The dreaded grays: first tip

[koolbraider]

Dawn posted about getting the dreaded grays in her pics. I'm assuming she means the background (but we all know what happens when you assume...)

So, tip of the day: finding out if your camera has a white balance adjustment. Yes, you will probably have to check your manual. Sometimes you need to "fool" your camera into making a gray in the frame white.

I can change what's gray by:
Trying a custom White Balance setting which means using something that's what I want to tell the camera that is white. Sometimes it's really just a gray piece of paper or focus on the white sheet in the previous sheet (which I didn't do).
I can change the exposure values just a bit: from f2.9 to f3.2 or f3.4 or (you get the idea).
I can change the camera light setting from "sunny day" to "incandescent lighting" to "fluorescent" , etc.
I can change the speed of the shutter from 1/80 to 1/1500 of a second.
Finally, and this is NOT cheating: you need a photo editing program.

The point of all the above is to control the amount, and type, of light that gets into your camera. And the better your pic starts out the less editing you will need to do. Here's a before and after pic of an unfinished micro macrame bracelet:

Before:


After:


Quite a difference, isn't there?

I can't promise a new tip every day but I'll do my best. But check your manuals and go back to the tabletopstudio link in a previous post. Most of what I'll be posting will be there.

[DawninCal]

Sue, are those F stops the same as wire gauges? Like smaller is more? Or, the other way around?

Will fiddle with settings next time I'm taking photos.

Cool looking bracelet you've got going there too!



Dawn

[koolbraider]

Yup, just like wire gauges, which is actually a good analogy. Some cameras go below my own F2.8. Smaller f stop number = more light. Try aiming your camera at a subject and start changing stops. You'l find that what looks very light at 2.8 gets darker as you go to higher numbers. That means with each higher number the aperture (camera part that lets the light in) gets smaller and smaller, like 14 gauge wire as compared to 24 gauge wire.

And that will probably lead to another subject when taking pics: depth of field. The larger number creates a more shallow area of clear focus. That means if you shoot a bracelet at f8 you will find the front is in focus but the back isn't.

Thank you for the compliment. The pattern is from knotgypsy who used to be a member back when we were Reasonable Insanity.

[gbobmi]

Sue, what photo editing program do you use?

Thanks for the help!

[Michele]

You need to post that bracelet in S&T or the new fiber mixed media board. It's very cool.

I use a white plate as a prop. I've found if I use something white in the picture I get better pictures. Is that plausible, or is it my imagination?

[caeterle]

Great tips, thank you!

[koolbraider]

As soon as I've edited a couple of bracelet pics I'll be sure to post them. I will also be editing a pic as an example of close up stuff.

I use PhotoShop 7 Elements. PSE is up to 11 but as far as I can see it really has more "social" features than what I need. Elements is the "dumbed down" version of the professional one.

Michele, I don't think using a white plate is the whole reason you get better pics. But maybe the white helps to reflect more light around? You'd still get grays if there wasn't enough light or your camera was set at a different type of light source. As you saw, the cloth in the first pic is gray and it had to be corrected to white. Once that happens the overall color looks better.

[lotty64]

Think I shall have to come back to this thread when I am more awake

[siikibam]

Sue, I hope you don't mind me adding a note about the F stop.

The smaller the number, the less in-focus-areas you have. So at f2.8, you would have less in focus than at, say, f4. As an example, the photo on the middle right is focused on central part of the left earring. If I shot at around 2.8, the rest would be less in-focus. Whereas something like f4 would mean most, if not all, would be in focus.

Which area you focus on will influence what is out-of-focus

Also you need to bear in mind what Sue said about there being more light the smaller the f number. Larger f number would also mean a slower shutter speed.

..I read and didn't see it anywhere so hope I'm treading on any toes....

Sue, I have never played much with the white balance setting - only in situations where I am shooting under household lights....only with people, not jewellery mind!

[koolbraider]

Good grief! You're absolutely right about f stops, with the higher values bring more of a subject into focus and the lower numbers blurring some areas.

[eliz1967]

Hi Everyone,
There is a lot to know when photographing jewelry! I think what makes it so difficult is that everyone has a different kind of camera and every camera has it's own way of interpreting things like whitebalance and image quality.

Let me tell you what whitebalance IS:
There are many sources of light: daylight, incandescent...yellowish lightbulb, flourescent, halogen, LED, etc. You need to know this so that it makes sense: Back in the film days a photographer would purchase film based on the light source he or she was using. If I knew I was going to be using incandecent light, which is yellow, I would buy a film that would neutralize it, which means it would take away the yellow to give the appearance of daylight, which is a noncolorcast light.



Daylight balanced is 5600K. The color of light is referred to as it's temperature.

The lower the temp the warmer the light. A campsite fire would have a temp of around 1700-1950K. Outdoor shade 7000K to 8000K. This is important to know because if you take a picture and it looks bluish you know you need to whitebalance towards the yellows..If your photo looks yellow you need to move over to the blues to cool it off.

I have found that for any camera an 18% grey card works far superior to a white surface.

If you want to spare yourself grief and not deal with ANY of this misery get yourself an Ipad3, a tripod and a grey card.

It takes great pictures and all you need is a basic image editing software program to clean up the edges.

If I had the time I would get into this more! I photograph tons of jewelry. There's so much information that it would take weeks to explain. Trust me on this one...the Ipad3 is the way to go.

I will try to post a picture I took with my Ipad3.

Sandra

[eliz1967]

www.syoungerphotography.com/NBWRAP.jpg

[gbobmi]

Wow! That's terrific, Sandra! I have an iPad3, but I don't have a tripod for it. What do you use?

Siikibam and Sue...Thanks for the info. It's all really helpful to me.

[eliz1967]

Hi Gail,
It's the Gorilla pod. You have to buy the tripod and then the attachment for your ipad. Mine is from Fat Gecko.

You want to know the really great thing? If you have your Photostream set up, all your images are waiting for you on your desktop computer as soon as you launch IPhoto!

You'll need to have your wifi on for this.

I have been a photographer FOR YEARS and the Ipad is the ONLY way to go for photographing jewelry, in my opinion.

Sandra

[gbobmi]

Thanks for the info, Sandra. Do you use natural or artificial light? Also, do you use an editing program?

I have taken a few pics with my iPad and it does do an amazing job. Now to mess with a tripod and see what I can come up with!

Gorilla Pod, here I come!