Brooks803
Member
I've been getting alot of PM's about my pen photos so I figured I'd share how I do it. Just remember one thing, I came up with the quote in my signature line and I put it to good use. In other words, this is not going to look pretty, but it works.
Lets start with the camera. It's a Kodak easyshare Z1012. Nothing super special about it, it's just a point and click off the shelf camera. I use the auto setting for all my pictures.
Next is my photo tent. I made it by cutting up a box I got something shipped in. I cut out all 4 sides and the top. Then taped white hankerchiefs over the cut outs. The gray is a piece of craft foam I got at hobby lobby for less than $1. It seems to be the perfect background for all colors.
This next thing is what really helped my photos the most. It's just a cut up piece of that same craft foam. It's my homemade flash diffuser. I angle it in front of my flash and it makes the light bounce off all the sides of the photo tent giving a 360 lighting effect and reduces that major glare on the body of the pen. Oh, and disregard that little square cutout spot, that was just an experiment that made things worse.
Here are 2 examples I took a few mins ago. There is NO editing done to the photos, no cropping or anything, just as is. The 1st is the flash without the diffuser and the 2nd is with it as I normally take my photos.
You can really see a difference. Not just in the pen body, but in all the metal components as well. It gives a balanced look to the overall picture and allows it to be taken in as a whole.
Oh, I also take all my photos in the dark. It seems to help with reducing shadows, glare, and color. My camera has a preflash that allows it to focus in the dark. After I take my pictures the only editing I do is cropping, resizing, and color adjustment. The software is just what came with the computer. It's Windows 7 media live gallery editing. There's a auto adjust button and it makes the colors more like they really are. That's it folks. Like I said it's not a pretty pro looking setup or camera, but it gets the job done and done well. Hope that helps yall and if it looks like I'm leaving something out please let me know.
Lets start with the camera. It's a Kodak easyshare Z1012. Nothing super special about it, it's just a point and click off the shelf camera. I use the auto setting for all my pictures.
Next is my photo tent. I made it by cutting up a box I got something shipped in. I cut out all 4 sides and the top. Then taped white hankerchiefs over the cut outs. The gray is a piece of craft foam I got at hobby lobby for less than $1. It seems to be the perfect background for all colors.
This next thing is what really helped my photos the most. It's just a cut up piece of that same craft foam. It's my homemade flash diffuser. I angle it in front of my flash and it makes the light bounce off all the sides of the photo tent giving a 360 lighting effect and reduces that major glare on the body of the pen. Oh, and disregard that little square cutout spot, that was just an experiment that made things worse.
Here are 2 examples I took a few mins ago. There is NO editing done to the photos, no cropping or anything, just as is. The 1st is the flash without the diffuser and the 2nd is with it as I normally take my photos.
You can really see a difference. Not just in the pen body, but in all the metal components as well. It gives a balanced look to the overall picture and allows it to be taken in as a whole.
Oh, I also take all my photos in the dark. It seems to help with reducing shadows, glare, and color. My camera has a preflash that allows it to focus in the dark. After I take my pictures the only editing I do is cropping, resizing, and color adjustment. The software is just what came with the computer. It's Windows 7 media live gallery editing. There's a auto adjust button and it makes the colors more like they really are. That's it folks. Like I said it's not a pretty pro looking setup or camera, but it gets the job done and done well. Hope that helps yall and if it looks like I'm leaving something out please let me know.
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