Ok Ladies and Gentlemen I have been watching some of the post for pipes for sale and some of your pictures are of amazing quality. I can't seem to get mine right no matter what. The lighting is wrong , or the background is wrong. I would like to post some pipes to sell here and later on ebay but can't get the pictures to come out worth a hoot!! How do some of you do it? Suggestions please?
How To Take Pictures Of Pipes To Sell ?
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Hey Gary, you've seen my photos, some are better and some are worse. I've done all my pictures with either a blackberry or an iphone, and have to say that what works best for me is shooting with a tonne of natural light. I like to shoot my photos at the kitchen table when I have a boat-load of sunlight streaming in the patio doors. Because I'm not actually using a camera, controlling focus can be a pain in the ass, so I like to use a background with limited detail to avoid having the software in my phone focus on something other than the pipe. A neutral coloured, uniform background is helpful.
I see a lot of folks setting up their shots like Smokeybear does. A neutral grey backdrop with most shots taken from overhead. The other important thing to do is shoot enough pictures to capture all sides of the pipe, plus nomenclature, and the stem/stummel joint as well as the interior of the bowl and if possible the stem out of the shank showing both the mortise and the tenon. That should give any buyer exactly what they want to see.
Hope that helps pal.
-- Pat
I see a lot of folks setting up their shots like Smokeybear does. A neutral grey backdrop with most shots taken from overhead. The other important thing to do is shoot enough pictures to capture all sides of the pipe, plus nomenclature, and the stem/stummel joint as well as the interior of the bowl and if possible the stem out of the shank showing both the mortise and the tenon. That should give any buyer exactly what they want to see.
Hope that helps pal.
-- Pat
I only use my iPhone to take pictures and apply a water mark to them using an app. It's really simple this way and the iPhone takes great photos when you use it properly.
You need a solid colored background I use two 11x17 foam sheets I got from a craft store.
Proper overhead lighting. I take my pics in the laundry room were I have florescent lights the brighter the better.
When you use your iPhone if you have the new OS you can select a square camera so your shots are even as oppose to being different sizes.
While photographing you can tap the screen on the exact spot you want the camera to focus and keep playing with it until you have the shot you want.
Sometimes it's easier to use the + volume button to take the picture as oppose to the on screen one.
You can also crop the phone and adjust lighting in the edit options on the phone.
After taking the pictures load then on to a FB or photobucket account straight from your phone and copy the links on to here to show in the thread.
Good luck.
You need a solid colored background I use two 11x17 foam sheets I got from a craft store.
Proper overhead lighting. I take my pics in the laundry room were I have florescent lights the brighter the better.
When you use your iPhone if you have the new OS you can select a square camera so your shots are even as oppose to being different sizes.
While photographing you can tap the screen on the exact spot you want the camera to focus and keep playing with it until you have the shot you want.
Sometimes it's easier to use the + volume button to take the picture as oppose to the on screen one.
You can also crop the phone and adjust lighting in the edit options on the phone.
After taking the pictures load then on to a FB or photobucket account straight from your phone and copy the links on to here to show in the thread.
Good luck.
Hi Gary
I recently set myself the task of taking the best pictures I could of several of my pipes. I took a while, sometimes 25 mins to get one good exposure, although I am used to Street Photography, so this was a foray into a different discipline for me. But I echo the advice to use as much light as you can. I waited until noon on a sunny day and setup a couple of boxes on my wide windowsill then draped a plain T-shirt over them. The camera used for most of my album pictures was a Canon Eos M1, using spot metering, low iSo and apertures of around f/6.3. Then it was a case of using exp. comp to capture the best balance of detail and 'zing'. In my most recent photograph of my Pete 106, exposing correctly just didn't seem to work. I think I dialled in about -1.3 E.V. which is very unusual. Of course, when selling, the most important thing is not to blow your highlights and to rest your camera on something to take a clear shot, photographing every part of the pipe in the same conditions. It can be tricky but the rewards are high. Just look at eBay- a good photograph can boost the price of an item considerably.
I recently set myself the task of taking the best pictures I could of several of my pipes. I took a while, sometimes 25 mins to get one good exposure, although I am used to Street Photography, so this was a foray into a different discipline for me. But I echo the advice to use as much light as you can. I waited until noon on a sunny day and setup a couple of boxes on my wide windowsill then draped a plain T-shirt over them. The camera used for most of my album pictures was a Canon Eos M1, using spot metering, low iSo and apertures of around f/6.3. Then it was a case of using exp. comp to capture the best balance of detail and 'zing'. In my most recent photograph of my Pete 106, exposing correctly just didn't seem to work. I think I dialled in about -1.3 E.V. which is very unusual. Of course, when selling, the most important thing is not to blow your highlights and to rest your camera on something to take a clear shot, photographing every part of the pipe in the same conditions. It can be tricky but the rewards are high. Just look at eBay- a good photograph can boost the price of an item considerably.
Digital Point & Shoot set to "macro". (I have a DSLR, but no macro lens, which would be better).
Two clip on reading lights
I use the back of old posters for the white background.
I open with Office Picture Managers and use the "auto correct" feature.
But, I get a lot of inconsistency. These two were shot with the same background, camera and settings.
Two clip on reading lights
I use the back of old posters for the white background.
I open with Office Picture Managers and use the "auto correct" feature.
But, I get a lot of inconsistency. These two were shot with the same background, camera and settings.
I've never liked white backgrounds myself. I find them too stark and they can mess up your metering.
If you're using an iPhone, I'd strongly suggest getting a camera app like Camera+. I think it's just US$1.99 or so in the App Store. You'll use Camera+ instead of the iPhone's built-in Camera app. The good thing about Camera+ is that it allows you to control both focus and exposure.
And, yeah, like others here, any pipe I've ever pictured here or sold on eBay was shot with an iPhone. In side-by-side tests, it beat my previous point-and-shoot hands-down. In lower light, my wife's DSLR will deliver sharper images. But otherwise I've found that the iPhone works great. And thanks to Photostream, it syncs effortlessly with my iMac, so I don't have to fool with any SD cards or anything like that. And I much prefer working with photos on the Mac or my iPad rather than on the phone itself.
I also like using an app called Diptic, which allows you to very easily put together two or three photos into one montage:
Bob
And, yeah, like others here, any pipe I've ever pictured here or sold on eBay was shot with an iPhone. In side-by-side tests, it beat my previous point-and-shoot hands-down. In lower light, my wife's DSLR will deliver sharper images. But otherwise I've found that the iPhone works great. And thanks to Photostream, it syncs effortlessly with my iMac, so I don't have to fool with any SD cards or anything like that. And I much prefer working with photos on the Mac or my iPad rather than on the phone itself.
I also like using an app called Diptic, which allows you to very easily put together two or three photos into one montage:
Bob
I normally use two white cards. One for the base, one for the background. Light with one light only to avoid double shadows. The light may be a household bulb in a reflector or a photo light. Even better, the sun, when possible. You may point the light at the pipe or bounce it off a white surface so that it hits the pipe. A macro lens and a tripod are a must if you want sharp pictures, and manual focus is a good idea.
FWIW, here's a little photo essay of my photography setup and the results it produces. If you like what you see, I hope it will help you or others customize your own rig.
The lighting fixtures both come from walmart, as do the "reveal" bulbs used in them. A piece of white copy paper taped to a cardboard stand makes a good reflector, and the backdrop is a sheet of drawing paper from a really large sketch pad. The surface is a piece of glass from an old end table, spray-painted black on the bottom.
I do not use a flash...
The lighting fixtures both come from walmart, as do the "reveal" bulbs used in them. A piece of white copy paper taped to a cardboard stand makes a good reflector, and the backdrop is a sheet of drawing paper from a really large sketch pad. The surface is a piece of glass from an old end table, spray-painted black on the bottom.
I do not use a flash...
It's just the kit lens with my Nikon D60. It's a AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR. It's an ok general purpose walking around lens...
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/Camera-Lenses/2176/af-S-dx-nikkor-18-55mm-f%252F3.5-5.6G-vr.html
I agree with Walt ( great pics) , using a macro is very hard since you need at least 4-5 inches DOF - that means you have to have really powerful lights to stop down. Using a longer lens even a telephoto set further away from the object will increase the DOF at a lower f-stop.
I can't wait for my Nikon D600 to come back from its recall service :evil: so I can photograph my pipes. I am using my street camera ( Fuji XE-2) and I don't have a lens longer than 35 mm so it is tough.
I can't wait for my Nikon D600 to come back from its recall service :evil: so I can photograph my pipes. I am using my street camera ( Fuji XE-2) and I don't have a lens longer than 35 mm so it is tough.
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