Help needed

HELLGAP

Dealer - Purveyor
Ok here is what I bought, its a 100 dollar light box set up with lights and tri pod for the camera . It has side /up down level bubble tilt forward and back the max upward ajustment is 10 inches with the legs and centre portion pulled out. I use a cheap HP M637 7.2 megpixel camera I set it on 5mp .These are my pictures I have the lights places as shown in the picture when I took these photos. Ide like to get the best out of theis set up. I am concidering buying a digital SLR with an extra telophoto lens and a so so tripod for wild life pictures. I dont want to spend more than 500 on the camera . Adivse me first with what I have and suggest a state of the art 12mp or better camera.thanks I would like to get this working better. I also have another brand new canon power shot A460 its 3 years old but ive never used it. Well its taken like 10 pictures but I have never used it.I am going to post to this thread with pictures from it as well with the setup all the same and tell me is there is a difference. thanks KellywView attachment 37917View attachment 37918View attachment 37919View attachment 37920View attachment 37921View attachment 37922View attachment 37923View attachment 37924View attachment 37925View attachment 37926
 
Try moving those lights to the side of the box. I'm assuming those white panels are diffusers. Turn the flash on your camera off.
 
Shawn thanks I need all the help I can get. I took pictures with the flash on and off and the ones with the flash on are bad showing the flash. What about the difference between cameras .I notice it takes me a while to view so obviosly way larger format or size in MB . I always shake and this really helps so focus is good. I ve used the HP for 10 years and they are ok to beat to death . I take it hunting and fishing. But my ability to take HD pictures sucks. Ide love to buy a Digital SLR for dummies that has 12 mp or bigger in the 500 dollars range Ide like to buy lens that are affordable for the camera like one telephoto and maybee a wide angle. I just dont know what brand is the best bang for the buck. I dont know maybee CANON or Nikon , or something along that line. Ide l ike a desent trouble free tripod for out in the field for wildlife pictures. Kellyw
 
Kelly, try using a defuser and a reflector to light your piece. The flash is almost always going to muddy things up with glare and shadows. The following video gives some solid tips on lighting. You should also check out your manual to see how to manipulate your settings better. I shoot with a Nikon D60 set to "Programmable," mode with no flash. Avoid incandescent lighting and lighting your piece directly.

[video=youtube;Qb-6-rqyarE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qb-6-rqyarE[/video]
 
That is a wonderful instructional video.
This photography thing is about seeing and capturing light.
One can buy all the equipment available, but you still have to see and capture the light :)
Before I even get to the camera I set up my knife, light, reflector and diffuser.
Stand where the camera will be and really look at the knife.
Is it evenly lit?
Are there reflections in the blade, guard & pommel?
Are the shadows harsh?
Keep moving the lights and angling the knife (a ball of rolled up tape, sticky side out works wonders for propping up the knife).
Get a white poster board or better a piece of white foam core board and have that be in the reflection of the knife.
A couple smaller reflectors (more white foam or poster board) to bounce the light into the shadows.

Work on the pieces of the puzzle then get the camera out.
Leave the flash off and use the tripod.
As Shawn said try the light coming in from the side of the light box.
Or bounce it off of the opposite side.
Try taking one of the white panels and put it on top.
Maybe bounce the light off of that.

Here is a shot I did yesterday to further a discussion on another forum.
The finished piece... after cropping, color correction and a little retouching.
1_21_SnakeEyesBowie-_zps526ff753.jpg


Here is the shot straight from the camera
1_21_SnakeEyesBowie-3144_zpsa770cc31.jpg


And the reason I put my own pics in your thread (I honestly hope you don't mind) here is the set up.
ED62614D-332C-4D25-9831-4D876DE325A6-2204-0000058E79B72BAD.jpg


Note that the light is not pointing directly at the subject.
But the light is still shining thru the diffuser sheet of vellum.
Also note the reflector opposite the light facing back at the light.
I didn't use a board to reflect in the blade because it is a satin finish.
A mirror finish blade might need that.

See the light and the photos will happen :)
 
Guys Im learning a ton but you need to read what im using for a camera. It costs as much as your flash card. the HP M637 Retailed 10 years ago for 79.99 I bought it used of ebay 5 years ago cuzz I lost the other one. As far as the settings I will look and see if I can find it in the menu .The second camera is one ive never used My wife bought it and had never used it so I asked if I could use it and see if its better than the hp 7.2 mp the canon is a solid 5 mp camera bought new 4 years ago . So in the electronic world probably considered garbage. Im just hoping to stretch the canons best potential. The lighting tips are awesome I nearly threw out the disfuser paper thinking i t was packing . I was trying the flash on and off and noticed way better off and I did move the lights around and change the floor color to black as the shadows were bad . Not to fair to compare pictures im using a 50 dollar camera and probably considered less on ebay to a nikon D60 that was new in 06 for 1000 dollars and is still 700with a so so lens. I guess If I want better pictures I maybee need to ask what camera to buy for under 700 with a decent lens . I dont mean to sound harsh but I know very little about this , I have learned alot so please keep telling me more tips. I will never learn if you guys arnt honest and tell the truth . So if you think my camera is junk say so if you think I can improve with what ive got Im all ears. thanks kellyw
 
Just a couple of thoughts:

-Your Canon A460 is definitely a step up from the HP you're using.

-Don't worry about megapixels. It's largely irrelevant unless you want to make gigantic prints (20x30 or 24x36 - I've had 20x30's made of 8MP images that looked great).

-As far as digital SLR's, you can't go wrong with either Canon or Nikon. Both have a wide array of production and aftermarket lenses available. The lens is arguably more important than the camera if image quality is your primary concern.

-Find and learn to use an editing software. Your Canon A460 should have come with software if you bought it new. There are several editing programs available from free to thousands of dollars. Find one in your price range, take a bunch of photos, and spend time playing with the software. There are usually lots of online tutorials for the more popular softwares.

Hope this helps!!
 
It's the 12" behind the camera that counts.
Don't get caught in the megapixel trap :)
Shawn hit the nail right on the head.
I have a similar Canon Powershot and I'm sure you can get good results with yours.
For starters...
First turn of the flash.
Then shoot some using the "macro" setting with the camera on the tripod.
I don't remember if your camera has a timer, if it does us it so you don't shake the camera while depressing the shutter.

Unfortunately there are no shortcuts...
This will take a bunch of trial and error.
You have to shoot and shoot a bunch more to get results.
There is a learning curve.

Then there is the photo editing software.
A whole 'nuther can of beans :)

For example, a coworker and I took shots of a gal that was entering a Doc Martin FB contest.
We used the company photo studio complete with thousands of dollars of equipment.
Canon 5D, strobes, you name it.
We took over 300 shots to get the one.


On the other side of the coin, I took this shot with a Olympus 3.2 mega pixel point and shoot using the settings I suggested above.
DozierSlim.gif
 
try using the insides/screens white and make the light hit them and reflect/diffuse onto the object
also try the 'close up' option on your camera (could be under a different name), focusing mode might make a difference and i made a very simple wip light box, its not the best thing out there but it sure made a difference for me
 
Thanks guys this is the stuff I need ,sorry if I come off a little strong so after the last couple coments looked at camera s for 7 hours non stop watching comparison video from various places looked at upper end entry but under 1000 dollars. So the camera Im saving for from what ive seen unless some one else says different and I will make one other post to get advise in the right thread area for buying a camera is the CANON REBEL T1i / 600d 18 mp dslr with --2 lens a 18-55 is and75-300mm ef comes with tripods and spare batterys all the bells and whistles. I think I will get it next month it runs in the 900 dollar range . I know I can get the camera and a lens the 18-55 for like 600 but for the other 300 I get all the stuff like card readers 2 tripods bads extra battery big flash everything to take pictures out side and inside. They say this is comsumers #1 pic along with the nikon d5100 but the canon is better in the comparisons on pretty much every comparison and the most is the picture quality test at 100x mag to see if they are sharp only 1 picture out of 100 is desent with the nikon the canon is pretty much all sharp and perfect. Now I am going to play with this little 5mp canon I have and will go to learn the best I can get. I will post my next set of pictures to this thread tommorrow. My batterys went dead, go figure. I dont like being in last place and with the camera I have been using felt that way. Thanks and keep posting comments as I repost new pictures trying to improve. Kellyw
 
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