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I borrowed my mom's dig. camera so that I could post some of my cards. I am not getting a good clear image, colour or contrast. Does anyone have any tips?
I do not want to post my cards looking like this. It does not do them justice.
It is really hard to get true color on digital cameras. My best suggestion to you is to wait for a really sunny day and take the picture outside. Daylight is the truest light IMHO! Good luck!
Do you have any halogen lamps? You could turn them on their side toward the card and you might get some good lighting! I have dont that for family christmas photos and portraits! Can you tell my family hates when I get out the camera!!! :P The lighting really is the key. Bathroom and kitchen lighting also tend to be better than regular room lighting... HTH!
Good lighting is a must! I use a combination of light to get the truest color from my digital camera. I use florescent, halogen, and natural light, all at the same time. I put the card on the surface where I will shot the picture. On that same surface is a table lamp with one of those twirly florescent bulbs in it. This is practical for me because it is also my end table in the family room where I stamp. And, I make sure all the blinds are open to get in as much natural light as possible. And finally, I turn on all my can lights in the room too - lit up like no tomorrow, but it is only for a few minutes then all go off again. So, you might try that, if you can. Or something similiar.
definitely light is the key factor. But make sure you are laying them on a light background also. I usually end up using a piece of white or vanilla CS
__________________ I'm a loser ~ 19.2 pounds gone...lots more to go!
I was having trouble with my digital too. I know lighting is a key factor, but my DH told me I was using the wrong aperature. If your camera has a macro setting, that works better for up close photos. That way you don't have to zoom in as much and compromise the clarity of your photo. Hope this helps.
In my experience many of the poor quality photos that are out of focus, are due to not using the camera's macro setting. Most digital cameras have one (it's the setting that looks like a flower) for taking closeups. If you don't use the macro setting, it is not possible for the camera to focus in on an item you are close to. Even with the macro setting, you should probably be no closer than 8 inches to the item you are photographing.
Does your camera have a separate setting for taking close up shots? I have found that I need to use this when taking pictures of my cards. Also. if you have a well lit room so that you can turn off the flash on the camera, you will get a truer color on your picture.
Try photographing the same card on three different backgrounds: dark brown, black, and grey. I personally find that white is just too "harsh" and never gives the most true color.
Next, try taking photos from several different distances, then try to "crop" them digitally until you get the best look. I find that if I'm too close, they're blurry, but then if I'm too far and try to digitally crop too much, they'll "pixelate" (go digitally grainy) on me.
Try to digitally manipulate the color intensity and exposure settings to help with color correction. My digicam is 3.2 mp; it therefore sacrifices some of the color honesty for image clarity. That's fine with me, I can correct the color much easier than the clarity!
Hope this info helps...much is just my NSHO... ~ K
__________________ Hi...My Name is Kaylyn...I'm An Alphaholic.
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I am probably a good 18 - 20 inches away, with a 5.0 megapixel camera. I use the auto focus. I also use a natural wood surface, I find black too severe and white too bright. Then I just use the photo editing software that came with my camera to crop it down to size and resize it to the appropriate pixels to upload.
Alot of times I actually Scan in my cards on the scanner. But If I'm going to take a photo of something I lay it on my carpet...which is a neutral beige color...It also seems to work better if you don't try shooting straight down at it but kind of shoot at an angle....
Digital Camera help! - better photos
