# Need Advice



## Jcraigg (Oct 3, 2005)

Was wondering what is the best way to photograph Pens.I have a HP 435
3.2 mega pixel and using Picasa 2 Ihave tried with flash w/o flash
 Laying it on Black and White paper.My pictures are not very good. i was wanting to post so you all could see them and give me some ideas what i'm doing right and wrong Look at my pictures and you will see what i mean Thanks


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## Old Griz (Oct 3, 2005)

The most obvious thing I can see is that they are not close to being in focus... if you are using the macro setting you are either not close enough to the pen or too far away... if you are using a zoom lens you might have to move a little further away for the camera to focus... 
It also appears from the pixilation that you are not shooting at high resolution.. 
I generally set the camera for the highest resolution and the picture size to 1280, this allows me plenty of room to make the changes to a 600 pixel wide image at good resolution.
If you are not using a tripod, buy one.. they are not expensive and make a world of difference... 
That is the starting points I would give you... until the pics are in focus and clear I really can't tell much more.


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## Fangar (Oct 4, 2005)

What Tom said.  I looked at your filesizes.  Your images are in to 1500 + pixel range with a file size of 125 kb.  That tells me that they are heavily compressed.  This over compression will also tend to cause blur issues and pixelation that Girz mentioned around the edges of the images.  I would shoot for around 600 (I use 640 x 480).  With proper compression, you can get a 50 ish kb file size.  

If you would like to send an unedited photo to my email address, I would be happy to look at it for you.  It is hard to say what is going on once they have been compressed and adjusted sometimes.  

Fangar


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## Rifleman1776 (Oct 4, 2005)

Using a background that is relatively close in color and shade to your pen will help. A black pen on a white background is just too much contrast for your digi cam to handle. Wal-Mart sells squares of different color felt in the crafts department. They are very inexpensive, a half dozen of those should set you up for a long time.


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## gerryr (Oct 4, 2005)

Also, you will find that using the flash will ruin even an otherwise good photo.  Using a flash when shooting anything with glossy surfaces will always result in unwanted burned out areas in the image.  The best way to photograph something like a pen is by using some sort of tent made from white fabric.  Shine the lights on the fabric and always use a tripod.  If your camera has a spot meter setting and will operate manually, get a Kodak 18% gray card.  Meter the card only inside the "tent" and set the camera accordingly.  Your picture will always be properly exposed using that method.


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## Jcraigg (Oct 4, 2005)

Thanks to everyone it gives me a good start


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