Help With Pics and Camera Please

Melinda · #1 2011-06-16, 4:40pm

I don't have Adobe photoshop anymore, so I am trying to learn Paint.net.

I took the following pic with a Sony Mavica, P setting, Reveal Lights in a light box with macro

I'm lost, any suggestions?

fjbremer · #2 2011-06-16, 5:58pm

I use Corel's Paint Shop Pro X3 which is $99 regularily and right now is around $49 on special. Your picture is pretty much ok the way it is. I downloaded it and went into PSP X3 and just did a "standard" photo fix (basically increased the brightness and a small boost to the highlights) and got this:

Hope this helps. It said to me that you had the fundamentals down just fine and the picture didn't need a lot of postprocessing.

Fred

Melinda · #3 2011-06-16, 6:40pm

Thank you for the help. I will keep playing with my camera's and paint.net to optimize my photos.

Margrieten · #4 2011-06-17, 12:22am

I use photoscape what is free.

But a good start is a good picture

. Make sharp what you want to have sharp.

Try white background, enough light, macro and iso100.

Mike Jordan · #5 2011-06-17, 9:56pm

The gray background doesn't do very much for the beads and I personally don't care for white either. If you light the objects correctly, a dark background can help the colors pop more and focus the eyes on them.

You also need to think about placement of the beads. You are going away from the camera, which is going to keep you from getting them all in focus in micro mode (there are ways to get them all in focus but that requires more work). So either place them horizontal or vertical across the focal plane (right to left or top to bottom) so that all of the beads are point of focus. You also want to add contrast if your program will let you. Most digital cameras don't add enough contrast in the image for web viewing.

Mike

InsaneIrish · #6 2011-06-21, 9:09am

You have 2 seperate issues going on.
1. you need more light, the light box does a great job of difusing light so you don't get hot spots. But, it also weakens the light coming through. So, add more light to the light box to take the picture. That will help remove the grey.

2. Depth of field, you need to either widen your depth of field on your camera so that more objects are 'in focus' or line up your beads so that they are all the same distance from the camera. That way you won't have your closest and farthest beads out of focus.

Cosmo · #7 2011-07-01, 12:12pm

You do need a higher f-stop. Most of the times a "portrait" setting, which is what your "P" is, will have a very low f-stop so that if you take a picture of someone, they are in focus but the background is blurred. I would increase it to at least f8. Be sure you focus on what is closest to you.

Also, you do need more light. That can mean adding more or brighter lights, but honestly if you lengthen your exposure that will take care of it. Make sure you are using a tripod though.

Cornbread · #8 2011-07-02, 7:58pm

what cosmos said...id go as high as your camera will allow, depending on lighting im at f11 or higher. to add to his comments, use the timing feature on a tripod with long shutter speeds. this will keep the camera shake from blurring your photos. i never photoshop any of my pictures, but i have a fully manual mode on my canon dslr.

you could try the AV mode and set your aperture higher. but you can't fix an out of focus picture. so work on that.

nice beads and colors though!

Dale M. · #9 2011-07-10, 11:39am

Quote:

Originally Posted by InsaneIrish

You have 2 seperate issues going on.
1. you need more light, the light box does a great job of difusing light so you don't get hot spots. But, it also weakens the light coming through. So, add more light to the light box to take the picture. That will help remove the grey.

2. Depth of field, you need to either widen your depth of field on your camera so that more objects are 'in focus' or line up your beads so that they are all the same distance from the camera. That way you won't have your closest and farthest beads out of focus.

Ditto on depth of field..... MACRO mode is not always your friend....

Dale

Melinda · #10 2011-11-15, 9:19pm

Thanks so much for the help. I will work on it.

Dale M. · #11 2011-12-01, 11:40am

Just for giggles I did a single "sharpen" and "autoadjust colors" in IRFANVIEW...

Dale

Laura B · #12 2011-12-01, 11:52am

What about Photoshop Elements. You can pick it up dead cheap (I still use an old version):

Before / After

Melinda · #13 2013-06-12, 1:54pm

Still wrestling with it, but I think I may be getting it. Thank you all for the help.

Doug Baldwin · #14 2013-06-21, 9:57pm

I would suggest the following:
1. Light the beads with soft diffused light so the beads have smooth highlights. This will replace the small specular hot spots currently in the bead photo.
2. Try standing the beads up so we can see the front surfaces more clearly. You can use a small (2mm) dab of wax under the bead to hold it upright in place.
3. Arrange the beads against a background that makes the beads stand out with good edge separation and overall contrast.
4. Increase the depth-of-field to f22 or f32 so that all the beads are in focus.
5. Use a version of Photoshop for subtle lightening or darkening as needed after the photo has been imported into the computer. Photoshop Elements v11 is currently available online and at Costco for less than $80.
Hope that helps.
Doug
dougbaldwinphoto.com

shawnette · #15 2013-06-22, 12:15am

Photoshop CS2 is Freeware now: http://www.techspot.com/downloads/36...oshop-cs2.html

The serial is on the DL page.

Mike Jordan · #16 2013-06-22, 11:42am

Actually, this is not true that it is freeware... Adobe says so on their software download page. They say it is for those that legitimately have a license already. Even though they say they have disabled the registration server at their site, that doesn't mean you are legally able to use it for free.

http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/

Just a FYI.

Mike