How can I take better pictures?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I crochet a lot of things and I wanted to take pictures of them to keep and show off to potential customers at craft shows.

I’ve tried taking them inside and outside, with a flash, without a flash and in all different places, but they don’t turn out very good. The colors are all messed up, some are too light or bright or dark. There is one good picture there, a friend took that one and mailed it to me.

Here’s my pictures, How can I improve them?

I only have an inexpensive digital camera and I won’t be able to get a better one anytime soon.

Thanks.

2

Well I think the picture of the blue and white baby blanket is a good picture.
I would suggest that when you lay a sweater or dress flat that you get above it and shoot straight down. You can buy at a camera store a roll of white background paper (or almost any other color) that would be pretty inexpensive and use that as to lay the items on and then bring light. Stand some lamps around in the item just out of frame.

3

The quick answer to this question is to shoot more pictures. Hopefully you have a digital camera.

When I got mine, how I took photos changed completely and once I began to shoot hordes of photos of my subject I greatly increased the number of really good photos I took. And rapidly learned how to take better photos.

Shoot photos like a photographer, rolls and rolls worth at a time. No reason not to if you’re using a digital camera.

Good Luck.

4

Hang out with prettier people?

–Cliffy

5

Very nice stuff, dragongirl! I love ickle baby sweaters. :slight_smile:

Mostly I’ll just ditto what Zebra said.

A neutral background will make your pictures look much more professional. I don’t know that you need to buy something. A white sheet could do the trick. We have a folding card table with a beige top that’s ideal.

For photographing small items, you definitely want to stand over what you’re photographing and point downward so you’re seeing them flat. Get up on a chair if you have to, or spread things out on the aforementioned sheet on the floor. For one thing, when you take the picture at an angle, it’s all foreshortened so it’s hard to see the true proportions of the piece. More importantly, in your pictures I notice that part of the item is in focus, but part of it is fuzzy. That’s because when you’re photographing things close up, the camera can only focus at one specific distance. You want the whole sweater at the same distance. If the bottom hem closer to you than the collar, either the hem or the collar will be in focus, and not both.

As for lighting, I’ve had very good luck just shooting inside at night with my camera’s flash. A lot of your pictures in sunlight seem to be overexposed.

I think it’s well worth it to take time to arrange the items a little artistically. It’s a little fussy, I know, but you’re creating a record of these that will last a long time and be showed off to a lot of people. The picture of the white blanket draped over the chair, for example, is much more interesting than if it was just laid out flat. You get a sense of the drape of the fabric, and the different shadows bring out detail and texture. And like elbows said, take lots of pictures. You have a digital camera, so you can just trash whatever you don’t like. Try it from different angles, play with the lighting, rearrange the item . . . Working with cheap camera, some shots will end up looking awful, but you may surprise yourself by snapping some really nice photos.

And don’t be afraid to show multiple pictures of the same project! You can have a very clinical shot where the item is all spread out prefectly flat, and you can really see how the garment is pieced together, and an artsy one where the arms are arranged in a more natural posture, a closeup shot to show the detail in the hood, etc.

Be sure that as you’re framing the shot, you can see the whole item (except in closeups, of course). If you end up with too much extra space around the edges, it’s easy to crop out. And while you’re cropping, get familiar with your photo program, so you can tweak the color, contrast and brightness of your picture. Often times can take a kind of cruddy looking original, make a few tweaks, and get a much better iimage. That’s where a lot of the skill in digital photography lies.

6

Some suggestions:

  1. As Zebra has mentioned, the angle that you’re shooting from is distorting the item. It looks like a lot of these were put on a table, and then you shot the item while standing (and you’re not all that tall). I would try putting the item on the floor and then standing over it. If that is still not working too well, try standing on a chair or footstool. If that is still not working (or too scary), you may have to find a way to mount the item on a wall (clothespins maybe). The thing is to try to take the shot “front on” so that it is not distorted.

  2. Use a neutral, consistent background. Carpets are fine. It looks like you shot some on the top of a bed. That would be fine as well, but don’t capture the “sides” of the bed - just the flat top part (but see item #1 about the angle).

  3. Frame the item. In a number of the shots, some portion of the item is chopped off. As you look into your camera, take note of the whole item - not just the center. See that there is some of the background all the way around and you won’t chop any of it off in the picture.

  4. Focus. It looks like some of the shots are a little out of focus. I am guessing your digital has an auto-focus. These require some contrast to focus properly. So though the flash may provide enough light for the actual image, you also need enough light for the camera to focus. In general, more light (even dragging over a lamp) is better. It will help the camera in numerous ways. My digital has a little LED indicator to show when the subject is in focus. If yours has a similar indicator, be sure to make sure it’s “on” before shooting.

  5. Lighting. Different types of light will cause the item to be captured differently. Experiment with daylight, light bulb light, and flourescent lights. Even if you’re using a flash, the ambient light will have some effect.

Give these a try. I hope this helps.

7

I was going to suggest pinning them to the wall. Which would give you more framing options than the floor. But either way, shoot them on a flat plane and that will making lighting them a lot easier. In which case the flash might work, but you might be better off lighting them from the side a bit to pick up the texture. See how well the shadow works in the blue and white blanket picture.

And yes, take a lot of shots.

8

I can’t see your pics, but let’s see if I remember anything from my photog days. Even lighting, so check for shadows and hot spots. A neutral background and try to cut out as much of it as possible. Your light meter might read off the background which isn’t always the best light for your object. On flat objects try to shoot from above, as mentioned, though this isn’t always practical. I used to get up on my balcony and shoot toward the ground. Outdoor lighting isn’t always terribly even though, lights can help. Outdoors, in the morning or afternoon is best. A flannel sheet can hold some light weight textile objects without pins, so this might be good if you can’t get above them. Try to correct for perspective issues, where the top is much larger than the bottom, say. With a digital, I’m not sure how much you can actually do though. **elbows ** is correct, take a bunch of pictures. Then take some more.

I, personally, find items much more enticing if they’re not just laid out flat. I’d supplement the plain flat shots with some of the item in it’s ‘natural habitat’. Good luck!

9

For product shots that show good color, never ever use a flash. It will distort color every time.

Try positioning two lights (on stands, cheaply made at any hardware store) at a 45 degree angle from the item, on the camera side.



             Thing you want to take a picture of.

        /                                         \

LIGHT                                               LIGHT
                                 CAMERA

The lines are lights shining at the object, obviously. Try putting the object on a stand or easel or pinning on the wall. Lighting and pictures are easier this way.

Always use a tripod. It’s an investment you won’t regret.

Now, if you’re trying to make your work look more exciting, shadows will help, as in the picture of the baby blanket. So will having the item modelled.

10

What kind of light would you recommend? Incandescents have a yellowish tinge, and florescents vary rather widely, IMO.

(I just use a flash, and make sure to avoid standing too close to the subject)

11

If incandesent is what you’ve got you can buy film that’s balanced for it. They usually have a big T for tugsten on them. I don’t think there’s a film, but there’s a filter for florescent light. I can’t remember the number, I usually just try to avoid it (ick, florescent!).

12

You said you have digital, right? They should have a setting for tungsten (incandescent) light on it. If you’re shooting film, they can color correct in the printing stage. I believe there may be a tungsten-balanced negative film, but all the tungsten film I’ve used or seen was slide film.

I’ll have a looksey at the photos later, but right now they’re not opening up on this computer.

13

I suggest the simplest way to work will be with incandescent lights as you can get the most power in the smallest package. I work with studio flash but it’s much more expensive and difficult to use for the beginner.

You’ll need to put your camera on a tripod because shutter speeds will be too slow to hand hold. If your camera doesn’t have a remote shutter release use the self timer to trip the shutter so any vibrations from touching it can die down.

If you shoot with a digital camera use the lowest ISO (light sensitivity) setting. This will prent the camera from automatically switching to a higher ISO which will dramatically reduce picture quality.

14

A lot has been said about setup, lighting, composition, etc. But not much about post-processing. With digital photos, capturing the image is only one part of the process. After you download the photos to your computer, you can do a lot with photo editing programs to improve them including cropping, colour correction, fixing exposure and colour saturation, etc.

There’s a huge variety of photo editing programs on the market but for a beginner who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money, I highly recommend Picasa 2 an excellent photo cataloguing/editing program with an intuitive interface. Best of all, it’s free!

Also, I’d like to emphasize one point made above. Take LOTS of photos. Experiment with different lighting setups, camera settings and compositions. You aren’t wasting film and, like most skills, practice makes perfect.

BTW, what’s the specific make and model of your camera? It might help people make specific recommendations for camera settings.

15

If you’re taking close up shots of small items and having focus problems, check to see if your camera has a “Macro” mode. Normally lenses don’t focus so well closer than a certain point (~3 feet or so). However on a lot of cameras there’s a close-up or “Macro” setting. If you have your camera manual, check to see if there’s a feature like this. It can make a big difference.

The only thing I might add to the lighting set up Film Geek suggested is one more light pointed directly at the ceiling over the item you’re photographing. Light will bounce off the ceiling onto the item, but will be diffused which will help soften shadows.

16

After actually looking at your pics, the simplest fix is the one so many folks have said already. Get directly over the item you’re photographing.

Also, you need a neutral background. Put the item on your carpet or on a piece of poster board in a color that doesn’t clash with the item.

17

Another thing - it’s always good to fill the frame, to not leave too much background, focus on the subject of the photo. You’re doing a good job of this. HOWEVER don’t let the article get outside the frame of the photo. Flowers and Christa’s Poncho are examples of this. The blue and white baby blanket photo is what you should shoot for. The subject is perfectly framed, and in the center of the photo.

I suggest you find or buy a good neutral background (white will do) such as posterboard or butcher paper, and shoot against that.

Finally, I’ve noticed many of your subjects are garments. Why not have the wearers model them for you? I understand completely if you or they would prefer not to, but showing the clothes on somebody would certainly make them easier to shoot.

18

The camera I have is a Vivitar camera I bought about 3 years ago. It was pretty inexpensive, only about $50.00. It’s called Vivicam-20. It doesn’t have anything as far as focus goes at all.

I have tried to use models, but that actually seems to create more problems. The babies need to be held and the moms don’t want to be in the pictures, proping the babies up, doesn’t work out too well either, they tend to flop over a bit.

19

I’ve looked at the specs for your cam and it looks like your options are limited as far as settings go.

The good news is that it seems to have a macro mode which allows the camera to focus for close-up shots, a self-timer mode and tripod mount.

The bad news is that it only has an automatic white balance mode. The white balance setting affects the colour in your pictures and cameras can be easily fooled by various lighting conditions. That’s why incandescent lighting can make photos look yellowish whilst flourescent lights can create a sickly green colour cast, etc. Your only option is to correct this in software after the photo has been downloaded to the computer. Once again, I’ll recommend Picasa 2. It has some very effective and easy to use colour correction tools.

20

Check to see if you don’t have some kind of sliding switch on the side of that camera that has a symbol of a flower and a symbol of a mountain. Flower means macro, or close-up, mode and mountain is normal mode. Focusing range in normal mode only goes down to about 2 feet or so. In macro mode that camera should be able to take sharp pictures at a distance of only 10 inches or so.

This should make some distance, as it looks like your photos are back focused.

Also, that camera seems to have problems with very contrasty lighting. Another lighting set-up is to simply use window lighting. In fact, I far prefer using window lighting to setting up a couple of incadescents in a situation like this. If you have any big windows in your house or flat, use the indirect, soft, directional lighting they produce to your advantage.