Photo remake...........

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Janster

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Nov 13, 2012
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Brad G commented on my original photo last week and I took his advice along w/the help of MMayo and although the positioning is not exact believe this is a nice improvement. I used a better camera and employed some lighting! Comments for yet better photos are welcome. Thanks and be well.........Jan

Before
LeRoiElegants_zpscfe93b22.jpg


After
After_zps4a634eda.jpg
 
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Kretzky

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Jul 6, 2012
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Overall Presentation is much better, but the new photos look slightly out of focus to me. When photographing items close up that are in different planes you really have to watch the depth of field & be sure what you're focusing on. One reason I dont like auto focus cameras.
 

BradG

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Jan thats much better :) and as you said its all a learning curve. What Kretyzky said is correct with the DOF being key. its something i have an issue with too as my camera auto focuses and this would really make your pens pop outof the picture being sharp, but youve moved in the right direction so not bad at all :biggrin:
 

jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
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NJ, USA.
I do not know what people are looking at but to me there is not much improvement. Could be my monitor. To me all you did is shoot in macro mode.

The pens are out of focus. If you are using Macro you need to be conscious of depth of field. If using any camera you need a tripod or some method to steady camera and preferably be able to use the timer on the camera as to not get movement.

Next you need more lighting. Your pens are a dark material so it will suck up some of the light source. You said you used MMayo advice. He showed his setup in one of the threads here just recently. You will see how he gets to consintrate a light source with use of light fabric. It cuts down on hot spots and glare.

I suggest if possible to take those same pens and take a photo outdoors and see the difference. Taking photos outdoors is a great way to practice because it gives you a sense of where the light source has to be.

Just some thoughts and an opinion.
 
Last edited:

alphageek

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Jul 19, 2007
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Green Bay, WI, USA.
Its definitely a step in the right direction.
The composition has improved 300%:
- Consistant background color
- no change from vertical to horizontal
However, as said - next is the amount of light and DOF (focus). With the way it is now, the picture is a better "ad" for the kit hardware than your work because its hard to see the color/material you made.

Welcome to one of the hardest parts of the hobby - photoing your work!
 

mmayo

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Jan 12, 2013
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Tehachapi, CA
After looking at the two photos, I think you have improved in a couple of ways. First, the background is much better; it distracts less from your wonderful pens. I agree with others that you need more light. Do you turn off all lights other that one light, if so turn the all on except any in FRONT of the pens. The left side needs more light and that will show off the work better. Some use THREE lights to do this: right, left and top. A light tent like I use in a way acts like this through bouncing around the light while diffusing it to reduce glare on our shiny metal areas.

You are improving.

If your camera allows: select a smaller f stop and a longer time. Since our pens never move and assuming you use a tripod or other method to keep the camera still - you have time, lots of time. Use it! In digital you can shoot until it looks better for free so try lots of different exposure settings until one shows more detail on more areas. This will also help with getting more of the pen areas in focus at the same time which has been correctly called depth of field. I think you have made a very deep composition that may not ever be in focus no matter what f stop you use. Try to use the same props and think "thin" and make all of the stuff in the shallowest plane possible. This shallowness and a smaller f stop should equal more in focus and a bigger smile when you look at your photos.

Keep up the good work!
 

SDB777

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Feb 6, 2010
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Cabot, Arkansas USA
More light(EV about +1.3 will help with the dark colors your trying to photo) and bump the f/stop to the highest you can get it(something around f/45 should work).

The camera will always try to push the neutral grey scale on ya, so with pen photograhpy, you need to trick your camera...





HDR is another option......






Scott (might have taken this ride before) B
 
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