Glow-in-the-dark polymer clay can be a lot of fun to use, especially this time of year. But it can be difficult to show off the cool results online. Whether you want to sell your creations on Etsy or just show them off to your Flickr contacts, here are some general guidelines for getting good photos of your glow-in-the-dark creations:

• Use a tripod and your camera’s timer function (if it has one). A little shakiness can really affect photo quality in low-light, long exposure photos.
• Turn off your flash. (Seems obvious til you forget to do it! <g>)
• “Charge up” your glow-in-the-dark creation by keeping it in a bright place for a few minutes before the photo. This will ensure it’s glowing brightly.
• Find a very dark place for your photo. This is easiest to do if you can shut off all the lights except one lamp beside you. Put the object to photograph in place (preferably against a dark background such as a black posterboard), focus your camera, and get ready to press the button as soon as you turn off the light.
• Want to take matching daytime and nighttime shots? Since the nighttime shot will be the trickier of the two, take it first. Once you have a shot you like, leave the object in the same position and turn on the lights for your daytime photo. (I didn't do this for my photo above, thus the differences in angle and position.)

Tips for Camera Settings

Let me start this part by saying I'm not a photography expert. These are some of the things I've tried that seemed to give me good results. Any of you who actually know what you're talking about, feel free to correct my mistakes in the comments.

Now that that's out of the way...