creating great photos

[bowen_josh]

Basically every now and then i have to take product photos myself due to time restrictions etc. Was just wondering if anyone would be able to give me some pointers on making these images look a little better. Photoshop retouching, colour correction is probably not my strong suit. any hints/tips/tutorials would be great.
Of course i only have a little crappy sony 4mp cybershot digital camera.
cheers for any help

[cornfed]

I find that the book "The Joy of Photography" has a lot of good pointers for beginners and those with a little experience. It covers the basics of composition, lighting, camera manipulation, etc.

[bowen_josh]

Yeah, i have a few books on the "to buy list" but its not so much taking the photo. Because atm i cannot control the lighting and other elements that i would like to. I basically set the product up against a white bg in a place where the light is as even as possible, take the photo and then try to fix it. Im not sure what im looking for. I guess a quick fix for taking the "home photo" look away from the image.
Does that make sense?

[budafist]

You don't have couple of lamps you can use?

[bowen_josh]

not atm. but its been an ongoing battle. I have been trying to change a few views since i started working for this company. my predecessor was a IT guy, and he is a great web designer and such but photography and design was not his strong point. So everytime i try to suggest a new way of doing something, which will improve the overall finshed job i get the "well such and such was able to do it.. why cant you". And they havent quite grasped the concept that a a good photo can make a hell of a difference. This company has not had a graphic department before so its a struggle.

[Jackimalyn]

I have the same problem. I think the "home photography" look comes from the lighting, mostly. Can anyone suggest some different kind of bulb or something?

[cornfed]

A cheap way to better disperse the light from the flash is to stretch a piece of pantyhose over the flash. White hose will disperse the light better and keep it bright while nude colored hose will dull the light a bit and disperse it.

[Danger_Mouse]

Software: Adobe Lightroom or Aperature

[Jackimalyn]

awesome tip cornfed, thanks

danger- cant afford anything like that, are there any cheaper knock offs anyone knows of that are worth it?? (for Mac, preferibly)

[PrintDriver]

A couple of desklamps with 5000k (daylight spectrum) bulbs would be better than nothing. By even light you don't mean under florescent bulbs do you?

[cornfed]

Here's a few more I use, but they're for film cameras. Tungston film in flourescent light will basically make a monotone blue image. Here's an example. It's rather dark in this example, but the personal meaning behind it, which I really don't care to share, calls for a dark image.
http://courtneyfuller.com/site/local/images/bottles.gif

If you have a big enough lens, then putting vaseline around the edges will give it a feathered look. I don't know why you'd do that unless you didn't have photoshop to feather it. If you have a little lens, then I would use neosporin or something like that because those tubes come with small tips that you can control better. I did this for an inner city childrens photography camp using disposable cameras and they just loved it!

One thing I've wanted to try is instead of pantyhose, use colored transparencies and see if it changes the overall hue of the picture. For example, a red transparency would cause the flash to be red, etc. I think it would, but I haven't tried it.

The funny thing is that I'd rather try these little cheap tricks than to set up sync flashes and all that. Not sure why. I bought a guys photography studio equipment a few years ago and got all that stuff. I'm still not sure what works and what doesn't.

Another trick I want to try is the reverse macro lens. From what I've read, you can take the lens off of your film camera and hold it in place, backwards and shoot. The effect is pretty darn cool. I also read that they have an adapter now that will hold the lens on for you, removing the awkwardness of holding the lens in place.

[Danger_Mouse]

Adobe Lightroom only has the beta version out right now anyways....(its free though but they dont recommend using quite yet to go to print until the bugs are worked out).

I am pretty much in a same situation as far as NO BUDGET for the photo dept. I take alot of product shots for our catalogues.
I take all my photos in RAW format.
I have incandescent lighting (big drag) to shoot in so I adjust my camera settings to that. ( setting up a good light studio can be done cheaply and for under $200.)

Aftwer I shoot everything, I use my camera's Image converter software (most cameras come with it) to adjust all kinds of settings (fstops, ev , saturation, light settings etc.) This is AFTER the photoshoot, applying digitally.
I also purchased a QP card ($20) and downloaded the free software for it. (the full color QP card).

So I shoot my photos, Image convert them (which in process color corrects them), then I apply the QP card software which help saturate your levels for blacks whites, and colors to the most ideal setting (one of your images of course must have the qp card in it (tape to image). (Google QP CARD for explanation of whole process.) While it may be confusing at first is really a simple inexpensive process. Its MOST valuable if you are taking a large shoot and avoids color correcting each individual image. In the end all image colors will match each other (eg reds on one image will match red on the other).
The image converter software is like a very basic LIGHTROOM or APERATURE.

As I said I work with Poor lighting conditions using incandescent bulbs on these cheap umbrella like semi cones. Use white nylons stretch across to help diffuse hot lights. So the metheod above really helps alot so that I rarely need any further color correcting in PS. Just do the resizing close cropping etc in PS.

I wish I could go into detail but have no time this week (in the middle of a shoot myself), because even if using for just a few images its very effective. But more effective for mass color correcting.

I would spend a little time researching it (its easy to find). Google QP card, converting and taking pcis in RAW format and you will find what I'm talking about.

May or maynot be suited to what you need, but handy none the less.

When I get home I will see what literature I can find on it but like I said is very easy to google.

[Jackimalyn]

thanks for the tips everyone- and for reminding me i had this question, josh!

[TonyCro]

Hi ya,

The other thing is a tripod - trust me it will make you images sharper and it also slows down the process a little bit and you can start to think about the composition.

Another tip is use whats called the rule of thirds, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds and play around with the depth of field -keep the point of focus on the most important part of the image (eyes for example). This link here has some useful information on every other aspect http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/index.shtml

My background is photography and I've found that is better to get the image right, photoshop is good but its brilliant when the image is great to start with.

Hope it helps
Tony.

[patkennedy78]

If you don't have "real lights: available you might want to try this type of thing:

http://www.instructables.com/id/EKTSDWUR5HEP286OV2/?ALLSTEPS

I want to build one, but we have two cheap-o's with umbrellas that get me by at work. If you build it let us know how it works.

BTW, instructables rocks!

[bowen_josh]

wow guys, thanks heaps for the all the tips and tricks. I love the light tent. Will be making one in the not to distant future so will let you know how it goes.
I think i will be again trying to explain to the powers that be about the benefits of good photography and see where it gets me.
cheers

[mchilly]

Hey! But if you need help of your images. You can check this website http://www.lazymask.com they offer image masking.

[frankster]

stock photography sites like istockphoto and sxc offer little tutorials and tips on at home photography and image manipulation, some of which are quite cunning.

[Steve Buchanan]

While adding your own lighting can be helpful, I recommend starting with window light. Position a large window to your back, turn off the room lights and use a tripod. Turn off the in camera flash. Also a couple of white reflectors on either side of the product can work wonders. Depeding on the size of the product, a sheet of fomecore or even copy paper will work well.

Another option is outside in shade. Again, use a tripod and reflectors. Most digital cameras can handle the white balance issues well as long as you don't mix light sources. Daylight, flourescent and incandescent all have different color temps so they appear differently in the image.

Since you're shooting on a white background, you may need to manually set the camera to overexpose your shot. Usually one or two stops is needed to compensate.

As for post production, Use the selection tools to cut an outline around the product and fill the background with white, drop shadows can be added later by hand or with 3rd party filter plug ins.

Good luck and feel free to ask more.
Steve