Taking Pics Of Small Items...

[triplefreak]

I took some pics of my first pen, but they didn't turn out too well.
Any help out there for a newbie turner? I've taken everyday pics since I was a kid, but nothing close up.
Thanks for any pointers.

[maverick31]

my wife uses the fancy camera and I use the old one. I set mine to flower and auto flash. Slightly push till i see it clearly in the display box then finish pushing the button all the way. My pics are not half as good as everyone elses here but they work for now. I think most people in the turning forum use a photo tent. hopefully doug and les will reply cause their pics always come out nice

[sdb777]

What kind of camera you have?

We can go from there, and hopefully get you some results....




Scott (what software too?) B

[sdb777]

Okay, I didn't see the photo's until just now. So I've already answered my own questions.

Hp Photosmart E317 does have a Macro mode. I would set the the EV @ -0.33, and the ISO on Auto. Do you have a tripod? Hope so, it'll help a LOT!!! Do not zoom in. Let the camera find the focus in the center of the pen....then click away.

Use your software to crop the photo, you should still have plenty of quality with the 5.0Mp your camera has.... Picasa 3.0 is freeware and has a ton of stuff to play around with while tweaking.




Scott (tripod is alway a must) B

[TDHofstetter]

My little Kodak has a "Close-up" "Self-Portrait" mode that seems to work pretty well for close shots of little stuff. If I don't use that mode, the nearest it'll focus is about 36".

[Doug B]

I agree with Scott that a tripod is almost a must have - and maybe for reasons other than the obvious. The tripod obviously makes sure you don't get any blurring caused by camera movement while taking the pic...especially if you use the timer function on your camera. But another function the tripod serves is for something called "bracketing" your pics. I do this every single time I take pictures of my pens. I change the "exposure compensation" (EV on the menu) and take at least 3 pictures with different EV settings. On my camera I use EV settings of 0, -3, and -6. Sometimes I will also use -9 setting.

All that may be different on your camera, but the important thing is to "bracket" your pictures so that you will end up with several to determine the best setting to use. If you use a tripod, you just remove the card and leave everything else set up without any changes and you know everything will be the same when you come back to change settings again once you know which setting works best. Repeatability is important if you are going to determine what settings to use to get the best pics.

Backing up a bit, this is all possible only if you use the manual settings. And "white balance" will probably be the single setting that will have the biggest effect on your picture quality. There is no getting around this part...you will have to take lots and lots of pictures and keep track of the settings you use for each and every picture. You will gradually narrow it down to which settings to use. To find all the various settings, you will have to read the camera manual. No way around that one either. The terminology will be foreign to you most likely, so don't hesitate to ask here on the forum about anything that does not make sense to you. Someone here will know what it means.

Now for lighting. Someone once told me to use so much lighting that it's like you will be trying to melt the pen you are taking a picture of. I use 4 lights and a photo tent. The tent is a cheapie from Harbor Freight and it helps prevent some glare. Use a neutral background like gray or light blue.

I'm just throwing out thoughts here, not necessarily in an organized fashion, so I apologize if this is not very coherent. Don't feel overwhelmed, we can take it one step at a time and keep going until you get to where your pics are where you want them to be.

Read the manual, take some pictures and keep track of the settings used. Then post the best pics and we will work on getting them better each time.

There were several guys on the old forum that were a tremendous help to me when I finally decided that I wanted to get pictures that I could be happy with. Those guys were so patient with me it is not funny. It was frustrating at times, but was well worth the effort. If you are willing to be the guinea pig for the group, I'm sure several others will be watching and learning how to improve their pics too. It was one of the most satisfying things I have ever accomplished.

[triplefreak]

Here's some more pics of the same pen. I used the macro setting, no flash, 400 iso speed, and white balance was set for tungsten bulbs.

As you can plainly see, it's still out of focus.

[Doug B]

Does it look out of focus through the view finder? If so, can you move the camera closer or farther away from the pen and get it in focus? It sure looks to me like the macro setting is not working on those pics.

[triplefreak]

It looks in focus thru the video display. It doesn't really have a viewfinder, as such. Man, I'm regretting selling my old Canon A-1 SLR now...

[TDHofstetter]

Which make & model camera is it? There may be a near-distance focus limitation. Does it have optical zoom capability? Staying out beyond the near-focus range and zooming in often helps. Digital zoom doesn't help, but optical does.

[Doug B]

Well that just sucks that the macro does not work properly. I would keep trying different distances...the manual may say what the range is for the macro setting and you may have to actually measure how far away the lens is from the pen.

That's really bad if it looks focused on the camera but takes out of focus pics. That would drive me nuts. Keep trying!

[triplefreak]

Mar 10, 2010 13:33:44 GMT -6 TDHofstetter said:

Which make & model camera is it? There may be a near-distance focus limitation. Does it have optical zoom capability? Staying out beyond the near-focus range and zooming in often helps. Digital zoom doesn't help, but optical does.

It's a HP Photosmart E317. I can't find anything about it's focal length.

[TDHofstetter]

Mmmm... digital x4 zoom only. That might still work OK, though. Looks like fixed-focus, which'll mean it'll focus from roughly 36" to infinity. Might have to set it to the highest resolution, pull back to about 36", zoom fully in, take the picture, and crop to size.

Yup, there's the specs, about halfway down the page:

www.dpreview.com/news/0508/05082301hp_e317.asp

Focus is 1m to infinity.

EDIT II: Wait. MACRO MODE is 0.6m to 1m. Lessee... 0.6m is about... 20 inches. Something like that.

[Doug B]

Try it in macro mode and about 20+ inches from lens to pen and take a pic or two, back the camera up a few inches and take another couple pics. See if that gets the pics in focus.

[triplefreak]

Mar 10, 2010 22:41:06 GMT -6 Doug B said:

Try it in macro mode and about 20+ inches from lens to pen and take a pic or two, back the camera up a few inches and take another couple pics. See if that gets the pics in focus.

Will do, first thing in the AM.

[triplefreak]

Ok, here's my latest attempt at pics. I used auto exposure, macro mode, and 24" distance, with zoom about 1/2 way.
It seems they are at least in better focus. I own a tripod, but it's over at my Mom's home. I'll have to get it soon.
Here goes:

[TDHofstetter]

'WAY better!

[Joe Lyddon]

Find your tripod... & set it up...

Get it aimed, etc. ready to shoot...

Set the camera Timer to Delay the shot...

Click it...

Sit back & wait for it to happen...

See how it looks...

[Doug B]

Much better. It looks like the focus is still just a touch further away than the pen is. Try backing up a couple more inches and see how the pics look.

Now we are making some progress!

[sdb777]

Wish I could see the EXIF data, but it isn't staying attached to the photo....wierd?

I concur with everyone else... Tripod is a absolute must! Use the timer function(2-sec works real good). And back up just a bit more.(Or even reduce the zoom a bit...can always crop the photo to fake the zoom).


Is the flash firing on the last set?




Scott (your getting closer) B