Photographing Finds - Some Tips

mlitty

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Photographing tiny things up close is difficult, but part of the fun of sharing finds is showing off the details.

Whether you're using a professional camera or the camera on your phone, here are some tips for getting a photo that best displays your little find.

Lighting:
make sure there is adequate lighting and no glare. It might help to change the angle of the camera or prop the find up so that the light hits it at a different angle. Sometimes little details are more visible when the light hits the surface at a certain angle. Play with it.

Focus:
No one likes a blurry photo. It's hard on the eyes and frustrating to see.
  • Make sure the camera/phone is stable. rest it on a book or some stable object to keep it from moving or shaking when you press the button/screen to take the shot.
  • If your camera/phone has a "macro" mode, use it. The icon often looks like a little flower.
  • Even in macro mode, getting too close will result in a blurry photo. Instead of moving the camera closer, use your zoom. Move back far enough to get the find in focus and then use the camera to zoom in.
  • If your camera/phone has multiple resolutions and only digital zoom, set the resolution higher than you want for the final image and then use the digital zoom. Digital zoom is like cropping the photo before you take it. For example, 8mp settings taken with a lot of digital zoom might result in a 3mp final image.

Scale & Composition
What is behind your find? If it's lying on a surface, is there enough contrast? A dirty or corroded button on a white piece of paper is easier to see than that same object on a wood table.

Is your find a coin? Okay, we know how big those are, move along.

Something different? Include a known item for scale so we have something to compare it to when imagining its size. I often use a coin, but it might be a better idea to use a ruler as this is a multi-national forum and coins of different countries are different sizes.

Sketch
Is there an important detail that's difficult to see in the photo? Do a sketch and put it in the picture. You don't have to be Rembrandt, just do a quick line sketch of the detail on a clean white paper (no lined paper please).

We're not here to critique your drawing ability, but we do appreciate any effort to show us the cool and important details of your latest and greatest find. Especially if you're asking for help identifying the item.

Take Multiple angles and shots
You're all set up. You've considered your scale, lighting and focus, take an extra minute or two to get multiple shots at multiple angles.

Seeing a find from front, back, and sides gives a much fuller picture of your object. Seeing how it might be distorted, corroded, attached, etc. gives a fuller appreciation for your find.

Imagine a model coming down the runway. As he/she walks, you're waiting for the turn, to see the whole outfit from front, back, & sides. When shooting your find, give us that runway turn.

Preview and Edit
  • Take a look at your pictures before uploading them.
  • Delete the bad ones and re-shoot if needed.
  • Your software probably has an automatic color enhancement button in the menus somewhere. Try it and see if it improves the shot, if not, click "Edit > Undo" and stick with your original.
    If you don't have a simple photo editor, download IrfanView. It's free, easy to use, and safe. I've been using it for simple editing and preview for over a decade.​
  • Crop you image down to include only the necessary space, your find and the scale object. With Irfanview, click and drag a rectangle around the area you want and press "ctrl" and "y" together. It's also in the menus. (don't forget to save).

Your photos will be up on the forums for a long long time. With a little practice, you can do all of this in around ten to fifteen minutes. Even if you do nothing else, getting the focus right and including a scale object will make a big difference in how your finds are enjoyed.

Especially if you're asking for identification help, take the time. People will be more inclined to spend a little of their time researching your find if they can see that you spent a little of your time giving them good visual information to work from.

Here's an example. It's not perfect, but it was one I posted recently when asking for help identifying a find.

picture.php
 
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I use a "light tent" for photographing small articles where no glare and high detail are important. Just make a tall cone from any translucent material (I use frosted mylar) and cut a hole at the top just big enough for the camera lens. Then apply light to one or more sides of the cone, and the diffused light brings out the details. The on-camera flash even works OK with this cone setup.

LightTentMaterial.jpg


LightTent.jpg


LightTentDemo.jpg
 
I use a "light tent" for photographing small articles where no glare and high detail are important. Just make a tall cone from any translucent material (I use frosted mylar) and cut a hole at the top just big enough for the camera lens. Then apply light to one or more sides of the cone, and the diffused light brings out the details. The on-camera flash even works OK with this cone setup.

LightTentMaterial.jpg


LightTent.jpg


LightTentDemo.jpg

Can you show us some pictures you took kind useing that methood ?
 
Oops. I thought I had included one in that post, but it disappeared. I'll try again.
 

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Very good posting :) I hope more people see this. Thanks again'
 
In another life, way back in the 20th Century when cameras required film, I was a photographer. Now it seems I'm a vast storehouse of useless information except for the techniques that carried over from film to digital.
 
In another life, way back in the 20th Century when cameras required film, I was a photographer. Now it seems I'm a vast storehouse of useless information except for the techniques that carried over from film to digital.

For some reason, when I read that, I heard it in Michael Caine's voice in my head. Hmmm, imagine that. You aren't British by any chance, are you?

MV5BMjEwMDk4MzE2OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMDY5OTA2._V1_.jpg
 
10-4 I loved 35MM slr's. A lot more fun than digital.

My first 35mm SLR I bought back in the 1970's at a hamfest. It was a Yashica TL, about 1968 vintage, I think. I used it until something broke or came loose inside, now it's probably prohibitively expensive to get fixed, even if I could find someone who knew how to fix it.

And technology marches on...
 
For some reason, when I read that, I heard it in Michael Caine's voice in my head. Hmmm, imagine that. You aren't British by any chance, are you?

Nope! 100% Texan. Can you imagine it in a John Wayne voice?

My first 35mm SLR I bought back in the 1970's at a hamfest. It was a Yashica TL, about 1968 vintage, I think. I used it until something broke or came loose inside, now it's probably prohibitively expensive to get fixed, even if I could find someone who knew how to fix it.

And technology marches on...

Yes, Yashica made pretty good cameras, but they were not very durable. My first TLR was a YashicaMat. It was great until I went to work for UPI Newspictures in 1962, but it wore out pretty quickly thereafter. I replaced it with a Rollei 3.5 TLR.

73
KB5JDT
 
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Nope! 100% Texan. Can you imagine it in a John Wayne voice?

Yes, most of it, but the last bit of the last sentence is a little long-winded for Duke's manner of speaking. :grin:

Yes, Yashica made pretty good cameras, but they were not very durable. My first TLR was a YashicaMat. It was great until I went to work for UPI Newspictures in 1962, but it wore out pretty quickly thereafter. I replaced it with a Rollei 3.5 TLR.

73
KB5JDT
I've inherited a Yashica TLR, forget the model, but I think it has something wrong with it, too. I don't use it anyway.

I was just a young pup when I got that SLR camera. Wasn't even a ham then, but interested in both photography and radio. Took Photography class in HS, (Mamiya SLR's) and became the teacher's assistant and the school photographer my senior year. Took photos for the school newspaper and some went into the yearbook. B&W only back then. Our film was surplus film, either military or film bulk roll ends, I forget now. Used to load our 35mm film cassettes from a bulk roll--Tri-X and Plus-X. Developed both the film and prints. DK-something or other chemical developer (Dektol?), acetic acid stop bath and then fixer. Lots of fun back then. Should have made it a profession, but being the school photographer made it work, and it wasn't fun anymore, and I lost interest. :(
 
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