28 replies to this topic

[Seamus]

For a while now, I've not been happy with the photogrpahy of my models. Some of you have seen my initial attempts to improve things with some blue card on my Mossie build. I've taken aboard some of the additional things said about that i.e. used kitchen foil to help reduce the shadows and had a play this morning. I'm keen to get things right, so would appreciate any additional feedback

All pictures have been taken indoors, with natural light coming in through the patio doors. The first was taken with the macro function off and no flash.



I switched both on for this one



This is macro on, flash off



To my untrained eye, these are an improvement over yesterdays attempts, but I'm still getting some fairly stark shadows, especially in the shot where the flash has been on. Is this just a case of getting the positioning of the foil right, or could it simply be an equipment issue. My camera is only a simple point and click jobber, so probably not all that ideal in the first place

Comments and suggestions much appreciated

Cheers

Shaun

[PHREAK]

Hi Shaun

Forget flash unless you've got at least three lighting the subject.
I reckon you've more or less got it on the 1st and 3rd shots...a few more trial and error shots will get it for you.
Maybe try something white to reflect tyhe light in as an alternative sometime? Plain paper stuck on the side of a cereal box or such like?

Rich

Edited by PHREAK, 14 October 2008 - 02:14 PM.

[PHREAK]

Hi Sean

Forget flash unless you've got at least three lighting the subject.
I reckon you've more or less got it on the 1st and 3rd shots...a few more trial and error shots will get it for you.
Maybe try something white to reflect tyhe light in as an alternative sometime? Plain paper stuck on the side of a cereal box or such like?

Rich

Are you using a small tripod? If not it may be worth it and letting the camera fire using the self timer to avoid any movement during exposure....sorry if I'm being a bit bleedin' obvious.
Rich

Edited by PHREAK, 14 October 2008 - 01:56 PM.

[PHaTNesS]

The third one looks best to me.

And I know exactly where you're coming from Shaun!

[Zed one]

I got two sheets of white a2 card for around 78p each and I must say it has helped a lot with shadows(and thanks to some advice from Yam-r1)but I have a flash that I can move and this is worth its weight in gold

[speedy]

To me the first photo for me, it just looks right.

[Seamus]

Thanks for the input gents, plenty there for me to have a think about

Are you using a small tripod? If not it may be worth it and letting the camera fire using the self timer to avoid any movement during exposure....sorry if I'm being a bit bleedin' obvious.
Rich

I don't use a tripod no, as I don't have one! Might have to purchase one though as the macro shots are obviously very sensitive to even small movements. Better still, I might ask the old man to knock one together for me

Cheers

Shaun

[Skii]

Thanks for the input gents, plenty there for me to have a think about



I don't use a tripod no, as I don't have one! Might have to purchase one though as the macro shots are obviously very sensitive to even small movements. Better still, I might ask the old man to knock one together for me

Cheers

Shaun

My local supermarket - Asda - stock a mini-tripod for small digital cameras, absolutely perfect for photographing models.

May I also suggest you substitute natural daylight for a flourescent striplight - I much prefer to photo my models in artificial light.

[Mish]

I use one of these.

Can be had on evilbay quite cheap or make your own.

[JakeEaton]

Shaun I'm by no means even an average photographer but you should definately invest in a Tripod They're great for getting really crisp shots.

Like others have said already, forget flash. Use artificial lights (I use my room light plus a moveable light that I model with) instead of natural daylight as it helps you control the lighting better.

Just using these two tips and your nice blue background will definately vastly improve the pictures of your final outcome. It's a shame when you get poor quality pictures of what is obviously a bloody nice model (I'm speaking generally, not the pictures you posted )

[Stuart]

I know you have a lot of advice in this thread, I'd just like to squeeze in my £0.02 worth: -

Tripod, 2 lights(or light sources), reflector (paper/foil/dustsheet/whatever works) self timer and no flash - that works for me. Position the light sources opposing one another, at slightly off 180 degrees pointing away from the camera so that one's shadow is lit by the other. Let the camera work on it's self timer, on a tripod with no flash and the results (with a bit of trial/error) will speak for themselves.

HTH
Stuart

Edited by Stuart, 14 October 2008 - 06:06 PM.

[plastic constructor]

Shaun, how about this ...



.. I took the liberty of running it through Photoshop.

Nick.

[Seamus]

Thanks for the additional advice peeps

I've had another go at taking some pics, using the striplight in the kitchen as the single light source and the kitchen foil to soften the shadows. Still no tripod, but I think they're an improvement on before.







They're still not quite as sharp as I'd like, but I think that should come with a tripod

Shaun, how about this ...



.. I took the liberty of running it through Photoshop.

Nick.

Blimey, that looks better than the real thing I don't know the first thing about photo editing. I've got Photoshop elements, but got pretty confused after only a short play with it Would my pics benefit from editing in this software, or would I be better off with a full version of PS?

Thanks again for the help

Cheers

Shaun

[plastic constructor]

Ayup Shaun, all I did was reduce the contrast by about 30%, I could have really gone to town and altered the brightness. In answer to your question about using Photoshop, yes, I think your photographs would benefit, I use it all the time.

Nick.

[zeke]

Shaun, you don't need the full on Photoshop stuff...most of it you'll never use at all. PS Elements 2 is perfect for just tarting up digital photo's.
But I've got to echo what some of the others have said, you NEED a tripod, the little light-cube like Mish pointed out is useful to diffuse the shadows, but limited in size...and you need light...light light light...digitals love working with lots of light so the more the better! Set up the white balance for reach shooting session and you'll have no problems with colour balance either.

The only thing then to do is play and practice...

[Skii]

got photoshop ?

2 words

unsharp mask

[Seamus]

Ok, thanks for the comments regarding photoshop. I've had a play around in elements and come up with the following. As I'm an absolute beginner, I;ve simply stuck with the auto enhance controls, using the auto contrast and sharpen functions. I also clicked the unsharp mask control John referred to, but didn't know what each specific parameter really did, so left them as default.

Here's the before



And the after



Seems an improvement in quality to me, but I don't want it to start over-processing and detracting from the fact that it is a model

Whilst I was playing around in PS, I did the same thing to a picture I took of a Harrier to see how they might improve. Here's the unedited version



And post-processed



I'd appreciate thoughts on these, and any advice on additional techniques I could use to improve them

Also, I've found a tripod for a few quid on ebay that should fit my camera, so I might have to make a bid

Cheers

Shaun

[richc]

Hi seamus

You want to be very careful with the unsharpen mask and auto contrast.

In you're mossie pic you may be able to see that by boosting contrast levels this has introduced digital noise. I take it you then sharpened the pic. The act of sharpening has then sharpened this noise. Noise reduction will also cause smearing, because of the algorithms used. Just have a play with the sliders and see what works. Also bear in mind that if you are saving pics in jpeg (I assume you are stuck with this on the Fuji), this will compress the image every time, losing data. Our photog at work reckons three saves of the same image, jpeg artifacts will start to appear.

Personally I would say you have slightly over sharpened the pic. Since you have the original still, try sharpening first, then maybe boosting the contrast a little. Does elements have curves these days?

In digital imaging noise will occur in deep shadows, due to the lack of light that has hit the sensor (very little information). Try to avoid this and get as close as possible to correct exposure, generally people advise "exposing to the right". By this they mean push the exposure as far towards over exposure without causing bright areas to blow out, i.e, go completely white.

I realise you are using a camera that has little control over this, but it should still be possible to do this to some degree.

I hope this helps a little. i would suggest typing unsharp mask into google and having a look at the dozens of photoshop tutorials that will appear.

On a final note I would say that the mossie looks slightly oof all over, so def get a tripod and use the self timer. And stop drinking too much coffee before shooting.

rich

P.S I love the Harrier shot and the original works for me.

[mikeew]

Shaun, you may have already read this, but I did a sort of "How to.." on model photography.
Its just how I do it, and is by no means exhaustive. I have upgraded my camera to a Digital SLR since I wrote this, but the idea and technique is the same.
Hope it helps!

http://www.britmodel...showtopic=12258

[Seamus]

Rich & Mike, thanks for the additional information, plenty to mull over

As you say Rich, the original is out of focus, so I think I'll wait until I get a tripod then, once I've got a decent photo, have another play in PS. I've been messing about with the original a bit this afternoon, but to lose to the soft edges, it becomes over sharpened in other areas. Hopefully the tripod will sort things out for me

Cheers

Shaun