Taking Pictures---How do you do it?

[Mosey]

I see some terrific photographs of our models here, and I am not able to take pictures that are good. How do you guys do it? GBritnell, yours are so good, well lit, in focus, etc.,?
Could someone be very specific and help me with lens, aperture, lighting technique, EV rating, etc., etc.
I have a Nikon D80 with 60 mm macro lens, a pair of photofloods with umbrellas. What do I do?

 

[mu38&Bg#]

You have all the right gear. I use ambient lighting and a tripod with long exposures when needed. Custom white balance helps, follow the manual. One of these days I'll get a tent to shoot in, or make a light box. I also shoot live through the PC a lot.

What is your experience with photography? Some basic might help. Your local library should have a copy some edition of Kodak's Joy of photography, it's what I started with many years ago.

Using a manual mode where you can control the ISO speed will make a difference. If you use an auto mode and it's reaching for 3200 or 6400 to keep the shutter speed fast, things will be grainy no matter what you do. I'm not familiar with the D80. I'm using a Canon T2i for the past year.

Greg

 

[thayer]

It will be a lot easier to offer suggestions after seeing some samples. Do you have any photos that you have tried to make nice that you think can be better?

Thayer

 

[Mosey]

My experience is extensively with straight B&W, large format, daylight exposures, and classic, large lenses. I developed my negatives by inspection, and printed on contact paper. Old school extreme. Very successful.
Now, digital ,small format, with artificial lighting is quite alien to me, although I understand what's going on, of course. I think that lighting is the big hurdle.
My camera tries to solve all of the issues with trumped-up internal programs that want to take over and just make things difficult. I prefer to shoot manually, set the speed to 100, color balance to tungsten, aperture small, and make long exposures. Fine, but how do you light these? I guess I should use the umbrellas, but don't know where to put them.

 

[metalmad]

Hi Mosey
If the Weathers Bad Mate, Id put it over your head Rof}
Pete

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Mosey,
For my setup I have a sheet of plywood standing upright (4x6 feet). It's attached to one of my basement beam support posts. I use this setup when I photograph my artwork.
When I do my models and engines I drape a light blue cotton sheet from the plywood and over top of a small table that's about 40 inches high.
From the plywood I have 3 pieces of 2x2 clamped that come out about 2 feet. On each of the 2x2's I have one of those cheap aluminum reflector lights (8"dia.) The 2x2's are arranged, one on each side and one over top at the center.
For bulbs I use daylight compact florescents. I think the light temperature is around 5000.
My camera is a Canon S2iS. At the time I bought it it was one of those cameras that fell between the point and shoot and digital SLR's.
It's 5 mega pixels.
For taking pictures I use a tripod (almost a necessity) The camera has several light source settings, sunlight, 2 florescents, an incandescent and a settable white balance. I use the florescent setting that gives the best natural color. I set my camera to aperture manual that way I can get a better depth of field for closeups. I also set the camera to take 3 shots at 1/3 different f-stops. That way when I look at the pictures I can take the one that is lit the best. Most of the time the normal picture, not the over or under f-stop picture, is the best. It just depends how reflective your object is and how the light fall on the object your shooting.
When I heat the shutter button to focus the camera some of the time it will tell me that there's not enough light or it can't adjust far enough for the aperture setting but I take it any way. These cameras gather a lot of light. My camera has a macro setting whereby I could get 1" away from the object if I wanted, (but rarely do).
When I bought the camera I was overwhelmed by the adjustments on it but by reading the book and experimenting I have learned to use all the settings I need. As with most cameras these days they will do so many things that it's thoroughly confusing but I found that I only need about 1/4 of the setting. The one thing that you have to remember is when you change environments (go outside, etc) to change your settings, unless you just use Auto.
gbritnell

 

[thayer]

Wow, someone else who takes control of their photos!

Given that we are usually photographing what is often shiny pieces of metal, I treat them much the same way I would when shooting jewelry, with soft, indirect lighting sources. You are right, getting umbrellas involved will likely cramp your work space. I often make do with a bounced flash or with a piece of paper in front of the flash to diffuse it. When shooting with ambient light I use a tripod and again, modify the light with white card reflectors or translucent diffusion panels, often from something as simple as a creased sheet of paper with the light shining through it.

The one beauty of digital is the instant feedback. Do a little experimenting and you should find something that works out pretty quickly.

Thayer

 

[mu38&Bg#]

I'll put my foot back in my mouth now, ;D thank you.

 

[panofish]

Some of my best photos are taken near large windows or inside a garage with the garage door open. Indirect sunlight (not direct).
Shoot with your back to the window off to one side so as not to block the light or shoot parallel with the window so the indirect light floods across the object(s). I never use a flash... too many undesirable effects.

Tripods and longer exposures are also very useful when light is insufficient.

Of course it also helps to have the best quality equipment you can afford.

If your camera is capable of shooting in RAW mode, definitely use it and use your camera's software to convert the image to jpg afterwards. You can adjust white balance and exposure and many other refinements in RAW mode that are impossible with a jpg alone.

I prefer lightroom or photoshop, but there are many other great and less expensive software programs for converting RAW images.

This is not my engine... just a pic I took at NAMES ...

 

[Sshire]

Photographing highly reflective objects (especially round ones) is based on a few simple principles. The light source must be larger than the object. The last surface to be struck by the light is the light source. You are actually photographing the reflection, not the surface of the model.
Your umbrellas (assuming they are the reflective type) are not the best solution. The unbrella shaft places the light source, in this case the umbrella, too far from the subject. Even though the umbrella is much larger than the model, any round surface acts like a wide angle lens and makes its reflection look tiny.
Try this. Take a piece of paper, 8.5 x 11 is fine. Hold it at about the distance that your umbrellas would be.
Now move it in toward the model until the entire surface is covered with the reflection of the paper. This would be the correct distance for the light source. So, the larger the light source,mother further away it could be.
Transmissive umbrellas (translucent material) are aimed 180 degrees from reflective umbrellas. The light is traveling to the umbrella which is now the light source. These can be placed inches from the model.
A simple version of this is a translucent shower curtain. Cheap and big. Hang it up, aim the strobes at it and you have a large Transmissive light source.
The absolutely ideal light for small, reflective objects would be a large, translucent sphere. Model inside, lights outside, small opening for the lens.
If you have a restaurant supply nearby, they have large translucent buckets. These are perfect. Cut an opening for the lens, invert the bucket over the model and light the bucket.
BTW, the reason that an overcast day is so good for this type of photography is that the sky is a very large translucent diffuser.
I do take issue with the concept of placing diffusion material on the front of an electronic flash. The original light source,the flash tube is maybe 1"x 0.25". Increasing the size of the light source to maybe 2"x3" is a very minimal increase in light source surface area. It will help a little but not nearly to a size that would make it useful for photographing reflective objects.
Just my 2 cents but until last year I used to sign my emails like this:

Stan Shire
Professor and Department Chair
Department of Photographic Imaging

(don't miss it at all. 30 years teaching this stuff was fun, but I'm having a helluva good time making chips.)

Best
Stan

 

[Omnimill]

Light tents can be handy to soften the light:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Photo-Studio-16-Photography-Light-Tent-Backdrop-Kit-Carrying-Case-Cube-Box-/260942185996?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc15dc60c#ht_3498wt_1223

 

[Mosey]

Armed with this information, I will soon have no more excuse for poor pictures. Thanks everyone, especially Stan and George. Now, for some experimentation. I do have a pair of translucent umbrellas, but didn't realize they were to be the reflectors rather than transmitters. Here goes, and I will post results. Some day.
Mosey

 

[Sshire]

Mosey
I wrote that post at 2 am and apologize if I wasn't clear. The translucent umbrellas ARE transmitters and are placed with the outside of the curve close to the subject.. The order is subject, umbrella, light source.
Best
Stan

 

[Sshire]

Like this

 

[Mosey]

Stan, thanks again. The check is in the mail.
Mosey
I guess that there need be no further questions on this forum about pics. Just send them here.

 

[spuddevans]

I did a write-up of how I take my workshop photo's a while ago, and a few others joined in with some good hints too, it's all found here :- http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=1222.0

Just a few rambling thoughts of a semi-deranged mind :big: :big:


Tim