Need some help with taking pictures!

[beestieboy]

Hi there! I have some models I\'d really like to put up, but I\'m very dissapointed with the quality of the pictures I\'m getting. I have a Nikon Coolpix 4300. I\'m using the macro mode, quality is set to fine, ISO 400, 640X480 size I belive, and that\'s about all I know about the setting on my camera. My wife lost the owners manual icon_sad.gif . I have 3 spotlights right on the model so there should be tons of light and there is no problem with shadows. But the pictures still look really dark and the quality is not nearly what I\'m hoping for. Can someone explain the theory of how you should have your white balance and exposure set up? What other things will help? I\'ve seen some really good posts that people have taken with the Nikon 4300 so I know it can be done. Are these good pics just the product of lots of work in Photoshop, or is there a better way?

Should I post the pic so you all can see it? Maybe that would help with the feedback.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Ok, lets have a look at the pics.

Question: Have you looked up Honza\'s article on here?

It\'s about single light source photography and is in a nutshell what any beginner needs.

EDIT: Also I tried a google search for downloadable manuals try here:-
https://ww2.maxwell.com.au/support/direct.php?erno=1
You will have to put in your own camera details but it could get you a downloadable manual.

If all else fails PM me and we can discuss via email.

 

[beestieboy]

I haven\'t seen that article yet. I\'ll search for it just as soon as I post this. Here are two of the pics.

These haven\'t been touched up at all and I suspect that there is much to be gained by doing that. You are not able to see the gradations in the red very well and the wings have lost almost all of their definition. The wings are pretty highly textured and you should be able to see the \"veins\" more in light gray than the dark gray blah that is there now. I guess the question is, should I be able to take better pics than these to begin with and if so, how?

Oh, and do you know of any good articles that cover that basics of photoshop?

 

[Dragonsreach]

Another helpful site with an online live manual:
http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25507

hope it helps.

 

[beestieboy]

Wowza, that was a quick reply (now that\'s service!). Thanks for the link. I\'m checking out Honza\'s article now. Any tips (or obvious boo boos you see) you may be able to afford about the pics above?

 

[Dragonsreach]

Is this more or less what you are trying to achieve?

 

[beestieboy]

Now that does look quite a bit better yes. Compared to the one above, it\'s not nearly as dark. Of course, since the mini is right here with me I can easily tell that it\'s \"lacking\" a bit in the left arm and left shoulder area. Now maybe this is just the angle of the pic that I\'m taking...maybe something else. Did you do that using the \"leveling\" feature in Photoshop?

 

[Dragonsreach]

Yes.
Firstly I used the crop tool to reduce the dead space.
Then Image > Adjustments > Auto Levels.

That got the result shown above.
I generally just use the Levels Tool and adjust manually to suite my monitor.
If I\'m going for a high quality print I always adjust the brightness by +20. Haven\'t quite figured out why there is such a difference in the monitor to paper yet.

Something I would suggest is that you try to get closer to the Horizontal level/eye level of the mini when taking the picture as it often allows the camera to pick up and process the contrast for focusing.

 

[beestieboy]

Great suggestions. I\'ll try it out and maybe get some \"after enlightenment\" pics. After looking at the articles about photography, I think I have sure learned a lot. Thanks for the help and if anyone else has tips as well, I\'m very willing to hear them.

 

[the_alleycat]

Something else to consider, Dark reds are notoriously hard to get good photos of. Basically the best photos of red are when there is a sharp highlight for contrast. Many people [myself included] dislike using orange or pink to highlight red so build from shadow, creating a dark moody looking red. Unfortunately this often photographs poorly.

So that may be a contributing factor.

What i want to know iss where people get the blue background for photography [like the one you\'ve used.]

 

[Fizl]

Have a look in the restyling thread in the submissions board. I\'ve linked to a downloadable blue to white background

Shaz

 

[the_alleycat]

Cheers for that, have to do it in gray at the moment, printer is only b&w...
Should sitll help though, thanks again.

 

[beestieboy]

Originally posted by the_alleycat

What i want to know iss where people get the blue background for photography [like the one you\'ve used.]

Does mine look like I have a blue board behind? Uh oh...I\'ve got a plain white poster board behind there! lol Thanks for the tips on the red. That sucks pretty bad becuase I have done a lot of stuff in red. In person, it looks great!! (Yeah yeah, everyone says that, but now I know what they mean)

 

[beestieboy]

Alrighty then. I\'ve read the articles, I\'ve played around a bit and this is what I get. Please compare this to the two pics that I posted at the top. Better?

I see that the outstretched hand and the bottom left corner are still kind of out of focus. Is widening the aperture supposed to help with that? If so, I\'m having a hard time finding that option on my Nikon 4300. Any idea where it\'s at?

 

[finn17]

LOL....

Better....better????

It\'s light years ahead:flip:

That is a pretty impressive leap in such a short time...

As for the depth of field...(The distance between the nearest part in sharp focus to the furthest part in sharp focus) I think you have probably achieved all that is possible with your camera. It is a well known fact that DoF reduces in proportion to the magnification being used.

You can increase DoF by reducing your aperture, but that allows less light in and may cause other problems....

Congratulations on what you have already achieved I think you are in the perfect position to write an article:flip:

 

[finn17]

Haha!

Originally posted by the_alleycat
What i want to know iss where people get the blue background for photography

Instead of directly giving you the link, this is (one) thread where it was discussed and linked to before. There are other pearls of wisdom there too..

http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=4200

 

[Aryanun]

Depth of Field

Look in the online manual links listed above for \"Depth Of Field\" and how to adjust for it on your particular camera. You might not be able to use Macro mode on your camera in order to adjust your DoF. Most macro modes assume you want the foreground and background fuzzed out and focused on the center area because you\'re taking pictures of flowers or insects for some strange reason. I did a piece for Zaphod\'s site on Depth of Field, but I can\'t log on to his site right now to get the link for you. I\'ll post it when I get a chance unless Zaphod beats me to it.

 

[beestieboy]

Originally posted by finn17
Better....better????

It\'s light years ahead:flip:

Thank you very much. I might just get the courage to post some of my pics now! If there are even more tips and tricks out there (I\'m sure there are), I\'m teachable. I promise.

 

[DragonPaint]

Another little tip, use the maximum size you can reach with your camera and then load the image in Photoshop.
Crop the unwanted area and then open Image-->Adjustments-->Levels
Select the icon with the eyedropper white (the one on the right - \"Set white point\") and then click on the whitest area of your miniature (or the background if you have used a white one)
The image will change and the colors will return similar to the original ones.

Now drag the little grey triangle in the middle of the hystogram to give more light to the shadows (left) or more darkness (right) until your image are clearly visible in all the parts.

If you make some mistake just click on the \"Cancel\" button and start again.

Now your colors are ok but you can pick up some detail using Filter-->Sharpen-->Unsharp Mask
Try using:
Amount= 50%
Radius= 1,0 Pixels
Thresold= 1 Level

Click on the \"Preview\" checkbox to see the difference from the original image and the filtered one, play a bit with the different controls and confirm the filter when you have reached the right settings.

Now it\'s time to reduce the size of the image... select Image-->Image size and pick up the width you like.
Now save the image selecting \"Save for the Web\" and decide the compression level
I actually use
JPEG image
Quality 60 (or 70)
Progressive and ICC profile disabled
Blur and Matte 0

Save the image and then post it on CMON

Last tip... always save the omage with a different name or in a different folder, in this way you save the original image in case you need to change something.

 

[airhead]

Loose the iso 400 setting.
Set your camera to 1/8 second or so.
Be sure to use a tripod.
Set the shutter to delay - so you are not touching it when it goes off.

Look at my sig. Hit the link that says I am brilliant. You don\'t have to go to that extreeme, but build a tent out of a window sheer.