The three-dimensional world is often only ever seen in two dimensions: the documentation of your work is very important. Every designer should learn a thing or three about photography. The list of tips and tricks below will help you improve the photography of your work.

• Don’t delay. Work gets broken. Don’t wait for the ideal opportunity. Shoot your work now while it’s still alive.
• Don’t distract. Eliminate all background distractions. If possible, set up a seamless backdrop using some stiff card or plain fabric. White, black or grey works best. If the work is large, place it in as plain a room as you can find.
• Use a tripod. This permits precise framing and will keep your photos from being blurry.
• Use a decent camera. This isn’t as essential as you might think, but cheap cameras (and camera phones) can be hard to use on a tripod. Buy or borrow a digital SLR.
• Light evenly. In the absence of studio equipment (and knowledge), your primary concern should be even lighting. Conveniently, most CTSA classrooms feature relatively even illumination. Exterior light can also work well, though the light in the middle of the day can be very harsh and flat.
• Highlight selectively. If available, experiment with an auxiliary lamp or side-lighting to throw shadows and enhance definition. But don’t get too fussy with the lighting: focus on clearly presenting your work.
• Learn some basic Photoshop. You all have Photoshop on your computers. Start to use it. Play with everything found under the Image>Adjustments. But don’t overdo it: if I can tell it’s been Photoshopped, you’ve probably overdone it.
• Learn to manually set your camera. You’ll want to learn more about these settings one day, but for now (assuming you’re using a Canon DSLR — other brands will have the same controls but they may have different names) try the following. Set the mode dial to Av. Turn the control wheel until the screen reads F9. If you can’t see this information on the screen, press the Info button until it shows up.  Set the white balance — WB — to the type of light you’re using, likely either tungsten or fluorescent. Set the ISO to 100. Set the self-timer — a symbol that looks like a watch — to 2s. Press the button. When you have a chance, learn more about each of these settings so that you understand why I’ve recommended them.
  
• Take only what you need. You could try to shoot anything and everything about your work. Don’t. Instead, determine which images best represent your work, and maximize them. I typically ask for three images, and that’s all I want. Two distinctly different angles and a detail generally works well. But every piece is different, so give the choice some thought.