I got a new digital camera today and have been testing out different settings and since, in the world of the Internet, the photo is the model, I’d like some input from the community here on specifically 2 points:
Do the pics below appear bright enough or too dark? I know monitor settings can vary but curious to know how others see what may look just fine to me.
Clarity and detail. There are 2 shots, one at highest JPEG quality and one a little bit lower. Can you see any real difference? For this one, I’d appreciate it if you click on the resized photo to see it full size snce the forum autosizes.
Both pics were shot with an 8.2 mp SLR Canon and I’m learning the ropes with it.
Highest quality:
Slightly lower quality:
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
And just to play around a bit more…a 3rd one that’s been run through edit software and tinkered with a bit.
It is a slight improvement to my eyes, but the bottom picture looks the best to me. OTOH, what do you think of the Canon digital SLR? I have a film SLR and have been looking around for an upgrade to digital and would prefer to stay with Canon.
The pictures look very nice and there is no difference between the first and second image, but the third image looks slightly brighter. Overall, very nice quality!
I have an old computer desk that I’ve converted into a photo station. It has 2 halogen 50w for overhead lighting (one’s a flexible “gooseneck” type, the other’s a hinged/spring adjustable) and 2 40w incandescent clamp-style student lamps for forward lighting. The settings I’m using on the camera are the Auto WB for these, haven’t played around with that just yet but it’s on the list of things to experiment with. I can take a pic of the lighting setup and put that up later today if you like.
The post processing is with a software that came bundled with the camera, called Digital Photo Professional and seems to be a “clone” of Photoshop judging by the descriptions in the manual.
Shellback,
Thanks for the notes on the shadows for the fighting compartment, I should have adjusted one of the overheads to but some more light back there, will play with that some more.
Kaleu,
I’m an amateur photographer in every sense of the word…point-and-shoot and auto settings all the way but I’m trying to break out of that mold with this camera and learn some of the more advanced characteristics/features as I’ve been frustrated in the past in terms of being able to get the photos to actually look like the model at times. [:D] I did a lot of research on the Canon before buying and the reviews were very possitive and I’m extremely happy with the picture quality so far. This one is the Canon Rebel XT, not the latest and greatest XTi that was recently put on the market, but I got a good deal on it online and went with it as a result.
Because of the nearness of the subject and the fact that I don’t have a true macro lens, I’ve been using the A-DEP settings to get even focus and the timer with a tripod to avoid camera shake. Seems to be working ok, but exploration will continue. [:D]
I think the bottom one looks best, although they are all close in quality. I just bought a couple of lights as per Finescales article on taking digital pics…I want to see if I can eliminate the shadows.
The lighting is bare at the moment but I’m going to try and come up with a workable diffusion arrangement that won’t burn my house down in the process (the halogens in particular can put off some substantial heat). The goal as I understand it is to have good all around lighting that isn’t harsh as that’s what produces the shadows and glare.
I hear ya. Lighting, white balance and alll that stuff is definetly something that escapes me but, just one little thing I have noticed and I’m sure someone here may know the exact reason, but, I have better luck shooting on a dark surface w/a ligth background rather than a pure white on all sides.
Camera settings auto focus/auto white balance
Here’s white/white
With darker color
Had to break off the rust on the account - for this reply - how have you been???
Good to hear from you! I’ve been playing around with variations on different background combinations. White base w Blue back, Blue Base w Blue back, Black base w/ Blue back, and Black base w/ Black back…so I guess you could say I’m black-and-blue from the backgrounds! [:D] Each camera is a bit different in how they like backgrounds (also partly due to lighting as well) so I’ve got to find the one that works best with this one. So far the Blue/Blue seems to be working well but I’m not sold on it 100% yet.
Bill I can’t really see any difference, but then again I don’t have the best eyes.
But I will tell you this. I used to have a Rebel XT before I replaced it with a Canon EOS 30D, a switch which I have never regreted. I now shoot all my models in RAW, you can do this too, Canon even provides RAW software with their cameras. You wont believe how much you can change on a RAW image without compromising the quality of the picture, you can change the whitebalance after you have shot the picture and you can change brightness and alot of other stuff and no quality or detail will be lost.
And you might consider getting the EF-S 60mm macro lens, its perfect for model photography.
heya bill[:D]— i think it is to hard for the brain to really decide which is best when after all,you already told us — you should do the test again with 3 new pics,not telling us which is which— get the input and then figure the results[:P]-- over 8 mega pixels— man thats nice – i use my wifes 5.1 little kodak with different colored pieces of paper over a 60 watt bulb[:(]-- i gotta go higher tech!!–tread[:D][:P]-- p.s. the build is freekin awsome man
I’ve been reading about RAW vs. JPEG and taking the tutorials on Canon’s site, it’s really cool…only drawback for me is the large file size and rendering time but I’ll likely play around with that for finished shots vs. WIP and see what works.
Tigerman,
I picked mine up as a package deal including the lense, 1 GB memory card, extra battery, tripod, camera bag, etc. for $650 online. You can go all out with the accessories and easily spend double that though, but I’ll wait to go deeper once I get the hang of the basics.
Treadwell,
Good point, I think I’ll do a “double blind test” with some more pics a little bit later. [:)] I really appreciate everyone’s feedback on this so far.
Many digital cameras can provide quality images much higher than a standard computer monitor can display. You could use the highest image setting on the camera but the pictures will be “downgraded” when shown on a monitor.
