Kickerfish Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Hey guys, great site. I've just started painting cranks and have actually gotten pretty good at it thanks to a lot of help from this site. My question is: how do you guys take good quality pictures of your baits? I'm no photographer, but I do have a digital camera and can't seem to get a good clear picture. Maybe it's the lighting, I don't know but I've tried with a flash, without a flash, etc. Please help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvowell Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Hi Kickerfish, First off, I would avoid using the flash as you are going to get a lot of extra shadows that you don't want. When you first start out, try to use natural light (sunlight) in clear conditions. You will not want to do this when the sun is high overhead, but in the morning hours or afternoon hours. Now, as far as background, keep it clean. For dark baits, I use a light colored (usually white) background and for light colored baits, I use a dark background. Now, here's the rub...the expsure meter on your camera is going to be fooled by the color of the background. If you can, you'll want to use a manual exposure mode so the auto function doesn't get confused. Now, here's where you need to pay attention as this will seem counter intuitive. For the light background, you actually need to open the camera up...give it more exposure...by about 1 to 2 stops, just depending. Use a technique called bracketing...shoot at the metered reading and then open a stop...shoot...open up another stop...shoot...and then go the opposite direction. For the dark background, you're actually going to want to close down...or let less light in...by 1 or 2 stops...again, bracket. Remember, keep the background clean! Lots of extra lines or patterns will detract from the photo! If you have any questions, just send me a PM. -D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 We could help more if you told us what make and model camera it is and show us a photo. Their's a ton of photo experts using this site and they all will help you get the best results from your equipment no matter what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kickerfish Posted February 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 I just posted a picture of a bait I painted in the gallery titled "ruby craw". You can see how bad the picture is. Maybe I just need a better camera. I currently have a little Kodak C310. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Mr Kickerfish. I just read the reviews. By all accounts, it is a good entry level camera. No one had anything bad to say about it, so it was a good buy. Your problem is, you want to photograph small objects from close up and the kodak C310 does not have a macro facility. Viewing your gallery pic confirmed this. The closest you are going to be able to take a sharp picture will probably be 1 metre. Check the manual, it should give you this information. If it doesn't then you are going to have to find this majic number. Mark out distant increments, take a snap at each and examine the results. This is not a huge problem as you have four million pixels to play with. You probably received some photo editing software with the camera. Use this to 'crop' the photo to fill the screen. You have to reduce the photo's before you can put them on TU anyway, or they'll shout at you. It's better to take a really sharp photo rather than trying to get the hook manufacturers name. Good luck with it and post another pic of the bait soon, it looks real neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted February 2, 2007 Report Share Posted February 2, 2007 Here is the best tutorial I've seen yet! http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5073&highlight=glass+eyes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted February 2, 2007 Report Share Posted February 2, 2007 The picture is gone Hopefully LaPala can hook it up again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaPala Posted February 2, 2007 Report Share Posted February 2, 2007 Done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
