EeeeeK! what went wrong?

[Kami]

Hi Guys

Well I have read the tutorial written by Gerry and found it very helpful, however I am stuck, I am trying to achive a nice 'shine line' and not getting anywhere fast (60 photos taken so far of this pen alone).

The Camera: Nikon D70s

Settings:

f11, 60 shutter speed. White balance said it was good!

Photo booth with two lamps either side both diffused via the booth, pice of cloth over the flash (built in) to help diffuse.

In fact the only thing I did not have was a gray bit of card. So I used some white card.

Any Idea on what to do to get the 'shine line'.

Thanks,

Kami

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

I wish Gerry was here,but I think he's on Vacation on the Left coast, my only suggestion would be a light from behind and higher than the camera and no flash...Put I'm photo challanged so what do I know...

 

[DCBluesman]

Set your flash to 1/32 power and remove the cloth. You may also need to adjust your adjust your F-stop as the photo is a bit underexposed. Change one thing at a time and see if you get the results you want.

 

[brycej]

Try setting your exposure compensation to +2.0 for a start. Normally the picture looks under exposed because of the large amount of white background.

For a shine line I use a third light so that I move the shine line where I want it. Oh, and I don't use the flash.

Just a thought, that is what works for me.

 

[randyrls]

Originally posted by Kami

Hi Guys

Well I have read the tutorial written by Gerry and found it very helpful, however I am stuck,

Kami; You need to "brighten" the photo. It looks seriously under-exposed.

You will get a shine line with a light tent and separate lights. Don't use the camera's flash.

I usually do some post editing on my photos. I use Paint Shop Pro and do "Layer", "Duplicate", Select option "Screen", then "Merge (Flatten)". This brightens up the photo nicely:

Hope this helps...

 

[Kami]

Thanks for all the advice so far, I will give it a go without flash...I might try and get higher watt bulbs as mine are very orange.

any other suggestions welcome.

Cheers

Kami

 

[Daniel]

Kami, In most cases anything you set the camera up for was overridden when you left the flash on. the camera knows what it needs to be set at for it's own flash. having covered the flash with something caused there to be less light than the camera was expecting and you got a severely underexposed (not enough light) photo. try the same set up with the flash for the camera off and you will get much better results.

 

[W3DRM]

Hi Guys

Well I have read the tutorial written by Gerry and found it very helpful, however I am stuck, I am trying to achive a nice 'shine line' and not getting anywhere fast (60 photos taken so far of this pen alone).

The Camera: Nikon D70s

Settings:

f11, 60 shutter speed. White balance said it was good!

Photo booth with two lamps either side both diffused via the booth, pice of cloth over the flash (built in) to help diffuse.

In fact the only thing I did not have was a gray bit of card. So I used some white card.

Any Idea on what to do to get the 'shine line'.

Thanks,

Kami

Kami,

I'm not sure your exposure is really the culprit here. The main problem is that your white balance is off, as indicated by the background image being gray. You use a "gray card" to allow the camera to set itself so it can correctly record an image based on the specific lighting you are using. However, the camera must have some means of saving that reading so you can use it for future photos. I don't know if you camera has that capability or not.

As to your question about the 'shine line', you need to have a third lamp or some object that is brightly lit above the pen so it will be reflected in the pen. I doubt you will be able to get a good 'shine line' with only two side lamps since they won't adequately illuminate the top or front side of the photo booth to produce the 'shine line'.

Here's an edited version of your image with the white balance corrected so the background is white:

 

[desertyellow]

Kami,
What they said...
Nice pen thought.

 

[ldb2000]

One of the things you could try is to crop out some of the back ground so you show your pen as the focal point .
After fixing the exposure a little I rotated the picture and then cropped out most of the background , IMHO this looks a little better .