Does anyone need help taking better pictures?

[Andy in Cheltenham]

I thought I'd put myself forward as a sort of Agony Uncle for picture taking.
My Knowledge is pretty good and it's just the basics we need for taking pictures of Tanks.

Andy

[caddyshack]

would love to know more on that Andy.
Things like..whats a good camera to buy say between £200-400
and all the does and doesn't for making good pics.. You know the standard stuff most poeple tend to do, making a good picture into a bad one becauce of X,Y and Z.

[Andy in Cheltenham]

Well for that money I'd buy something like this, a fuji finepix

The main reason is it is good is because it has a very good macro ability, this will enable you to get pretty close with out any blurring. A more basic camera will struggle to take a close up image. Even a full blown DSLR will struggle to focus unless you have an expensive Macro lens fitted.

Next thing to consider is the light source you will use to illuminate the subject. Daylight is always best, you will find in the menu of your camera options to change the White Balance from Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten and a few others. White balance is the key to getting the correct colour from your subject. there is also an option of calibrating the white balance. You just select the option in the menu and take a picture of a piece of white paper. It will adapt itself to make the paper as white as possible. Personally I stay clear of flash photography due too it's harsh nature, you will have trouble controlling the points were you get a reflection

Mega pixel count is not the be all and end all with a cameras quality. Ideally look for a camera with 7 or more, you may find 5 adequate still. Close focusing is the main criteria if you are taking pictures of your tanks. You may see a Flower symbol by a button on the back, use it, it does work. But be prepared for a slightly distorted image, the further away you can get the more flattering the image will be.

Next thing you may want to consider is a tripod, but when you use one make sure you are not still pressing the shoot button. Use a cable release or the self timer option.

Andy

[jackeb]

Hi,
Thanks for taking the time out to pass on your knowledge. It's certainly given me some useful advice. I'm sure I'm in the same boat as a lot of 'non-photographers' in that my camera came with a CD ROM instruction manual that, while containing lots of information failed to take in to account I was stretching my abilities sussing out which way round to hold it! So while the 'point and shoot' attitude has worked great for family holidays and such like, now I want to get a more 'serious' photo I'm struggling. Your advice so far has answered a few questions and given me the motivation to experiment a bit so, if the weather stays good, I'm hoping to achieve better results out on the battle field, er I mean back yard, this week end.
Thanks.

[caddyshack]

Thank Andy. That camera shure looks a nice bit of kit. Will look into that a bit more when the old pocket alllows. Lots of info. thx again

[Andy in Cheltenham]

Another thing worth knowing about is your F numbers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number

This affects how much of your picture is in focus (Depth of field) and also the amount of light entering through your lens (affecting shutter speed).
The higher F numbers will put more of your subject in focus, where as the lower numbers will highlight just a selected point of the image, throwing the rest out of focus. I like to use a 50mm F1.7 lens, it gives a beautiful Bokeh (japanese word meaning blur) around the subject. where as F11 or greater will [as a rule of thumb] put more of the subject in focus (useful for landscapes). The draw back to a high F number is that the shutter speed will decrease due to the camera wanting more light to fall on the sensor before the camera thinks the picture will be exposed correctly.

Personally I prefer to run my cameras in Aperture priority. this gives me control of the depth of field, leaving the camera to work out the shutter speed for me.

[Andy in Cheltenham]

Here we go with some more tips.
ISO settings: This will adjust your camera to be more sensitive to the surrounding light. The thing you need to consider is what effect this has on the outcome of your picture. Most people I'm sure will run their camera in Auto. However this leaves the camera to select the ISO for you. For general picture taking and improved quality always set it to the lowest number you can (normally 100). I'm sure you've noticed that when it's dark your sight goes grainy. The camera is similar in that yes you can make it work better in low light, but the image will be grainier too. Very high end cameras will have amazing low light capabilities. This is only recently true of the cheaper stuff on the market, although it is never as good. I try not to go above 400 unless I want a grainy picture (sometimes the mood requires a grainy shot).

Perhaps if you are trying to get a vintage look to your picture you could turn it to B/W and bump up the ISO. this should give you an older look to the photograph. But be aware that it may give you a shutter speed that is not capable with your camera, thus it will be over exposed.

More to come another day.

[Saxondog]

Andy, this is very helpful. I have finally been able to begin understadning my camera and why the photo look different than the subject being photographed. Here is an example.

Same picture,one with flash,one without.both taken during daylight but not in direct sunlight. Also above is a large florescent light.

The first picture is actually more accurate,the Mud guards color is the correct shade and the wheels as well.But using the flash everything changes.

[Odd ball]

The direct flash makes the subject look flat, but if you are able to bounce and diffuse the flash, you'll get better photos.This is hard to do on a point and shoot compact or a DSLR without a proper tilt and swivel flash gun.

[greengiant]

Take a small canon digital camara with at least 5 mp resulution and 4 power zoom . A very inexpensive item. Set it on auto. Take your pictures. Transfer them to your pc and using If your computer has the basic programs called Paint and Photo Studio Darkroom You can make even a pretty badly shot picture into something thats color, fucus, light level, ect into areal good looking and realistic looking photo.