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Website design By BotEap.comYOUR STUDIO
This is a big can’o-worms. However, it is not necessary to take out the gold card. Perhaps the most important piece of equipment you need may be nothing more than a large north-facing window. Add a table or desk and some brown paper and you’re in business. Website design By BotEap.comOr fool things with a cheap roll up vinyl type window curtain nailed to the wall above the table and you can set up or take down your studio in seconds. Make it wider than the material you want to photograph and long enough to pull down behind the material and place it on the table. Makes what is called an appearanceless background. But get it one size larger than you think you will need it, trust me. Website design By BotEap.comLIGHTS:
This is where we come out from under the flash. The big old window may well do the trick. Or go out and do it there. But do it on the north side of the building. The direct sun, from the south, will not catch it, too cold and harsh. Or do it on a cloudy day. There are photographers who love the soft, even light on a cloudy day. Website design By BotEap.comThere’s a lot to be said for simple bulbs – old incandescent or high-efficiency fluorescent bulbs – it doesn’t matter. But use all of the same type. Your software can correct overall color, but it is considerably more difficult to correct blue light on one side and yellow light on the other. More on software later. Website design By BotEap.comA $ 5.00 pair of clamp-on reflectors from the hardware store works great. Pick up a couple of high kitchen chairs, clip the lights to the top, place them on either side of your setup, and you’re in business. Comprehensive books have been written on how to position lights for dramatic effects. Backlight to make your hair shine, Headlight to make it stand out against a black background, Downlight to make it look exotic. High on the right, low on the left. Who knows. Do what feels right to you. There is one place where you may want to try a little harder. Shiny and shiny things appreciate a ….. Website design By BotEap.comLIGHT SHOP:
A lightweight tent is just the means of spreading the light around what you want to photograph. The key here is that it SURROUNDS your objects. Suppose you are taking photos of jewelry. What you need is a frame to go over, both sides and behind, and hold some kind of diffuser material. It uses its two reflectors attached to the furniture in your kitchen. As for the broadcast material, a photographer I read suggested a pillowcase. Make a frame with clothes hangers that are not bent and tape. Then use masking tape to cover it with a few layers of wax paper. Or make a fancy thing to fold / unfold out of a thin sheet of translucent plastic. Or find a good-sized cardboard box, cut out the middle of each side, and dispose of with spray adhesive and a thin white cloth or marker paper. A dozen ways to do it. Website design By BotEap.comIf the objects you’re photographing are small enough, you might be able to tape a cone to a large sheet of paper, poke a hole in the front to take the pictures, and you’re in business. You are just looking to get large translucent surfaces on some sides of the thing you want to photograph. Your digital camera will work out the exposure for you if you give it a little help with the lights and the marquee. Website design By BotEap.comYOUR COMPUTER:
You may think I’m stressing the obvious when I suggest that your computer should be a part of this, but the most helpful thing you can do to make your “studio” work well is to move your computer into your studio or move your studio close to your computer. My “studio,” the other end of a large desk with a vinyl shutter on the wall above, sits right next to my computer and I upload, PhotoShop, LABEL, and archive the photos as soon as I take them. Useful enough for me when I’m taking 5 or 10 photographs at once, but if you’re documenting a lifetime collecting, let’s say just a few hundred, this degree of convenience will go a long way in supporting accuracy. , integrity and, ultimately, its CORRECTION. Website design By BotEap.com SOFTWARE:
Another can of worms, this one. I must admit that my own technical study, just partly to begin with, has gotten a bit sloppy since I got the good software (PhotoShop) and took a class on how to use the material. It seems my camera and scanner came with photo retouching software that I never bothered to open and now the CDs are gone, so I can’t really comment on what you might have to do to modify your photo. I can also mention that almost all of my work is being online, and it may not be the best way to go if you print. However, this is what I normally do when I take photos from the camera and upload them to my computer. (This applies to PHOTOSHOP by Adobe). Website design By BotEap.com# 1. From the Photoshop menu, I do Image, Adjustments, Brightness and Contrast. Sometimes I also bend the color a bit one way or another. Pay particular attention to the Shadows / Midtones / Highlights buttons as you adjust their colors. Website design By BotEap.com# 2 Crop and resize. Because I do it for my website. most of my photos are 300 pixels wide and I let the height go where it needs to be. Or I make them 300 high and let the width follow proportionally. Sometimes for the money throw at the top of the page, for example, I open 500 wide and make thumbnails 100 or 150 wide. Website design By BotEap.com# 3. Sometimes I select specific parts of the image to scramble a bit. The pick feature is way beyond the scope of our needs, but burning and dodging is often worth it. But do it gradually -10 – 20% strength and use a soft edge “brush”. Website design By BotEap.com# 4. If you do a lot of rectangular things like me, tables and drawers etc, you might want to play around with the Edit, Transform, Tilt feature to straighten the sides of things. Website design By BotEap.com# 5. Only after sizing the image, I do my sharpening. I rarely sharpen once and, truth be told, I’m not smart enough to do the blur mask, but I’ve heard very good photographers insist it’s the only way to do it. Again, I think this might be more important for the internet than it is for print. Website design By BotEap.com SOME FINAL THOUGHTS:
1. If your collection is truly valuable, consider hiring a professional. This has the added advantage of having a witness who can provide another layer of third-party documentation, perhaps even a dated and notarized statement of what he or she photographed. Website design By BotEap.com2. If you can’t afford a professional, hire a high school boy. Or a high school boy for that matter. God knows they know more about technology than you or I do. Website design By BotEap.com3. Stephen Dow has written on the subject in more detail than I have, from the perspective of a photographer rather than a collector. You may want to take a look at CreativePro.com and search for it under “digital-photography-how-to-build-a-light-store.”
This is a big can’o-worms. However, it is not necessary to take out the gold card. Perhaps the most important piece of equipment you need may be nothing more than a large north-facing window. Add a table or desk and some brown paper and you’re in business. Website design By BotEap.comOr fool things with a cheap roll up vinyl type window curtain nailed to the wall above the table and you can set up or take down your studio in seconds. Make it wider than the material you want to photograph and long enough to pull down behind the material and place it on the table. Makes what is called an appearanceless background. But get it one size larger than you think you will need it, trust me. Website design By BotEap.comLIGHTS:
This is where we come out from under the flash. The big old window may well do the trick. Or go out and do it there. But do it on the north side of the building. The direct sun, from the south, will not catch it, too cold and harsh. Or do it on a cloudy day. There are photographers who love the soft, even light on a cloudy day. Website design By BotEap.comThere’s a lot to be said for simple bulbs – old incandescent or high-efficiency fluorescent bulbs – it doesn’t matter. But use all of the same type. Your software can correct overall color, but it is considerably more difficult to correct blue light on one side and yellow light on the other. More on software later. Website design By BotEap.comA $ 5.00 pair of clamp-on reflectors from the hardware store works great. Pick up a couple of high kitchen chairs, clip the lights to the top, place them on either side of your setup, and you’re in business. Comprehensive books have been written on how to position lights for dramatic effects. Backlight to make your hair shine, Headlight to make it stand out against a black background, Downlight to make it look exotic. High on the right, low on the left. Who knows. Do what feels right to you. There is one place where you may want to try a little harder. Shiny and shiny things appreciate a ….. Website design By BotEap.comLIGHT SHOP:
A lightweight tent is just the means of spreading the light around what you want to photograph. The key here is that it SURROUNDS your objects. Suppose you are taking photos of jewelry. What you need is a frame to go over, both sides and behind, and hold some kind of diffuser material. It uses its two reflectors attached to the furniture in your kitchen. As for the broadcast material, a photographer I read suggested a pillowcase. Make a frame with clothes hangers that are not bent and tape. Then use masking tape to cover it with a few layers of wax paper. Or make a fancy thing to fold / unfold out of a thin sheet of translucent plastic. Or find a good-sized cardboard box, cut out the middle of each side, and dispose of with spray adhesive and a thin white cloth or marker paper. A dozen ways to do it. Website design By BotEap.comIf the objects you’re photographing are small enough, you might be able to tape a cone to a large sheet of paper, poke a hole in the front to take the pictures, and you’re in business. You are just looking to get large translucent surfaces on some sides of the thing you want to photograph. Your digital camera will work out the exposure for you if you give it a little help with the lights and the marquee. Website design By BotEap.comYOUR COMPUTER:
You may think I’m stressing the obvious when I suggest that your computer should be a part of this, but the most helpful thing you can do to make your “studio” work well is to move your computer into your studio or move your studio close to your computer. My “studio,” the other end of a large desk with a vinyl shutter on the wall above, sits right next to my computer and I upload, PhotoShop, LABEL, and archive the photos as soon as I take them. Useful enough for me when I’m taking 5 or 10 photographs at once, but if you’re documenting a lifetime collecting, let’s say just a few hundred, this degree of convenience will go a long way in supporting accuracy. , integrity and, ultimately, its CORRECTION. Website design By BotEap.com SOFTWARE:
Another can of worms, this one. I must admit that my own technical study, just partly to begin with, has gotten a bit sloppy since I got the good software (PhotoShop) and took a class on how to use the material. It seems my camera and scanner came with photo retouching software that I never bothered to open and now the CDs are gone, so I can’t really comment on what you might have to do to modify your photo. I can also mention that almost all of my work is being online, and it may not be the best way to go if you print. However, this is what I normally do when I take photos from the camera and upload them to my computer. (This applies to PHOTOSHOP by Adobe). Website design By BotEap.com# 1. From the Photoshop menu, I do Image, Adjustments, Brightness and Contrast. Sometimes I also bend the color a bit one way or another. Pay particular attention to the Shadows / Midtones / Highlights buttons as you adjust their colors. Website design By BotEap.com# 2 Crop and resize. Because I do it for my website. most of my photos are 300 pixels wide and I let the height go where it needs to be. Or I make them 300 high and let the width follow proportionally. Sometimes for the money throw at the top of the page, for example, I open 500 wide and make thumbnails 100 or 150 wide. Website design By BotEap.com# 3. Sometimes I select specific parts of the image to scramble a bit. The pick feature is way beyond the scope of our needs, but burning and dodging is often worth it. But do it gradually -10 – 20% strength and use a soft edge “brush”. Website design By BotEap.com# 4. If you do a lot of rectangular things like me, tables and drawers etc, you might want to play around with the Edit, Transform, Tilt feature to straighten the sides of things. Website design By BotEap.com# 5. Only after sizing the image, I do my sharpening. I rarely sharpen once and, truth be told, I’m not smart enough to do the blur mask, but I’ve heard very good photographers insist it’s the only way to do it. Again, I think this might be more important for the internet than it is for print. Website design By BotEap.com SOME FINAL THOUGHTS:
1. If your collection is truly valuable, consider hiring a professional. This has the added advantage of having a witness who can provide another layer of third-party documentation, perhaps even a dated and notarized statement of what he or she photographed. Website design By BotEap.com2. If you can’t afford a professional, hire a high school boy. Or a high school boy for that matter. God knows they know more about technology than you or I do. Website design By BotEap.com3. Stephen Dow has written on the subject in more detail than I have, from the perspective of a photographer rather than a collector. You may want to take a look at CreativePro.com and search for it under “digital-photography-how-to-build-a-light-store.”
