Help! I had a few questions how to get my photos right

NEWBIEPHOTOGRAPHER · Oct 14, 2011

I am wondering why in my photo detail it is coming a resolution of 71 as opposed to 240 per inch as an ideal photo i have seen.

an Ideal photo I have viewed has a shutterspeed of 1/160 sec and F-stop of F29

How is this possible.

Seems as when I put my F Stop higher the shutter speed has to be slower otherwise it is an extremely dark and underexposed image.

MTVision · Oct 14, 2011

NEWBIEPHOTOGRAPHER said:
I am wondering why in my photo detail it is coming a resolution of 71 as opposed to 240 per inch as an ideal photo i have seen.

an Ideal photo I have viewed has a shutterspeed of 1/160 sec and F-stop of F29

How is this possible.

Seems as when I put my F Stop higher the shutter speed has to be slower otherwise it is an extremely dark and underexposed image.

Not sure why your resolution would be 71.

What ideal photo are you speaking of? You can't just copy settings from a photo you like and expect it to come out the same unless everything else is the same. With a small aperture (large f#) the camera is getting less light so the shutter stays open longer.

KmH · Oct 14, 2011

You can change the PPI in your image editing software, or with the software that came with your camera. Resolution is the pixel dimensions of your photo, not the 71 PPI or the 240 PPI.

The PPI actually is meaningless until you want to get a print made, and even then most print labs use their RIP software to set it anyway.

What was the ISO set to, the third part of the exposure triad?

A higher f-stop makes the lens opening smaller letting in less light. so the shutter has to stay open longer to gather enough light to make a good photo.

The f-stop is a fraction, and f/29 is a lot smaller number than f/4 is. That's why the lens opening at f/29 is smaller than the lens opening at f/4.

NEWBIEPHOTOGRAPHER · Oct 14, 2011

Okay here is the quality i am looking to achieve.
When i click the "file info in photoshop i found out they use a 1/160 shutter speed with a Fstop of F29.
how can this be, because when i try to do the same thing. the picture comes out too dark. I cant see anything in the shot.

I have a few RAW images. Would someone be able to process them or look at them to see what I need to do to get to this picture quality?

<a href="PD59718 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!" title="PD59718 by NEWBIEPHOTOGRAPHER123, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6019/6245562922_4fe7ac11c4.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="PD59718"></a>

NEWBIEPHOTOGRAPHER · Oct 14, 2011

my unprocessed photo is shown below. I do not know what i am doing wrong. what would be the ideal shutter speed and f stop.

also i notice my photos have a yellow tint to them. when i do an auto correct or custom correct in light room the picture turns "blue"
HELP!
IMG_6654 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

CCericola · Oct 15, 2011

NEWBIEPHOTOGRAPHER said:
Okay here is the quality i am looking to achieve.
When i click the "file info in photoshop i found out they use a 1/160 shutter speed with a Fstop of F29.
how can this be, because when i try to do the same thing. the picture comes out too dark. I cant see anything in the shot.

I have a few RAW images. Would someone be able to process them or look at them to see what I need to do to get to this picture quality?

<a href="PD59718 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!" title="PD59718 by NEWBIEPHOTOGRAPHER123, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6019/6245562922_4fe7ac11c4.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="PD59718"></a>

Because they are using external lighting. Look at the reflection in this photo. You can see the softbox.

PD58952 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

jake337 · Oct 15, 2011

You cannot just copy a camera setting and expect to achieve the same results. The camera's settings are derived from the scene in front of you, not the other way around.

The photo you are asking about is a close-up shot. I'd be wary of using such small apetures as diffraction most likely started setting in far before f29.

OldMonk · Oct 15, 2011

Exposure values are dependent on various conditions and equipment used. It is not possible to exactly re-create identical exposure settings unless, as Mtvision has stated above, everything including lighting conditions is repeated the same. What glass was used in the shot you want to copy and what glass are you using? PP software may not indicate all of the camera settings including exposure compensation. Practice and play and I am sure you will achieve your own individual style and composure techniques. Good luck.

NEWBIEPHOTOGRAPHER · Oct 19, 2011

thank you everyone.
I have purchased a soft box with a output of 3000 watts. I am still unable to achieve the 160 f25 combination.
is there anything else I can try?

MTVision · Oct 19, 2011

Is the image still too dark? You probably don't have enough light coming in. The aperture is so small that hardly any light will get through. You probably don't need such a small aperture. Why not try f/10 or something. There are 6 correct exposures for every image so your settings can be different then the image you want to replicate and still look the same. What was the ISO setting on the other image? You can boost it up high and see how that works but that could introduce a lot of noise depending on your camera.

Once again though, unless you know exactly how that picture was taken (lighting, etc.) you cannot copy the settings and expect to get the same results.

MTVision · Oct 19, 2011

I'm assuming, from the images you posted, that you want to take photos of jewelry?

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/TTS_Product_Photography_Tips.html

Thus website has some helpful tips.

CCericola · Oct 19, 2011

Oops you bought the wrong lights. They probably used strobes or flash with a softbox modifyer not continuous lighting.

enzodm · Oct 19, 2011

Please, stop and think.

You have a nice image. Looking at its features, you decided that 1/160 and f/29 is the ideal setting, and you are trying to reproduce it. All the people here is telling you that does not matter. Fact is, this picture will be equally nice also at 1/320 and f/20, or 1/640 and f/15 or so. Most likely, if seen at maximum resolution, will be even better at larger apertures (lower F numbers) because high F numbers cause diffraction: most likely, f/29 was not a wise choice.
On the other side, you recognize you are not able to correctly carry out white balancing: this is one point to take into consideration more than those numbers. I imagine you are still beginning to work on postprocessing in general: most likely what you perceive as quality is also product of some postprocessing that you do not do on your picture. This is my version of it (I will delete it soon).

Jace · Oct 19, 2011

You can't just copy someone's camera settings... just use your own settings and experiment until you get a photo that you like, then go with that.

NEWBIEPHOTOGRAPHER · Oct 19, 2011

Once again thank you everyone for the suggestions. You are probably right about the exposure. Here is a test shot i got with the new continous lighting soft box

f25 1/6 shutter iso 200

151 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
also i may have white balance issues.

could someone explain white balance and gray card. i still am confused about that.