__top__: Take Photo On Computer

Within an hour, she had professional-grade product photos. The next day, her coasters sold out.

Frustrated, she remembered a trick her designer friend once mentioned: “Take the photo on your computer.” take photo on computer

The moral? “Take a photo on your computer” doesn’t mean using the tiny built-in lens. It means using the computer as a —all at once. Sometimes the best camera accessory is the screen you already own. Within an hour, she had professional-grade product photos

She opened a blank white document fullscreen, cranked the screen brightness to maximum, and laid the coaster directly on top of the screen. The even, diffused backlight from the LCD turned the laptop into a makeshift lightbox. She grabbed her actual camera—an old DSLR—and tethered it to the computer using a USB cable. “Take a photo on your computer” doesn’t mean

Then she realized the real trick wasn’t the webcam.

She took twenty shots, tweaked the lighting by simply changing the screen color (white for bright, gray for moody), and instantly reviewed each image on the large display.