A question for the Photographers

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Loren
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Post by Loren »

At the request of some C&F folks I'm trying to take some good photos of several whistles. The whistles with a low reflective finish are no problem, however the metal whistles and glossy wood whistles are a difficult with my limitied flash equipment (glare from hell), I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions.

I'm using a Canon Powershot G1 with the bilt in flash. I've tried dialing down the flash compensation, and I've tried available light only, but still can get good results. I also tried a using toilette paper over the built in flash as a make shift diffuser, to no avail :sad: Any other Ideas?
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lollycross
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Post by lollycross »

Hi,
My photographer husband says to put the whistle inside a white box..a styrofoam cooler even. Put plenty of tissue over the flash and make sure it bounces all around
the white box when it goes off.
Hopefully this will help.
Outside is good too!
Lolly
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Post by PATI »

Lloy good! idea:D
best whishes to your husband! i think that the easest way wuth this camera will be to:
-put light the front of u but from up to down
- stand ahead the light but above
-take a photo and check it :grin:

im not good photographer, my english sucks and im from poland & ive got a lot of awards about nonartisticphto:)

enjoy and let me know about resoults !
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Post by avanutria »

I have a big chair in front of a window, when I take a pic of a whistle I put it there so it gets more ambient light, and also turn on a lamp about 90 degrees to the side. I don't have a flash on the camera.

The white box idea sounds good, it's basically the same principle used in studio photography (with large reflectors)

--Beth (amateur photog and studied it briefly in college)
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Post by peeplj »

If the whistles are small enough to fit on top of a regular flatbed scanner, I have had good luck just scanning them in--a technique I picked up from Dale, as a matter of fact.

If what you are needing is a photograph on film, though, this won't help, or if the whistles are too big.

Best wishes,

--James
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Post by avanutria »

I've used a scanner on turned wooden pens with brass tips, and it sometimes worked, but sometimes the brass was too reflective. Good idea, though, and worth trying if you have a scanner.
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Post by PATI »

peepji its really good idea for photographers :smile: then you have nice, really nnnice pic and v. exactly ones :smile: but! theres one small but... with ambient light its gettin more and more naturall andself beauty :grin:
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Post by PATI »

depends on photographers :smile: my minolta505 is fancy about ambient light , dark places, closed areas, closed factories, my flat and my dog.... :smile:

any questions? let me know :grin:
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Post by Feadan »

If you have or know somebody that has a scanner that may work for some of your whistles. That is what I used to get the picture of my Burke E in a post awhile back.

Good luck,
David

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Feadan on 2002-05-10 21:49 ]</font>
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Post by PATI »

Its realy perfect!! myouvw nade it really perfect :smile: now try to take of really good photo of whistle of abient light...I would be pleased!
cheers
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Loren
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Post by Loren »

Okay, thanks everyone. I don't have access to a scanner, but I'll try some of this other stuff over the weekend and see what we get.

Thanks again,

Loren
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Post by Glengary »

Loren,

I don't know what you're using for a camera. Assuming it's a 35mm, my suggestion is to take a sky blue cloth, place it on a table outside during a sunny day a couple of hours before or after the time the sun is overhead (so you have it say at 10 or 2 in the sky), supplement the backshadow area by means of a 60w desk lamp (just enough to kill the back shadow). Go with as small an aperture opening as you can (e.g. 16)as that will keep your depth of field sharp, and use Kodak 200 film speed film. Depending upon the brightness of the day, adjust your shutter speed accordingly. (My guess is either 125 or 250 but your meter will tell you.)At that shutter speed you can also do this without a tripod - although there's no harm in using one to assure you get the framing you really want. This should preclude the flash and light diffusion issue.
Just for fun after focusing on the whistle, take a second shot with the aperture at 1.7 or 1.8. This will really kick up your shutter speed but you'll have a photo wherein the whistle is sharp and the backround is out of focus. - Hope this helps.
(edited for spelling)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Glengary on 2002-05-10 22:25 ]</font>
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Post by Cayden »

I wouldn't use a lamp to compensate for light without balancing your colour-temperature, unless you want to go for the warmtone atmosphere.
Best thing to do is get hold of a non flash camera, use a the slowest film you can get for sharpness, shoot from a tripod at a small aperture using a low exposure in natural light [no direct sunlight, preferably outdoors], brighten it up with a reflector [any white sheet of paper will do], minimize glare on your whistles by using a polarising filter.
I still live in the old film and chemical age fiddling with the big 4x5 for this sort of jobs so you may find some differences when going dig.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2002-05-11 11:37 ]</font>
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Post by Paul Reid »

Image
Peter is quite right - don't use a lamp - it'll just make it all yellowish. Don't use a flash but do use a tripod!! Just turn off the flash feature on your camera. If you have to shoot it inside, use the method I've drawn up here. A large reflector card does wonders.

A polarizing filter takes away some annoying glare, but also will take two full stops from your exposure. Best jsut to surround the whistle in as much white as possible. You may have to play around with your colour balance on the digital camera. The G1 is a nice camera with lots of features.You may also be able to adjust it later via Photoshop or other photo editing software.

Hope this helps:-)

PR

edited to fix image link - PR

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Paul Reid on 2002-05-11 10:34 ]</font>
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Loren
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Tell us something.: You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
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Hop on the bus, Gus
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Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free
Location: Loren has left the building.

Post by Loren »

Thanks for all the great additional info everyone. As soon as I get a little free time I try some of these suggestions out.

Cheers,

Loren
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