Pic test for size and Pic quality

[7miles]

I know I need to work on my photos. I'm new to pen turn and pic. taken.
Some helpful hints are welcome. First digital camera. So its all new to me. I did no photo editing, just to resize.



Thanks for looking

 

[toolcrazy]

Photo looks good. I think it might be a touch over exposed and you might want to consider a slightly darker background. Maybe a light grey.

 

[7miles]

Thanks toolcrazy

Not really sure what over exposed is, but I will look in the book to see how I can fix it.

 

[Brewmeister35]

A slightly darker background will help alot with the pictures.

 

[Brewmeister35]

Nice pen too!

 

[7miles]

Darker background, noted thanks

Do I want the darker background, due to the darker pen?

The pen is the 6th pen I have done. Like I said, I'm new to pen turning I've done 16 pens over the past two week. I will be posting them in show off your pens, with more info on them. I just wanted to place one here first to make sure the photo was alright.

Thanks

 

[Daniel]

Overexposed means to much light got to the film or photo plate etc. in non technical terms it means any light colored spots or bright spots like the clip and nib in your photo, came out as just washed out white spots. actually the colroed areas on the pen are effected as well it is just not as noticable. reds start looking pink, and generaly detail gets fadded out. In your photo it looks like it was exposed for the black mat your have the pen resting on. you can see the fine details on it like the lint. for a better picture of the pen you would want the exposure to show the details in the pen and let the background suffer for it. Fiddle with the camera and different lighting etc. until you notice the fingerprints you forgot to wipe off in one of your photos then you know you are close to the correct set up.

 

[toolcrazy]

The reasoning behind the darker background is so it don't reflect back so much light. This just may be the reason for the over exposure.

 

[7miles]

Thanks guys,

Daniel the explanation you gave should help, thanks
Like I said, new to this digital camera thing, heck I've only had this camera for 4 weeks now. Just so much to learn about it.

 

[7miles]

Ok, just a couple more?????

Do the pictures appear to large when you click on the thumbnail??
Also do we rather the picture be posted or a thumbnail??

 

[gerryr]

Resize the photo to no larger than 800 pixels on the long side and post it, no thumbnails please.

What kind of camera are you using? Does it allow for completely manual settings? And what are you using for lighting?

 

[7miles]

Originally posted by gerryr
<br />Resize the photo to no larger than 800 pixels on the long side and post it, no thumbnails please.

What kind of camera are you using? Does it allow for completely manual settings? And what are you using for lighting?

Ok, I resized it.
The camera is a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H7 8.1 MP, and it does allow for complete manual settings

Here it the picture again I just adjusted the lighting.

The lighting is just a hodge podge of stuff I had around here.

 

[gerryr]

Some suggestions. Don't have the lights shining directly on the pen. If the pen you photographed had shiny plating, the plating would be completely burned out due to reflection of the lights. When photographing anything that is metallic, diffused lighting is your best friend. Are you using a tripod? You absolutely need one for pens for 2 reasons. First, the shutterspeed is going to be pretty slow and second, the camera is going to be quite close to the pen so the depth of field will be shallow so the aperture(f-stop) needs to be about as large a number as your camera has, which looks like f/4.5. Set the ISO to 400 and maybe even 800, set the camera to A(perture priority), set the aperture to the biggest number you can and take a picture, noting what shutterspeed the camera selected. Then switch the camera to M and adjust the shutterspeed to what the camera had selected. Now look at the picture and decide if it is too dark or too light. If it's too dark, decrease the shutterspeed, if it's too light increase the shutterspeed. Be sure to check after each shot to see if you got what you want. When you get the exposure set correctly, write down the settings so you can repeat them at a later time.

 

[7miles]

Cool,
gerryr, so if my f-stop will go to f/8 thats what I should have it set at??
I can go that high.
I am using a tripod.

 

[Daniel]

Second photo much better I am now seeing the clip and the details in it. I agree with not having the lights directly on the pen. shine them through the cloth of the tent. As far as f stop. there is a balance between the f stop and shutter speed that results in a correctly exposed photo. you can play with thee settings and get various results in yout photo. what is good and what is not is a personal preference thing. but you can experiment with them to see if you get anything you like better. In your second photo you loose the bottom edge of the pen in the back ground. this is an example of a different background choice making a difference.
my rule of thumb is to start wit a blue or grey background for mid tone pen such as tan colored wood. and use a lighter background for a lighter color pen or a darker one for a darker color pen. the reson for this is it is hard to get one really good exposure setting for both a light and dark object in your picture. Darker pens also seem to be harder to get a good all over photo of as well as details get lost real easy in shadows etc. a light low and from the front would help brighten the bottom edge of the pen in this photo. having the lights shining through the cloth would improve this also. The good news is you only have to work this hard for a really good photo once, as long as you remember what you did to get it. then that set up will always work to get a good photo. I have found it takes a different set up for a light, mid tone and dark pen though. but once you figure those three out good photos are easy.
keep in mind most cameras in auto mode have the easiest time with blue or grey. I am not sure a really great photo of a pen can be taken with a camera in auto mode though.

 

[gerryr]

Originally posted by 7miles
<br />Cool,
gerryr, so if my f-stop will go to f/8 thats what I should have it set at??
I can go that high.
I am using a tripod.

When I looked the specs on DPReview, it didn't show it going that high. The majority of lenses made for consumers are not at their at either extreme of the aperture range. Try it at f/8 and also at f/5.6 and see how the two compare for sharpness. When you change from f/8 to f/5.6, you will need to double the shutterspeed. The photo didn't look like it was handheld, but a lot of people think that if their camera has image stabilization, they don't need a tripod. For closeup photos, you always need a tripod.

 

[7miles]

Alright,
This has been fun for me []
Thats why I like this site so much. Folks are always willing to help.

I'm going to pick up a few more lights today. Any suggestion??
Then I will play with the setting tell I find something that is
acceptable.

Thanks again guys.

If there is any other ifno that might help, I'm willing to learn.[][][]

 

[gerryr]

I recommend CFL bulbs and make sure that the package shows the color temperature, which should be right about 5500K. 27w bulbs are best but 23w will work. I think both Lowe's and HD carry them.

 

[txcwboy]

I picked up 2 bulbs from Walmart that are either 5500k or 6200k. You do need as bright as those come,23 or 27.I use a tripod with camera set on macro. I use a piece of white printer paper with 2 lights and no tent. I have a tent but get very nice pics w/o it. Also zoom in so there is nothing but pen showing, you should fill the screen with your image. Also take it off the black velvet. Get something to set it on ,on the white paper. Go check out some of my pics when I switched to a white background and no tent.

good luck
Dave

 

[7miles]

When I first posted some pictures they had the light shining directly on the pens. The picture looked good however on the nibs and clips you could see the light bulbs in them. Not a big fan of that at all. Some of the reflections where so bright it burned them out. You just cant see the detail in them when that happens.