2 pics, same subject, need advice!

[bjtindle]

I am posting 2 pictures of the same items. I am working on a photo project (assigned by myself to learn more) and the theme is color. I chose gift ribbons for the color. These were taken with my Concorde Eye-Q 2000 digital and the flash on auto. I would like to know how to remove the glare and at what distance I should be to retain not only an idea of what the subject is but clarity and retaining my eyesight. You will see, blinding!!! I did purchase ribbons in the large size, red, green, silver, blue, gold and purple while the small curly ribbons reflect the same exact colors. Any tips and suggestions, even if to use my Chinon, would be greatly appreciated.

Betty

[mikehulsebus]

Well the first thing i'm struck by in these in their lack of clarity. It looks like perhaps you're using your camera's digital zoom. If thats the case, dop't. I've found in my experience with those sort of cameras the digital zoom really messes up the quality. (see two attached photos that i took quickly moments ago) If at all possible just get closer. Looks like you're not using the flash, which is good. If you're still getting kinda blurred up pictures find something to set the camera on or hold the camera against. Almost make sure you're not so close to something that your camera can't focus on it. I'm not really sure where the glare is coming from, but keep in mind you're dealing with things with reflective surfaces. What light sources were behind you at the time?
I really like the idea for this one--something I've though of doing myself. Try some different things with composition--shoot these things from all angles, see what you come up with and what you like. I'd like to see how things turn out.

[bjtindle]

Well the first thing i'm struck by in these in their lack of clarity. It looks like perhaps you're using your camera's digital zoom. If thats the case, dop't. I've found in my experience with those sort of cameras the digital zoom really messes up the quality. (see two attached photos that i took quickly moments ago) If at all possible just get closer. Looks like you're not using the flash, which is good. If you're still getting kinda blurred up pictures find something to set the camera on or hold the camera against. Almost make sure you're not so close to something that your camera can't focus on it. I'm not really sure where the glare is coming from, but keep in mind you're dealing with things with reflective surfaces. What light sources were behind you at the time?
I really like the idea for this one--something I've though of doing myself. Try some different things with composition--shoot these things from all angles, see what you come up with and what you like. I'd like to see how things turn out.

Shoot, I did use flash. Probably where the reflective, blow-out, blinding your eyes, glare comes from! The Concorde has what they call a 4x zoom, I will have to look in the manual to see if I can change a setting because as far as I know it is automatic. I thought maybe if I used my digital camera that when I got the picture right I could duplicate the picture with my Chinon as the settings and everything are retained in the photo. I will try putting the camera on something to in order to stabilize it. With these particular photos I think I had the kitchen light on. (Lots of counter space to mess around with) I have since moved them to a lowboy because it was a bit lower than the kitchen counter (I am not very tall so there isn't much height I can add at 5' 3"). and I was hoping it would be clearer. Might be movement too. In the other pictures I took I began to think I have TOO much color and I need something to break it up a bit, now I am trying to find something to do that with. ;) I will post them when they come out right! Thanks so much for the help, I do appreciate it. Living out here in the rural area gives me lots of time to play with this thing and try other things with it.

Betty

[Peter_AUS]

Betty I think with the camera you are using you might not be able to get the DOF (depth of field) right, unless the digital camera allows you to control the aperture setting. Try using a couple of halogen lamps shining through white fabric on either side of the subject you are taking, sort of like building a white tent with the lighting coming through the fabric. This will give you soft not so reflective lighting and you need to turn the flash off, so you don't get the reflections from that.

It is trial and error.

[bjtindle]

Betty I think with the camera you are using you might not be able to get the DOF (depth of field) right, unless the digital camera allows you to control the aperture setting. Try using a couple of halogen lamps shining through white fabric on either side of the subject you are taking, sort of like building a white tent with the lighting coming through the fabric. This will give you soft not so reflective lighting and you need to turn the flash off, so you don't get the reflections from that.

It is trial and error.

Thanks Peter! I can control the aperture with this camera so I will have to mess around with it some. On this camera there are 2 options, "brightness" and "exposure value" and while you can pick on a graph for each one in the LCD display I do not find in the manual what exactly is the value of each such as f-stops or anything like that. So I have to guess as far as that goes. Where can I get halogen lamps??? I bought my brother and brother-in-law some type of lamp for gifts, I think they were halogen of some kind and have the "strength", for lack of a better word, of a million candles or some such thing. They are very bright. Do you think they would work? Will leave the flash off too! Thanks for looking at the photos. May sound dumb to assign myself a project but it might help me learn a little bit more if I do things like this. Besides, it is kinda fun. Even if I did blind myself with the first photos, especially after I posted them, they seemed huge and bright!

[Seb]

I am posting 2 pictures of the same items. I am working on a photo project (assigned by myself to learn more) and the theme is color. I chose gift ribbons for the color. These were taken with my Concorde Eye-Q 2000 digital and the flash on auto. I would like to know how to remove the glare and at what distance I should be to retain not only an idea of what the subject is but clarity and retaining my eyesight. You will see, blinding!!! I did purchase ribbons in the large size, red, green, silver, blue, gold and purple while the small curly ribbons reflect the same exact colors. Any tips and suggestions, even if to use my Chinon, would be greatly appreciated.

Betty

Hello Betty,

First off all, I think that working on an self assignment is a good idea. That is what I started to do myself recently rather than just shooting anything interesting that pass by randomly. I think that it's a good way to force you to try different things and to give more thoughts to what you are doing (for me at least, I work harder since then).

I feel rather ignorant but I didn't knew about Concord and Chinon. I searched for it and haven't found a lot of informations. Anyway, about your pictures, A minimum distance at which your lense/camera must be located from your subject that seems common to a lot of lenses is 1 foot (30 cm). Closer than that, it would be strictly impossible to focus. Now, I am not saying that this is the case with your camera as I honnestly don't know but that's a good distance to keep in mind most of the time.

You should also play with the exposure and brightness value that you are reffering at (even if it is a trial and error process). It might leads to surprising results.

I'd like to see the result of your experimentation later on.

best regards

Seb

[bjtindle]

Hello Betty,

First off all, I think that working on an self assignment is a good idea. That is what I started to do myself recently rather than just shooting anything interesting that pass by randomly. I think that it's a good way to force you to try different things and to give more thoughts to what you are doing (for me at least, I work harder since then).

I feel rather ignorant but I didn't knew about Concord and Chinon. I searched for it and haven't found a lot of informations. Anyway, about your pictures, A minimum distance at which your lense/camera must be located from your subject that seems common to a lot of lenses is 1 foot (30 cm). Closer than that, it would be strictly impossible to focus. Now, I am not saying that this is the case with your camera as I honnestly don't know but that's a good distance to keep in mind most of the time.

You should also play with the exposure and brightness value that you are reffering at (even if it is a trial and error process). It might leads to surprising results.

I'd like to see the result of your experimentation later on.

best regards

Seb

Hi Seb, I agree about the assignment too. I found myself pulling over on the road to take pictures and while I like the results I am sure they could be better because I am still new enough at this that I have to really, really, think about what the f-stop and stuff are, I don't think of them automatically yet. Plus, I didn't think about what I pulled over to take a picture of, not like I should. I thought by doing this I would have to think about lighting, as it is indoors which I am not use to, f-stop, aperture etc....Hoping it would make me concentrate more on what I am doing and how I am doing it.

Concorde Eye-Q Duo 2000 is a digital camera. My Chinon, a Chinon 35mm CP-7M SLR, is a film camera. I am still learning about them myself! I am finding that I have to be at least a foot away with the concorde, but then I get all the extra stuff along the edges, so I am trying to find something neutral that can be around it. Last night, imagine my surprise when I saw my stack washer/dryer on the side!! Don't want it in the picture.

I will post the results when I get done. Still working on it but it will probably be a few days as tomorrow is July 4th, not to mention my nephew's birthday, yesterday was my niece's bday so haven't been able to work on it as much as I would like. Also have visiting relatives. In a couple of days it will settle down. Thanks for taking the time to look, I appreciate it very much.

Betty

[jcharris]

Hi Betty ,
It's a great idea assigning yourself to your own photo project .
There is a place www.steves-digicams.com . He has a lot of reviews on digital cameras.
But i was unable to find your specific model there , although he had 4 different Concorde Eye-Q models . It is still worth a look .
Maybe you could try to capture these ribbons without using the zoom and from a different angle .Or even try to take the ribbons outside of the house and take the photo there .
Did you try to use the macro mode on your camera ?
Just keep on experimenting !!
Regards
james

[bjtindle]

Hi Betty ,
It's a great idea assigning yourself to your own photo project .
There is a place www.steves-digicams.com . He has a lot of reviews on digital cameras.
But i was unable to find your specific model there , although he had 4 different Concorde Eye-Q models . It is still worth a look .
Maybe you could try to capture these ribbons without using the zoom and from a different angle .Or even try to take the ribbons outside of the house and take the photo there .
Did you try to use the macro mode on your camera ?
Just keep on experimenting !!
Regards
james

Does my digital even have macro mode? I don't find anything about that in the manual. I bought it knowing nothing about digital cameras, shoot, cameras period really. It is a pretty basic digital camera, I also have a "toy camera" which is even more limited, but takes great pictures. I will go to the concord site (concordcam.com) and see what I can find out there. I will take the ribbons outside too and see what happens, was thinking that last night actually. Right now I am babysitting (getting frustrated too) and the dad was taking the mom to work but that was 2 1/2 hours ago and he has yet to return. I shoulda known when they sent her with snacks. She TALKS ALOT, so I am not taking any right now cuz I won't be able to concentrate. Don't get me wrong, love her to death, just hate when people imply one thing and do another, such as will you watch while I take the wife to work. Implies imminent return!!!! NOT! Have other things to do to, nephew's bday tomorrow!!

Betty

[bjtindle]

Hi Betty ,
It's a great idea assigning yourself to your own photo project .
There is a place www.steves-digicams.com . He has a lot of reviews on digital cameras.
But i was unable to find your specific model there , although he had 4 different Concorde Eye-Q models . It is still worth a look .
Maybe you could try to capture these ribbons without using the zoom and from a different angle .Or even try to take the ribbons outside of the house and take the photo there .
Did you try to use the macro mode on your camera ?
Just keep on experimenting !!
Regards
james

Speaking of macro, I cheated, when I went to town (the dad returned) to get bday presents I bought Concorde Eye-Q 3040 - has macro mode. I just had to!! Will see what happens, but not until later, have to go meet some in-laws for my sister and eat dinner there too. Gonna take pictures while I am there tho, of course.

Betty

[bjtindle]

Thanks Peter! I can control the aperture with this camera so I will have to mess around with it some. On this camera there are 2 options, "brightness" and "exposure value" and while you can pick on a graph for each one in the LCD display I do not find in the manual what exactly is the value of each such as f-stops or anything like that. So I have to guess as far as that goes. Where can I get halogen lamps??? I bought my brother and brother-in-law some type of lamp for gifts, I think they were halogen of some kind and have the "strength", for lack of a better word, of a million candles or some such thing. They are very bright. Do you think they would work? Will leave the flash off too! Thanks for looking at the photos. May sound dumb to assign myself a project but it might help me learn a little bit more if I do things like this. Besides, it is kinda fun. Even if I did blind myself with the first photos, especially after I posted them, they seemed huge and bright!

They are halogen!!!! YES!! Bringing them home tonight.

[bjtindle]

Shoot, I did use flash. Probably where the reflective, blow-out, blinding your eyes, glare comes from! The Concorde has what they call a 4x zoom, I will have to look in the manual to see if I can change a setting because as far as I know it is automatic. I thought maybe if I used my digital camera that when I got the picture right I could duplicate the picture with my Chinon as the settings and everything are retained in the photo. I will try putting the camera on something to in order to stabilize it. With these particular photos I think I had the kitchen light on. (Lots of counter space to mess around with) I have since moved them to a lowboy because it was a bit lower than the kitchen counter (I am not very tall so there isn't much height I can add at 5' 3"). and I was hoping it would be clearer. Might be movement too. In the other pictures I took I began to think I have TOO much color and I need something to break it up a bit, now I am trying to find something to do that with. ;) I will post them when they come out right! Thanks so much for the help, I do appreciate it. Living out here in the rural area gives me lots of time to play with this thing and try other things with it.

Betty

Something to try and stabilize it. ???? Can you tell I am new to this photography stuff, and can you imagine even further that I have a TRIPOD and the camera can be on it???? Sometimes I amaze myself. ;)