My High-end Photo Booth

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JimGo

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In the Pen Photos for Sale or Use thread, I posted a picture of my "photo booth" and one of the photos I've taken using it, which I've reproduced below. Jaywood1207 asked about the lighting in the pictures, and I had originally responded in that thread, but realized that I was hijacking it to a certain extent, so I thought I'd move the response here:

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Originally posted by jaywood1207

Jim,
With your picture I have a question. In the picture of the booth it looks really orangey but the pic of the pen turned out great. Do you use your flash when taking the pen because it is a lot whiter or is the colour in the pic of the booth just skewed?
Click to expand...

The ambient light in that room was pretty bad when that photo was taken. We have a floor lamp with a Tiffany-style glass shade, and the predominant color in the shade is an off-white/yellow, so the whole room gets a slight yellowish tint.

I usually shoot a couple pics per pen. One with just the little clip-on table lamp (sometimes I add a second one) and any background lighting, one with my flash set to "fill-in" mode, and one with the flash on. Then I pick my favorite. I also use the white balance setting in my photo editing software (Microsoft's Digital Image Pro) to correct any color problems that may linger afterward.

Oh, and one final note...I have a little portable tripod (less than $10) that connects to the bottom of the camera, and shoot just about all of my individual pen pics with the camera on the tripod, and with the tripod resting on a stable surface (i.e., something other than me!).
 
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Jamie,
It's a halogen, and it came with the lamp. It's not incredibly bright, but it does give some nice extra lighting to soften the shadows.
 
My pictures come out too dark. I built the cheap kit by cutting large holes in a box and taping tissue paper. I've put lights all around it and it still is too dark. Can't see the grain of my woods.
 
Where are your lights positioned? I have mine in front, but to the side. A semi-transparent box is also advantageous because it allows diffused light to come in from different angles. Please note that I'm not taken credit for this discovery...I got most of my ideas from the photography forum here.
 
I have one painting light (the metal $5 ones from the borg) on each side and a three light stand (one of the cheap Walmart ones for a room) pointing through the top.
 
Wow, I can't believe that you're still having trouble with that much light! Are you using the camera's flash? Can you force your camera to hold the "shutter" open longer?
 
Originally posted by sandking
<br />My pictures come out too dark. I built the cheap kit by cutting large holes in a box and taping tissue paper. I've put lights all around it and it still is too dark. Can't see the grain of my woods.
Click to expand...

I didn't see the original thread so I may be repeating previous information.

Two quick things to check. Unless you have a very modest camera, there should be some options in the camera settings to help with this problem. Additionally, most of the software that comes with cameas these days has at least rudimentary editing capability that should help in adjusting your pictures. Take a look at the manual for your camera.

And of course, there is always the possibility that your camera is just defective??
 
I have a Canon SD550. There really aren't that many manual adjustments available b/c it's mostly a point and shoot. I also have a Olympus C4000 (4 mp) which has manual settings for everything. I would think though that the Canon with 7 mp is better.

What do you folks think?
 
Either one should have sufficient resolution for your purposes. If you're shooting from close in, use the macro setting, and if from farther away, assuming the cameras have optical zooms, zoom in on the pen fairly tight. Oh, and regardless of which camera you use, be SURE to use a tripod of some sort or other!
 
Well here is a picture I took of my first Olive tonight. Decided to use the Canon SD550, used a desk lamp with halogen light in front but still came out dark. The macro setting was used, 2 second timer b/c no flash.





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Next time, resize the image...should be about 640 pixels wide to make most people happy. At its current size, it's too big to see well. I'm competent with a camera, but I don't know all of my camera's settings yet. If you're good with the camera's settings, shooting on an angle like you did, but tweaking some of the other settings, will allow you to get a picture with a nice depth of field. However, if you're not careful, you'll have focus problems like you can see near the tip on your pen. If you switch the orientation so it's all in a single plane that is perpendicular to the camera, then everything should be nicely in focus.
 
Sandking-
the picture you posted could be likened to posting in caps.
Jimgo-
I use the same set-up but couldn't afford the tupper ware container.Instead I take the picture from above using a tripod and add more lights if nescessary.
All this stuff about "light boxes" is overkill.
K.I.S.S.
 
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