Photo Critique please

[InsanityBeader]

Im just getting started with doing photos. I took this one and I can't decide what it is that Im not liking about it. I am working off a digital Canon PowerShot A75. Im borrowing a light tent from a friend that comes with side lights. I placed white cardstock behind the beads to take the picture. The beads themselves are etched light pink. I open the floor to constructive Crits and I thank you :)

Added info: I put the camera light setting on a flourescent lighting, turned off the auto flash.

[InsanityBeader]

My editing program is HP Image Zone.

[InsanityBeader]

just fyi as I have yet to see anyone say a thing. I AM reading Chrisann's "Photo adjusting help & critique please" post

[InsanityBeader]

Ok, it's official, I suck! :( I'll keep reading everyone elses' posts and responses and hope that something clicks.

[fishtrapper]

Oh dear, no, you don't suck. It is a kick in the gut to post and get no responses though, I'm sorry about that.

On my monitor I would say that your beads look a little out of focus, and the shadows are so soft that the beads don't seem 'grounded'. Etched beads are actually a bit harder to photograph, there are no little spots of reflection for our brains to interpret as, "Shiny, must be glass."

You might try putting something near the beads that your camera can get a better focus lock on, that you can then crop out. Pale color beads sometimes don't give the auto focus enough information to get a good sharp focus. A penny works pretty well.

There are so many little tricks with photographing beads that it's hard to sort out what to include in a brief reply. Try those things and let me know how it's going, post the resulting pictures here. Maybe some more people will jump in.

Best Wishes,

Terri Budrow-Nelson

[InsanityBeader]

Thank you Terri!! Sitting here watching all the "viewing" number grow on my post but never a comment was frustrating. So, putting a penny in to focus on.. I always figured the reason the coin was in the picture was for a size reference. I'll give that a try. Thanks! Im also going to try to add some more lighting to see if that will help.

[Solana]

Hi Susan!

What kind of lights are you using? Your camera's settings will act differently if you set it to fluorescent, incandescent, sunlight and etc. Your picture looks pretty blue/green to me, which usually happens when I have my white balance on a certain setting that doesn't work well for the bead colors.

Try taking the same picture several times with your white balance on a different setting. Also, try increasing your Exposure Value (EV) a little bit to allow more light into your photograph, which may help brighten the colors.

Lastly, be sure to use a macro setting on your camera for close up pictures (if available) with a tripod. No matter how hard you try, we can't hold our hands steady enough to take a crisp close-up image, so a tripod is a must.

Read your camera's manual and just experiment! I have a Sony Cybershot F-717 and took loads of bad pictures before I figured out the right settings for my environment. :)

Good luck and post your progress!

[fishtrapper]

Another couple of tips that work for me:

Set camera to Aperture Priority and increase f-stop as high at it will go. This increases the depth of field, so that you will have more near and far in focus. There's a limit to this of course. A tripod is absolutely a must for this setting, since it lengthens the time of the exposure. Also, if your camera has a time delay setting of a couple seconds use it, to allow shutter shake to stop.

I have had good success with 60 watt GE plant bulbs, two of them. They cost less than $5.00 each and usually the daylight setting on your camera will work well. To light my shots I have these bulbs in cheap adjustable desk fixtures pointing 'upwards', just above the camera. When I have my shot posed as I like it, I turn on the bulbs (I have them rigged into dimmer switches which extends the life of the bulbs) and hold a piece of white cardboard above the lights to bounce the light back down onto the beads. This is another way to filter light, and it seems to give the camera less trouble then the light boxes and domes I've tried.

Once in a while a bead with flat surfaces will have too great a reflective surface, obscuring detail. In that case I drape a single piece of white wrapping tissue over the camera and a bookend, and reach under the tissue to trip the shutter.

Sometimes with transparent glass the colored shadow the beads cast is a nice feature in the photo, so I use a single bulb, pointing downward from about three feet above. In that case I always take the bounced light shot also, just in case.

When using a background other than white, I include a long narrow strip of white paper in the side of my shot to use when correcting the color balance in Adobe Photoshop Elements. This is later cropped out.

I must say, learning to do bead photography was as steep a learing curve for me as was bead making. The advice above to experiment is right. If you can manage it taking notes on your settings will help you learn faster, or figuring out how to see the setting details stored on your camera is even better, but that's a whole new skill.

Terri

[Mercury]

Something I haven't seen mentioned in this thread yet is setting your white balance. I believe your camera has the ability to set white balance against a sheet of white paper or photographer's "gray card". Setting the white balance manually this way helps the camera understand the lighting and you may be able to get more accurate colors out of your beads. Check your manual and see if you can set the white balance and if so, give it a try.

[JanMD]

I think the white balance looks almost right on -- maybe just get rid of a bit of a blue cast -- but this can be done later in Photoshop. And the arrangement of the beads is just fine. (Good eye!) I like the delicate shadows too.

It's the focus that's off. The images are not crisply focused. You can't see any detail! You can't really recover from that fatal error with later manipulation.

Just a matter of focusing mechanics, in my humble opinion. Practice, practice, and make sure you have the correct lens (can it focus that close up?) and the appropriate indicator light glowing green before you press the shutter release. Piece of cake!

Jan

[Nancy Peterson]

I think photography is the hardest part of making beads!! Maybe you should try a background that is variagated - they go from white to grey to black. Evan Hollander has those backgrounds that you can download. I have them and can send you the black to grey ones if you wish. Email me so I can send it back to you. I just print one off on my photo paper and use it until it is messed up and then re-print a new one. Works very well!

http://www.beaverislandjewelry.com/turqneck_small.JPG

Sample of the background

Nancy
Beaver Island Jewelry (http://www.beaverislandjewelry.com)
EBAY (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=013&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=230043242373&rd=1&rd=1)

[BeadMaven]

I finally started using a light gray background, just a tinge off white.
That helped a lot. Thats all the help I can give ;)

[steph1214]

I think photography is the hardest part of making beads!! Maybe you should try a background that is variagated - they go from white to grey to black. Evan Hollander has those backgrounds that you can download. I have them and can send you the black to grey ones if you wish. Email me so I can send it back to you. I just print one off on my photo paper and use it until it is messed up and then re-print a new one. Works very well!

http://www.beaverislandjewelry.com/turqneck_small.JPG

Sample of the background

Nancy
Beaver Island Jewelry (http://www.beaverislandjewelry.com)
EBAY (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=013&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=230043242373&rd=1&rd=1)


Nancy, i love that background, would you be willing to send it to me????

steph