looking for some help taking better pictures

[turiya64]

I am sure a few of you have seen my hobby log and have seen that allot of my pictures are a few shades to dark. I am sure I can photo shop them to be brighter but I feel like it should be possible to get a better shot from the get go.
this is my light box setup
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/Samadhi/003-4.jpg

I have 2 cameras currently a Sony cyber-shot dsc-w350 14.1MP that I use mostly now as it is easy to get good shots as it seem good at getting well focused pictures without me having to adjust it too much.
I also have a Fujifilm finepix s 5200 5.1 mp that I have had a round for a few years. I have to make allot of adjustments with this one to get nice sharp pictures but if someone thinks it is the better one to work with of the 2 I can live with that.
if anyone with experience has any suggestions on how I can get better pictures then what you see in my log I would be excited to try them out
oh and hear is a link to my hobby log to see what I am talking about
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=17048

[Emerald Rose Widow]

if i may ask, how did you construct this cool setup for your miniature picture taking. it looks really effective, and while your pictures are a little dark, you can remedy that by buying higher wattage bulbs which would put out more light. Get some full spectrum florescents as well with high wattage, they run low on the true wattage, but put out a ton of light and dont get too hot, they do get warm but not nearly as bad as incandescents. That would probably brighten your box up perfectly.

[Meph]

1: More light indeed. Either place more lights or better yet, I suggest trying to take pics in daylight. Put your light box near to a window or such.
2: Buy a mini tripod for your camera, not the bendy-legs kind but a straight-legged model with a head that can tilt (for portrait shots). Should cost around 10-15 EUR
3: Take your photo's using the Shutter speed ('tv' option on a cybershot, have one myself) and play with the timing. I take all my pics in daylight and just adjust my shutter timing according to the lighting conditions

[SotonShades]

Either, as Meph suggests, take pictures during daylight, or use one of those lamps/an extra lamp behind the camera to more directly light the interior of the box while using the lamps at the side/above through the box to difuse the shadows.

I'd also suggest using the curved back piece of the box from the floor to the back wall instead of from left to back. It is usually easy enough to frame your shots so that you don't see the left and right corners of your box, but have a smooth transition from the floor to the background can help trick the eye into seeing a brighter image rather than having a deffinitive black line running behing your miniatures.

Finally, have a pure black object to the side of your shot that you can crop out later. This, combined with the white in your background will help any auto-exposure settings on your camera find more true colour levels (not sure if that is the correct phrase lol) and will again make your shots brighter.

[turiya64]

if i may ask, how did you construct this cool setup for your miniature picture taking. it looks really effective, and while your pictures are a little dark, you can remedy that by buying higher wattage bulbs which would put out more light. Get some full spectrum florescents as well with high wattage, they run low on the true wattage, but put out a ton of light and dont get too hot, they do get warm but not nearly as bad as incandescents. That would probably brighten your box up perfectly.


it is an really easy to build light box just buy 4 picture frames as cheap as you can get them and some duct tape. then tape either wax paper or some very shear cloth over the frames. I personally used wax paper but that is just because I already had it on hand. and tape the 4 frames together 3 in a line and one to the top of the middle frame. I think there is a tutorial on cool mini or not but if you have any other info you need feel free to drop me a message I can send pics or whatever you need.



1: More light indeed. Either place more lights or better yet, I suggest trying to take pics in daylight. Put your light box near to a window or such.
2: Buy a mini tripod for your camera, not the bendy-legs kind but a straight-legged model with a head that can tilt (for portrait shots). Should cost around 10-15 EUR
3: Take your photo's using the Shutter speed ('tv' option on a cybershot, have one myself) and play with the timing. I take all my pics in daylight and just adjust my shutter timing according to the lighting conditions
Today 01:28 AM


1. more light is what I was afraid I was going to have to find. I liked my set up where it was because I could leave it up all the time. the wife is happy to let me take over the basement with my projects but less so when I take over the rest of the house :) oh well. I guess I will have to break it down after use.
2.yeah a fixed leg tripod has helped allot over what I used to do so I do use it now all the time but it is definitely something any one reading this thread should invest in. my little one I use for the cybershot was about 15$us and does the job well
3.this I will definitely play with. it is the exact kind of info I was looking for thanks.



Either, as Meph suggests, take pictures during daylight, or use one of those lamps/an extra lamp behind the camera to more directly light the interior of the box while using the lamps at the side/above through the box to difuse the shadows.

I'd also suggest using the curved back piece of the box from the floor to the back wall instead of from left to back. It is usually easy enough to frame your shots so that you don't see the left and right corners of your box, but have a smooth transition from the floor to the background can help trick the eye into seeing a brighter image rather than having a deffinitive black line running behing your miniatures.

Finally, have a pure black object to the side of your shot that you can crop out later. This, combined with the white in your background will help any auto-exposure settings on your camera find more true colour levels (not sure if that is the correct phrase lol) and will again make your shots brighter.


interesting I will definitely try out flatting the back ground. that will only take a second to fix and a solid black object in the shot is not a big deal either. thanks for the info it sounds like it will really help

[elmir]

You should be able to set your exposure value a stop or two higher if your lighting conditions aren't bright enough.

This is called the EV value on most cams and it can be set to +0.3,+0.7,+1.0,+1.3 etc. Try a few shots with increased exposure values.

Another option is to try different ISO settings (higher ISO settings). Although this option is less favorable compared to increasing the EV. Increased ISO will give a more drastic result, but it'll also increase the picture grainyness a bit more.

Also, as has been noted by other posters: Get a bend piece of paper or cloth as a background. If you are using something with an angle in it (wich you are, judging from your blog), you'll "confuse" your auto white balance. Personally, I have been getting the best results lately with a black velvet background cloth.

As for the technical details, I'd recommend taking your pictures in aperture priority mode (A or Av depending on camera brand). Set your f-stop to 8.0 - 13.0. Higher then this isn't really needed, everything will be nice and sharp.

Get ISO as low as possible, and get a tripod. You'll need one to compensate for the extreme long shutter opening times (mine can get as high as 4s sometimes even with 2 500Watt bulbs blasting into my lighttent.

Here's an example of one of my pictures:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9XfNjKqlnvI/Tl5QmH-9ucI/AAAAAAAAAmA/zm1H3ByZpfg/s800/BSBFront.JPG

Technical details:

Camera model: NIKON D3100
ISO: 100
Exposure time: 1/2s
Aperture: f 11.0
Focal point: 50mm (this would be 75mm effective on a full frame cam).
EV: -0.7 (My lights are bright enough that I have to limit my EV, you should do the opposite).

It's taken in this setup:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NwRh8-0WbBs/TlK7khgivWI/AAAAAAAAAlI/BEo14gZkOz4/s800/DSC_0053.JPG

*edit* here's a link to the original image (one from dakka, because BoLS gallery keeps failing for some reason): http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/268525-.html

[turiya64]

thank you elmir I will try some of the settings you mentioned and see if I can get what I need out of my current set up before I break it down and wait on a sunny day to try the rest of the ideas put forth. of course tomorrow I believe I will get the chance to try both after all the rain I have had we are due for some sun :)