Sorry, photography again.

 Lufty, first let me say Im no expert on photography.

     I use a Canon power shot 560 and I never use the auto setting. I always use the manul setting ISO 200, no flash and macro. One of the things I do fool around with is the lighting settings. You'll have to experiment to find the one that works the best. I'm sure thier are others here who know a lot more than me about this kind of stuff. Just hope I was able to help a little.   

Somewhere in your menu there should be a photometry menu, or at least a White Balance setting. Make sure it's set to incandescent light.

Just so you know, F12 would be your aperture setting. The higher the number, the smaller the opening and the deeper the depth of field (how much is in focus). For model macro photography, you chose a good setting. The focal lenght refers to the amount of magnification in a lens. In the old 35mm camera days, 50mm provided a "normal" focal lenght, neither wide nor telephoto. Below that number were the wide angle lenses and above that were the telephoto lens. Most digital camerals that do not have interchangeble lenses have variable focal lenght, i.e., zoom lenses.

What they have already said, and this too... in photography, assuming that one is using normal color film or a digital camera set to automatic white balance, these are the color shifts-

orange/heavy orange- incandescent lighting- tungsten and halogen bulbs don't emit light in the blue/green spectrum thereby leaving a nasty orange cast.  This is really hard to fix after the fact.  Sodium vapor street lamps will also make an obscenely orange photo- try to avoid them like the plague.

green- flourescent lighting- this is far easier to color correct in Photoshop/darkroom than is the orange.  Mercury vapor street lamps will make photos appear a sickly greenish color.  To be avoided as well.  Flourescent lamps are actually quite nice for photography due to their inherently flat lighting characteristics.

blue- overcast conditions and subjects in heavy shadow will often have a blue cast from the lack of yellow and red light in the scene.  Fairly easy to fix in post-processing.

Based on my experience, these are the Big 3 color problems that people will encounter.

Thx for the help guys, I was struggling a bit. As far as i can work out now my configurations are , Macro, 2sec timer, 1.3"?, F11, iso 160, Wbalance set to 'bulb thingy', photomety set to spot. Heres the results so far. The 1st is the old settings,

and this is with the setup above,

A marked improvement. Any extra help would be great.

...Guy

Dre wrote:

What they have already said, and this too... in photography, assuming that one is using normal color film or a digital camera set to automatic white balance, these are the color shifts- orange/heavy orange- incandescent lighting- tungsten and halogen bulbs don't emit light in the blue/green spectrum thereby leaving a nasty orange cast.  This is really hard to fix after the fact.  Sodium vapor street lamps will also make an obscenely orange photo- try to avoid them like the plague. green- flourescent lighting- this is far easier to color correct in Photoshop/darkroom than is the orange.  Mercury vapor street lamps will make photos appear a sickly greenish color.  To be avoided as well.  Flourescent lamps are actually quite nice for photography due to their inherently flat lighting characteristics. blue- overcast conditions and subjects in heavy shadow will often have a blue cast from the lack of yellow and red light in the scene.  Fairly easy to fix in post-processing.   Based on my experience, these are the Big 3 color problems that people will encounter.

THAT was a very interesting lesson!

Hey Guy,

If you don't feel like messing with color balance issues, go to the supermarket and get some daylight bulbs.  They're in the same color temperature as natural daylight and don't produce oddball color tints.

As for settings, I use iso 100, f/11, multi-segment focus and a custom white balance.  I also have two lights, both with those daylight bulbs and a phototent.  I need to pick up a tripod so I don't need to use the flash.

Granted, my photos aren't the best, but they're better than they were.

-Fred

Lufty- that second shot is obviously the better of the two, but it can get even gooder.

If you have full-on manual controls on your camera, use the same settings as before, but either increase the shutter speed by full stop, or close down the aperature 1 full stop.  It will most likely appear too dark, but it will be a more accurate exposure for the highlights.  If you don't have full manual control over these settings, then you might  be able to fool the camera into doing it another way.  If your camera has an "exposure compensation" setting, then dial in -2/3 and rinse and repeat the photo as before.  This will cause the camera to automatically underexpose the image by 2/3 stop.  I highly recommend that all digital cameras have, at a minimum, -1/3 stop dialed in to help preserve highlight levels (I go with -2/3 on my Nikon D2X).  Trust me, it works a treat in everyday photography. 

Digital cameras cannot record all of the tonal range that we can see with our Mk. 1 eyeballs, so there is always going to be a compromise in what is seen and what is recorded.  Me, I opt to preserve the the highlight details by underexposing a little bit than to lose the highlights for the shadows.

Thx everyone for you advice, In one post my pics have improved ten fold. Ill have a dicker later on tonight and possibly post a few more before and afters. Thx again all.

...Guy

Guy, Ikea do some good angle poise fluorescent lamps for about a tenner including the bulb.

I use one on my desk, but also use it for photos along with a daylight bulb in a smaller lamp.

Always try and illuminate your model from both sides, as this prevents those nasty shadows, which most of my early build photos have...

For a background I use an A2 sheet of pale blue thin card from the art shop, sounds naff, but provides a good neutral background for photos.

Karl

  Guy came across this think I'm gonna make one for my self.

          http://www.instructables.com/id/Light-Studio-for-Photographers-Tabletop/