design then I highly recommend that you work with Assault Shirts to get your first t-shirt made.

Assault Shirts consists of three members: Tim, Candice and Craig, whom have been working on their sick site over the past 6 months.  Although, I haven’t had a chance to meet Craig yet (congratulations on the marriage), I know that Tim and Candice are some multi-talented cats.  Tim has designed, and is running majority of the the site, and Candice is contributing many of their slick designs, especially their best-seller, Chainsaw Killer Bunny

Chainsaw Killer Bunny

Finally, I highly recommend subscribing to the Assault Shirts Blog.   It is greatly written, and very informative.

The Takeaway: 1) Check out the site; 2) Check out the blog; 3) Order a t-shirt; 4) Be a good citizen.

Credit crunch affects the markets, what’s next…t-shirts? [Just for fun, T-shirt]

Written by Kamil on October 16th, 2008

I was reading a post on TroundUp today and came across something very unique, and interesting that needed to be re-iterated:

zipper t-shirt

Although it’s sold out, you can find out more about this shirt on Etsy.  It’s unfortunate that some companies have cut back on t-shirt materials.  What’s next, holes in the crotch area of Lucky jeans?

Categories: t-shirt Tags: , ,

the_jcw and madeforyou

Written by Viktor on October 5th, 2008

Congratulations goes out to the_jcw and madeforyou for making it to print. The_jcw for “The Day of Bad Rain” and madeforyou for the first Cameesa logo tee.

The Day of Bad Rain

The Cameesa Logo Tee

Categories: artists, fashion, t-shirt Tags: ,

PopCultureTees.com [Informal interview with founder, Liz]

Written by Kamil on October 2nd, 2008

A couple of nights ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with Liz, the founder of PopCultureTees, about her T-shirt blog,  influences, and, of course, her background.

PopCultureTees logo

Liz spent most of her life in Maryland, until she got a call from a screen printing company in Tennessee, where she would become a graphical designer.  Sounds like a big move to me, nice work Liz (I moved from TX to IL).  After a few years of working for the screen printer, she fell in love with t-shirts, t-shirt designs, and design theory/practice.  This is when she decided to start her T-shirt blog, PopCultureTees.

PopCultureTees is about 6 months old, and has gained a respectable following from the T-shirt community.  Liz mentioned that she was highly influenced by some very influential companies, Go Media, and 37Signals.  Liz writes majority of the posts, with a little help from her bf Jason, who happens to be a Unix admin (ComputerGeek like me).  Liz is a fan of other t-shirt sites such as: Troundup, Cottonable, and Tcritic.  Which we are also fans of.

PopCultureTees is a colorful t-shirt blog that gives you a look at the latest tees, with a little commentary from Liz.  It is greatly designed and has succinct posts displaying cool shirts that you may enjoy.  In my opinion, the best part of her blog are the descriptive/tutorial posts like Gradients and Halftones in Screen Printing (which I’ve already read three times) and So You Wanna Design T-Shirts? Part 1: There are THAT many ways to print a shirt?….btw, where is Part 2?  These posts give us newbies an insight of how things are done at the low-level of design.  I’ll be honest, I couldn’t design a STOP sign in Microsoft Paint…ha.

Liz, thank you for taking time out of your schedule to speak with me.  I learned a lot.  In this blog-loving world, I wish you the best of luck with PopCultureTees.

p.s. To learn more about Liz and PopCultureTees make sure to check out her interview with Remarkable Blogging.

p.p.s. Also, read Liz’s awesome advice on keeping your blog fresh.

p.p.p.s. Is this a letter or something, why am I using “p.s”….oh well.

T-World “The Journal of T-Shirt Culture”

Written by Viktor on September 21st, 2008

T-World

Found the mag at my local bookstore. Being the T-Shirt fanatic that I am I had to buy it after I saw it. The Australian based T-World is published bi-annually by Eddie Zammit and is currently on it’s fourth issue. I wish it was printed quarterly. Keep up the great work Eddie, the fourth issue looks awesome.

You can find T-World online at Uniform

It’s Arrived!

Written by Justin on September 16th, 2008

A pelican just came and dropped off a baby in my arms…but by pelican I mean mailman and by baby I mean my new Cameesa T-shirt! Take Me To Your Reader is extraordinary. I am so proud of this T! I have to let you in on my analysis: The shirt looks and feels great. The print is HUGE - and that gives it serious character. The ink feels as if it’s not even there. The American Apparel 100% Combined Cotton is so soft and will just get better wash after wash. It’s breathable and I won’t think twice about sporting it in the Austin sun. The inside print is awesome! I’m already hearing the comments I will get when I wear this… Wait, am I bragging too much about how much I like this shirt? Please forgive me ;-) Congrats to vonmonkey and to all who supported Take Me To Your Reader! I’ve been watching my support earnings go up and I know pretty soon it’s going to really take off. I hope all of you who have received your T-shirts, are waiting for yours, or are going to purchase one love it as much as I do!

Snazzy Inside Tag

My Reader

About

Cameesa is the brain child of Andrew Cronk, Kamil Chmielewski, Qasar Younis, Justin Lewis and Viktor Bezic. This blog is a set of semi-coherent musings from the start up front line as well as the things we find interesting. Based in Chicago, IL Cameesa was founded in 2007 as a platform for Artists and their Supporters to bring freshly designed T-Shirts to the public. To find out more visit cameesa.com

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