Canon Rebel...

[grub32]

I have a Canon EOS Rebel XT with an out of the box lens. I take crappy pen pics but would like to take better...Anyone out there taking pics with this camera?? If so, I would love some help on how to use it better. Any help help would be wonderful!!

MY PICS SUCK!!

but my pens are pretty

I want everyone else to know that!!

Grub32

 

[gketell]

Get a tripod and use the count down timer.

Set the camera to ASA 100, aperture priority, daylight white balance. Set your aperture to f16.

Put the pen in a bright window but not necessarily direct sun (you could hang a white sheet across the window). Use a white pillow case as a reflector to shine light on the pen from the inside too.

Use a "medium" grey background. Align the pen mostly parallel with the back of the camera (f16 will allow you some leeway for more artful alignment but not a lot). Use manual focus and focus on a spot 1/3 of the way back from the closest point on the pen. Zoom in until you almost fill the screen left to right with the pen.

Oh, set the camera on small jpg so you don't need to resize as much.

Press the shutter and let go. When the camera fires examine your picture and post it. It should be pretty good.

GK

 

[jrc]

Invest in a good light tent and lights can make a big difference. I have this setup and was a little over $100, the lights are cool lights and with my cheep $180 camera set on auto I get the best photos I have ever taken. I use to spend an hour setting the white balance and other setting and found that auto works best with the setup I have. Now it only takes a minute for the lights to warm up and in a minute or two I can get great photos.
http://alzodigital.com/online_store/alzo_100_tent_kits.htm

 

[TomWalton]

That's a more than decent camera and a so-so, but adequate, lens.

Pens are a hard place to start learning to take pictures; they're challenging to light and, at the ranges we normally photograph them, maintaining focus and depth of field can seem mysterious.

The first best thing you can do is probably to work on a source of good diffuse white light. The camera-mounted flash is a lousy choice most of the time; it gives strong reflections and throws very harsh shadows. Most of the guys here use some sort of light-tent to diffuse light from at least two (off-camera) directions. There are a lot of these setups described in the forums, some professional rigs, some made with Tupperware and cardboard. You can use fancy photographic lights, or light from a bright window and a sheet of mat board as a reflector to balance the lighting.

The other advantage of having copious good light is you can use a smaller aperture for the exposure, giving you greater depth of field (this will help to keep both ends of the pen in focus). You can set the camera to aperture priority (Av mode on a Canon) and stop it down manually (to f12 or so on the kit lens (larger numbers are smaller apertures)) and let the camera figure the shutter speed. Stay away from extremely small apertures; bad stuff happens out there.

Experiment and have fun. You'll have to balance your time and budget between two addictions if you're not careful.

--tom

 

[grub32]

Thanks for all the info...I had someone tell me that I would sell a lot more pens if I could take better pics...I then told them that if I could capture how these things really looked, I wouldn't be turning pens. I would be a photographer. Having said that, I bough the Canon...I will now work to make it better. I have been using halogen work lights. Thats a bad idea huh? I will start buying new lights and get new bulbs and try the new settings.

Thanks Again,

Grub32

 

[toolcrazy]

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need a light tent to take good pictures. You just need to learn how your camera reacts to different situations. And learn how to use your photo editing software. A good friend of mine takes gorgeous pictures without a light tent and generally in low light. Knowledge is the key to good pictures, not gadgets.

 

[TomWalton]

You don't necessarily have to replace them, just diffuse them.

Halogen lights, tungsten or quartz, aren't nearly so bad as fluorescents; they have a nice smooth spectrum at least, but their color temperature is between 3000 and 3500 Kelvins (which means they're skewed toward the red end of the spectrum compared to indirect daylight at or sky at 5000-6500). You can use them if you also shoot a neutral gray reference and use that to set the white balance in Photoshop, or Elements (or whatever you're using for post-processing.

The bad part is that a halogen work-light acts like a point-source and will throw hard shadows; this is where the Tupperware basin (or expensive light tent) comes in. It'll soften things right up.

--tom

 

[gketell]

I agree with Steve. As I said, a window and something to diffuse the light are just peachy for taking pictures. But a light tent does help if you have the money.

Halogens are OK. The only down side is that the color is not any of the colors your camera knows. On auto, it might get it right. But it will get it different on each and every pen/background. If you go buy some "daylight" compact fluorescent bulbs (about $5 each) and cheap clamp-on shop lights (about $4 each) you can then set your camera to "daylight" and it will do the same lighting every time. Three lights is more than enough. One on each side through your diffusing material (white sheet) and one from the front above the camera to create the reflection to show off your finish.

Or, a window.

GK

 

[grub32]

This is the photo tent that I have made from a sheet and some scraps!! The worklights are just what I had laying around...Its a work in progress. I have a nail sticking through the paper to stand the pen up...I am going to lay them down and try it out. I already have a tripod to use I just have to get the little things right.

I will post a pen here in a bit...I will fool with the settings and try it out.

Thanks Again,

Grub32

If you have any suggestions about the light tent, let me know!!

 

[grub32]

Forgot the photo

 

[gketell]

Ok, that looks pretty good. Are the sheets truly white? They look a little beige to me. And I would make the background a different color.

GK

 

[TomWalton]

Having read GK's post following mine, I wanted to make clear that I was referring to shop or commercial fluorescent tubes, not the daylight bulbs Greg recommended. His recommendations are particularly good if you're shooting direct to jpeg and the camera has made the white balance decision for you. I'd do it the way I recommended if you shoot raw format and can manipulate the white balance after the fact. I'm a victim of my own nerdiness sometimes..

--tom

 

[grub32]

They are cheap dollar general white sheets...here is a photo that I took with your settings. When I adjusted the color using a photo editing program, the background went from gray to white!!