taking better pictures of your work ?

[Charlie_1]

any suggestions or comments about taking better pictures of finished work?
its either a defective camera or defective person taking the pictures


Marcel any suggestions?





Charlie,

[Marcel in Longueuil]

Hope the solution is in here

Charlie,

I would need to know how and what you are using now in order to offer any targeted suggestions.

The Daffy picture was grainy: that is normally a sign of not enough light, the reflection on the left side of the beak seems to come from a window.

You would need to check the settings on the camera, make sure it's on "P" (program) mode to start with and that the flash is enabled.

My first suggestion is make sure you are not putting any fingers in front of the flash window when holding & firing the camera (I've seen it done often)

Make sure your flash is firing (no, don't look directly at it when firing the test shot )

Have a plain background (I use an old window shade for my background), don't put the subject leaning against the background if you use a flash (harsh shadows)

If the light is too harsh, you may try to soften it by putting a double thickness of Paper Tissue (Kleenex) in front of the flash (if you hold it on the top and bottom of the camera with index and thumb, you should not block the flash with your fingers trying to hold it)

Try to have a window close by with sunlight (not a must, but nice), but make sure the flash is set to fire anyway (use it as a fill light to reduce contrasts)

If the camera has a self timer: you may want to use the room light without flash, but make sure the camera is sitting on a solid object. If you do not have a tripod, you can make a support (it's 1/4-20 thread) or you can put the camera on books on the table.

Without more information on your set up, I can't tell you much more right now.

Regards,
Marcel

[Jim8Mad]

Past Feature Articles

Charlie,

When I first signed up with this site I was clicking away at every link I could find. There is so much great information here that it has become my first stop for any info or help I may need. I actually printed out the article from the last issue and keep it with my printed patterns. Check it out and maybe it will help you figure out what you need to do to take great photos of your work.

http://www.scrollsawer.com/articles/...ur-artwork.php

I feel it is very important to photograph finished projects. Not only do you have some great pictures of your art work, but you can build a great portfolio to show your family, friends, and prospective buyers.

Happy scrolling.

Jim

[Charlie_1]

Thank you Marcel,

With daffy I just put him on some white posterboard and took the picture with a 3.1 megapixel digital camera just holding it in my hands with the flash off , tried it again with the flash on but still same thing . there is probably something in the settings I need to adjust or need better lighting because its just flourescent lighting in the house, too soft maybe?



kewl thank you Jim will have a look :-D

Thank you,
Charlie

[Charlie_1]

ok been taking pictures and retaking pictures for the last hour or so and changing settings in the camera lol
posting both pics the first one and the latest pic I just took

better ?




Charlie,

[lucky788scroller]

it second picture is much brighter, but now it almost looks as if he has no neck!!! Dale

[Charlie_1]

complain complain complain lmao
kidding lol


maybe a bit darker background ?




Charlie,

[lucky788scroller]

perhaps, cant hurt to try! You already spent an hour photoing, whats one more? dALE

[Charlie_1]

LMAO ok ill try that ,but first have to stop laughing lol

[Charlie_1]

ok how about this one lol



Charlie,

[jimp11]

Charlie take the piece out side not inthe bright sun in the shade it works a lot better.

jim

[Marcel in Longueuil]

Eureka!

Now you have it.

It was worth the time investment, now you should be able to make good pictures of all your works of art.

And jim's advice is also good: a nice shady spot outside on a sunny day, or anywhere on an overcast day.

Regards,
Marcel

[Charlie_1]

Thank you guys for all your help :-D

I ended up changing the background with daffy, that way it wouldnt contrast to much or give it the extra glare it was getting . I also had to change the camera settings for a much larger picture with no zoom on it ,and the quality of the picture on the camera . Now I just have to take the picture and reduce the size of it when I get it on the puter and it turns out alot better .
Will try taking it outside in a shady spot and see how that does with it .


PS Thanks again guys for all your help ,much appreciated


Charlie,

[Sawdust King]

Sounds like you already found your solution. But here is my perceptions and suggestions anyway.

In an effort to keep file size to a minimum you were shooting at the lowest resolution and zooming in.

I always shoot at the highest res my camera can take. While this is overkill for the purpose at hand (8mb), it is one I will always advise. At least initially.

If I am posting the picture here I'll use ZoomBrowser to 'send' the picture via email. There I'll compress the size of the image but leave the quality alone. That way the picture is just as sharp and it has 'shrunk' enough to not be an inconvenience for people's email or posting here.

I love getting pictures, but I generally don't need the full uncompressed image.

[lucky788scroller]

Now thats a good picture!!! Save that picture for your kids wall, and box that bird up so I can hang it on my wall!!! Dale