Working on Improving My Photo Skills

[mlaug]

I love looking at picture of pipes, but I'm a horrible photographer. I'mI'm trying to improve my picture taking ability and I have been trying different kinds of lighting, background, background colors, groupings, and just about anything else one could think of to vary my pictures in an attempt to display a pipe in the most attractive presentation possible. Here some some results...trying to take some indoor pictures on a marble top wash stand. I'm looking for some helpful criticisms.
A Ben Wade Spiral.

A Preben Holm Royal Grain

A Preben Holm Handcut Sitter

I'm not to crazy about the background. What would a concensus be? Darker or lighter for displaying pipe pictures?

Natural light better than indoor?

Flash or no?

Its disappointing to take a beautifully grained piece of briar and end up with the picture the wrong color from what it really is....I get that using natural light, but flash makes the pipe too shiny.
Look at the Royal Grain picture...The bowl part of the pic is a little out of focus. What is a good camera setting to use? I get too many out of focus shots using the macro setting and using manual gets me to far away from my subject.
Get in here with all your photo skill knowledge and help me out!

 

[pstlpkr]

The pipes are beautiful. I have a Preben Holm and a Ben Wade. I love them both.

They are some great pipes as, I'm sure yours are.

I don't worry about back grounds when it comes to pipe pics.
But, if you are having difficulty...

Maybe you should have had the camera repaired after you took that "self portrait" for your Avatar....
Sorry. Just couldn't let the opportunity pass.

:D

 

[chuckw]

Shop for an inexpensive light box and lights. They work wonders with minimal props.

Here is an example:

You might also want to consider Photoshop Elements from Adobe. I got mine for $67.

 

[romeowood]

Here's my recipe for a homemade version of a setup pros use for photgraphing small items like food and jewelry where color is important. Anyone else feel free to chime in to refine it!
This pop-up laundry hamper makes a perfect 'soft box'; basically an evenly-lit shroud for your subject.
Inside that you will need to use some sort of meter-friendly ground. You can make a simple 'infinity background' very easily with some grey posterboard, paper hole reinforcers, and string. Here's the design--yours may not be precisely 18% grey, but it makes metering your camera a lot easier and should help with trueness of color. White / black / any color you want are of course useable too, but keep in mind that non-neutral tones (purple, red, etc.) will affect the perception of the pipe color more and are more difficult to meter.
Outside the box you will have to play around with lighting until your patience or resources run out. Daylight is favorable but inconsistent; combinations of fluorescent and halogen shop lights have always worked for me. Basically you want to set up a light source on all 4 sides of the cube and avoid any "hot spots"--areas where the image loses all definition and is just a blob of white.
Of course you will want a small adjustable tripod for your camera, and set it on timed shutter or use a remote.
After you take the pictures, a few minutes in Photoshop can highlight good things and correct bad things. Web tutorials for photo-fixing are abundant. If you don't want to shell out the $ for legit Ps, GIMP is a free open-source alternative that is very full-featured.
Hope this helps!

 

[pstlpkr]

GIMP is a free open-source alternative that is very full-featured.

I have to concur. GIMP is cool.

I don't understand all of it, but it is very good.

 

[mlaug]

I'll try rigging up a light box and some lights and look into some editing software. I use Irfan to resize my pictures. I'll look up GIMP, too.
I think my focal length should be further back...I think I'm too close to my subject matter.
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[collindow]

As for your problem with parts of the pipe being out of focus, that is your DoF, or depth-of-field. It is adjusted with your aperture, or f-stop. The smaller the f-stop number, the more out-of-focus area a photo will have. This is handy for things like sports photography (because it deemphasizes the background while letting more light to the camera's sensor) and portrait photography, for the same reasons as sports photography. You should be able to adjust your f-stop in your manual mode. Also; the closer you are to your subject, the more drastic DoF will be.

For example, this photo has the pipe in the OOF (out-of-focus) area, which starts pretty much immediately before the watch (the focus point) and pretty much immediately after.



That was taken at f/2.8.

This photo was taken at a much higher f-stop, f/11. Notice how the whole pipe is evenly in focus:



Also, a great way to deal with hot spot issues without even going so far as to set up a homemade light box is to get an off camera flash (I don't know what sort of camera you're using, so I don't know if you could actually do this) and have it pointed at the ceiling, or a wall, or SOMETHING to reflect the light onto the subject, making the light more diffuse.

If you can't do that, try getting a diffuser. Or making one; you can tape something over your flash, like a layer or two of tissue, and it'll diffuse the light. Just play around with the material until you find something that works for your flash. Oh, and try to lift the material just a tad over the flash, so it won't burn/catch fire!
God I love photography.

Edit: Beautiful pipe, by the way. The LONG way.

 

[mlaug]

Hmm...I hadn't thought about the f-stop adjustment. I'll have to look at that...I'm using a Canon EOS Rebel XT, by the way. I love Canons about as much as I love Ben Wades.
I think I could try something to diffuse the flash too....that would be a good suggestion.
Thankfully, digital makes this much cheaper to learn on than regular 35mm film. :mrgreen:
I forgot to add...ignore Lawrence's comments about my looks. He has been insanely jealous of my natural animal magnetisim since I appeared on this forum. :nana:

 

[bubbadreier]

I simply use two 7 dollar desk lamps with swivel heads like THESE but in black.... Well I guess one was $9.00, I got another one that looks like THIS for $7. (Both were from Walmart. I make sure to put one in the front and one pointing down on top of it and I personally think they end up looking good.

 

[chuckw]

A Canon?! Well there's the problem. Try a Nikon next time. :wink:

Just foolin'. Canon has some nice features that I wish my D 60 had.

 

[thesandpiper]

A Canon?! Well there's the problem. Try a Nikon next time. [:wink:]

Just foolin'. Canon has some nice features that I wish my D 60 had.
Chuck,I couldn't possibly comment. :nana:

 

[collindow]

I must admit, I was a little saddened to see Canon as well.

I am utterly and completely a Nikon fan...been shooting them since I first started. And when I first started I used 20-year old cameras with no batteries for light meters and so used a formula to get my black and white exposures. Which I had to develop and print manually as well.
While walking twenty miles to school in 3 foot deep snow. And it was, of course, uphill both ways.

 

[surfmac211]

I personally think Nikon for lower to medium grade DSLR's are good for the money, but they don't compare with Canons higher end cameras. I have a D60, but hoping to upgrade sometime in the future. I just got a few other things that are on the top of my list as of now.

 

[yachtexplorer]

I have tried a light box but find it clumsy and tedious. I use a matt black velvet background, a 100 watt halogen desk lamp and angle sliced sections of rubber softies to prop up the pipe and make it sit how I want.
For photo gear I use an Olympus E-3 DSLR with a 50mm f2.0 macro primary lens on a tripod with electronic shutter release. I shoot in aperture priority mode with the f stop set at 11 or 14.
I then process in photoshop and select the pipe out of the background. Then I select the inverse (the background) and fill it with a neutral gray.
Photos of my whole collection can be seen at Picasa MY PIPE COLLECTON
Here is an example. The pipe is by Brad Pohlmann

 

[hobie1dog]

Wow, very nice :worship:

 

[collindow]

Well, you're right that Nikon's pro cameras don't compare to Canons...Nikon blows Canon right out of the water! Better glass on more ergonomic, stronger frames with better high-ISO quality with faster on-to-capture times. Not to mention that, with the exception of the D3s, Nikon's cameras are consistently LESS money for all this goodness!

I guess Canon can say that have more megapixels...but, woo? With my 10 MP D200 (still considered one of the best portrait cameras EVER due to its sensor's rendering of skin tones) I can print 13x19 perfectly, and could print larger still if I had an ever larger format printer.

And don't forget which company pioneered DSLR video! And which company made the first DSLR capable of AF during video! And which company's cameras are capable of using lenses (with the exception of 8 lenses) from 1958 on. Over 50 years of lenses fit on ANY Nikon! Canon changed it's lenses in the late 80s...I have 30 years worth of lenses available that Canon doesn't! Arghbleg;lakjfd
I need to stop looking at this thread. I get extremely heated when talking about cameras.

 

[yachtexplorer]

Good gear can make a real difference but the most important piece of photographic equipment is between your ears. The decisions you make at each step are far more important than the picky differences between one brand of camera or another.

 

[juozapas]

Proper lighting is the key.

 

[unclearthur]

So my kerosene lamp is a no go then Joe?

 

[hobie1dog]

The Canon/Nikon battle has begun.