New To This Hobby

[Kathy Newman]

I am new to all this photography stuff. I have two camera's a Canon Power Shot SD200 and a Sony DSC-H9. Not hight dollar equipment but that is all I have. I am trying to take pictures of jewelry I make and am having a terrible time. When I use my Macro setting on both cameras, I can not get CLOSE up pictures with detail without getting a blurr. The other problem is that alot of the pictures turn out yellow. I use a lighting tent that is white. Sometimes I use a blue , white or red background. I need to have good detail in these pictures to be able to sell them. Can someone please help me asap.

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Product Photography

Welcome to OPF.

Product photography is a genre all unto itself and it - for me - has an interesting learning curve. But there are some interesting tutorials online. I found that www.photoflex.com has one that was helpful.

If your images are blurry it could be motion blur from using a slow shutter speed and holding the camera. A tripod is really essential to this type of photography - even for using compact cameras.

 

[Kathy Newman]

Thanks

Thanks for the info. I just might be getting back in touch with you. Like I said, I am new at this and need to have great pictures in order to sell my jewelry.

 

[Ken Tanaka]

Welcome Kathy,
Years ago an event photographer/videographer used to sling a cute, but accurate, slogan around: "If it was really easy they'd just get a relative to do it for free."

That capsulizes the whole issue of jewelry photography. It's just not as easy as it seems like it should be.

Offhand:
1. Your "blur" issue probably results from the extremely shallow depth of field (i.e. a narrow range in which objects will appear well-focused) that results from putting these cameras in "macro" mode.

2. The "yellow color" probably results from using the wrong white balance setting. For example, if you are lighting your scenes with tungsten light use the camera's tungsten white balance setting. (This is common.)

Study, practice, and study more. Table Top Studio is a good place to start online.

Have fun.

 

[Husain Alfraid]

fluorescent mode (from the camera)...w/ fluorescent lights.

you still can fix those picture using some softwares (the modes are usually call Tempreture) as hight as it goes (over 500) it goes yellowish.....under 5000 goes blue

jsut from my little experience...hope that helped :S

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Kathy,

Just get yourself a gray card or else a WhiBal™ card. So a search here and you will find lots of info. Just include that in all your photography from now on. Always carry a card with you. In photoshop Adobe RAW or any other package, one click of the neutral eye dropper on the grey card or WhiBal™ (http://www.rawworkflow.com) and your color is normalized and will be pretty well perfect. Otherwise click on a gray object, a steel, a knife or the white in someones eyes, a piece of concrete, a white shirt or tablecloth, anything in the same ligh field but with no natural color of its own besides being somewhere from white to black! Michael Tapes has great info on his (that) website )

The eye dropper tool is also in the levels adjustment layer in photoshop and in curves too.

You must, must, must know this! This is one important thing to accomplish! Then you do not have to worry about weird lighting. Just include a grey card picture for every part of an irregularly lit room or anytime you change the set up.

Good luck,

Asher

 

[StuartRae]

Hi Kathy,

Some advice from another amateur. Apologies if I've duplicated advice from other posters.

1. Use a tripod. For the Sony, turn off the IS and use the remote. For the Canon, use the 2 sec self timer.

2. Use the lowest ISO available (80 for the Sony, 50 for the Canon). Small sensors will produce a lot of noise at higher ISOs.

3. Neither of your cameras will allow you to save in raw format, so setting the WB on the camera is important. Don't rely on auto WB - set it specifically to the type of lighting you're using.

4. Getting the WB correct in PP is more difficult with JPEG than it is with raw, but as Asher says use a WhiBal card. Michael Tapes supplies a free PS plugin which lets you use the WhiBal with JPEG.

Regards,

Stuart

 

[Kathy Newman]

I have one of those cameras that have the "steady" option on it. Would that take care of the problem or do I still need a tripod? I can focus in on the object with the "macro" on, but then when when I soom in on it, it gets blurry! It is like I am too close. But I thought that is what the "macro" was for.

 

[Kathy Newman]

O K. you lost me on the tungsten lighting. Don't forget, I am new to this so please explain.

 

[Kathy Newman]

You guys are getting really technical on me. I am going to have to stop and look up all these words to see what they mean!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is a RAW image and and how do I set the white balance

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

O K. you lost me on the tungsten lighting. Don't forget, I am new to this so please explain.

Kathy,

Depending on your camera, you'll probably be able to set up the White Balancing parameter. If you shoot with Auto Whitebalance (AWB), but in fact use tungsten lighting (incandescent bulbs or similar), the auto correction usually is insufficient and the results will look too yellow/orange.

When you link to an example, it'll be easier to judge the actual shortcomings, if any, and advice.

Bart

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Language of it's own

Kathy,

Photography has a language of it's own. Digital even more than film. Most of the photographers here are of varying interest and experience levels. And most are quite helpful.

Your camera has image stabilization, but, regardless, for products a tripod is best. The cameara up close needs to be steady to capture the jewelery at it's best.

Also, the way your camera sees the color differently than your eyes = "white" is different than your eye sees it. If the light is not the right "temperature" it will appear blue, green, yellow, orange in the photo. There is a way to have the white appear to be WHITE by using tools. A grey card (available at the photography store or on the web) will help your camera see the color the way you want it and it will allow you to process the photos to be the right color since it is like a measuring tool.

Light comes in flavors. Flourescent is one kind and it has a color cast in imaging; Tungsten is your regular light bulb usually; Flash on camera gives a different tone. Too much light takes detail away and too little will make your jewelery have no color or pop. The temperature of color is actually measured in a standard called Kelvin. Sunlight and shade all affect how the camera sees color too.

Yes, you can be too close and your image will be out of focus. You can also have the lens opening set to let in too much light - called low depth of field. It makes it fuzzy - which is something a lot of people use to highlight their subject.

What you are attempting is not a beginners task. We're all willing to give some input. It takes some patience to get from point a to the end result.

 

[Kathy Newman]

Well, I usually jump in with both feet and then say, "what have I gotten myself into" I just want to be able to take good pictures of my jewelry and sell it. I see all these other pictures and wonder why mine doesn't look that good. I'm learning fast. Thank for all your help! I am going to try some of these tips and get back with you later. THANKS

 

[StuartRae]

Hi Kathy,

Just one more thing to think about

I can focus in on the object with the "macro" on, but then when when I soom in on it, it gets blurry! It is like I am too close......

I've just looked at the spec for your camera, and in macro mode at the wide end (unzoomed) it will focus down to 1cm, but at full zoom this has increased to 120cm, so yes, there will be a point as you zoom in where the camera is no longer able to focus and you will have to move further away.

Regards,

Stuart