Ugh, I need to brush up my photo skills. A nice camera alone, beautiful photos does not make. When you shoot your pipes, do you use a light box, or reflector umbrella with big lights, etc, or is there a simpler way? Natural lighting? White/grey background best? Then touch up on the 'puter?
Thank you for your thoughts.
foetahgraffee
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KurtHuhn
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I use a light box with a white sheet draped over it to diffuse the light. Then I use a Canon Digital Rebel (EOS 300D) and set custom white balance each photo session by snapping the white background. I also slightly over expose to bring out the detail in the pipe and reduce any shadows. I've gotten to the point where I know that, with my setup, an exposure at ISO 100 and F20, needs to be a 3.2 second shot most times - but I tend to bracket at 2.5, 3.2, and 4 seconds just to be sure I get a decent shot.
Kurt, what lens do you use with your Canon? I have the same camera with an EFS 18-55mm zoom, but am frustrated by the quality of pictures it takes. Most of the time the stems on my pipes turn out looking fuzzy or washed out, and rarely do I get a good, sharp image. Grain? Forget about it! Can't get it to show well in the photos. I've tried most everything I can think of except for replacing the lens, which may have too much distortion for close-up work. I've changed lighting/backgrounds/sharpness and contrast settings/over-under exposure...etc. but still can't get really good pictures.
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KurtHuhn
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I just use the stock 18-55mm lens that the camera came with. I've toyed with the idea of a prime lens, but the expense is pretty steep.
A couple tricks I use o make the images sharper:
- I use a +4 macro filter lens that screws onto the lens, it helps the camera focus up close, and reduces the focus distance without creating fish-eye distortion.:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0158305470
- Sometimes, no matter what the camera says, you just need to switch to manual focus.
- If you're not comfortable going full manual, switch to AV (aperture priority) and set it for about F20. Then toy with the exposure compensation between +1.3 to +2 and see how it comes out. (hold down the Av button at the back of the camera and rotate the click wheel).
- invest in a good tripod,
- use a remote shutter actuator. You can buy a shutter actuator on eBay, but I made mine from a microswitch, a mini jack from an old set of headphones, and an eyedropper bottle:
http://www.pipecrafter.com/images/camera_remote.jpg
- Shoot at the highest resolution, finest quality, and reduce images to the final size you're going to publish. (this is actually one of the oldest tricks in the book, taught to me by a digital artist about 10 years ago)
- Probably something else I'm forgetting....
A couple tricks I use o make the images sharper:
- I use a +4 macro filter lens that screws onto the lens, it helps the camera focus up close, and reduces the focus distance without creating fish-eye distortion.:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0158305470
- Sometimes, no matter what the camera says, you just need to switch to manual focus.
- If you're not comfortable going full manual, switch to AV (aperture priority) and set it for about F20. Then toy with the exposure compensation between +1.3 to +2 and see how it comes out. (hold down the Av button at the back of the camera and rotate the click wheel).
- invest in a good tripod,
- use a remote shutter actuator. You can buy a shutter actuator on eBay, but I made mine from a microswitch, a mini jack from an old set of headphones, and an eyedropper bottle:
http://www.pipecrafter.com/images/camera_remote.jpg
- Shoot at the highest resolution, finest quality, and reduce images to the final size you're going to publish. (this is actually one of the oldest tricks in the book, taught to me by a digital artist about 10 years ago)
- Probably something else I'm forgetting....
KurtHuhn wrote:A couple tricks I use o make the images sharper:
- I use a +4 macro filter lens that screws onto the lens, it helps the camera focus up close, and reduces the focus distance without creating fish-eye distortion.:
I never thought about trying a macro filter 
I'm comfortable going full manual! I grew up on the "old" film cameras that everything had to be set!- If you're not comfortable going full manual, switch to AV (aperture priority) and set it for about F20. Then toy with the exposure compensation between +1.3 to +2 and see how it comes out. (hold down the Av button at the back of the camera and rotate the click wheel).
Got one!- invest in a good tripod,
Got one!- use a remote shutter actuator.
Are you meaning reduce the images without resetting the resolution? What I do is shoot at highest resolution. Then crop and resize the images in editing software, and change the resolution for web viewing. Maybe thats my problem????- Shoot at the highest resolution, finest quality, and reduce images to the final size you're going to publish.
I've done the old photographer test of shooting a page of newsprint to check the distortion of the lens. I didn't think there was enough to produce problems but photoing pipes drives me nuts!
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KurtHuhn
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The one thing yo'll find using a Maro filter is that you can get *much* closer to an object, and fill the frame with it wthout distortion.bvartist wrote:KurtHuhn wrote:A couple tricks I use o make the images sharper:
- I use a +4 macro filter lens that screws onto the lens, it helps the camera focus up close, and reduces the focus distance without creating fish-eye distortion.:
Are you meaning reduce the images without resetting the resolution? What I do is shoot at highest resolution. Then crop and resize the images in editing software, and change the resolution for web viewing. Maybe thats my problem????- Shoot at the highest resolution, finest quality, and reduce images to the final size you're going to publish.
Take this image for example:
Anyone that's been around the woods knows what lichen looks like, well, every spring they flower, with no flower bigger than a pin head. This is a pic of some lichen flowers. I used a +10 macro filter at highest resolution and quality, then reduced the size to 800x533 when exporting from iPhoto (I use a Mac). As you can see, there's a load of detail there. If I wanted to, I could have placed tha camera on a tripod and set the F-stop to 20 or 25 and gotten every speck of dirt within the field of view. As it was, I was holding the camera in my hands, and needed a relatively fast shutter speed.
Since you're used to oldey-tyme film cameras (
) like I am, you should have no problem with this.Another alternative is to step back about 2 meters and use a long focal length lens (a 75-210mm zoom, for instance) and fill the frame with the subject. That's limiting, however, since you have to step back so far.
Thanks for the info Kurt. Spent much of the afternoon working on pics. Mostly trying different base/backgrounds and lighting. I think I'm getting closer! (I know, the stem doesn't work on this pipe, so I'll have to do something about it. Looked good on paper! 
)
This also gives me a chance to "see" the pic on a web page!
(I know, the stem doesn't work on this pipe, so I'll have to do something about it. Looked good on paper! )This also gives me a chance to "see" the pic on a web page!
Thanks Kurt! I still have some experimenting to do with photographing. I'm pleased with this pic. It was taked at +2 exposure compensation, which is ok, but I'd like to have more leeway if needed. Camera will only go +/- 2 stops. So I'll try changing the exposure comp in the settings to gain a little leeway in case I need to go above over exposure I did on this one. Way too many buttons on this camera!