Better Images = Happier Readership

[Hawkeye]

Just a note to remind everyone when shooting images of your work to be used in a post, check your images after you shoot them. Make sure they are not all blurry, if they are retake the images again...and check them again. In this digital photography age, it just takes a couple of minutes. An otherwise great thread can be ruined for everyone viewing it when it contains a blurry image that detracts from what the author is intending to convey or point out. Especially if the author crops and enlarges it, it makes it even worse. This is a visual hobby, lets make it as clear as we possibly can. Most digital cameras and computer come with basic imaging manipulation software...its like having a darkroom setup at your finger tips. Digital imaging is becoming an ever useful tool for scale modeling... the camera see more than the naked eye. Lets not ruin the view.

Thanks!

[ChrisF]

Im sure everyone tries their best

[B777LR]

Most common mistake (and i do it myself) from what i've seen, is that some people zoom in too much. If it's too blurry, to zooming out, and just get the camera closer If that fails, try holding the camera further from the model, and do crop the photo in MS paint

I would also suggest you take the photos in good light. I like doing it outdoors, at day

[B777LR]

I like doing it outdoors, at day

Is that legal? 

Lol
Due to budget cutbacks, Denmark is now without any police at all, so i don't think anybody will care

[Weaver]

Caveat: I've got a digital SLR: highly recommended, but not, of course, cheap.

My no.1 tip is to get a tripod. Aldi sell a perfectly servicable one for less than £20. You can then use a tiny aperture with a HUGE depth of field that gets everything in focus, and the fact that it's a 30 seconds exposure doesn't matter. I just use the self-timer, giving me 10 seconds to walk well away and stand still before the shutter opens (I usually leave the room, so that I'm on a different bit of floor), so that there's nothing to make the camera vibrate.

No.2 tip is a set of close-up lenses. I got a set of four off ebay for a devastating £11, and they're just as good for model photography as a £200 Macro lens. They just screw onto the front of the lens like filters.

No.3 tip is to take lots of pics. If you're not sure of the lighting, take a pic with every possible setup. I might do one with flash, one without flash, one with light behind the camera, one with it above, etc.... You're not paying for film or developing, so you might as well take 15 pics to get one good one.

[Hawkeye]

If you are using a flash be sure to use a diffuser to avoid those starkly lit shots. They even make diffusers for pocket cameras.

I like the ones made by Gary Fong. I have his Puffer for my camera which has a pop up flash.

http://store.garyfonginc.com/

I have also recently added some studio strobes and reflectors to my photography setup. Been doing portraits of the grand kids, now time to start taking shots of models that don't wiggle around.

[Captain Canada]

Scotch Tape makes a good, cheap diffuser. Try it !

[Hawkeye]

Scotch Tape makes a good, cheap diffuser. Try it !

Not on my flash...it generates too much heat, it will melt the adhesive and stick to the lens.

[Captain Canada]

Stick it to the sides and fold it around so it doesn't actually touch the flash itself, just blurs/obscures it.

[ChrisF]

My only problem is the only camera i have is my phone... Which while having a decent MP it cant obviously fit extra lenses and auto focus's... Which works most of the time but....

[B777LR]

I think asking for people to invest money in lenses and such (what is a diffuser?) is asking too much of them. Cell phones can do just fine, when you learn how

[The Rat]

White tissue paper can work well as a diffuser. And if you want a free editing program for quick simple jobs like resizing without getting 'chunky' areas I recommend Irfanview.

[Mossie]

I think asking for people to invest money in lenses and such (what is a diffuser?) is asking too much of them. Cell phones can do just fine, when you learn how

I agree.  All I have is a mid-range point & click.  That cost around £150 a few years ago when new & is already obscelescent as far as digital cameras go & I got it much cheaper as part of a deal, I normally wouldn't pay that much.  You can't actually buy things like diffusers & lenses for it anyway.  I've got hold of a cheap tripod & some cheaper angle lamps to try & get better lighting but that's about as far as I'm prepared to go.

I'm not prepared to invest heavilly to get a bit better pictures purely for publishing on an internet forum.  I might try the tissue paper diffuser thing as that's one thing I have a problem with.

[The Rat]

I've mentioned this before, but here it is again. Many of us will still have 35mm slr film cameras, and you can use the lenses off them to take extreme close-ups. Take a standard 50mm or wider lens, turn in backwards, and place it against the lens of your digicam. This will allow for very close focus pictures like this one:



Lighting can be a problem, good daylight is probably the easiest to work with. Wider angle lenses will magnify even more.

[Dork the kit slayer]

I like doing it outdoors, at day

Is that legal? 

LOL