Fastest way to better Photography, LEVELS tutorial

[Tanner Studios]

What are levels? The heart and sole of your imaging software. All high end software will have a levels control box ( Photoshop, Paint, as well as camera software ). If you do not have levels, it would be a smart investment. You can pick up Photoshop Elements ( a stripped down and lower cost version ).

First here are a couple terms, you will need to understand.
BLACK POINT- the point where a color and or tone saturates to black.
WHITE POINT- the point where a color and or tone desaturates to white.
GRAY POINT- 50% gray. the point in the middle of black & white.
Histogram- don't freak out it's just a Bar chart.

So Lets start by understanding the histogram. Remember, what your looking at is a bar chart. In Fig.1 the top box shows the histogram of the art work above it. There are only three tones in the art work, BLACK, 50% GRAY and WHITE. So the histogram shows three lines 0- black. 1.00 gray and 255 white. The reason there are no numbers up the side or along the bottom of this chart, is because we are dealing with 255 MILLION colors and tones.
The bottom box shows a normal photos histogram.

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Fig.2 Shows the controls we will be looking at. The raw photo is there just so you can see what the histogram is showing.

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Don't worry about the eye doppers. Their use is fairly specialized.

Fig.3 Before we look at this example. Understand the markings that are in color are not part of the dialogue box. They are my markings to Illustate where I'd move the sliders too.

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Fig.4 How to change your color balance.

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Now you may not want to mess with the B&W points in the color channels. It gets a little tricky. But if you have set the B&W points in the RGB channel first, all you will need to do is just adjust the Gray point slider. Start out with small adjustments. The fastest way to learn is to mess around and see what happens.

Fig.5 How to adjust Contrast and Brightness. In this example, I have set the B&W points way to far into the histogram to illustate the point.

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Fig. 6 Examples of photos and what their histograms look like. Can you figure out how to fix the top four?

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In the example SWEET ! ( this is what the histogram looked like after the editing process. ) you will notice white lines in the histogram. That is missing information. That would be a bad thing if there were too much missing. But 25 missing colors or tones out of 255 million is pretty good. I think I can live with that. LOL

There you go, not that complicated. Here are my steps when I edit a photo.

Step 1 set B&W point for each color channel.
Step 2 adjust color balance.
Step 3 set B&W points in the RGB channel ( contrast ).
Step 4 adjust Brightness.
step 5 click OK

Play around and good luck.
Scott

[Gelly]

Very nice tut, I'm sure it will be a big help to lots of people.

[LoriBird]

Ok I gotta fire up the printer...dh got me Photoshops Elements for Christmas and I've been puttering around...this should speed things up!
Thanks!
xoxox
Lori

[MeghanRose]

Holy ______ my photos just improved 200%!!! THANK YOU!!!

[lripster]

Awesome information.

Thanks, Scott!

[J. Savina]

This was about the best explanation for this procedure that I have seen. Like anything we want to do well, with a little practice you'll gain experience and it will come as second nature. What a helpful tut. You rock!!!!
J.

[Mustang Dawn]

Thank you Scott. I use this all the time and now I have a few more items to tweek.

This is a great Thread and I'm rating it 5 stars.

Dawn

[LAG]

What a great tutorial.. thanks for taking the time to publish it for us..

[CorvetteJuliet]

Thanks Scott! I'm using PaintShopPro and can't find a historgram plot for levels. :( Looks like all the other functionality is in PSP though. I'll have play around more! :) Thanks, ~Juliet

[Just Nancy]

Scott,
Don't freak out (I loved that, just my speed), you may just be my new hero.

If I don't make it back to tell you so, I'm editing my pictures. ;)

Thanks.

[CorvetteJuliet]

I just found a histogram... in my NikonCapture Editor software. Really cool stuff! Thanks for explaing the hows and whys! :D Here's before and after photos! Thanks, ~Juliet
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[Tanner Studios]

Way to go ! Juliet , Now Thats what I'm talking about !

Now, let's figure out why your photos have an amber cast ( bias ) in the first place. Like I said before. It might be something as simple as your camera setting. Your light source is Tungsten ( How do I know ? I have seen that color for thirty years ). So make sure you set your camera is set to tungsten light balance ( the light bulb icon ). If thats not the problem, here is what you need to do. Find the balance at the light source. If you have to shoot in Day light balance mode ( the sun icon ) on your camera, But you have tungsten lights. You can put a filter over the lights or the len. The color would be in the blue family.

Over the lens, Kodak makes a filter system for over the lens . They are Wratten gelatin filters or also called Color Compensating filters. The Correction filter you would need is in the 82 family. Filters come in DEGREE's 82 , 82 A , 82 B , 82 C , and 82 D (lighter to darker ).

Now over the lights. Its the same deal. But you will need to filter the lights. Rosco makes filters to balanced the light at the source ( the Lights! ).
there are two kinds... Rosco and Rosco Luxs ( brand name ) . One is made for HOTTER lights. Meaning they won't melt as fast ( and I know how we all love to melt things ).
I can't remember which is which. Or there number.

Over the lights, ( by the way, this is a best way to go. ) But when attaching filters to lights. BE CAREFUL, filters can catch fire. Don't put the filter on too close. Attach it loosely so there is an air space between the light and filter.

Kodak filters.... Pro camera shops.
Rosco light filters..... Pro camera shops, film production supplyers, stage or theatrical supply houses.

By the way Juliet, your new lights, Rock!. There is a nice quality of light in your photographs.

Here is the lession for today. Light's a bitch. It has Four heads..... Contrast, Brightness and Color Balance. The forth ? We'll just say, I saving that for those who understand WAX on WAX off.

Scott

P.S by the way, Way cool beads.... now that I can get a proper look see.

[CorvetteJuliet]

Scott, Thanks! About the lights... is it better to stick with one kind or mix them up? Those photos were taken using two knockoff brand OTT lights (which have some fluorescent like bulb) and two incandescent lights - one with a regular bulb the other with some GE color correct (looks like light blue glass) bulb. I figure the color settings on the camera are for standardized light spectra. Is mixing light sources making it more difficult to get the color balance to come out OK? I think on those original photos I had the setting on outdoor (DH used the camera the day before outside and I didn't realize it and switch it back). I've tried fluorescent light setting and that's awful. I'm wondering if I'd be better just using 1 kind of light. I tried just 2 of the 4 lights, but there's not enough to really illuminate the beads, even shooting with a tripod. ANy thoughts on that? Thanks, this is a great help! ~Juliet

[Just Nancy]

Yes, Scott. You are the best. My pictures are better. This one looks pretty good, but there is still room for improvement. I can see an even bigger difference in some of the other things I've taken.

I've started using my new $20 tent from eBay. I must remember to get out the tripod, and then better lighting. Before I buy, I'd love your comments. (Currently it is 2 100W daylight bulbs in the reflector type clamp on housing.) Now that I have the tent, I want to get some lights that are free standing instead of clip on. But I want to be sure I know what type of bulbs I need first.

beforehttp://www.baublesbynancy.com/before.jpg
afterhttp://www.baublesbynancy.com/after.jpg

[pierces*designs]

I'd love some help with lighting. I tried last night to get some pics of my dichrioc glass which is a challenge anyway.

I have a light tent and one halogen light above it. I am thinking I need a spotlight on each side to allow me to NOT use my flash (which leave a big flash in the middle of the dichroic pendant. I did find that my pics were too noisy because I had my film speed set to 800! (Bad!)

Do you think two clamp-on lights, one on each side would give me the light I need?

[Nanette Marie]

Okay, Scott, I'll bite: Why do you photograph on such a busy background and not a plain white or grey one?
Enquiring Minds Want to Know.

[prairieson]

Great Tutorial!

One small tidbit however, I saw the figure 255 million colors mentioned several times. That should be 16.7 million. 255 "levels" for each, red, green, and blue. 255 cubed is roughly 16.7 mil, not 255. But still an overwhelming number nontheless.

[Tanner Studios]

Great feed back every one. And Thank you Prairieson. Your right ! I used the number 255 million incorrectly. Because it just makes it easier to understand that the histogram is just a bar chart. If I went into to much information. I would have freak out! And scared off the newbies. It helped me when I first started. To see the histogram as a straight line bar chart from 0 to 255 million. Even though that is incorrect, Seeing it this way will help newbies wrap their mind around the histogram faster. Thank you. That's Great Info.
Scott

[Tanner Studios]

Lets answer your questions.

Juliet: Mixing the lites is where your touble is comming from. Here's what to do. Do a test shoot with each type of light tube you have and with all your camera modes ( Day light , tungsten, Fluoresscent ) . Find out which Combo you like the best. Then replace all the tudes so their the same. That way you will have the same amount of light. Then filter If need.

Nancy: Great job on the flower and photo. I am going to use it as an example if I may. Every one take a look at Just Nancy"s " After" photograph. I want you to look closely at the back ground. And the high light on the lower part of the Bead. Now Remember what I said in Fig. 3 Your throwing any information . Here is a case, of not throwing out enought. If Nancy would have set her WHITE POINT a little more aggressively, She would have thrown away that blue bias in the back ground. Making the back ground whiter and brighter. (Contrast; one of the masters of light. Make it your best friend. ) However, here's the down side. While Nancy's back ground now looks better, the high light in the bead will have blow out ( loose detail / information ) Thats a bad thing. But it can easy'ly be fixed. Take a look and my photo I have no High lights on my beads. They have all been retouched out, But we will talk about that latter.
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Next up is Pierces * Design,

[pierces*designs]

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Posting this here. Thoughts, advice, help??

[Tanner Studios]

Debbie P. Great job! beautiful bead. Now lets look at your photo. If you read my reply ( answer your questions ) I used nancy's bead as an example. The same thing is going on with your back ground, However Deddie has a problem that Nancy did not, Silver wire. Look at her photo she is starting to loose detail in the high lights of her silver wire. But the over all photo needs a little more punch. What should Deddie do? Nothing she is at the point of compromise. I think Debbie used very good jugdment. when she set her white point.

Now heres a thought that will scare you to death. The four hardest things to photograph are; Round reflective surfaces, Glass, Metal and Macro (close up photography ) Guess what? we're dealing with all four of these little monsters, Told ya it was going to be scary.

[pierces*designs]

Here is a different one that I tweaked just a little different just now. I think I am going to have to use the guidelines you have so graciously shared and just adjust them to my need as you said.

Thanks so mucj!
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[Tanner Studios]

Debbie, Again with the beautiful bead. This time You pushed the white point to far. Your silver is too hot. Back off your white point and brighten it with the gray point. BUT! do it form the original photo and not the edited version you are showing here. The reason
for this is.... Once you have edited the file, you have thown information away. Your white point is now set at 255 and there is no way to back off.

[Tanner Studios]

Why don't you Shoot on white?

Every one meet Nanette. She email this question to me. I asked her, to ask it again in here. I thought it would make a good topic. Heres an example of what she is talking about.
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I have three reasons. First its boring, I've been an advertising photographer for close to thirty years. I have shot everything under the sun on white and more then once. So it's all I can do, not to put a gun in my mouth.:-D How would you like making white beads every day.

Reason two, it takes to much TIME to knock out the back ground properly. You need to use the pen tool (Paths ). And that takes a lot of time. I sell big sets, around 15 beads. I already spend about 40 minutes per set, setting up my photo's for ebay. Knocking out the back ground would add an addional hour per set.

The most important reason. It's part of my marketing strategy. Yes its true, that shooting on white may show the beads better. And alot of buyer's would prefer that. But what will it say about the artist? The strategy for my photos is not too, just sell beads. But, also sell the artist. So, I add some creative juice into my images to express who I am as an Artist.

Thanks for all the great question everyone.
Scott

[Just Nancy]

OK. Thanks so much for the comments. I appreciate it very much.

So, the white balance. Maybe I get it now ~maybe I don't.

How's this. http://www.baublesbynancy.com/white.jpg
Sorry it's so big, guess I goofed on resizing.

And I did a red and white one.
Before
http://www.baublesbynancy.com/red.jpg
after
http://baublesbynancy.com/sunday.jpg

Improving?

[Tanner Studios]

Hey Nancy, Oh you soooo get it! the flower "prefect" the red set however. just a little to much black. Look at your reds, just a little over saturated. And the whites in your beads are a little to hot. Your trying to get your back ground whiter then it's willing to go. Thats why if you want a true white for your back ground, You have to use paths and knock out the back ground. See; "why don't you shoot on white".
But you go girl.
Scott

[Just Nancy]

Scott, Thanks. I thought the flower was very much better than I would have ever thought I could make a photo look. I see what you're saying about the reds, but don't know (yet) how to make it different. I'll play with it later. I definately want a different background because I don't like the texture in my white background. I have several in mind. I'll share once I have something to show.

Thank you again.
Nancy

[collectiblesbyrose]

Thank you for all the information! What is it that you use for your background? It is very pretty!!!

[SuzyQ]

What a fantastic tutorial. I do use levels but I tend to do my color correction in my browse screen. I am going to give the channels a go and see if I like it better.
As for shooting on white. It is a hard thing for me to drop...... but you have a good point :) Let me think about it, lol.

[Tanya]

Hi Scott - thanks for the great info. I use levels all the time, but I use the droppers. I don't use the gray one, though, cause I can never find a neutral gray to click on. I absolutely NEVER thought to set the black and white points for each of the channels. I bet that will help a lot since the problem is rarely across the board consistent between channels. Thanks!

[Tanner Studios]

Hey Tanya, The eye droppers may seam like an easy way to go. But with out a control strip in the photo, you are still guessing. Here's why, any tone or color is made up of a group of dots ( yea, photographers do dots too ) called pixels. Thats what I refer to as information. Now the problem with using the droppers to select part of your image is, which dot will you select. Will it be this dot ( the one you want ) or the next dot. Which is darker then then the one you really want. And when it comes to the color channels, it will become a problem real fast. Trust the histogram, not the droppers.

[sislonski]

Awesome tutorial Scott.

I never read it over thoroughly enough, but I know it'g going to make a difference. I doing a few things with the help of your instructions rather than how I use to edit. I know I could improve a lot though. I love learning this stuff.
I'm never satisfied with what I do photographically, can you come live with me? I need you! LOL!

Here's my feeble attempt.

Sample one before editing, Sample two after editing.

Okay I added two more photos, with different coloring so I could play around a bit more. How does this look?

Shari

[Tanner Studios]

Hey Sislonski. It's not about learning new stuff. It's about seeing in a new way. And your on your way. Great bead by the way. Hey we all need to live with someone. Wow the new set rocks ............ way to go girl. I can smell the breath of that beast.

[Melodie]

Wow! Fantastic tutorial!!! I use Photoshop but never understood how to set these levels. Thank you soooooo much.

[Tanner Studios]

Ok Everyone, I think we have a good handle on Levels. Where would you like to go from here?

[magicannik]

this is great! please tell us more. I don't have any specific requests but whatever it is, the before/after examples are extremely helpful.

[Tanner Studios]

Ok Let's talk file format. Now you all know to use Jpeg's for the web, But what you may not know is they self destruced. Every time you save a jpeg from a imaging software. They are compressed ! What that means, is your thowing away information. So each time you save. You have less and less info. We all know about making a copy from a copy and a copy from a copy. Each time the Quality drops off. So here's what I want you to do. WORK IN THE TIFF format ! If you can save in tiff format from your camera software GREAT. If you can't then save as tiff from your imaging software. You can do this with the SAVE AS, then select "tiff" ( photoshop format is ok as well ). Edit in TIFF format and save as your master file. Then when you prepare for the web you will convert to a jpeg. Thus the images is only compressed one time (That's a good thing ). Here is another reason for saving the master as a tiff. Not only can you save layers and paths. You will be able to save as an EPS ( very important ) if your going to print the image on an off set press ( printing press ). So thats it for today next time I think we'll talk about sharping.
Much love
Scott

[SharonUK]

Terrific tutorial......I've even printed off this thread for future reference. Looking forward to the 'sharpening' info.
Many thanks Scott for taking the time & trouble.

Sharon

[magicannik]

thank you again!

[Shawn T]

Scott can I come to Utah and have you teach me photography and Photoshop?
If you don't think I am not serious your crazy!
Have you thought about teaching this at places like the Gathering or such venues?
You have a ton of information in this thread and I am so glad to have found it.
I have just ordered a light tent and now I am looking for table top lights and bulbs. I now I need to invest money in this and I am more than ready.

[Tanner Studios]

Shawn T,
No need for name calling, I kayak on the Great Salt Lake all winter. Anyone that knows me, knows of my questionable mental state. But I do know something of photography and photoshop. If there is interest, I would be happy to throw out what I can. The question is should I work this thread or start a new thread. I have had others requesting tuts on other tool within photoshop. So I'm thinking of starting a photography Master class thread, with photoshop editing starting it off. Everyone let me know what you think or what you would like me to cover.
Much love
Scott

[vonna]

I was looking for a new camera - I had my camera with me, the sales guy took this picture from my camera hp3.9 something. Anyway he just took the picture in the store - I came home, he told me to play - I just adujusted the gamma and this is what came out. I couldn't believe it and I still can't duplicate what he did. So - when I make my jewelry I am going back to the store with the disc and have him take my pictures HA - Off point here just want to show you. I will figure it out one of these days.

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Thanks for taking a peek.

[Shawn T]

Shawn T,
No need for name calling, I kayak on the Great Salt Lake all winter. Anyone that knows me, knows of my questionable mental state. But I do know something of photography and photoshop. If there is interest, I would be happy to throw out what I can. The question is should I work this thread or start a new thread. I have had others requesting tuts on other tool within photoshop. So I'm thinking of starting a photography Master class thread, with photoshop editing starting it off. Everyone let me know what you think or what you would like me to cover.
Much love
Scott

To Kayak on the Great Salt Lakes seems like a perfectly wonderful time, although I am not sure about doing it in the winter.
Sorry didnt mean to pour salt in an open wound there. :badgrin:

I think starting a new thread for each for each tut would be a wonderful idea. I find that much information gets lost on LE when threads tend to be too long. When someone new opens it and finds out they have 4-7 pages to read they get overwhelmed by it and don't continue through the thread. I would hate to see your wonderful and valuable information getting lost on
LE when so many people could use it.
Thank You so Much Scott for sharing So much that is so needed by others.

[Tanner Studios]

Vonna, the photo the sales guy shot is very nice. But your problem, is the same problem most everyone is having. Most of you think that macro means close up photography. But what it really means is VERY close up. Thats why the photo looks great. But when you try to back off, so you get the whole set in the photo. The image is soft. The reason for this is the limitations of your len. With cameras that have fixed lens, The len is design to do snap shots of your mother and babys. So the macro setting has a very small area where it will be sharp ( Very close up ). How what I want you to do is back off even more. Set up your shot and do some testing. come in as close as you can. Snap a shot. back away and take another so on and so on. Make notes of the distance between the lens and the subject for each shot. Then take all of the photos into the computer, open the image and view them at 1to1 ( in photoshop double clicking on the magnifying glass ) then compare . This will help you find your len's sweet spot. Remember that you only need a very small file for the web. So you don't have to fill the whole image area in your camera.

Now about GAMMA, this is not something you should be useing. What gamma is, is a problem when printing on a printing press and the process of converting a RGB file to a CMYK file. (cmyk, cyan,magenta, yellow, black ). These are the color inks that printing press use. We on the other hand are publishing on the web, so we use red, green and blue (RGB) light to get our colors. Whats happening when you use the gamma tool is your losing some of your colors intensity. and by the way in paint shop it's just a preset levels adjustment anyway. So learn levels and you won't have gamma problem in the first place.

[vonna]

Getting the idea, this is what I did last night. I emailed ya. Thanks and will try all you suggestions. You are a great help to me and I hope to all and thank you for taking the time to help. I know this is dark, but had to edit with kids computer - they screwed up that one and now mine is on the fritz. Thanks again... I don't think I did the gamma on this and I tried to back off.

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EWWWWWWW the picture looks horrible in here.

[Ro]

wow great help, thanks so much!
ro

[barb]

Scott,

Has anyone thought about writing a complete quick reference manual on Photoshop and Beads? The posts in the Dark Room are great. I have tried reading the manual but these tutorials are so easy to understand.

Barb

[Steph'sBeadCorner]

I purchased some daylight bulbs which I think helps. I also added an additional light, so I have three total.

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Here's the histogram, I've been playing with it a little but not any good results yet. I'll keep trying. I paid attention to the tutorial on "contrast" and setting the points closer together. It is greek to me.


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[Tanner Studios]

Seph, don't feel bad you've not had luck with the levels. I down loaded the image and played with it myself. I had a hard time with it myself. The problem is you have a very ugly color bais going on ( kinda cyan/green thing) your going to have to solve that at the light source. on page 1 I talked about filters. I think you should read it. your going to need a little blue and a little magenta over your lights ( very light shades) The reason it is affecting the the image when you use the levels is, when you set your black point where it should be that evil color jumps out. when you try to fix the color balance. It shift around so much that you end up with more problems. I did have some success but it took alot more than levels.
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Make sure all your light are of matching color balance. get a white card to reflect light into the shaddows. And make sure your camera is set on the right color balance for your lights. And try to find a very light magent filter. For over the lights or len. Experiment! you have to find a way to kill that Evil bais.

Good luck, keep me posted
Scott
P.S. you might try a different type of paper, the bais maybe comimg from the surface your shooting on

[Steph'sBeadCorner]

Make sure all your light are of matching color balance. get a white card to reflect light into the shaddows. And make sure your camera is set on the right color balance for your lights. And try to find a very light magent filter. For over the lights or len. Experiment! you have to find a way to kill that Evil bais.

whew!! Scott, thanks so much for working on this I really appreciate your time. Regarding the lights.. this picture was with the new daylight bulbs I purchased at Wal-Mart - so they are all the same. However, the room lights are soft white...could that cause a problem?

White balance is a weak feature of the camera that I'm using - or so the reviews I've read indicate.

The problem is you have a very ugly color bais going on ( kinda cyan/green thing) your going to have to solve that at the light source. on page 1 I talked about filters. I think you should read it. your going to need a little blue and a little magenta over your lights ( very light shades) The reason it is affecting the the image when you use the levels is, when you set your black point where it should be that evil color jumps out. when you try to fix the color balance. It shift around so much that you end up with more problems. I did have some success but it took alot more than levels.


OK, I'll look for these filters.

Good luck, keep me posted
Scott
P.S. you might try a different type of paper, the bais maybe come from the surface your shooting on

mmmm you know when I switched to the light gray paper- I used a white paper to adjust the color balance... yikes

Scott thank you so much for your help. I really really appreciate it!!

[Tanner Studios]

Seph, turn off the room lights when you shoot, that could be the source of the bais.
Scott

[Steph'sBeadCorner]

when you set your black point where it should be that evil color jumps out. when you try to fix the color balance. It shift around so much that you end up with more problems. I did have some success but it took alot more than levels

HI Scott,

I've been working with Shawnette and discovered that the evil color is the reflection of the green leather chair setting by the table. I would have never guessed.

[Tanner Studios]

yea light can bounce around and pick up all kinda color. I hope that solves your problem. way to think out side the box.
Scott

[Steph'sBeadCorner]

hello! well, I've made some major changes... at least I think so. I turned the macro off and backed my camera up about 2 foot Lowered the fstop to f3.5 and set the other setting to 20 or 30... I also messed with the levels and am not getting the green.. now it's a pink in the upper right.. which I think is the indirect light coming from the front door. No way to block that. However i'm thinking of moving this to a different room to prevent any indirect light.

it's the focus in the background... is this still a depth of field problem?

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[Tanner Studios]

Steph, How dare you say there is no way to block that indirect lite. Then tell me your thinking of moving to a new room, LOL I think thats called an oxymoron. Anyway, way to go! But you still have some cyan/green bais. But it's so much better then your first photo. Your on the right track.

About depth of field. Yes, your on the right track there too. Because your're using lite bulbs. You will have problems with depth of field. Macro and wide open fstops are the enemy of depth of field. Try coming over on top of your piece.
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that wil compancate for the lack of depth of field.

Please don't feel bad. Your thinking out side the box. And that we'll lead you to the final solution faster then any advise I can give you. way to go! But I still think you need a magenta filter.
Much love
Scott

[Tanner Studios]

Please post your comments here and not email me. It's not that I don't enjoy hearing from you. I just think that more people will beneifit if the questions & anwsers were posted here on this thread.
Much love
Scott

[ChristyPhelps]

Thanks for reminding me of that tool! I took photos the other night with good lighting and tweaked the levels a tad. the bead is one made by Steph Bonniwell for our monthly auction and the other is a piece I made (wish I could show you the big version of it here). I was so happy with the results of these two photos!\\:D/ \\:D/ \\:D/

[Anne Ricketts]

Ok Everyone, I think we have a good handle on Levels. Where would you like to go from here?
How do I take the "graininess" outta my pictures? They are really good and focused but dark! I go edit the picture by lightning, contrast and focusing but it goes grainy when I do that!

[Tanner Studios]

Anne, Your question is very simple to answer. Grain; is the product of lost information ( ie; pixalation ). Now let's ask a new question... I'm losing information. Which makes my photo's look grainy. What can I do?

Thanks alot Anne, you have just opened up a huge can of worms! LOL.

Lets start with a refresher. What is information? Information is the number of dots captured when you take a photo. With film, were talking atoms. In the digital world we're talking dot per inch. Also called Resolution. Thats what the camera companys call mega pixals. How many dot per inch. In photoshop this is referred to as dpi. Now when I talk about lost of Information. I'm talking about changing the original information that the camera captured. So ADDING or SUBTRACTING is losing info. ( Yes I did said adding ). Change is change right? Enter interpolation.

What is INTERPOLATION ? Thats how your computer thinks. Mathematic's ! Now don't run away yet. I too am an artist. And flunked math at an early age. We don't need to understand it , just control it (thank God for nerds ). Ok that was uncalled for :( Every time you exercise a command in a photo editing soft ware. You are asking the computer to interpolate ( add or subtract ).

With all that said, lets talk about what causes grain or pixalation.
Heres the Good new and Bad new. The bad news is I can't solve your problem. The good news is I can list alot of enemies. So you can help yourself.

Here are the enemies.....

Capture; it all starts here. use a tripod. this will let you work at the highest resolution possible and keep the image sharp. A poorly shot image will have high grain from the start. (bad image... Out of focus, underexposed or over exposed, motion etc. ). Get it right from the start. Oh did I say, Tripod! you can not hand hold your camera! Invest in a platform, be it a tripod or camera stand.

Interpolation: when editing your image remember the more steps, the more grain (or lost information ). That's, what I mean't when I said control. Thats why Levels are so important. Levels will do contrast, color balance and brightness in one step.

Resizing ; This is were most bead maker really mess up. I will try to do a tut on this next.

Sharpening: Another Huge mistake that alot of you are making. Let me say this about sharpening. This is the VERY LAST THING YOU SHOULD DO BEFORE SAVING. AND ONLY ONCE! Sharpening is a very powerful tool. It's all about adding information. And is the source of most of your problems. This tool used with out understanding will pixalate a image faster then any thing else.

Anne, let me take a wild guess, You sharpen the moment you open your file.

Yes there are so many worm in this can. I think this is a great place to start a new lession.
Much Love
Scott

[ChristyPhelps]

Scott - can I add two things? I READ my camera manual finally ;) and found that it has a timer option. What a huge aid! Now I can set up the shot (on a tripod) depress the shutter and back off. 10 seconds later it takes the pic No blur, no movement.
thing 2 - in all the graphics jobs I've ever done I've only used unsharp mask, never sharpen, for the same reason - graininess, and as lonf as you use the preview option, you can really tell how much tweaking you're doing..

[Tanner Studios]

Thanks Christy, You have two great points! First don't use the sharpen button. Use unsharp mask ( the term unsharp mask comes from a dark room technique. Used to sharpen soft photos back in the day ). And if you can't afford a really soild camera stand you can help yourself ( Huge ). By using the self timer option on your camera. We old school folks call that Bulb by the way. Hee Hee'
Love
Scott

[cbm66]

Stumbled on this tutorial at a great time, I am just getting ready to photograph beads for my new web-site. Scott thanks for sharing!
Aloha,Chris

[Anne Ricketts]

Thank you Scott! I'll try these tips out!
Anne (Official Can of worms opener!) :lol:

[glass_beads]

Hi Scott, thank you for doing this. Your photoshop tut's and Evan's have really been insightful for me. I have been using a couple of the tips from this thread and was just getting ready to try some of Evan's tips this afternoon when a transformer blew resulting in a power outage for a few hours. Tomorrow I'll work on it more.

One thing I wish someone would do a tutorial on is learning how to better use the camera. My camera has a lot of the settings, but I get so confused as to when to use this or that, or how to compensate for this or that. I know you have been specifically dealing with how to use photoshop, but I think lending your expertise in how to best use the camera would be helpful as well! Just a thought ;-)

[Tanner Studios]

Ok glass_beads, Starting at the beginning is a great place to start. But I have to warn you. I'm old school. My camera is set on manual. I still refer to film speed as 'ASA' now thats old school :) But I'll take your comment into concentration. Maybe We should just have a A to Z tut. A lot of work but my LE friends are worth that. Hope I can deliver. Thats some mondo pressure. :)
Scott

[glass_beads]

I've heard many people say *not* to use the point and shoot feature on the camera, to instead do the manual stuff. I've read the handbook that came with my camera yet I am still stumped as to when to change what setting in the manual mode. White balance, tungsten, ISO...this is a foreign language to me -- LOL.

Thanks to threads like this one I am learning how to properly use Photoshop, I have just ordered the proper bulbs for my lighting and a light tent, now if I only I could learn to use my camera properly. I'm sure knowing/having all 3 things (photo studio setup, camera, photoshop) under one's belt will lead to great photos.

Thanks for all the info you do share even if you don't find the time to do a camera tut, this other info has been so useful.

[Tanner Studios]

Unsharp mask is another powerful tool that is misunderstood and misused. This tool should be used everytime, and the final tool used. I spoke of setting up the file for use as a CMYK file for printing or a RGB jpeg for the web. And most importantly a RGB tiff file for the master copy. Now I want to talk about.... why we don't sharpen until we sent the file off (final copy).

The Term Unsharp Mask comes from a the dark room technique. Back in the day. When a photographer had a photo that was soft (unsharp) They could save it in the dark room using a masking technique that would sharpen the edges. Thus Unsharp mask.

To understand unsharp mask, lets understand what the tool is doing. Basically it is adding a white and black dot pattern around every color dot in the image. That is why its so important to do this step at the end and only once.
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Scott

[Glass Allure]

Hi Scott! Thanks for this great thread it has really helped me out. I think I have a pretty good start here. Here is a shot of my beads. Let me know what you think.53249

Now for the question. Is there anything I can do to improve these pictures of a sterling silver ring? I feel like it is too shiny(??). Anyway to tone it down?5325053251

I'll take any suggestions you have about any of the pics.

[Tanner Studios]

Michelle, Your beads look great. Your silver is quite good as well. I reworked one of your photos and this is what I came up with.
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All I did was slide the grey point toward the white point to darken the mid tones. Burned in the high light a bit.
And in the color channel, I added a little blue to kill some of the yellow Bias. Silver looks better with a slight blue hue to it.
Scott

[Glass Allure]

Ah...that's perfect! I kept trying to slide the gray thingy but didnt get those results. I play with it some more today along with the blue.

Thanks!

[SuzyQ]

I'm bumping this up because it is the most awesome tutorial for bead pics. Really :)

[barbbbeads]

I'm bumping this up because it is the most awesome tutorial for bead pics. Really :)

No doubt it's the best! Thanks Scott. I still have a long way to go with my photo's, but I keep referring back to this and learn something new each time.

[danelady]

Hi Scott May please I ask some questions about lights and setup?

I scrolled the thread, and didn't see a tut or info post, If I missed it I apologize in advance. I used to do professional commercial photography, mostly large format film, of course, and most of it Architectural. The indoor advertising work was all done with Polaroids, then large format with huge klieg type synched lights.

So as you can see, while I know much about THAT sort of film photography, I am crippled when it comes to taking photos of my small beadlies in digital format. I have an 8 megapixel Canon Powershot Pro, and I am finally starting to learn to use it properly. Not that the pics are BAD, but I need lighting suggestions... and I mean what KIND of lights and setup. I am using reveal bulbs in regular lights, but let me show what happens when I do:

Heres a final shot of a single bead
http://www.doglogic.com/AUCTION/childsplaybead.jpg

And here is the original tiff before I edited it:
http://www.doglogic.com/AUCTION/photoshop/childsplaybeadorig.jpg

I am displeased because I am losing the impact of the colors when i am editing, and I THINK it's becaise of poor lighting. Any assistance is appreciated
THANKS SCOTT!

[Tanner Studios]

Lynnie, Your lighting is not as bad as you think it is. In fact it's pretty good.
Your problem is the photo is under exposed. That is very common when shooting on white. The meter see's all of that white, and has no idea what to do with it. So you need to sit down and talk to your camera, tell it. " I don't care what you think. over expose it!" [-X This problem is worst when shooting in auto mode. So if you can, shoot in manual mode. So you can over ride the meter. Or your camera may have a meter compensation function.

But your real disappointment comes, from having seen a 8x10 or 4x5 transparent piece of film on a light table. 8-) Digital will never come close to that experience.

As far as lights go. I'm the last person to ask advise from. It will cost you.
You see I shoot with strobe lights. I don't even know what kind of bulbs are out there. Let alone which are best.

But your color balance is good, your lighting style is clean and your editing skills are well developed. So just work on getting the exposure down.

I posted this photograph of my set up on another thread. But I'll post it again here incase you missed it.
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Hope that works for you.
Scott

[Kevan]

I get the impression that a lot of people imagine that some people are taking pictures that look like the finished product without manipulating them or something. lol

[Tanner Studios]

Thought you all might like to see what I do for a day job.
Shameless plug.
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Scott

[Kevan]

Scott, even the photo of your set up rocks. lol

[danelady]

OK Scott, yes it is a HUGE help! And I too am jealous of your set up (although I know you do this professionally so I'll stop drooling so much LOL).

I think you may be correct about the film on a light table.. I can't meet my own standards of photo quality this way after that! LOL

I NEVER use auto settings. That, to me, having been a professional photog would make me feel lazy LOL. That original pic was taken without my tripod set up, as I was in a rush and the tripod was folded on the floor, so I just leaned on the wall and held still, LOL, oh and the camera was in Super Macro mode... does this info change your impression or info?

Oh and I forgot to ask this: I use the "White Balance" setting function. where I can pre-expose the shot. IT is probably what is causing the over exposure... any way to trick it?
http://www.doglogic.com/AUCTION/photoshop/childsplaybeadorig.jpg
What kind of background would be better? If I use colored backgrounds I am struggling with the levels.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Hugs
Lynnie


Lynnie, Your lighting is not as bad as you think it is. In fact it's pretty good.
Your problem is the photo is under exposed. That is very common when shooting on white. The meter see all of that white, and has no idea what to do with it. So you need to sit down and talk to your camera, tell it. " I don't care what you think. over expose it!" [-X This problem is worst when shooting in auto mode. So if you can, shoot in manual mode. So you can over ride the meter. Or your camera may have a meter compensation function.

But your real disappointment comes, from having seen a 8x10 or 4x5 transparent piece of film on a light table. 8-) Digital will never come close to that experience.

As far as lights go. I'm the last person to ask advise from. It will cost you.
You see I shoot with strobe lights. I don't even know what kind of bulbs are out there. Let alone which are best.

But your color balance is good, your lighting style is clean and your editing skills are well developed. So just work on getting the exposure down.

I posted this photograph of my set up on another thread. But I'll post it again here incase you missed it.
52046
Hope that works for you.
Scott

[danelady]

NOW I am jealous AND I hate you! LOL

Seriously, really LOVELY work!!Thought you all might like to see what I do for a day job.
Shameless plug.
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Scott

[Tanner Studios]

Lynnie, Now not unfolding the tripod is lazy. LOL It is important to use a tripod with low power lights. And Macro photography. You need to shoot with a longer exposure so you can get an f/stop to give you the depth of field you will need. Also motion has a greater impact when shooting close up, just like it does when shooting will long telephoto lens.

The white point is more a function of color balance then exposure. And like I said your color balance looks fine. Although it may look like it has a blue bias. Thats just because its underexposed. The problem really is the limitations of meters reading all of the white in the shot. Ski photographers had to open up at-lease one stop over the meter reading to compensate for the snow ( in the days of film ).

Remember what I said at the first of this tut. About throwing information away. If the image is close, to start with. You will not have to throw away as much. But in this case of underexposure, you have to throw out a lot just to get the background to white. Which means your throwing out the good with the bad. Some of that information was needed for the color saturation. So it is important to start with a good photograph.

Remember the Zone System for printing Black & White written by Ansel Adams? OMG, rather have a bullet in my brain then read that book again.
Simplified It went something like this. There are eleven tones ( zones ) you could achieve with B&W photography. Black was 1 and white was 11. Sound familiar? The goal was to hold detail ( information ) in all zones while achieving all eleven zones. Shoot for shadow detail and process for highlight detail. Levels are the zone system for digital photography.

Sorry bit of a ramble.
Scott

[barbbbeads]

Scott,
These questions may have been asked and answered before, but please forgive me for not wanting to go re-read all the in-between posts from your main tutorials. So without trying to take up too much of your time, which you have so generously given already...do you use the macro function and zoom in on your subject? Or do you take the shot further away, then crop in Photoshop? If you crop, do you use the histogram before or after cropping?
Thanks,
Barbara

[Kevan]

Remember slides? I love slides. Sigh.

[Tanner Studios]

Barbara, Great question. I have talked about it here and there. But this is a good time to really get into. "what is macro in the first place". Macro is the X games of close up photography. Close up photography is not necessary Macro. Example. Lets look at some photos. Heres Lynnie's photo again. This is Macro.
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Here is a shot of my beads. This is just close up.
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one more photo.
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What do you think that last one is?

Answer... a cropped portion of a close up photo of a set of beads. Think of Macro as Microscope. A lens designed to photograph an ant. Lynnie's photo was macro. Because, she set the lens to fill the frame up with just one bead.
Mine is close up because I pushed into the limit of how close the lens could focus without going Macro.

Why is this important to understand? Well first, not all lens are created equal. Their glass right, we all understand the difference between a quality bead and a bad bead. Same with optical glass. Just because they say "Macro" does not mean macro. or at-lease quality macro glass.

The good news is you don't have to photograph ants. And you don't have to get as close as you think you do. Remember most of you are publishing for the internet. we're talking Kilobytes. All cameras work in milobytes. So no matter what. We have to throw away information, from the get go. Remember thats important. ( throwing things away may come back and bite us on the butt ). So just close up is actually better. In most case's

Now about when to use the histogram. Use it as soon as you can. If your camera software has it to convert your images from raw format to tiff format. Thats the best place to start, to get it close. then use it again in photoshop to refine it. Then retouch it ( have not talked about retouching yet ). Then save it to your library. That way you have it already to go for any purpose.

Here are the steps I want you to follow. Step 1 edit... Image correction, ( Levels ). Step 2 retouching... ( I'll start a new thread for that.)
Step 3 Save...( step 2 until we talk retouching ) Step 4 reopen, resize.
Step 5 sharpen. save for intended use. File format.

Sorry Barbara long answer. But you people are starting to get it. So I can't bluff anymore LOL.
Much love
Scott
P.S. Kevan.... yea baby! Thats what we're talking about. Now think of a slide from a large format camera. That is fresh out of the camera that is 8 inches x 10 inches. viewed on a light table that is Balanced. With a really nice loop ( magnifying glass ).We are losing a great art form people. But don't get me started.

[Kevan]

Scott, what lens did you use to take your photo?

[Tanner Studios]

Kevan, Nikon ED Af-s Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8 D . Not cheap, but well worth it. If your willing to risk a divorce for just one Lens. This is the one.
Scott

[Kevan]

I have the 60mm 1:2.8.

I still have my Minolta SLR. That's what I use to take pics for doing paintings. Fujichrome film. I will miss film when it's gone. Not that I don't appreciate digital, I'm just fond of film too. I used to have a medium format Pentax. Now, those were nice slides too.

[Tanner Studios]

Kevan, Get over film. I'll cry with you. I am in the process of turning my darkroom into my flaming space. That is hurting me almost as bad as losing my two Bouvier De Flanders ( big dogs ). And I had my dark room twenty years before the dogs, But in truth. I loved the dogs more. Almost as much as I loved film and the woman with the umbrella. All broke my heart. But still I live.
Just a thought
Scott

[Kevan]

But Scott, there was magic in film. Developing pictures from negatives and watching the image emerge under water and deciding just the right moment to stop the process. I can still smell the acid smell of the chemicals.

At the same time I absolutely love not having to go through that whole process just to see the damn picture any more, ya know? lol

[danelady]

Great post Scott I REALLY appreciate all the time you are taking to help EVERYONE here.... I snipped out the tut because I wanted to comment on the end comments... I MISS MY 8 x 10 SLIDES (said for Kevan! Love ya hon, I used to call them that too!) LOL THey Are SO wonderful to look at, and the detail is TDF. If we weren't all in such a darn hurry I'd go back to my 4 x 5 in a HEARTBEAT. Oh and did I mention, TRY to find large format film any more.. sheesh!<SNIP?>Much love
Scott
P.S. Kevan.... yea baby! Thats what we're talking about. Now think of a slide from a large format camera. That is fresh out of the camera that is 8 inches x 10 inches. viewed on a light table that is Balanced. With a really nice loop ( magnifying glass ).We are losing a great art form people. But don't get me started.

[danelady]

As well you should have Scott (Loved the dogs more, that is LOL)
Bouv's are one of my favorites.... sorry bout the darkroom, I lost mine when I moved from NH to FL... I moved on tho...<SNIP> That is hurting me almost as bad as losing my two Bouvier De Flanders ( big dogs ). And I had my dark room twenty years before the dogs, But in truth. I loved the dogs more. <SNIP> All broke my heart. But still I live.
Just a thought
Scott

[PaulaD]

Scott. This thread is incredible. Thanks.

Paula

[Kevan]

Great post Scott I REALLY appreciate all the time you are taking to help EVERYONE here.... I snipped out the tut because I wanted to comment on the end comments... I MISS MY 8 x 10 SLIDES (said for Kevan! Love ya hon, I used to call them that too!) LOL THey Are SO wonderful to look at, and the detail is TDF. If we weren't all in such a darn hurry I'd go back to my 4 x 5 in a HEARTBEAT. Oh and did I mention, TRY to find large format film any more.. sheesh!

Lynnie, I have thousands of "slides". Mostly the little ones. The picture on my avatar is from a slide. My dad had thousands. We were one of those slide show families. lol

My brother has some naked ones of my mother that we found after my parents died. Which is kind of weird.:confused:

[danelady]

I have a lot too, boxed up SOMEWHERE, haven't unpaked them since we moved here to FL... maybe i should dig them out!
http://www.myspacedev.com/img/smilies/jumping/jumping0037.gif (http://www.myspacedev.com/myspace-smilies/jumping/jumping-0037.htm)

Oh! And pics of Mom Naked??? NOT good for the slide shows LOLLynnie, I have thousands of "slides". Mostly the little ones. The picture on my avatar is from a slide. My dad had thousands. We were one of those slide show families. lol

My brother has some naked ones of my mother that we found after my parents died. Which is kind of weird.:confused:

[cghipp]

I just found a histogram... in my NikonCapture Editor software. Really cool stuff! Thanks for explaing the hows and whys! :D Here's before and after photos! Thanks, ~Juliet
14029 14306Hey - You can use the same "Levels" tool to selectively reduce the blue highlights, and use the Hue/Saturation tool (Image/Adjustments/Hue/Saturation) to lower the saturation. I have found that my digital camera oversaturates a lot of colors, especially reds. Of course I don't have your beads in front of me, but I thought this looked a little more natural:

[Tanner Studios]

Cghipp, well done. you cleaned those up nicely. Also you bring up another GREAT tool people should get to know. It's one of my top ten favorites. I don't use it on my beads, But I use it all the time on my portraits. This tool can be used in both categories. Editing and retouching.

I'll work up something to show everyone how to use it. But it's very easy, just play around. and you can figure it out.
Scott

[cghipp]

Thanks; I used to use Photoshop a lot. Now, just here and there. This is an excellent tutorial you've put together. I wanted to point out that YMMV from screen to screen and platform to platform. I worked on that photo at work on my PC and it looked perfect. Here at home, on my Mac, the "blue" photo looks less blue, and the final image actually looks a tad washed out to me!

In general, I have found that PC monitors are a little darker and more intense. When working on images for my web site on my Mac, I had to blow them out just a little so that they wouldn't look too dark on PC monitors.

[Heather/Ericaceae]

Wow, I FINALLY got around to reading this thread. Talk about an eye-opener! Can't wait to try it... I have a much of new beads to shoot. :) Thank you for sharing your years of experience, Scott! (I am going to have to try to make a duct-tape version of your camera-holder because that's the exact angle I need, and my tripod just won't do it for me.)

[dlsarmywife]

Scott, this was an amazing thread to read. I just deleted my photoshop, because it didn't make sense to me. But I may have to reinstall it now that some things make more sense! BTW I'mnot a lampwork artist but I do use them in my jewelry. Any tips on photographing pearls?

[SuzyQ]

Scott, you really should have this on your site. I refer so many people to this tutorial and you might as well be getting the hits :)

[ziggys]

Dear Scott, For a long time I have felt that taking good pictures was an art in itself (and it is) but that I could never learn it.
Well I am now up to Macros in this thread. And I am so amazed that I am able to understand what you are teaching and actually want to try it! It is rare when someone has so much expertice and can communicate it to others.
Woohoo!!! I'm pretty excited about it and now instead of the auto buttons I actually want to try and use things like levels and more!
What a great tutorial you have here.
Just wanted to let you know from someone who dreaded this for a long time.
Angela

[Melanie]

Okay... i don't have photoshop, i use iPhoto, i guess i need to get photoshop, but, Scott, i'd LOVE a critique and some suggestions on this photo... i did go into the sliders on iPhoto and mess around with the levels, just colors though, i didn't see any for black and white, hmmmm? anyway, what should i do to improve this? thanks so much, this is wonderful.

Melanie

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[Tanner Studios]

Hi Melanie, First off Iphoto is not a photo-editing program. It a photo management program. You get photoshop elements at least it's inexpensive and with make your live a lot easer.

Now Remember, Your not working in B&W your working in color. But each color channel has a Black point and a white. That you need to set.

First here are a couple terms, you will need to understand.
BLACK POINT- the point where a color and or tone saturates to black.
WHITE POINT- the point where a color and or tone desaturates to white.
GRAY POINT- 50% gray. the point in the middle of black & white.
Histogram- don't freak out it's just a Bar chart.

As Far as your photo it's close. But heres what I would suggest.
Brighten it up, it's a tad dark.
Watch your focus. Your eye will have a hard time accepting the foreground beads being out of focus.
Third and this is just my pet peive. Don't light from bottom to top. It creates unnatural shadows. Notice the shadows in this photo. Much more comfortable on the eyes.

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Hope this helps
Scott

[Melanie]

Scott, thanks so much for the advice! i never thought about the direction or angle of lighting... i pretty much take all my pictures outside, i need to get a real photo set up. that bracelet is gone, but i am going to work on another photo with your suggestions and post it for more feedback.... you're very generous to help all us goofballs who can't figure it out 8-[

Melanie

[Melanie]

okay, i tried doing some of the things you are talking about in the thread... what do you think? is this a better shot? i did a "full piece" shot and a close up (by cropping). thanks so much.

Melanie

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[Melanie]

I tried to lighten it a bit. getting better?

here's both photos:

BEFORE:
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AFTER:
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Melanie

[Mustang Dawn]

I think you went a bit too bright. I did a quick tweek useing Photoshop Essentials 2.0 (ebay $20).

Dawn

[Tanner Studios]

Melanie, Dawns right. You went way to far, her tweak is right on. Notice when the contrast is right it will sharpen the image.

The photo of your new bracelet is much better. Notice how the shadows ground the product to the back ground.

However the photo is a little flat ( low contrast ). You need to increases the contrast and brighten it a little. Also your perspective is a little strange. I feel like I'm falling over the beads. Try shooting at a slight angle into the beads instead of straight down. Pretty much like you did on the first set you showed. Thats a nice angle.
Scott

[Melanie]

Thanks Dawn! Yours is definitely better! I am going to get photoshop! i will try reshooting the second pic (purple bracelet) with a little angle action and try to increase the contrast on it. I feel like i am getting better already with all this help!

Melanie

[Melanie]

okay, i tried doing some of the things you are talking about in the thread... what do you think? is this a better shot? i did a "full piece" shot and a close up (by cropping). thanks so much.

Melanie

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Okay... i think i am getting it! and i promise to quit posting to this thread 24/7 like it is my personal training session! ;) i think i got a little carried away with all the fabulous help! so here's two new shots of the purple bracelet that i feel are a big improvement. what do you think? thanks again!

melanie

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[Mustang Dawn]

I think you are well on your way. Oh, BTW... Very nice beads :)

If you do buy adobe photoshop elements 2.0 Lori Greenburg has a wonderful "how too" use it. Here is the link http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/16432/483/

Plus, Scotts thread rocks with information to take you way beyond the simple tweek :)

Dawn

[Tanner Studios]

Melanie, Don't be silly. For me this thread is about helping my LE friends with their photography. I'm selfish, I want to look at great beads photographed well.\\:D/ \\:D/ So ask all the questions you have. And I will give all the answers I can.

Now about your new photos. What part of slight don't you understand. LOL
Just kidding. Your new photo show real improvement. But work in small changes. When I suggested that you change your angle. I meant slightly. If you want to shoot your beads straight down. Thats great thats how I shoot mine. All I meant was to shift your angle slightly in front of the beads. Instead of being directly over top or in your case slightly over the top.

I want you to go back and study a couple of photos. First look at the last photo I posted of my beads. Most people would think that I was shooting straight down. Now go back a page or two and study the photo of my set up. Notice the angle of the camera in relationship to the beads. Also notice the white card opposite the main light source. That is a fill card.

Your last photo ( and beads by the way ) is a very nice conceptual photo. But is it a good product photo. The secret of great product photography is combining the two. I will now let you think about what defines the two differant styles. Before I shed light on the answer.

The fastest way to great photography really is learning to see.

Until next time thing about what you what photography to do for you.
Scott

[Melanie]

Thanks Dawn and Scott... all the help is wonderful! Slight, what is that!? :-P
I have a hard time making SMALL shifts in anything! but i am going to continue to practice AND i am going to get Photoshop for sure! that will make life easier. thanks so much for all the help... i am going to take some time today and take a lot of pictures and really try to think about good "product" photography... hmmm..... thanks for the challenge!

melanie

ps. thanks for the compliment on my beads, Dawn!

[Beckah]

Great tutorial!

[FourTailsLampwork]

Scott, I have a question. If I play with the levels enough to get the tones to where they accurately reflect the color of the whole bead, often all the colours look washed out, hazy, or greyed out. What am I doing wrong?

[gubnavnania]

Scott, I tried this tutorial.

Any advice on what I did so far?

Before
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/gubby_design/jewellery148.jpg

After
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/gubby_design/jewellery148a.jpg

[Tanner Studios]

Mincot If your white and black points a set then its the grey point you need to address.
Yunita, Your on the right trak you need to shapen your photos. Push your white point more and bring down your grey point.

[T. Lady]

Hi Scott,
Just found this thread and have studied the first 2 pages for a couple days. I made my first attempts at levels on this photo, and what a difference! The details of the bead are amazing, as well as the true colors of the silk ribbon. Wish I could show the large version, without the byte limits. Thank you so much for this advice, and your comments on my progress so far will be much appreciated!
Raw photo is 1st, adjusted photo is 2nd.
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[emoon]

Ok. Can I just say WOW? Great information Scott. I struggle with this every time I shoot. I play with levels all the time, but never really knew what I was doing! Sometimes i got it right and others...well, not so much. but now maybe I can work with understanding, a bit more!! I am preparing to reshoot all my Etsy photos, so this will be great! Thank you so much for sharing. Very generous!!

[ElementalsDesign]

After echoing Melodie's "Wow" all I have to say right now is "noooooooo" ..it can't possibly stop naowwwww!!! [-o<[-o<[-o<

Wait... stop... don't.. Scott! Don't stop.. puhleese don't stop!

What an amazing thread! :-$ (don't tell my faddah, an award winning photog for more than 60 years) but I had no success whatsoever when I'd ask him to teach me what I was doing wrong or how to fix it until <wikkidgrin> I finally figured out that if I just sent photos of my latest work.. he honestly couldn't help himself and would automatically list what I should have done:-$!
(you know the old saying: "the cobbler's children run barefoot"? DEFinitely applies here! ;}

Scott.. I was thinking all the way through this thread that I wish I could have gotten him to talk to me about photos and especially digital photography the way you have and cannot help but commend you on how patiently you have conducted yourself as well throughout this entire thread! What an amazingly helpful and even beautifully crafted effort this represents all on it's own :)

Don't get me wrong, my dear Faddah recently began shooting again for fun.. (after having just recently turned 82yo, might I add) for galleries and also just had one of his photos inducted into the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. I am very proud of him even if he's not exactly the helpful warm and fuzzy type! (shameless plug for my dad) his name is Jack Bleich and he's been an award winning photog throughout several decades (when he wasn't working as what was, at the time he began, known as a "newsreel photographer for WGR news in upstate NY). If only he had the patience you've demonstrated here Scott.. I wouldn't be mourning the fact that this thread just sort of... ummm.. Left me hangin'?

(bet you hear that from all the girls ;} ..seriously though, thank you SO much for all the clearly put easily accessible information. I am sure I'll return here again and again as I finally begin to learn wtf it is I've been doing (right AND wrong) while attempting to learn to photograph my work!

Rachel the firekat

[Tanner Studios]

Just a bump for Those that could still benefit for this info.

[Mitosis Glass]

Thank you for bumping this! I work on a Mac but I would like to see if I can get a Photoshop Elements that'll go with a Mac (I don't know if they already do; I never looked before).

Fiddling around with bead photography is the worst part of this business! Any tips will be most helpful. Thank you for providing all this excellent information.

[cghipp]

That won't be a problem - Photoshop was made for the Mac long before it was available for PCs.

[Torched Art]

Without reading all the entire thread, can anyone tell me what are the best lights to use?

[sunflower33]

Without reading all the entire thread, can anyone tell me what are the best lights to use?
I don't know what lights are the best, but I can tell you what I use and what some others are using. Blue photoflood bulbs. They are hot and they have a short life, but they are bright. I went to the hardware store and bought 3 domed metal hoods.. whatever they're called... with ceramic sockets (needs to be ceramic for the hot bulbs). I clip the hoods around the outside of my light tent.

These are the bulbs and where I get them, seems to be the cheapest on the web that I can find. I go through about 2 bulbs a month:
http://bulbster.com/lightbulbs/eiko-bca-00050-p-3209.html?currency=USD

I've also ordered them thru Amazon/Adorama Camera and had a good experience with Adorama.

[sunflower33]

I have a photo of the bulb and the metal hood:
http://www.beadabundant.com/photosetup4b.jpg

[cghipp]

Those photoflood lights are good - I used to have a set of them. But now I just use two 100-watt halogen desk lamps that I got at Office Depot. Those suckers put out a ton of light, and I have a third that I use as a reading lamp that I can pull in if necessary. With those two lights and a photo cube (and a tripod), I can take some pretty fantastic product shots, and the smaller lights are easy to store. I put a lamp on either side of the cube and shoot through the top.

[ginko]

So glad to see this thread bumped up since I missed it the first time. Scott, thank you, thank you, thank you for your clear descriptions. I cannot wait to make changes in my photo process.

[HelenOster]

......I've also ordered them thru Amazon/Adorama Camera and had a good experience with Adorama.

That's great to hear! But if you ever need advice or after-sales support with an order from Adorama, please don't hesitate to drop me an email.

[sunflower33]

... now I just use two 100-watt halogen desk lamps that I got at Office Depot.
Excellent idea, thanks!

That's great to hear! But if you ever need advice or after-sales support with an order from Adorama, please don't hesitate to drop me an email.
Thank you Helen!

[Sweetsoap]

I am so glad for the bump on this. I've had this program and never used it. But now I have my first question. I have version 5.0. When I bring up the histogram it seems to be informational only. I can see no way to make modifications like you have on your first photos. Is this version too old ( or am I too old?)? :?::?::?:
Thanks so much.

[Sweetsoap]

I am so glad for the bump on this. I've had this program and never used it. But now I have my first question. I have version 5.0. When I bring up the histogram it seems to be informational only. I can see no way to make modifications like you have on your first photos. Is this version too old ( or am I too old?)? :?::?::?:
Thanks so much.

I think I may have found it. Is it "layer, new adjustment layer, levels, ok"?

[Ellie]

HI Scott,
Thanks for the information. I am new to lampwork & have found taking photographs challenging.. This should help a lot
Ellie

[Dragonfly Queen]

This is a great thread. Bumping it up for others.

[Doug Baldwin]

The first and most important step to better photography is learning how to light your work properly, not trying to save a poorly lit photo with all kinds of post-production magic in Photoshop. You can't create smooth even highlights on a bead or piece of jewelry in Photoshop. That's a function of the light source and reflector cards at the photography stage.

Forget about photo floods. All tungsten lights use a lot of the energy they consume to create a lot of heat and then some light. They're inefficient, very hot and not pleasant to work around. To light beads and jewelry you want a large, soft source close to the subject. The reason the sun creates hard shadows is because it's a small point source in relation to the object being photographed. Better yet to envelope the object with a fog bank or lightboxes very close to the subject. You'll fill the object's reflective surfaces with smooth even highlights and the shadows will be very soft and diffuse.

If you're looking for good lights, read this thread by another artist who's learned how to light her work: http://lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249840

[Mike Jordan]

While photo floods can be hot, the big advantage of them or other incandescent or florescent light systems is that you can see how your lighting is affecting the object. You can see the shadows and reflective hot spots before you take the shot. You can move the lights around and see when the lighting is hitting the object the way you want. For those that haven't worked with flash enough to be able visualize how it's going to look, hot or cool lights can be very beneficial in this way and is better than trying to shoot with one flash... unless you know how to use one flash to minimize hot spots and bounce the light around. The mistake most people make with incandescent or florescent lights is, they don't use enough of them, since photographically, they are not that bright (the lights, not the photographer :D) and you need several of them to bring the light level up enough to be able to get good depth of field. Unless you are shooting long exposures on a tri-pod to minimize camera movement.

One kind of light I would recommend staying away from is Halogen. Now those are dangerously hot, too much of a bright pin point light source and very difficult to use in a small area around a light tent or other small area that most people shoot jewelry and beads in.

Mike

[sunflower33]

I like using photo floods. Yes they are hot, but I only need to turn the bulb on for a moment to take the shot.

In one of my posts above, you can see my Eiko bulb, metal hood and one corner of my PVC pipe and connector photo tent. I made a cube frame with PVC and I cover it with an old white cotton bed sheet, leaving one side open at the front for the camera and tripod. I use just one photo flood bulb directly above the tent, about 8 inches above the beads. It shines through the bed sheet to make a diffuse light. I have several white card reflectors inside the tent. It's a fairly easy and inexpensive set up.

Here is a photo I took recently with the photo flood:
http://www.beadabundant.com/destash_bluemet2a.jpg
I'm pretty happy with the depth in the beads, lack of hot spots, and the soft shadows. You can see the mother-of-pearl luster or iridescence in the encased silver glass that Hayley said she was missing in her photos with the new light box (from Hayley's blog post, http://envisionsf.blogspot.com/2013/08/new-photographic-set-up.html )

[Hayley]

You can see the mother-of-pearl luster or iridescence in the encased silver glass that Hayley said she was missing in her photos with the new light box (from Hayley's blog post, http://envisionsf.blogspot.com/2013/08/new-photographic-set-up.html )

Karolen, I'd hate my own user error made you think less of Doug Baldwin's system. Beside, I only had the opportunity to photograph a couple of beads before posting them on my blog. I still have LOTS to learn about photography but I believe this image shows you that I am able to capture some of the iridescence using the light boxes.

I am no expert and will continue to play and hope to improve my photography.

291994

[sunflower33]

Karolen, I'd hate my own user error made you think less of Doug Baldwin's system.

user error :) not any errors in that bead or photo! how gorgeous!
I see some luster in there!
doug's system looks good, and very convenient set up compared to my cobbled-together system :)

[Hayley]

Thank you, Karolen! :)