posted on March 16, 2001 09:08:45 PM
Hi everyone...Need help on photo lighting and I figured I would see if any of you could help. I have a SONY Mavica and it takes great pics. However, I must be doing something wrong as I can't seem to pick up the detail or colors properly on some of my craftwork for photos. I end up fussing with the lightness/brightness controls etc far more than I should for my auction/web page pics and it still does not show true colors or finer details...For instance, I do reproduction quillwork and its one of the things that I sell on ebay. I had read a thread about using halogen lights to use for photoing. I went out and bought one and I still can't seem to pick up the detail....I am including a link to a pic that I just took tonight to list...
You can see that it is a powder horn strap but as you can see the colors are not true and the detail in the center is almost gone. This was taken under a halogen light. The second photo shows the detail more in the close up but again, the colors are not true. Could someone please tell me what I am doing wrong with this lighting. Or how to set up a halogen light to take better pics. I had the same thing happen with a small quilt I just listed a few months ago. The camera is a great one so I am sure its me. I end up cramming everything I can fit into the scanner as it seems to pick up detail etc more. Anyone have any suggestions other than a good photo class at a school....
posted on March 16, 2001 09:20:14 PM
While Mavicas are indeed great cameras they are notoriously poor in low light.
Your pictures have a nice warm look to them, but you may need more light to show what it is you want to show. I'm not sure which Mavica you have, but the FD-91 has a great macro lens for detail.
posted on March 16, 2001 09:40:40 PM
I use bright lighting. 4 Floodlights and diffusion umbrellas (gets hot real fast taking pictures). I use tungsten lights, they give an amber (warm) tone to the items but that's not a problem. Even a free image program can let you alter the color. I increase the blue by 25, increase the green by 5, decrease the red by -10 and the items looks like they were taken in natural daylight.
posted on March 16, 2001 10:03:00 PM
tim99..My Mavica is a FD71....It seems to have taken better pics when I first got it then it is now. I wonder if I moved a setting or something. I have to profess laziness that I have not sat down and read the manual cover to cover. Maybe I missed something important {frown]..or should upgrade to the 9. You like yours???
uaru....hmm, interesting. I had thought I was using TOO much light as the colors are not true or the detail ...for instance, the true colors in those pics are green center design, orange outer design with a wool edging. It looks dark blue on the outer and yellow/light blue in pics. I know how to work with the brightness controls but have not a clue how to add or decrease blue etc like you spoke of.
Since I take a LOT of pics for both ebay and the webpage maybe I SHOULD consider a photo class. Most of the better pics I did with the scanner which seems like a waste of a camera.
But so far, I don't think the halogen light is helping a lot....or I am just setting up the shot wrong.
posted on March 16, 2001 10:09:54 PM
I have a Mavica too (FD 73) & I find taking pictures outside works best. If there is no sun I use the flash & I muted the flash by tapeing a small oblong piece of white paper over it. I get great results in the sun, almost always. I have a closed auction
# 567721264 of a very colorful item taken in the sun & the colors are very true & the picture clear. So you might want to try some pictures outside in the sun and in the shade with & without the flash for both sun & shade. Sometimes you have to take many pictures to get that special one & also try with the brightness from medium to all the way up to the brightest. For a macro shot put your zoom all the way over to the W. Just try in sun, shade, & keep adjustimg the brightness & you might want to cover the flash with a single piece of pure white paper. The only time I remove the paper is when I am taking other pictures of pets & family in the house with the flash.
I too read that post where a halogen light was mentioned & bought one for 9.99. It didn't work for me at all. I never use it.
Jane
Edited to add:
I use the Arc Soft program that came with the camera to sometimes add contrast.
I just learned something here about adjusting the color & am anxious to try that.
[ edited by mcjane on Mar 16, 2001 10:14 PM ]
uaru posted some great information. He's 100% right, more light more light more light. What I meant was that the Mavicas need even MORE light, or at least mine does. The camera will take a great image, but flashes are very unnatural and skew the colors to heck.
Heck, maybe even take them outside on a bright sunny day. If you're selling the same product often it would do to take some time and get good quality shots. Most of my stuff are one-offs so I don't spend the time I do on either things I sell often or higher quality collectables that people want to really look at.
There's a program called IrfranView you can use to change the color balance. Just use it to open you picture then click on "Image" in the menu and pull down to "Enchance Colors" and you can experiment to your hearts content.
You won't find a better program for the price, it's free.
I tinkered with your picture with IrfanView just to show you some possible changes.
posted on March 16, 2001 11:50:39 PM
Use a tripod. Even a cheap one.
If possible try to let natural daylight be your light. Don't put it directly behind or infront of the subject.
Cloudy days are your friend: God's neutral density filter.
If you want to go with lighting, you can go affordable with clamp on work lamps, painters lamps, even bare light bulbs.
BUT Uaru's point about color temperature is extremely important to remember.
So, if you have a digital camera, use the function that corrects for the color of the light.
If not, buy tungston balanced film.
Or use a filter, but to be honest, filters are one more layer between your lens and the subject.
posted on March 17, 2001 03:19:30 AM
I've got a Mavica FD-85 and use it almost exclusively for closeup indoor photography. I've been very happy with it! My old Casio QV-120 couldn't take indoor pictures at all unless I put the item on the windowsill in indirect sunlight. The Mavica, though, does just fine with a desklamp for illumination.
A few pointers:
First, get yourself a nice bright lamp. I use a 75 watt halogen bulb and it does the trick nicely.
Second, the Mavica FD-85 has a setting for "white light" which can be set to "indoor", "outdoor" or "auto". The default is "auto", but I find that setting it to "indoor" instead makes a big difference in the color balance. Everything looks a bit yellow under incandescent lighting, and this setting compensates well for it.
Good luck!
Barry
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The opinions expressed above are for comparison purposes only. Your mileage may vary....
posted on March 17, 2001 06:03:45 AM
Several things to try ...
1. REFORMAT your diskettes in your computer, doing a FULL reformat, every couple of uses. The camera's "reformat" just erases the files, and it's write head doesn't have enough power to overcome the previous image.
2. Use a tripod. Hand-blur is a major cause of lack of detail.
4. Do not edit JPGS! Every time you edit and save, you lose detail. Convert the Mavica's JPGs to a TIFF or BMP for editing.
4. Get better photoediting software, and resign yourself to having to do color corrections and lightness/brightness changes. I use GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program), which is powerful and free from www.gimp.org Check out the GAMMA corrections in your software - they can pull out the midrange details without damaging the shadows and highlights.
5. And while the strap picture is artistic, with a digital on the web, you can't get adequate detail because of the limits of screen resolution.
To show the quill details, take a closeup of one section. And look for a command called UNSHARP MASK and play with it. Great for crisping up the details.
posted on March 18, 2001 02:30:30 PM
A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone for all this great info!!!!!!! It has been a GREAT help.....
UARU....I have irfanview , it IS a great program...I use it to scan pics on disks...I never gave a thought to using it for color enhancing. Thanks for the tip.
ABACAXI...on the reformats...I had heard that should be done and never put much into paying attention. However, these disks I am using are used over and over and that could be one thing to try. Thanks!
Vidpro2...thanks for the link...I am on my way to check it out.
One of the things I THINK I have done to my poor camera is everytime I handle it, I think I am hitting pushing buttons when I pick it up or something that could be threwing everything off worse. It took better pics when I first got it.
Not sure what a murphy box is, but I do have a wooden box set up with lining and a mounted light on the top shining in to use for the figurines that works great. The only problem I am having really is with the leather quillwork that I do...thats where the pics really need help. I am going to try the outdoors whenever possible and see if that helps too.
Thanks Barry and everyone, again, for taking the time to help. You have given me a lot of great ideas.
posted on March 19, 2001 05:28:41 AM
4. Do not edit JPGS! Every time you edit and save, you lose detail. Convert the Mavica's JPGs to a TIFF or BMP for editing.
Question about the above. Does editing the photo include cropping and resizing or is it okay to crop and resize the JPG? I have the Sony 90 and what I am currently doing is taking the photo, opening up in Paint Shop Pro, cropping, resizing and then optimizing the JPG. Should I do this differently? Sometimes my pics are great, other times not so great; mainly has to do with lighting I'm sure. I've had to experiment all over the house looking for places that lighting is the best. Thanks for all the great information posted on this thread.
posted on March 19, 2001 06:17:59 PM
Paintpower -
"Does editing the photo include cropping and resizing or is it okay to crop and resize the JPG? I have the Sony 90 and what I am currently doing is taking the photo, opening up in Paint Shop Pro, cropping, resizing and then optimizing the JPG."
You can usually get by with opening a JPG, cropping, maybe doing some color correction, and saving with compression. But if you decide that the picture needs some added edits later, your quality will suffer. and if you plan on getting fancy with floating widgets, drop shadows, etc., you really need to edit on a TIFF.
posted on March 19, 2001 07:44:57 PM
I have an unusual problem & maybe someone can help.
I transferred a lot of pictures from AW to my briefcase on AOL. Some of them arrived with JPG after them and I can use them, but most arrived and now say "type: ART file
it also says "Type ART buttonrline.ART
I transferred them all the exact same way & have no idea how this happened and I can't open them or use them on an auction. Can they be changed back to JPG & how do I do it.
It was suggested I go to IrfanView & change them, but I have been there & have no idea where to go to do it. I'm confused by that site. Can they be changed at Arc Soft?
