Taking super nice pics

[Orangecnty250r]

OK I have had some ribbing in the past :lol: I do have a new camera...what are some hints for lighting, which mode do you shoot in...I really like the deep glossy pics, I have tried to post some real nice detailed pics I have taken of certain parts etc in the past but had to put all the pics in VGA mode to get them on this site....how do some of you post bigger pics?? I will definetly try to get some real nice ones to everybody for the real unveiling:w00t:

[atctim]

Orange - there are size limits for the pics on the site. If you have large (high quality) pics you want to post - email them to me - I'll store them on my server - and then link the pics to the thread.

PM me if you want to go this method.

Tim

[Dammit!]

Lighting depends. Indoors or outdoors? If indoors, flourescent light sucks. Halogen lights with something to difuse them works best (on a budget). Very thin white sheets will work. Even thin paper can work. Just be careful not to set anything on fire. :lol:

Outside in the sun about the best thing you can do is use reflecting boards to light up the areas that are in shadow and try to shoot at the right time of day. Morning and late afternoon/evening sun looks best. Mid day sun is terrible. The light is harsh and coming straight down causing nasty shadows. You can use simple white poster boards as reflectors. They do not need to be foil or anything shiny.

Camera settings depend on the camera. I need to boost the white levels on mine in mid day because dark areas will get completely washed out. Just read your manual and experiment. You'll figure out what works best for whatever conditions you're shooting in. Most high end cameras will have presets that at least get you in the right ball park by just turning a dial.

I pretty much always photoshop my pics before I post them. Even high end cameras can benefit from a little contrast tweaking. That's how my dune pics get that glossy look to them (example attached). Plus photoshop has an outstanding jpeg compressor so you can keep them decent size while still having a small enough file size to post on the boards. I can fix some up for you if you want.

My camera isn't even high end anymore. It was among the best when I bought it but that was probably five years ago. It's durable though. I gotta give it that much. :lol:

Edit: experiment with different angles (http://dammit250r.googlepages.com/12.jpg/12-full.jpg)too.

[oldsking86]

Hey Dammit, when you want to keep the quality very clear without shrinking the pics due to size does photshop do that automatically?

I'm trying to clear up some pics I have so I can like have them blown up to make a nice picture with a frame out of.

[Dammit!]

Photoshop gives you a chance to select how much compression you want when saving a file as a jpeg. You want highest quality possible for printing. If file size isn't an issue, set the image to 300dpi before you print. It will come out clearer but the file size will be huge.

[oldsking86]

Yea I wanted to use one of those websites on here that do the pictures, you upload it to them and they enlarge it and mail it to you.

Like these 2 pics, think you could tweak them for enlarging? or just give me some advice on how to do them

http://usera.imagecave.com/lilcuban38/Jump250r.JPG
http://usera.imagecave.com/lilcuban38/vlcsnap-103749.png

[Dammit!]

I take it those have already been down sized? Do you still have the originals?

[oldsking86]

Yea I have the orignals that came directly from the camera... I uploaded them on there and looks one of them got downsized ( first one) it's 2304x1728.. The 2nd one was a picture of a movies clip so it came out that size. Shoul I email them to you instead?

[Dammit!]

Yeah send me the orginals. Do you know what size you're going to have them blown up to?

I recommend this place.

http://www.fullsizeposters.com/

I had one of my dune pics blown up to 36x24 inches and it came out awesome.

[oldsking86]

Yea that's the place I was going to use. Only fear I had was that I uploaded an original 2304x1728 and it said perfect for resize, but there was not a preview so I didn't want to pay and it didn't come out like I wanted.

I'll PM you for your email and I'll email you the orignal sized ones. The main problem I have is when I crop some of the background and try to resize it they came out fuzzy and crap.

[firefirefire90]

if your worried about size, the just post them on photobucket and then link them here.

[oldsking86]

Doug I'll get the pics out to you tonight or tomorrow.. Have to find the camera haha

[Enigma]

I don't know a whole lot about taking pictures but I'm learning. One thing I do is take alot of pictures. Better to have alot of pics to look through and get that one good one then have 2 or 3 ok ones. If you have time to get setup put in it manual mode and play with all the settings so you don't need a flash, and the picture will look more natural without the need for photoshop. I know the whole point of digital cameras is the ease of tweaking pictures on the computer but I don't like messing with them.

Another thing I do if I am trying to get an action shot I put it in continuous shooting mode. Also like Dammit said angles can really make or break the picture. I really like this pic of my dad's cars but I wish I had a wide angle lens, because I am standing in the house shooting through the garage door.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/Enigma1500/Dads-cars-11.jpg

[Dammit!]

Another thing I should have mentioned is, get a tripod for your camera. If you manually set the camera to use ambient light indoors especially. You have to leave the shutter open a little longer than normal and the picture will blur real easy from the slightest movement. I put mine on a tripod and then use the timer so I'm not even touching it when it takes the picture.