My pictures are all ass so I need your help

[aescarion]

Hey kids.

My mini pictures are all pretty bad. This mainly because I don\'t know anything about lighting or cameras. Are there any extremely simple tips anyone can give me to make them look better?

Here is my gallery:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/browse/submitter/aescarion

Right now my picture setup is laughable. I use an Olympus D230 (I\'m pretty sure it\'s not a very good camera) with a tripod. I blu-tack some plain paper to a box or something and make an impromptu light tent out of aluminium foil, and light it with one of those lamps from the \'Photographing Minis With Just One Lamp\' FAQ. The lamp looks a bit like this one:

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=3151&productId=129184&clickfrom=image

I switch the macro function of the camera on and the flash function off.

Afterwards I use Photoshop to crop the picture and adjust the light levels to lighten the pics up.

What are the biggest mistakes I am making, and what are the easiest ways to sort them out? If someone who knows what they are doing could help me out I\'d be really grateful.

 

[E-Arkham]

Try a blue gradient in the background. You can find one here: http://www.dragon-miniatures.com/popup.html?images/bluetowhite.jpg

Blues and medium or light greys as a background result in a crisper and more accurate representation of colour. I\'m not sure why; I think it has to do with how cameras \"see\" colour.

The same guy also has a nice tutorial about making a photo diffusion box: http://www.dragon-miniatures.com/tips.php?page=diffusion

Also, I\'d recommend using more than one light. I use three: two from each side and a lsmaller, less powerful one from above. All use GE Reveal bulbs (IE, they\'re not yellow).

I think your painting is better than the photos are showing. Looks like you might be getting some washed out colours.

Kep

 

[supervike]

It seems your pics are in focus and well defined, so I\'d assume the issue is with lighting.

Does your camera have a \'auto-lighting\' adjustment? For instance, you can set it for when using a incandesant bulb, or a flouresant one, etc.

There are plenty more articles about photography here on the site, but I don\'t want to sound condescending and just say read them..

Here\'s the ones I like:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/article/aid/101
http://www.coolminiornot.com/article/aid/12

Also...maybe trying a backdrop of the faded blue sheet like found in this article:

http://www.dragon-miniatures.com/tips.php?page=diffusion

That might help. Hopefully, someone with real knowledge will come along and share.

I struggle tremendously bad with photos, so I\'m more co-miserating than helping.

Good luck!

EDIT: Looks like E-arkham beat me to the punch, so ignore me, listen to him!!

 

[vincegamer]

Your pics look good to me. I find using a 100 watt bulb and setting my camera to \"indoor\" white balance works best.
Other than more megapixels, that\'s all I think your pictures need.

 

[supervike]

ok vince...

how does one add megapixels? For instance, on my camera (nikon coolpix885), I have the option to take photos in \'hi\' resolution, which makes them a very large .tif file. Other than taking much longer to \'process\' the picture and taking up much more memory space, I can\'t tell a huge difference.

 

[airhead]

the articles that are linked in my sig have already been mentioned (twice). I use a sheer curtain for a window as my diffuser.

More lighting would help as well as cleaner lighting - use either Halogen bulbs or the Reveal bulbs to get a whiter less yellow light.

You are using a tripod? set your exposure for as long as possible (1/8 second or so is good) or set the aperature as small as possible f-16 if your camera can go that tight.

Photo editor? if Photoshop is out of the question, try googling GIMP photo editor. Very powerful and free. Some contrast and brightness adjustments will help show of your work more accurately and in better light (excuse the pun). Generally, I have found that auto adjusting contrast and color is enough.

Vike, more pixels won\'t do much for you on the screen as you are limited to the settings on your monitor - untill you start cutting out large sections and blowing up what is left. What helps is that when you reduce the image to fit on CMON (about 400 pixels wide) the software has more colors to work with to get an average for the new pixels at the reduced size. Imagine taking 10 different colors and trying to average what it should look like. Better to have more colors (more pixels).

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by supervike
how does one add megapixels?

I did not say add megapixels, I said more megapixels.
As far as I know, the only way to get more megapixels is to buy a camera that has more than your current camera.
If your focus is good, your lighting is good, and your compression program is good, yet you still get grainy pics, it\'s probably because you\'ve reached the limit of what your camera can do.

 

[aescarion]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I\'ll try mocking up a diffuser with some vellum paper like that guy in the link (maybe use a couple of really cheap picyture frames or something), and maybe pinch a couple more lamps from around the house and get some matching bulbs.

 

[WorkingStiff]

My photography has gotten a bit better by
doing the following:

Set ISO to 100. This will help with making the image sharper. Be careful clicking camera as the slightest jiggle will cause blurring. make sure camera is on tripod.

set your F/stop to about 5.6. This will give a deeper depth of field and prevent parts of the mini that are closer to the camera to look out of focus.

Switch to Indoor lighting mode on camera--Sometimes called Tungsten lighting. Helps compensate for yellow/warm colored light cast by regular blubs.

Look forward to seeing better pix--Your minis look great!

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by WorkingStiff...Be careful clicking camera as the slightest jiggle will cause blurring. make sure camera is on tripod....

If the camera has a delayed release option (usually used to get yourself into the group shot) this is a great place to use it.

set your F/stop to about 5.6. This will give a deeper depth of field

Set it to the highest number possible. This gives the greatest depth of field and leaves the shutter open the longest.