# Which one is better?



## rjwolfe3 (Jan 24, 2009)

OK so I was playing with lighting a little more and am curious which photo looks better. Camera is a Kodak EasyShare CX7330 (P.O.S.) I am using a WalMart photo booth with their basic lights with original bulbs (don't know wattage) positioned about 3 inches away from sides of tent. Using macro setting, timer and a tripod. The first picture is taken with that setup. The only thing I add in the second photo is a 500watt trouble light held above the photo booth about a foot.  Let me know which is better.  Eventually I would like to invest into a new camera but must make do with what I have.
1st photo:




2nd Photo:




TIA:wink:


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## JimB (Jan 25, 2009)

I don't know anything about photography but to me neither one looks like the color of the wood or plating is right. I don't know if that is the lighting or what but they just don't look right. Sorry, I know that isn't much help.


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## wdcav1952 (Jan 25, 2009)

Ron, the pen looks better in the first picture to my eyes.  One thing to consider is to look at the background in both photos and see which one is closer to the true color.


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## GouletPens (Jan 25, 2009)

I'm not crazy about either of them. The 1st looks too saturated and the second looks too washed out. I don't know if macro is really helping you in this case. Sometimes esp. with the super high megapixel cameras you don't need macro. Just zoom out a little and take a normal picture. I know a lot of times when I'm taking pictures I have to adjust my camera settings on every single pen b/c the wood and hardware reflect light and color differently. If you zoom out a little when taking the picture, you can get a little more 'stable' pictures, then just crop them down. After all, you really only need about a half-mega pixel camera to take a really good picture for use on the computer. It's not like we're all blowing up these pen shots into 24" x 36" posters or anything....:redface:


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## Rudy Vey (Jan 25, 2009)

The first picture is too red, the second seems right in color. The grey back ground is grey. One more tip, you should turn the clip away from the front, one can see your camera's mirror image.


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## rjwolfe3 (Jan 25, 2009)

Thanks all for the comments.  I should have mentioned that the wood is Ambrosia Maple and the plating is Gold.  The background is gray.  The wood actually looks that way in real life.  I really didn't like the blank but wanted to give it a shot.  Thanks for the tip on turning the clip.  I was hoping that someone would just let me know if the lighting makes a difference.  I know both photos suck.:biggrin:






(Cav - quit calling me Ron, lol.:smile-big


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## jedgerton (Jan 25, 2009)

I like the second photo best.  I don't know which photo is a better match for the actual color but the first photo seems quite red to me.

John


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## dgscott (Jan 25, 2009)

I like the second one, but I'd take it into Photoshop and adjust the saturation levels so that the pen looks a little deeper, making it stand out from the background more.
Doug


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## fiferb (Jan 25, 2009)

As a non camera techie  an poor picture taker myself, I like the first photo. It has a warmer feel to it and doesn't cast a hard shadow like the second photo. The first photo also gives a hint of your shiny finish where the second photo looks like it is bare wood.


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## NewLondon88 (Jan 25, 2009)

Yep.. what they said. about the clip, color and saturation.
The photo you take is your starting point. You eliminate as many problems
as you can before you shoot, then adjust after the shot in your editing 
software to get more accurate colors, saturation, contrast etc.

As for the macro, sometimes the camera won't focus without it unless you
get a LOT of light in there. The 500 watts should be enough, though.

I think you're getting less 'blocking up' in the highlights in the second photo.
(blocking up is where all the lighter parts get lumped together as one color)
There's more detail in the rock and nib. Not that this is what you were going
for, but it is one of the things you look for when examining the photo.
Saturation is a bit light in the second one, but that's easy to adjust.
Contrast seems better, too.

Don't forget . .the camera doesn't 'know' what you're trying for. The 
metering system just averages the scene and the camera probably makes
many adjustments to the photo before saving it anyway. (color, contrast,
hue, saturation, sharpness, compression, white level etc.. there's likely 
no such thing as an un-edited digital photo.. it gets edited before you even
see it )


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## Sylvanite (Jan 25, 2009)

The second photo has better white balance, and sharper focus (although you can see the camera focused in the lower left corner).  I also like the pen shadows in the second photo better - one fuzzy shadow vs. several sharper ones.

The highlights in the second picture, however, are a little burned out, and you lost the glint that shows the finish.  I tried playing with the picture a little, to reduce the highlights, but wound up with a bunch of digital noise.

Just my opinions,
Eric


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## wdcav1952 (Jan 25, 2009)

rjwolfe3 said:


> Thanks all for the comments.  I should have mentioned that the wood is Ambrosia Maple and the plating is Gold.  The background is gray.  The wood actually looks that way in real life.  I really didn't like the blank but wanted to give it a shot.  Thanks for the tip on turning the clip.  I was hoping that someone would just let me know if the lighting makes a difference.  I know both photos suck.:biggrin:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Sigh, sorry about that.  This age thing is a real b*tch! :search::search:


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## tishtigger (Jan 25, 2009)

Did you use a photo tent? They really do help get the lighting a little better if you dont have one you can get one for little cost I got one from ebay for 14.00 and I picked up a second one that had lights and a small tripod from Walmart for 35.00


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## clthayer (Jan 25, 2009)

I can see a shine line in the first one that I cannot see in the second.  Also the gold looks more gold in the first one.


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## hstudio (Jan 30, 2009)

I hope that you don't mind, but I took your 2nd pen pic and "played with it in PhotoShop. Your backround had a lot of magenta in it. I removed some, hoping to get the gray backround more neutral. Check out the PS toolbar...Image/adjustment/curves. In curves, you can adjust individual color areas without effecting others to a great extent...use the middle eyedropper. Play with this feature and you can get extraordinary results.

Another feature that is great is the filters. Select the unsharp mask and your photos will "snap" off of the screen. After I discovered this filter, all my non-PS images looked out of focus.

BTW.....You can sample areas in the curves and get more consistant grays.

I'm not a PS expert  (just a good basic knowledge), but these are are few things that an experts did show me. I think that you can get this photo to look great with a little PS work.

Good Luck!


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## marcruby (Jan 30, 2009)

Shot #2 is my preference.  The overhead lamp gets rid of the warm color cast and creates enough shadow to give some sense of depth.  Note that the rock is no longer a washed out blob.  Although I have no idea how you made the finish vanish...

Marc


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## rjwolfe3 (Jan 30, 2009)

hstudio (sorry couldn't find your name)

Is there anyway to do this with Gimp?  I can't afford Photoshop at this time.


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## NewLondon88 (Jan 30, 2009)

Most decent editing programs allow controls like this. Gimp had this kind
of control, but I haven't used it in years, so I forget what names they use
for everything.


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## hstudio (Jan 30, 2009)

rjwolfe3 said:


> hstudio (sorry couldn't find your name)
> 
> Is there anyway to do this with Gimp?  I can't afford Photoshop at this time.



I'm not at all familiar with Gimp. Adobe PhotoShop Elements may give you these features. I couldn't say for sure. Cost for Elements is @$89.

I think that you can download a free 30day trial copy of Elements from the Adobe website.

Greg


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## TellicoTurning (Jan 30, 2009)

ROB

I'm not that great of a photographer myself, and I prefer to work with a white background when I can so that if I get it right, the pen will appear to just float in the shot... I like the second picture better, but think the background could be eliminated if you can set your white balance a little more.  Also if you are using incandescent lights, chances are they are more yellow in color and will add that tinge to your picture.  -- and I would remove the props in the picture.. I think they really take away from a nice pen.

Keep in mind there are lots and lots of better photographers here than me and my comments are my preferences only... not necessarily all that correct for your purposes.


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## hstudio (Jan 31, 2009)

Rob.......I just found a tutorial which includes the curves feature that I was referring to. This tutorial features GIMP as the software.

http://www.nealaddy.org/node/16


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## bitshird (Jan 31, 2009)

Rudy Vey said:


> The first picture is too red, the second seems right in color. The grey back ground is grey. One more tip, you should turn the clip away from the front, one can see your camera's mirror image.



Rudy on a pen with that much bright work, it would almost be impossible not to see the camera unless the camera lens was through a hole and then you would see what ever the material was  the lens was pointing through..

Rod, I think the second one is closer to real colors, but it looks like your depth of field is shallow, you can see the grain of the fabric on the left side of the picture but it isn't as pronounced on the right below the finial, if you could get brighter bulbs in the side lamps that might help, by giving a tighter F stop, that's what made the difference in the second picture, I'd say if you could either shoot at a slower shutter speed or get more light through the sides, you'd have it. but don't judge my comments by my pictures, I don't have much to work with for lighting or a box, thank god and social security for my Nikon 5700.


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