What camera do you use?

[Ian]

I'd love to know how many of you get those crisp, finely detailed pictures of your work. I just traded in my Kodak for a Nikon Coolpix. I know it's not the priciest camera around, but it's a 10 megapixel and I still can't get the quality I want. What do you use for lighting? Do you back up and use the zoom? This is frustrating to say the least.

Ian

[Windy]

Ian,

Here is a link that should answer most of your

questions.

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/

WINDY

[Ian]

Hey Windy, what a great link. I'm going to get started on building a decent phot space.

Thanks much

Ian

[Denise]

Ian, here are a couple of threads on this forum that talk about cameras and photography as well. If you search "photography" and "photo" on the forum you will get more.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...;hl=photography

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...mp;hl=photo+box

[Hilly]

It really does not matter what camera you shoot with. The camera does NOT make the photographer! I've seen superb results with a point and shoot, and terrible results with a really expensive SLR with really expensive lenses. The opposite is also true.

Your best bet to get those crisp photos is to always use a tripod with a cable release or the auto timer, and make sure your tripod can handle the weight of your camera/lens combo.

[Ian]

Thanks for the links to the photography thread. Lots of good info there AND (gasp), I even broke down and read the manual that came with the camera. Why do I never think of that first

[JustWakinUp]

Ian,

I have a coolpix 8meg camera that I shoot my stuff with.

I built a light box for my stuff to go in. The thing I found

the most useful was the white light balancing and doing

the manual setting for it. It will allow you to get more

natural colors. Also if you're shootin in low light you can

bump your ISO but keep in mind it will get somewhat grainy.

If shooting tight shots, increase your aperature to 8 or so

decrease shutter speed, set white light balancing and always

use some form of tripod.

Good luck, photography is a fun thing.

[Ian]

Ian,

I have a coolpix 8meg camera that I shoot my stuff with.

I built a light box for my stuff to go in. The thing I found

the most useful was the white light balancing and doing

the manual setting for it. It will allow you to get more

natural colors. Also if you're shootin in low light you can

bump your ISO but keep in mind it will get somewhat grainy.

If shooting tight shots, increase your aperature to 8 or so

decrease shutter speed, set white light balancing and always

use some form of tripod.

Good luck, photography is a fun thing.

Thanks for the tips. I can see there's a lot to explore. Darn. I think I feel a new hobby coming on. Best thing with digital vs 35mm is it costs nothing to experiment. Remember the days when you had to wait days to get your pictures back, only to find that only 1/4 were usable?

[JustWakinUp]

If you have any questions about the camera i'm ooober familiar with it, just let me know. I'll be glad to help out.

You'll be taking professional looking shots in no time

[mooshi]

I shoot with a Canon 40D Digital SLR.

Mooshi

[ChuckBurrows]

I take all of the photos for the items I sell on my website www.wrtcleather.com (the yearly galleries are my newer /better work) and here a few tips:

1) Get a decent tripod - even with the new cameras and their image stabilization this can help

2) With the tripod I like to use the built in timer - it helps prevent any user induced shake

3) Since you are "painting with light" get some good decent lights - for not a lot of money you can get the 5000K Daylight CFL bulbs in 100-150W. I use those cheap clmpa on aluminum reflector work lamps that will take up to a 150W bulb. 3 or 4 is good to start - more is better, but not absolutely necessary. You can also take photos out doors under the right conditions, but have a light set up negates the problems of weather.

4) I prefer reflectors rather than a light box, but both can be put to good use and are relatively cheap. For instructions on a light box see here http://knifenetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26222

For reflectors I use large white poster board and jerry rigged holders - old music stands can work good to hold the boards and have the added bonus of being adjustable.

5) Use the correct white balance setting on your camera - indoors, outdoors, etc.

6) Get a decent photo editing program and learn how to use it to crop and tweak your images: Photoshop Elements (the "baby" to the full blown Adobe Photoshop) is great and can be found at a decent price. Irfan View is a freebie and is quite good overall.

7) Use the largest image size setting possible on your camera (i.e. 1600x 1200, 2048x1536, etc) - if you've got a TIF setting even better since it is better to work with for editing (RAW is even better but I leave that to the pros). This allows you to have the best raw material to work with. ALWAYS save the original image and begin your editing with a copy (i.e File Save As). If working with JPG remember it's a lossy format - every time you edit a JPG file, save it and then reopen it to edit it again, you loose quality - another reason to use TIF when possible for editing purposes since it is not lossy. Once you're satisfied with the edited image save it for the Web as a JPG at no less than 60% quality when possible - this will prevent any quality loss and yet will keep it at a file size that is speedy enough to not slow your site down - a file size of no larger than 150K is good whenever possible. Image size wise - I generally save at a 600px as the largest dimension, but up to 800px largest dimesnion is usually not too slow with todays faster internet connections as long as the file size is 150K or smaller. Still a larger image size = a larger file size so be aware. Also save at 72dpi for the web (Adobe standard) or at most 96dpi (Windows standard), any higher resolution is wasted until HD monitors become more widely used.

8 ) Learn your camera - learn how to use the various settings i.e aperture mode, exposure, sharpness, etc. If need be get a decent learner's book on general digital photography and read it. Once you understand the basics of your camera take photos at each of the settings of the same image with the same lighting so you can see how they change the image.

9) Although I like using artistic backgrounds the simplest background to use is a plain medium battleship gray background - the gray back of a poster board is about right - gray is the most neutral of colors to the cameras eye. Once you learn how that works for you spread your wings if you so choose - "telling a story" with props while at the same time hi-liting your wares is a good selling aid. Red by the way is one of the hardest colors to use well as a background since it tends to "flare" and add to your problems.

10) Learn how to use the mechanical zoom - turn off the digital one and the macro mode - both are helpful for details shots.

11) For speed on your site link the full size image to thumbnails - there are several easy to use photo album software packages available on line for free - I use JAlbum for my site with a tweaked layout.

Well hopefully that helps out. FWIW I make no claim to taking the best images, but I receive compliments on my work frequently even from the pros. Bottomline - GOOD photos are an essential for successful selling on the web - as a full-time maker this is very important to me.

It doesn't necessarily take high end pro equipment. Mine is no where near optimum - my camera is an older 3 MEG Sony, but it has a nice big light gathering Zeiss lens and is entirely adequate for the web. My jerry rigged lighting "equipment" has a couple of my friends who are pro photographers shaking their heads in wonder, but they admit I make it work for me.......good luck and any questions ask away....

[Jovial]

I just figured that I'd add a little something to your great response Chuck.

2) Tripods are a must for that "tack" sharp photo that you want in my opinion. Just be aware that if you are using the tripod the Vibration Reduction functions can sometimes introduce shake to the photo. For normal use this isn't a problem but be warned that if you are using a tripod to get a nice tight close up shot of carvings or fine detail that you really should turn it off when using a tripod.

4) Another possibility is a softbox light setup too. It will let you get a nice diffused light source for softer shadows, and unless you wan't truly "professional" shots most people are fine with the sets you can get at reasonable prices off of Amazon.

5) If you have the software capability the absolute best way to set your white balance is to actually get a pure white card and set a custom white balance for the series of photos. If you place the card in front of your items and photograph it you can use it to set your white balance. Software wise the methods will be different but as a generality when setting custom white balance in the most simple form you are telling the program what in your picture is pure white and it corrects the scene's light color. After selecting this you can apply that correction value to pictures taken at the same time/light setup/scene.

6)Don't forget that Gimp offers the similar if not the same power as Photoshop. Be warned of the learning curve however.

7)An addendum to the resolution size that Chuck pointed out is to also be aware of your ISO settings. The higher this is set the more noise you get in the picture. Noise removal can only go so far on the software side before you start to lose some serious image quality.

10) Digital zoom is a big no-no if you want quality photos. One never needs more zoom unless working with a macro shot. Maintain photo quality by positioning the camera closer. If getting closer sacrifices your "ideal" perspective of your product then fall back to optical zoom.

11) For photo albums a great option that also offers you the ability to do almost all of the necessary editing non-pros need Adobe Lightroom 3 is a powerful option that is less expensive than its bigger brother Photoshop. It can also generate full featured photo albums in multiple mediums (php, html, flash)

Just remember the best camera is the one you have with you. All it takes is knowing your equipment so that you can make it work for you.