Am I doomed?

[meadowesky]

I have a kodak easyshare cx5230 and I cant for the life of me get it to do good closeup shots. It does have a closeup setting but it is terrible! I was a photo/art major before I switched to computer networking ( biggest mistake ever) and I hate this camera. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[SuzFromOz]

sorry, I have never used that camera. if I hadnt read that you used to be a photography major, I would have said all the usual things about not getting too close etc etc but you know all that. Do you have some sample photos so people can see what exactly needs improving?

[meadowesky]

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here are some samples. I have tried different backgrounds etc but if I am far enough away, my bead looks tiny then when I crop it out and resize it to the LE standards, it looks like crap, all grainy and just bad! Thanks for any help!

[Dale M.]

aFirst I would do away with anything in background. Use plain white paper or very light pastel colors..... Nothing else in picture but beads!. Artistic composure of picture does not sell beads, Product display picture will sell beads.

Second I would use 2-3 lights to light beads with some diffusion screens or what ever in front of them to soften shadows... Ever notice on a cloudy day photos don't have any shadows.... You need to create same soft diffused light for beads as a cloudy day....

Once you have pure back ground, and soft light, you can expend energies on getting camera/beads into focus....

Dale

[meadowesky]

Thanks! They sure didnt teach photographing beads in school! I would have failed.