First Effort at Production Photography-HELP!

[Shebang]

With a very makeshift studio, this is my first effort. This is far from the excellence of the photos I see from some of you, but for now, I don't need perfection -- I just need enough quality to be effective for online selling. What do I need to do to get there? I have been reading here at PR about sharpening after resizing, etc. - does everybody do that? Do I need to? I sharpened first then resized. Thanks very much for your help.

[Photo-John]

I think this would be a better fit on the Studio & Lighting forum. You're really asking for technical help, not criticism. Why don't you post there and tell us some more about what you want the photo to look like and what kind of lighting setup you're using.

[Shebang]

Oh, you're right -- that forum didn't come to mind -- thanks, I will.

[daq7]

I like it lot. It might be a bit soft on the edges for a production shot. But I have no idea

[n8]

well, you could either ramp up your f stop, or do multiple exposures with different focal points and stack them to get a completely in focus image.

[GB1]

Paula - As thecouncel says, I would use a smaller aperture to increase the DOF, say f 11.0 at least. I would fix that perceived CW lean I think I see (it's only doing it about 1 degree). I like the lighting for the most part, just a touch of shinniness on the base. There you want to consider using a diffuser. Oh, and since resizing can soften the image you want to sharpen last, but do so in moderation: over-sharpened shots look pretty bad to me.

G

[daq7]

Focus stacking is probably overkill, although it might work better than a higher f-stop. I dont really know. Focus stacking is for getting that hyper-detail that macro shots give as if you had the perfect macro stop through the shot. But this seems as if it could just benefit from a bit higher aperature. But I have not really explored here much so I can't say.

[Shebang]

Thanks, daq7 - I have no clue how to stack anything but pancakes. I guess the Elements v6 that Terry is sending has such feature??

GB1: Tomorrow I will try the f/11 as you suggest. What is CW lean?

I will save the lighting issues for the Studio forum as Photo-John suggests. I am reading a recent lengthy thread that deals with some of my issues - but not all, so I am working to get the best shot I can before posting. This one has some lighting issues that even I can see.

Thanks for the help - hope to see you in the Studio forum soon.

EDIT: **Palm rap to the forehead** CW = Clockwise. Thanks.

[gahspidy]

Hey Paula, you did pretty well here. Your aperture of 7.1 did well in getting a lot of sharpness here. Your not going to get the entire product sharp from front to back with whatever aperture you use, so don't worry about it too much. 7.1 - about 11.0 will be fine.

Forget about stacking, layers and other involved image editing. . .you don't need it to get a decent product shot to sell online.

What you have here is pretty good to go, but of course you will want to improve.
Is this window light? I would suggest moving the product further away from the background to reduce the shadow falling on it. Also, get two white boards and reflect light onto each side or at least the left side where the shadow is stronger.

Did you use a tripod? If you did and you should you can stop down even further to f11 or so, for a bit more sharpness throughout, but as I said before its not really bad here. A tripod is a good idea anyway

As for resizing, yes, sharpening is best after resizing. Typically, for an image this size you can use an unsharp mask setting of about .8 radius, 80 amount, and about 5 threshold.
What you did here looks very good, though.

Is this the true color of the pot? When I opened it in PS it looked much more gold and vibrant. It did not seem to have a color profile and when I assigned it srgb it remained that brilliant gold color.

If and when your using Elements, use the "save for web" command in the file menu and it will take care of setting it up for proper web display.

If you have not already, I would suggest taking at least three shots of each item from different angles. People usually like to be able to see a few sides of the product. This point of view is good, but also maybe another from higher up looking a bit down into the pot so we can see the interior and the rim.

I am going to move this to the studio and lighting forum where you can have our very own
Asylum Steve offer you some advice, as well as some of the other more experienced studio photogs that drop in there.

GB is referring to Clockwise lean meaning its slightly tilted to the right.
You did well, looking forward to seeing more.

[Shebang]

Just a quick note to let you know see your response -- I am building a set up similar to Frog's and then I will retake using these great PR suggestions. Thanks for all the hand-holding and back-patting in addition to the technical advice -- you don't know how helpful that is! More soon...

[Shebang]

Well, I got my "studio" put together, tried a shot with the glass on the towel trick and that didn't work. Now my camera has issues - see the Help forum. So I will deal with that and then come back here to try it again. I will keep reading until I can get my camera fixed and then...............................I'll be back.

[Shebang]

Gary: To answer your questions - yes, this is window light but with two additional "daylight" bulbs. I did use a tripod. And yes, the color is gold. It is a true gold metallic and not paint.

What does "assigned it srgb" mean??

Camera guy says mine will be ready midweek. When I get it back, I'll try to incorporate the advice here and post a new thread with another effort. Thanks!