Photos of work

[novascroller]

i'm having trouble taking nice photos of my completed work for advertising. what does everyone else do to take nice, professional looking photos? thanks.

[jttheclockman]

Not sure if you are talking for a catalog or just for showing on the internet. But in any case I am by no means a pro or do I take great pictures. I do know though the 2 main things to concern about is Lighting and the background. You do not want to have clutter in the background or a backdrop that is too busy that it will detract from the object you are taking a picture of. The lighting part is hard so this is why I use the best lighting designer I can find and that happens to be Mother Nature. I like to shoot my projects outdoors but out of the sun light. Now I have taken indoor pictures but have to set up lights to shine from 4 different angles to hide the shadows and using soft colored lamps helps. There are some people that are more professional and will be able to get specific. By the way a good digital camera helps.

[BobD]

JT hit the nail on the head--lighting and background are very important. We've got an article coming out in the next issue of SSW that discusses it in more detail, but if you take a couple of clamp-on shop lights and fit them with the spiral florescent bulbs, you can get pretty close to natual sunlight inside. Be sure to set your "White Balance" setting on your camera to "auto" or "Florescent"--otherwise your photo will take on an odd color.

You really do need a half-way decent camera as well--at least 4 megapixel--to get high-enough resolution to play with. If your camera is less than that, DO NOT use your zoom function. Many cameras advertise "digital zoom", which means that the camera will blow up the image--so your resolution suffers. If you have "optical zoom" you can get away with more, but since your scrolling projects are not moving around, I'd just move closer instead of zooming in.

More on this later!

Bob

[GrayBeard Phil]

For what it is worth:

In Michigan, the local SEARS store Xmas sales, a Craftsman tripod work light is on sale. I think (but could be wrong) it was a 1000watt halogen (sp?) lamp for about $30.00 or $35.00. A halogen lamp has very good photo lamp temperature color. This will help your photos.

Also, use an old solid color (pastel color is best) bed sheet for background.

Phil

[BobD]

if you do use the halogen, just be sure to soften or diffuse the light somehow--the intensity of the light tends to cast some harsh shadows.

I forgot to mention: DO NOT use the onboard flash--it will almost ALWAYS give you a bad shadow of glare!

Bob

[Neal Moore]

Photography

Novascroller.....thare is a pretty good thread in "OFF TOPIC", started by Carl, called PHOTOGRAPHY RECOMMENDATIONS. You might glean some good information there. Hope that helps!!

[novascroller]

all very good information, i appreciate it.