Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures!

[Stinkbug]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

Great topic on many levels! I am getting ready to photo my guitar family and I have been toying with buying a new digital camera. Good discussion!

This reminds me of when I asked a photographer friend of mine for a recommendation for a good camera. Her response was "I can take a good picture with any camera." There is a lot of truth in this snotty arrogant response. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Nice pics of the Shannon!

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

Let's see some wicked pictures she took using one of those kiddies' disposable cameras! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Stinkbug]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

That would have been a nice challenge. She wasn't as good as she thought she was so I might have won that battle.

[xenophobe]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

There is partial truth to that. You don't need a thousand dollar camera to take million dollar photo... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

Just like you mentioned one of your buddies who sounds "holier than thou" on mediocre equipment. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] So that's why I'm trying to master my camera first. I put enough money into buying it... I better turn out adept at using it. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Rhmsc8]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

Just got a new camera so I snapped some shots of the axe I got the other day.... Most were done using a tripod and a light. I am new to this so I am just looking for opinions and some critiques. I don't think I will ever be able to do as well as it as you NOTP. But I don't have love for it. But I will learn what I can as I do enjoy it somewhat

***Warning*** Very large images.

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

I don't think those pictures are bad at all! In fact, they're quite a lot better than most people's pictures (especially most of the ones taken with a flash) that they post around here. Some of your pictures do have that warm incandescent glow to them, like the last picture for example, which you could probably white balance a little bit to make it look more natural. Like this:

Before:


After, now it doesn't look like the guitar has a rosewood board like the before picture:


Then again, I'm not as good as giving critiques as Xeno and Chuck are, so they might be able to tell you what's wrong with the white balancing that I did above!

[xenophobe]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

Actually, you did exactly what you should.

Is your white balance on your camera set to Manual? If so, set it to automatic. If not, find out where it likes to be set. Most cameras have decent automatic settings.

[Chuckracer]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

I disagree. Most automatic settings are a compromise. If you can manually set it, do so.

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

I agree with going with the manual modes/presets if you can. See my little demonstration wayyyy above. The "Auto" mode just doesn't cut it, whereas the "Tungsten" mode is fantastic for shooting in incandescent lit conditions and the "Fluorescent" mode is fantastic for shooting in fluorescent lit conditions. Might not be called the same thing on every camera but there might be a similar feature. If not, you can always tweak the balance a little bit in your imaging software although I don't claim to be a pro using mine. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Wolf11]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures



Interesting Stuff [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I am just a point and shoot guy [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img], but it is very interesting seeing the differences by using different setting s..not that my POS Digital has them on ,well I dont think so ..

Wolf; )

[roodyrocker]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

White balance, tripods, film speed settings, etc... are all wonderfull things. It depends on the conditions you are shooting under. Digital cameras have a lot of things built into them that you used to have to buy separetly on film cameras. For example, you could only load one film speed at a time into a film camera. With digital you flip a dial and depending on camera can get anywhere from the equivalent of 200 all the way up to 3200 speed film. Most digitals have 200, 400, and auto. Color balance is the same way. On film cameras you had to go to tungsten film or use filters depending on the light source. Now in digital cameras you adjust it within the camera which is nice. Tripods allow you to shoot at very slow shutter speeds without blurring the pictures as would happen when hand held. To take full advantage of this you should be tripping the shutter with a cable release not the button on the camera as that still induces camera shake.
The thing to remember with cameras is that the programmed automatic features are geared towards average scenes inder average lighting conditions. Thats usually sunlit snapshots with skin tones that are "average". Camera meters see 18% gray as average. So now you have a guitar with highly reflective surfaces under other lighting conditions and thats when you may need to take over your cameras control settings manually. Also, direct flash is a harsh way to light things but its advantage is convinience and portability. Using surfaces to bounce the flash off of or using a diffuser on your flash helps. Of course you already discovered your white balance controls.
Cameras take pictures by using a combination of aperture (F-stop) and shutter speed settings. When set on automatic you are leaving the combination for the camera to figure out. If you go to manual or aperture priority you might find yourself getting better results. For shooting guitars, especially lengthwise as in shooting down the length of the neck, you need a high F-stop number or aperture. This gives you more depth of field so more is in focus down the length of the neck. Try shooting at F11 and take the same picture at F3.5 and you'll see a lot more is in focus at F11. Of course that necessitates a slower shutter speed to obtain the same exposure so you need to use flash or use the tripod to accomplish this. There is tons more but don't be afraid to take control away from your camera and go to manual or other modes. Experiment with it at home. It comes in handy if you shoot live band shots too. A dimly lit stage with bright gels and spotlights is not an average scene. With the right settings and lenses you could shoot these for great live shots using spot metering mode if your camera has this feature.
I hope the above wasn't too confusing and is of help to you.

Rudy

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

Wow Rudy!!! [img]/images/graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] Great lesson there. I understood everything and knew about half of what you were talking about beforehand so it made it easy. Thanks!!!

I do have a spot metering feature on my digital but haven't tried it in a gig situation yet. I've just stuck with multimetering for that but my live band shots turned out pretty decent. All I did was turn off the damn flash and use my camera's highest ISO setting, 800 I think it was. A little bit grainy but no hand shake and no subject blur!!! [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] I'm getting better at it. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Thanks again for the helpful tutorial. Hopefully the rest of the JCF actually reads it and learns as much from it as I have. [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[roodyrocker]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

You're welcome NOTP. You did the right thing by going up to an ISO setting of 800 in that situation. The pictures may still be too dark if you are shooting with the camera in automatic mode. Go to aperature priority and open it up (lower F-Stop number) or better yet go to full manual. Manual will likely be best as you'll have to use a combination of aperature as described above along with a slower shutter but not so slow as to blur from camera shake. I usually set the F-stop on my camera as wide as it will go and for the shutter speed I use the general rule of 1 over lens focal length as the safest slow speed to set the shutter at. For example, lets say you have a 125mm lens, so 1/125 second is the slowest shutter speed that you can hand hold the camera at. I've actually cheated a little gone a little slower but thats the general idea. Anything beyond that will require a tripod.
You can have all kinds of fun with playing with those various settings on the camera [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Rudy

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Tripod test - Lots of SHANNON SOLOIST pictures

My camera is a tiny little Minolta DiMage Xt. You can imagine how many manual features are packed into this compact thing. Not many! But I try to make do with what I have... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]



Unfortunately there's no F-stop thing on it. There IS an "exposure value" thing where you can control how long the shutter stays open for, but if it stays open too long, it captures too much movement, so I try to find the "sweet spot" where it lets in enough light without staying open so long that my subject (band on stage, for example) doesn't move everywhere. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

You mentioned in your other post: "To take full advantage of this you should be tripping the shutter with a cable release not the button on the camera as that still induces camera shake." Unfortunately my camera has no way of hooking up to one of those remote devices. However, there's significant shutter delay in my camera that I just steady the camera on the tripod, frame the shot, hit the shutter and quickly release, and then stand back to let the camera take the shot. Seems to have worked and I've taken advantage of that damn shutter delay! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]