Website product pic upgrade

sixthstreetocarina · Oct 2, 2012

Hi all I'm a newbie.. I've got some questions so Ill just spill them out. I'm a fulltime craftsperson/potter. I've been using a Kodak dc4800 3.1 megpics which I bought 10 odd years ago to post pictures of product on my website and I'm thinking it might be time do upgrade. I don't like rushing into things. I'm looking at getting a canon xs ,xsi or t1i and a lens. The objects I shoot are about 6" so I've been looking at the 50mm 1.8 or 85 mm 1.8. I at times need to do macro down to about the size of a quarter. What I'm looking for is good sharp images mostly for the web and e books. I've looked at the canon 100 mm macro but the $$ for what I need is a bit much.
Ok Questions?? What length lens would be best so I don't get into problems with being too close and blocking my Light. I use 3 photo lights with a light tent.
Are the better quality canon closeup lens or extention tubes a good option?
Is shotting large then cropping an ok solution?
Is going the dslr route overkill for the web or do you have a point and shot that would make my life easy?
I've posted a pic from my webpage

www.sixthstreetocarina.com

Oh yah. Any other tips on image quality would be great also. Backgrounds ,lighting etc. Thanks Chris

Derrel · Oct 2, 2012

What beautiful instruments you craft! I stopped by the web site--neat!!!!!!! I actually think any number of good com pact digicams, and a tripod, and the light tent or other very "standard" studio lighting gear, would shoot amply good photos. The requirements are a tripod socket, decent 'pod, and some skill in positioning the camera, and of course, some basic lighting knowledge. I'm not all that familiar with the current digicams--there are HUNDREDS of them right now.

MLeeK · Oct 2, 2012

DSLR is overkill. You can get amazing results with a decent point and shoot. Now if you WANT a DSLR it's never over kill.
You'd be best served with a camera that can manually operate (point and shoot/bridge OR DSLR), a light tent and lighting for each side of the light tent.
If you go with a DSLR I'd want a good macro lens on it, but extension tubes can work. I would not want to shoot any farther back and crop than I absolutely had to. You have gorgeous details to show and I would want to capture every single one of them.

The_Traveler · Oct 2, 2012

remember that you only need 1200 pixels on the long side to fill the frame and any decent P&S will give you much more than that.
Thus you can stay back a bit and not get perspective distortion and still get great shots for your site.
Your P&S should have the ability to set the aperture (aperture controls depth of field) and some close focusing ability.
It would be nice to shoot raw so you can manage color balance better but............

A day experimenting with different setups, different size objects, different color felt backgrounds and you'll have a perfect setup that will last forever.

Desktop Photo Studio How To | Schmaltzy Craftsy Handmade Pincushions

Amazon.com: CowboyStudio Top Open 24-Inch Photo Soft Box Light Tent - 4 Chroma Key Backdrops: Camera & Photo

How to Create an Inexpensive Light Box or Light Tent for Digital Photography

There are all sorts of desktop tent layouts for standard lighting that are inexpensive - or you can make one yourself.

Derrel · Oct 2, 2012

GOOD info in that post by The_Traveler. One additional link I can add is the Photoflex company's on-line lighting "school". They have a lot of good, clear, well-illustrated lessons available free. And wouldn't cha know it, a lot of the lessons are done using digicams--not big d-slr setups! AND, they also make and sell the lighting gear used in the lessons, and it's all priced fairly, and is in my own experience, pretty decent quality gear. Photoflex Lighting School | Photoflex

The_Traveler · Oct 2, 2012

I looked at your website.
Lovely instruments.

A lot of the pictures do seem to be slightly off-color (the backgrounds look tinted)

Here is your example above with the background reddish tint removed (altho there is a greenish tint on the right.)

The_Traveler · Oct 2, 2012

I did a bunch of relatively small objects for my brother's book with great success.
Using a felt background I elevated the small objects above the felt using common pins stuck through cardboard and then through the felt.
This the background was OOF.

This kind of technique is easily adaptable for virtually any small object that is supportable on three or more points.

For something heavier like the ocarina, use nails through a piece of plywood and then fit the felt over the nails,
Lit by my desklamp, using an old piece of cloth for a background.

This plastic thingie is perhaps 1.5 inches long.

sixthstreetocarina · Oct 2, 2012

You Guys are great thanks for the quick replys.Right now I use picasa to do any after work but I have been looking at lightroom.Is that pretty user friendly?Any other software besides photoshop to recommend?
What is shoting raw and why is that impotant for color balance?
I'm thinking of trying a gradiant back drop.Does anyone have a prefered brand on this type of background. Right now is use tag board.
Well you all have made me feel very welcome thanks Chris

MLeeK · Oct 2, 2012

Shooting raw isn't a necessity in this instance. It gives you a lot of latitude if you need to completely change white balance or something, but in all honesty? It is really unnecessary for what you are doing. A custom white balance can fix that along with even lighting so there is no fall off like the image posted. Not that I want to discourage you from shooting raw. I don't shoot in jpeg at all, but I am also not doing this type of photography.

Lightroom is not an EDITING program, it's a developing and cataloging program. What's the difference? You can't change the pixels in lightroom. If you wanted to substitute a digital background or remove something from the image. For the most part-you don't need to pixel edit and LR would be great. It's aimed at raw images, but you can also use it on jpegs beautifully. You can adjust the colors, contrast, curve, sharpness, white balance, shadows, highlights....... just not actually change the image.