# Photo Woes



## TonyL

I made my own light box which came out really neat. I used muslin as the diffuser. I have 6 lights (3 on each side). If this thing was ant brighter the Earth would revolve around it. MY pictures take with an  Android phone come out dark...with and without a flash. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!


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## larryc

You might try Photoshop Elements to tweak the pix.


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## Gary Beasley

You do need a program to get the color balance back on center.
One problem with a cellphone camera is theres no manual adjustments on it to tinker with the exposures. Do you have a decent slr type digital camera?
All the fuss and bother with lighting is why I started using my scanner to illustrate my pens. All my studio lights are packed away and would be a pain to dig out to shoot anything.


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## BSea

To be honest, there is more to learn to take good pictures than to making a good pen. One thing I notice in the 2nd two pictures is the amount of shadow.  I think you need more light from the sides.  The 1st one looks pretty good.  And you can get some decent software for your camera to get better exposure & color balance.  Do a search on google play for photo apps. I use 1 called snapseed for my Iphone, and it does a decent job.

Getting the right color balance is almost as important as focus.  Otherwise, nothing looks the same as it does to the eye.  And that's what I try to do.


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## Haynie

If you are going to go through the hassle of making a light box and lighting it you might as well get a better camera.  One with more control.  It does not have to be big and fancy.  Something along the lines of a Nikon coolpix or canon equivalent will work.


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## Marko50

Lose the iPhone. Get a good DSLR, or at least one that gives you complete control of the f-stop, shutter speeds, depth of field and focus. Even better, get one that has a macro control or interchangeable lenses. Just my .02¢


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## Sylvanite

The first photo looks a little out of focus and the white balance appears off.  The other two have a pretty "hard" shadow.  That indicates a "small" light source, which means your light tent isn't doing what it's supposed to do.  The tent is intended to produce a wall of light that completely surrounds the pen, illuminating it from all angles (all the angles the camera can see, anyway).  Try repositioning the lights so that the top and sides of the tent are fully lit.

I hope that helps,
Eric


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## Krash

... or go to Target and get the storage box!  hahaha :biggrin:

Seriously, what lind of light do you have? CFL? What lumen rating is it?

You saw my first set of pix with my Target box and one light. Not bad and with an iPhone to boot. But the light I was using had a 5500 lumen rating which is really bright white. Coupled with the bright white of the box and it lit up the pen pretty well.

The muslin .... is it bright white? I think the diffuser needs to be bright white to not mute the pic like the first one.

That shadow on the last two look like you tried to light it directly and not diffuse it. Maybe frustration setting in?

Send a pic of your setup with the lights on so everyone can see it firsthand.


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## Dave Turner

Your camera phone is doing it's best to make the overall exposure a middle gray in shade. For most everyday pictures this works well. For pictures inside a light box, you want the little bitty part of the picture where the pen is to be middle gray, which will cause the enormous background to be an overexposed white.  If you had manual controls on your camera, you could simply open the shutter for a longer period of time to increase your exposure. 

To get a better picture with your phone camera, use a darker background inside your lightbox. This will cause the overall exposure to increase and will better expose the pen.


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## TonyL

*Photo Woes (cont).*

Thank you.

2 CFLs on each side sides at 1500 lumens each and 4 incandescents on the top. New Digital is on the way. I don't have an website and not really interested in proactively selling. I did sell six to people who saw me using one of my pens - but that was just luck. I also have 3 stands coming in.

Here are some that came out better without using a flash and before I added 3K lumens of light - go figure. The flash pics come out darker for some reason.


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## Gary Beasley

There is your color balance problems, you are mixing your sources and creating color shadows the automatic white balance can't handle. You either need all CFLs with the same color rating or all tungsten at about the same wattage and age for best results. Tungsten most folks are aware is an amber color while flourescent is a greenish color. Both can be successfully balanced out but not in the same picture.


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## TonyL

*Tony's Homenade Light Box pics*

All great advice and will follow it. Here are some pics of the "infamous" light box. :biggrin:


Be fair...I can't see you guys and gals rolling your eyes. Remember....6 weeks ago I didn't know what I lathe was .

Thanks for all your help. You folks are outstanding people.


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## Hendu3270

Haynie said:


> If you are going to go through the hassle of making a light box and lighting it you might as well get a better camera.  One with more control.  It does not have to be big and fancy.  Something along the lines of a Nikon coolpix or canon equivalent will work.


 

Exactly! Don't spend time trying to deal with light box and all that if you're just going to snap a pic with a cell phone. I'm sure the IPhone takes good pics for a cell phone, but it will NOT take the sort of picture you are striving for. Not trying to burst your bubble here.


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## TonyL

*With and without a flash on black*



Hendu3270 said:


> Haynie said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you are going to go through the hassle of making a light box and lighting it you might as well get a better camera.  One with more control.  It does not have to be big and fancy.  Something along the lines of a Nikon coolpix or canon equivalent will work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly! Don't spend time trying to deal with light box and all that if you're just going to snap a pic with a cell phone. I'm sure the IPhone takes good pics for a cell phone, but it will NOT take the sort of picture you are striving for. Not trying to burst your bubble here.
Click to expand...

 

I agree with you. If I were selling them on the net, I would invest in the right camera. Bubble is in tact  . Thank you!


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## Sylvanite

Try moving the lights away from the walls of the tent, so that they illuminate the entire side (or top), not just a spot.  That will yield more even lighting of the pen.  Don't use the flash.


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## Hendu3270

I use two lights and they are 5500k lights. I'm able to set my camera at that same light setting and it works fine. I will say that my lights are about 4 feet away from the light box and pointed at each side. I'm wondering if you shouldn't move them back a bit.

...and glad the bubble is still full of air.:biggrin:


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## eliasbboy

TonyL said:


> Thank you.
> 
> 2 CFLs on each side sides at 1500 lumens each and 4 incandescents on the top. New Digital is on the way. I don't have an website and not really interested in proactively selling. I did sell six to people who saw me using one of my pens - but that was just luck. I also have 3 stands coming in.
> 
> Here are some that came out better without using a flash and before I added 3K lumens of light - go figure. The flash pics come out darker for some reason.



I took your pic and used photoshop to color correct.  I do this with ALL my pics, as I often need it.


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## Si90

Yep, your lights are definately too close and should have the same colour temperatures. Move them a little further away, mine is about 93,000,000 miles away from the pen when I take my pictures :biggrin:


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## TonyL

very nice. I played around with MS Picture Manager ( I know it doesn't compare to the other apps) and it did make an improvement. I will also try trading out the lights (making them all the same) and moping them further away from the tent walls. Thank you (plural) for all your help!


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## Dick Mahany

I use CFL lamps at around 5200K color temp for my only sources.  My Pentax has a white balance setting that seems to be pretty compatible with those.  Then I use GIMP or Photoshop Elements to tweak as needed.  A bit of a learning curve, but almost as much fun as learning to turn


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## Gary Beasley

TonyL said:


> All great advice and will follow it. Here are some pics of the "infamous" light box. :biggrin:
> 
> 
> Be fair...I can't see you guys and gals rolling your eyes. Remember....6 weeks ago I didn't know what I lathe was .
> 
> Thanks for all your help. You folks are outstanding people.



Actually thats a well made light tent. Now that you have the light sources under control you can get good results. Next step is tp play with some black reflectors here and there in the box to help give definition to the shiney areas of the pen. After that finding appropriate props that enhance, not compete with the pen. Best way is to study outstanding product shots with a critical eye and steal some ideas.


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## PenPal

Tony I went through so many agonies using covered boxes please find my set up open conduit frame sitting in a 50mm 2 inch foam board 5500 kelvin fluros. Works for me a couple of pen shots I use Picassa 3 free program to store and present my pics. A piece of 11 inch by 14 inch copy paper as a curved background.


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## Sylvanite

Check out http://www.penturners.org/forum/f24/photography-basics-why-use-light-tent-121808/.  I put this information together as part of the Pen Photography Demo I'll be doing at the MAPG in a couple of weeks.  I wasn't planning to post it until afterwards, but I thought it might be helpful in this context now.

Regards,
Eric


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## TonyL

*Light Box*



pwhay said:


> Tony I went through so many agonies using covered boxes please find my set up open conduit frame sitting in a 50mm 2 inch foam board 5500 kelvin fluros. Works for me a couple of pen shots I use Picassa 3 free program to store and present my pics. A piece of 11 inch by 14 inch copy paper as a curved background.


 

Very nice! Thank you


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## TonyL

*Light Tent*



Sylvanite said:


> Check out http://www.penturners.org/forum/f24/photography-basics-why-use-light-tent-121808/.  I put this information together as part of the Pen Photography Demo I'll be doing at the MAPG in a couple of weeks.  I wasn't planning to post it until afterwards, but I thought it might be helpful in this context now.
> 
> Regards,
> Eric


 
Super explanation. Thank you!


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