Friday, December 01, 2006
Pictures too cold?
To off set this I try to make my pictures slightly on the warm side. Warm and fuzzy sells, cold usually does not.
If you want a slightly warm effect in your pictures, they need to be just a little on the yellow/red side. Assuming that the color/white balance was correct when the picture was taken, you would add a little yellow and a little red in PhotoShop. To be technically correct you should first match the color of your lights to the white balance of the camera. This is done by setting the white balance to tungsten (if using tungsten bulbs or daylight if using the blue daylight bulbs) or do a custom white balance on the camera. Be sure that the rest of the lights are off in the room. Also, you cannot mix the different lights. That causes weird shadows etc.
Next you should do the same on your computer. There are several devices out there that
allow you to set the monitor correctly. This is what most people forget to do. Our brains automatically adjust the color that we see, so usually the color on the monitor looks good as long as we know what the item is supposed to look like.If you use the tungsten lights with the camera set on daylight, all of the pictures will be very, very yellow. Usually too yellow to fix. You can take the yellow out, but it's much more difficult to put the proper amount of blue back in.
So, if you want a warm effect, just slightly yellow red, adjust your color balance in PhotoShop by adding a little red and yellow to the correct color balanced picture.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Keep Your Product Picture Shooting Simple
How to shoot better product pictures
The Basics
#2 Use a tripod or copy stand to hold the camera still and use a remote or
self timer to stop the blurred pictures
#3 Set the white balance to match the color of the light you are using.
Tungsten, daylight, or custom.
#4 Set the macro mode if closer than 3 feet.
#5 Adjust the +/- exposure settings until you find the right exposure when you
open the picture up in whatever picture program you are using.
#6 For eBay set your picture size around 400x400 pixels or 5-7 inches max
width or height.
Have Fun! KIS---Keep It Simple
Simple Ideas for Shooting Portraits
Trying to Shoot Portraits?
#1 I prefer to use photofloods instead of electronic flash systems, because I can use the auto exposure mode of my digital camera with only slight modifications. I do have to make sure that the camera is held still by using a tripod and I ask the subject to hold it while I actually take the picture. If you are trying to shoot kids probably electronic flash would be better, kids never hold still. 
#2 Use a main light to create your image. Set it so that if the person is looking directly at the camera their nose casts a triangle type of shadow on their cheek. Usually this means that the light is to one side of the camera and slightly above it. Then you put your second light level with the camera on the other side and slightly further back from the subject than your main light. This will FILL in the shadows while still giving you a 3 Dimensional effect.
#3 Set the white balance to match the color of the light you are using. Tungsten, daylight, or custom.
#4 Set the macro mode if closer than 3 feet.
#5 Adjust the +/- exposure settings until you find the right exposure when you open the picture up in whatever picture program you are using.
Have Fun! KIS---Keep It Simple
