Newbie Here, Needs Help

[dccollectors]

I just received my first DSLR, a Nikon D3200. I take pictures for my website of action figures, but to me the images look horrible. The images are to yellow (even after trying to lighten them in photoshop) and grainy. I have a custom built lightbox with squares cut out on each side (white paper covering those holes), with lights I purchased at the local wal-mart shining in. You can see the images below...



My question is, how can I improve these? I want to get rid of the grainnyness and keep it from looking so yellow and dark. Any help with camera settings would be helpful... Right now from what I can remember, the ISO is set to 400, light is set to Incandescent.

Thanks

 

[ronlane]

First, welcome to the site.

Second the yellow is because you have the white balance (wb) set incorrectly. To get the wb correct, you can use a wb card to take a picture in that light and then set it from there.

As for the lighting, I'm not sure that it is bright enough. When you bump up the ISO, you are going to get grainy photos.

Search youtube for product lighting and product light boxes. That should help you learn more about it.

 

[dccollectors]

thanks, I will look into the lighting!

 

[Designer]

I can't read the EXIF, so I don't know the camera settings.

1. Not enough light on the fronts. Move the lights toward the front.
2. If low-power incandescents or compact fluorescents, your camera settings will have to show that.
3. I don't have an answer for the graininess. With ISO 400 you should not get a lot of electronic noise.

 

[dxqcanada]

Yes, as they said ... set your white balance.
Incandescent light bulbs have a low colour temp so it is very yellow ... I think you should have a custom white balance option on your Nikon.

Get a tripod. You can then set for the lowest ISO and shot at any shutter speed (no camera shake from handholding).

 

[dccollectors]

Check this out and see if it is getting better...

 

[480sparky]

Underexposed and too red.

 

[dccollectors]

So what about this one? I have one light on each side and one coming from the top... 100watt compact flourescents

 

[wyogirl]

still underexposed (too dark)
use a tripod and a longer exposure time if you can't open up the aperture more. Its not like your subject is moving. You can adjust the white balance in photoshop if you can't' get it right in camera.

 

[wyogirl]

OH and zoom in more... and its ok to turn the camera to portrait orientation. You have a lot of dead space around your subject.

 

[dccollectors]

Thanks Wyogirl. I am using a tripod for these. The dead space will be photoshopped out. I was trying to zoom out to avoid pixelation, but hey I am new, so I am probably wrong about that as well LOL. Let me play with exposure and aperture.

 

[wyogirl]

when you crop in photoshop you "lose resolution"....meaning you cropped out a big % of your overall pixels. Its better to crop in camera and get as many pixels on the subject as possible.

 

[tirediron]

Buy this!

 

[dccollectors]

when you crop in photoshop you "lose resolution"....meaning you cropped out a big % of your overall pixels. Its better to crop in camera and get as many pixels on the subject as possible.

Good to know! Thanks for that information!

 

[dccollectors]

how about this?