Tell me what is wrong with this pictures!!!

monkeee · Nov 21, 2008

I was trying to take some pictures of womens shoes for a catalog and i am using the XTI with the canon 50mm 1.8

I am shooting in Manual mode.
ISO 100
shutter speed at 1/5.
Aperture at 7.1.
White balance on Fluorescent
White balance compesation A8 M9

Any pointers and help will be much appreciated.

These is my setup:

Chris Stegner · Nov 21, 2008

Try setting your WB to Auto and see what you get. They all look really soft also. Are you using auto focus?

jong · Nov 21, 2008

as a newbie, well, they look great to me aside from the reflection on the shoe , i think i can see you and tad over exposed, nice neat set up though. and again who em i to judge.

Big Mike · Nov 21, 2008

It looks like your color/WB is off. Rather than use the flourecent setting, I'd suggest using a custom setting. Also, if you shoot in RAW, you can easily adjust the WB after the shoot, on the computer.

Are you shooting with the camera resting as seen in the photos, or are you picking it up to shoot? If you are keeping it on the table, then I'd suggest that you use the self timer (if you aren't already) and use a smaller aperture (along with a slower shutter speed). This will give you more DOF, and allow you to get the whole shoe in focus. That is unless you want a shallow DOF.

Another issue is the reflections of the lights on the shoe. It might be better if you made a front cover for your light tent and shot though a hole. Or maybe not, I'm not sure what would work best. Maybe you can just clean it up in post.

monkeee · Nov 21, 2008

.....now, would i be able to shoot all shoes with the same settings and have all shoes come out with the true color? It has been difficult to bring the true color of the shoes.....:er:

monkeee · Nov 21, 2008

Big Mike said:
It looks like your color/WB is off. Rather than use the flourecent setting, I'd suggest using a custom setting. Also, if you shoot in RAW, you can easily adjust the WB after the shoot, on the computer.

Are you shooting with the camera resting as seen in the photos, or are you picking it up to shoot? If you are keeping it on the table, then I'd suggest that you use the self timer (if you aren't already) and use a smaller aperture (along with a slower shutter speed). This will give you more DOF, and allow you to get the whole shoe in focus. That is unless you want a shallow DOF.

Another issue is the reflections of the lights on the shoe. It might be better if you made a front cover for your light tent and shot though a hole. Or maybe not, I'm not sure what would work best. Maybe you can just clean it up in post.

Hey Mike, you mentioned custom settin instead of fluorescent....how do you do that?

monkeee · Nov 21, 2008

i have to shoot around 130 shoes.......

Brutus · Nov 21, 2008

You can see lights and whatnot in the reflection on the toe of the shoe.

Davey Jones · Nov 22, 2008

lol uknow my art teacher allways sayd that great art starts with carefull observation.
is that a remote shutter cord attached to a cam set on the table i see?

whitebalance is adjusting your cam for the color of the light in the scene,
so if u get it right for one pic it should be more or less right for the same pic with
another shoe.
then again i wonder if in such a small scene the reflection of the shoe itself
doesnt color the light enuff to demand adjustments to the WB...
guys?