Experimenting with New Camera

[bigvan]

Apparently I was a good boy this year and Santa brought me a new camera; a Nikon Coolpix P500. I don’t have a lot of experience with photography so I’ve been experimenting by taking photos of my pipes.
I widened the aperature to allow in more light (I forget which setting I had it on) and lit these shots with just a table lamp and the camera’s flash. Any photographic advice would be greatly appreciated.
Also, what's the best way to size photos to the page?
Bruce Weaver Blasted Belge

Charles Cole Blasted Egg

Dunhill Shell Billiard with silver band (gr 5)

Jack Howell Blasted Dublin (oval shank)

Joe Nelson (Old Nellie) "Panel Dog"

Rad Davis Blasted Billiard

Russ Cook Blasted Pickaxe

Thomas James Smooth Egg

Tom Eltang Rustic Poker

 

[harrumphicus]

Some beautiful pipes there. What I like to do for indoor photography (if I can choose to) is set up the object near a wall opposite a window (or two) and shoot facing either away from the light or perpendicular to it - any direction that does not include the light source near the edge of the frame. A stock flash will never give you anything remotely similar to natural light and will make whatever you're shooting washed out. If you can get a directional flash, point it up to the ceiling or at a 45 degree to it and you'll get more natural "room lighting".
edit: The reason you put it near a wall is to provide back-lighting via the reflection off said wall.

 

[schacht]

I really like your pipes very much, especially the Weaver, the Dunhill Shell, the Howell and the Eltang Poker are exactly my cup of tea. Congratulations!

___________________________
I´m a little bit into photography as well and I am using mainly two methods when I try to shoot a pipe. The first routine is using the broad daylight. It´s very helpful to use a tripod or a bean bag to avoid the camera from shaking, because a relatively slow shutter speed canl be necessary, if we close the aperture to get the whole pipe sharp.
The following picture has been taken at aperture f/32, exposure 4,0 seconds, I used a remote control release (the self timer of your Coolpix will do the same), a mirror was used, to set the highlights at the upper rim of the bowl.

If the picture has to be more detailed, I prefer to use artificial lightning - a simple flash is enough but it might be helpful to diffuse the flashlight. We can use softboxes, translucent light umbrellas or many other methods to diffuse light - sometimes, and especially when we´re using a small camera with a build in flash, a simple yoghurt cup can be perfect, we´re just trying to soften the light without loosing too much power. The following picture uses a flash and a softbox as shown below. Aperture f/14, Shutterspeed 1/100 sec

Expensive camera equipment is not really necessary, but good light is irreplaceable. In your case I wouldn´t use the build in flashlight too much. A bean bag can easily be self.made. I´d take the picures using the morning light or before sunset and avoid the maybe too bright midday sun.
I hope this inspired or helped a bit.

Looking foreward to see more of your beautiful pipes,

kind regards

Thilo

 

[revs]

sorry to jack the thread but, where did you get the pipe rest? That is too cool. Little lounge chair for your pipes.
Ok, back on track. I have only been using my phone's camera for pics so I can't help much. I need a new lens for my old Yashica. Found a battery so it works.

 

[julesholling]

Some good advice here. Another method is to place the pipe beside a bright window and then use a piece of white card the other side of the pipe to bounce the light onto the other side of the pipe. Makes the light more even

 

[bigvan]

Excellent advice, guys, THANKS! This is JUST what I was hoping for.
Thilo, those are some AMAZING pictures (the pipes aren't too bad, either!) I'm saving copies of your photos as they are my new goals. What's the 2nd pipe? It reminds me of Peter Heeschen's work, but the stem seems very "American".
Revs, I've received a lot of comments on the "pipe chair" over the years. It belonged to a friend's late father and my friend said he's remembered it his entire life, so it's at least 40+ years old.
One of the guys at my local B&M has taken measurements and is going to try to recreate them for sale. If he ever gets around to making them, I'll let you know.

 

[ace57]

Nice pipes, I like the pipe stand. I never saw one like that. :clap:

 

[pipetrucker]

Great pics. As for resizing/editing your photos I recommend downloading the free photo editing program The Gimp.

 

[buzkirk]

imageshack has a great tool for resizing for board posts
Great pipes and pics.. congrats !
Tom

 

[schacht]

Thank you, bigvan - now that you´re asking it occurs to me, that these two pipes are both made by Nils Thomsen (a carver here from Berlin), and that they both have been a gift (yes, Mr. Thomsen is in fact a very generous and friendly person) - the Meerschaum belongs to my wife, the other one is a little experiment - Mr. Thomsen tried bending a stem made of oak.
I cannot take my eyes away from your Weaver Blasted - this is a such great sandblast and with the elegant stem, it´s so beautifully balanced - really nice, thanks again for showing these pictures.
Kind regards

Thilo

 

[ssjones]

Thanks for the pix and insights of your setup Thilo. I've been shooting in a dark spot of my garage/workshop, with not surprisingly poor results. My wife has a Canon digital SLR, I'll give your setup a shot.

Could you post a picture of how the yogurt cup or similar is used?

We can use softboxes, translucent light umbrellas or many other methods to diffuse light - sometimes, and especially when we´re using a small camera with a build in flash, a simple yoghurt cup can be perfect, we´re just trying to soften the light without loosing too much power.

BigVan: Great pipes and the pix aren't too bad, with Thilo's advice, they should be even better. This is a very helpful thread!

 

[schacht]

Well - attaching a diffuser or bouncer onto a build in flash is always a bit tricky, and camera bodies can be pretty different. But there are some examples for bouncers that can be easily built: this could be interesting and here is another example.
Maybe I can give some advice, when it comes to concrete pictures - so far I´d say, be creative, watch out for beautiful lightning plus a nice and reasonable image formation.
A few weeks ago I wanted to make a picture of an older Dunhill pouch - I tried this and that without satisfying results, and at the end I just used a flash without a sofbox or bouncer and made a simple shadow with my left hand. I really had fun and I liked the picture as well:

But maybe it´s inappropriate to show all these thing right here in bigvans thread, and we should discuss pictures and photographic techniques separately?

 

[bigvan]

I don't mind the hijack at all!

 

[romeowood]

sorry to jack the thread but, where did you get the pipe rest? That is too cool. Little lounge chair for your pipes.

Let me know too, bigvan! I want one for all my pipes...plus a small pool and tiny daiquiris for them too.

 

[pentangle]

Photography could be an interesting discussion as i'm a macro and nature photographer.Anyway thank you for posting your pics Big.The joe Nelson as you can easily imagine is my favorite

Maurizio

 

[bigvan]

The Joe Nelson pipe was his entry into the Kansas City Pipe Show's carving contest. Entrants were asked to make a "Panel", meaning there had to be at least ONE flat side on the entire pipe. Joe went a bit nuts and cut 24 on the bead alone!

 

[schacht]

I wouldn't stop down all the way to f/32, you want to only go as far as what is really needed and, depending on lens/camera combinations, there can be some abberitions at the low and hig end of the f/stops with the sweet spots being in the middle

You are absolutely right - if anyone needs to know the exact ideal aperture, these online depht of field calculators are quite helpful.
In case of my f/32 4,0 secs picture of the Meer, I used a 60mm AF-D Micro Nikkor on a D300 Body and the camera was very close to the object. That´s why f/32 has been necessary. Aberrations or diffraction blur is very heterogeneous, depending on the construction of the lens and the camera body. The 60mm Micro Nikkor is quite sharp - a little diffraction blur is sometimes tolerable and in case of the 60mm Micro - it´s barely visible to the naked eye.
But I rather don´t want to focus on the technical aspects too much - some of todays most beautiful photography is made by people using an iPhone…

 

[withnail]

Some very nice pipes there - and I love the pipe chair! I hope you have a lot of fun with your new camera too.

 

[pentangle]

That is an f16 image i made with a d300s+sigma 180 mm macro
sorry for the big size, just to see no diffraction

Maurizio

 

[vroomfondel]

I got myself one of those cheap shadowboxes as well and I like them a lot. It's much easier to direct the light and to avoid distracting reflections with them.


Get yourself one of those, a cheap tripod and start shooting away!