photo help?

[beautifulbay]

ok all you camera crafty people! LOL

My pics keep coming out blurry. I need a couple good pictures for my website, if any of you are up to helping me out, I'll send you a bar of soap, or some goodies from my garden your choice.

I need some good close shots of the following things...

dry coffee beans or grounds
jasmine flowers
lavender flowers
Brown sugar crystals
Salt crystals
sweetpea flowers
lilacs
Chocolate chunks


These images are only going to be used on my site to help show off some fragrance and soap choices, and my pics just keep coming out blurry, and I need a new camera. So your shots have to be clear.

You can PM me for info and to get my email address ~ I'll choose which photos I like and we'll go from there. I appreciate any help!! Thanks

[chrysalynea]

you could do a search for royalty free images to use....I can't think of where I would have access to most of the things on your list.....primarily the plant pictures......coffee grounds...sugar...I can get those from teh store to take some pics.....

BTW, does your camera have a macro setting....if so you might want to try that. Works wonders with closeups.

[beautifulbay]

I'm not good with cameras....I aim and click ...what is a macro setting?

Thank you for your help

[chrysalynea]

a macro setting is used for extreme close ups.....on most digital cameras it is marked by a symbol that looks like a tulip. what kind of camera do you have?


oh I have some of your pics uploaded onto my computer....the chocolate, brown sugar, and the salt.

[SDB777]

Do you have a tripod?

For close-up shots of coffee beans, sugar or what have you. Try using a piece of construction paper that will give the item a boost of eye appeal.... For instance, use orange for the sugar. Stay away from white though(just a simple rule with the photo groupies).

If you can control the f/stop, set it to it's most open position(f/2.8 instead of f/11). And use plenty of natural light, the flash from your camera will make the photo seem 'off' in the color.

For the plant shots try using a piece of camo cloth at a distance away from the subject so it become blurry in the background(this is called 'bokeh'). This will also give the item something to stand out against. If it's possible, think about something HDR(High Dynamic Range)....just a thought.




Scott (what are you taking photo's with?) B

[beautifulbay]

Thank you Scott .... maybe I should just draw it all???

I'm not camera savvy .... I know what I want in a photo, but getting it is hard.
I'm using a Kodak digital camera ...nothing special. I could use my regular 35 mm...I like the best, a beautiful Nikkon .... but that means have to do the film thing... lol ..which I may just do

[SDB777]

Thank you Scott .... maybe I should just draw it all???

Let me see if I can get to my 'lightbox'....it's been stored for the winter as I don't normally use it during this time of the year.

Think I've got like three of those items you have listed above(in the original post), but I'm not sure how you would like to see them? There in lies the problem of taking photo's for others....just never know what the end user really wants.


#1: Simple piles of each item
#2: Grouped piles of two or more items
#3: Super close-up shots



If I take these photo's, I want nothing in return....I'll say that right up front.






Scott (let me know) B

[beautifulbay]

thank you Scott. I'll give you credit for them in my site if you do take some.

Let's see, I just want some nice clear shots...the flowers can be picked or still on the plant, those just need to show some nice color and good looking flowers...
Ambersent me a few pics I can use from her....
I still need salt and coffee grounds .... just a pile of them on a clean background with a close up shot to show clarity in the grains/grounds....and all the flowers mentioned, but I don't want it to be a burden to you either, so please don't buy anything just to get a pic, unless you'd buy it anyway.

It has to be used to help boost the soaps, so the richer it looks, the better....the rest, I think I can trust you with. You sound like you know what you're doing.
Thank you so much.

[SDB777]

Feel free to do the copy/paste thing here.

Not my best, but the sun never really broke through the clouds and I ended up using the light from over the sink and a marco fill flash.
My creative side of my mind isn't really working today.... I'll try to do some more tomorrow with something different.

Here's my take on pepper
#1:


#2:


#3:


#4:



Didn't do much in post-processing other then adjust fill light and play with the crop a little.



Scott (love the textures) B

[mickeys_rose]

I find using a nice towel that is dark works nice for a background. I set the towel on the chair and the plant on the towel or flower.

[beautifulbay]

Nice job Scott!! I do want to use pepper corns....so this will be nice! Thank you

I use towels too MR ... I used one earlier today, actually, for soap shots...but they turn out grainy on me ... look good as thumbnails....but when I enlarge them they get bad..... any ideas??

[SDB777]

Once again, copy/paste is fine.

Sugar is a very hard subject, as it's supposed to be white...at least from a distance. But when you get close it does take on different hues. Wierd?

Sugar:
#1:


Here's one with coffee grounds(Folger's I think) and sugar:
#1:


#2:


Different crop and played with the fill light....
I can get a LOT closer if you'd like? Just got to let me know which way to go...



Scott (two of my favorite things here) B

[mickeys_rose]

Great shots Scott.

BB depends on your camera and the pixels that it has. The pixels are like the DPI's on your printer the higher the number the better quality the picture.

What is the make of your camers? Sony ect

How old is it? Do you know the year make of the camera? This all helps.

[chrysalynea]

ok, now it's 11pm, and after looking at your pictures...I'm wanting to make coffee!!! I wonder if I've got any decaf around here?

Nice pics!

[beautifulbay]

wow...very nice ....
yeah, it does pick up a lot of hues, that just means it's not really true white at all ... and I'm sure other colors bounce off from it too .... (artist talk....)lol...

ok...I like the middle one .... I think the look I'm really wanting out of it is fresh and clean~ to give the feeling of a warm spa.
Light blue and white always look so clean, so what about light blue under the sugar crystals? Would that be possible??? I'm hating to ask you to do it again....

mmmm.....coffee and sugar.....