Photographic advice/help

[JMac]

Hey guys,

I'd like to improve the pictures I take of my models. Often the colour seems off in the picture or the surface is too harshly lit.

I've attached a picture of how I'm currently set-up. I'm using the space on my desk, two desk lamps and the flash on the camera. Above the desk I have a four tube florescent fixture.

How are you guys set-up? Comments? Advice?

JMac

[attachment deleted by admin]

 

[ScaleModelMadman]

First thing I'd do would be to get a tripod, use the timer on the camera and let it take the photo for you after you've removed your hand. No shake = sharper image. Maybe get a bigger background that that small white piece I see, go the the craft store and get a large piece of construction paper/poster board

Second, I would drop using the flash altogether, it washes things out for the most part.

Third, soften those desk lights somehow, either with a diffuser of some sort, or by pointing the light at some white poster board and bouncing it on the model. You'll reduce the harsh shadows and hot spots this way.

Fourth, get to know the camera's manual settings, I'm no photographer but by trying different settings and taking notes, I figured out what settings got me the best results for what I was doing. (Googling stuff helped a ton as well, things like f-stop and depth of field etc.)

Lastly, download a free editing software, I use paint.net (just google paint.net). My photos come out okay at first, but after tweaking them in the editing software they improve ten fold.

Hope that helps

 

[panzerace007]

JMAC,

From what I can see - You may want to adjust th White balance on th Cam & forgo th use of th Flash - It tends to bleach out th picture - let your lights do th work.

Adjust th White Balance down to th lowest setting & the ISO down to at least 80 . It looks like you have a Great Camera . Adjusting th White balance down will reduce glare & take a more natural picture - you can bump up th lighting in PhotoShop . It's also a good Idea to use some sort of Shade on th lights to Reduce "hotspots" & if you have it - use th Macro lens or th macro settin' on th Camera.

As soon as I can find th Link of a Really good Photo tut. I'll dop it on ya' !

YES ! A tripod will help out Immensely ! I picked one up at th Camera shop for $20 (USD) relatively cheap & it does everything I need it to do !!

 

[Grendels]

First I agree with Ken, get a tripod and ditch the flash. These two will help with your photos quite a bit. Second, learn where your cameras white balance settings are and adjust them for the lighting you are using. Most cameras come with settings for incandescent light bulbs, florescent light bulbs, daylight, etc.....

This will help get the colors set up correctly.

If that camera is a DSLR, use the kit lens, not a different lens until you know the settings on the camera. I don't know a whole lot about the different settings on a camera, but here is a quick example: The lower the f-stop, the smaller the depth of field. So if you want a photo with everything in focus you need a large f-stop. but if you only want part of the object in focus, use a small f-stop.

The kit lens will be the easiest lens to use.

For a set up like you have I actually use a pocket cam. I use the DSLR for photos with much better lighting. I have found that the pocket cam takes better photos in this situation. It has more automatic setting than the DSLR will.

 

[JMac]

Thanks Guys,

That's the kind of advice I'm looking for. ;D
I have a tripod, and a larger background - I forgot to include them in the initial picture.

Ken - outside of bouncing light off of a white surface, do you use anything to diffuse your lights?

Panzerace - The photo tutorial would be fantastic. T'anks!

Grendels - it's a not a DSLR, just a point and shoot.

 

[ScaleModelMadman]

Ken - outside of bouncing light off of a white surface, do you use anything to diffuse your lights?

No, I'm too cheap to buy diffusers.

;D

There is a third light not in the photo, you can tell by the one shadow, I usually make sure it's not directly facing the model, it was just needed to take this far away shot.

 

[JMac]

Cool - Thanks.

 

[ShutterAce]

These guys got you on the right track. Looks like you have a Fuji S series which is an excellent camera! It's what they call a "bridge" model. Basically an SLR with a fixed lens.

Anyway, I use a DSLR with a flash. I usually bounce the flash off the ceiling. Direct flash is bad. For spots I use those cheap clamp on domes with GE Reveal bulbs. The Reveal bulbs are "daylight" bulbs and work great. I work in my garage and therefore have natural daylight spilling in so I wanted a "daylight" bulb to avoid conflicts. One thing you don't want to do is mix lighting types if you can help it.

HTH

 

[panzerace007]

JMAC,

Here's a link that may Help also .

- http://www.modelersalliance.com/forum/giovanni-azzara/41821-how-to-photograph-your-figures

 

[spud]

if you can try taking your pictures in Raw mode this way you can change the WB and just about any other aspect of the pic you want. i use a Cannon 5D Mk II and i difuse my flash because im too lazy to setup studio lights.

you will also need a program that can read the Raw files Photoshop is the best option for this. you can get a cheap version called Photoshop Elements that will work for what you want.