Tall Drink of Gumballs
I enjoyed playing around with my coloful gumballs. I used a white posterboard for my background and a small halogen desk lamp for the lighting. Because my camera doesn't always capture the true colors (and because I don't have the best lighting in the world), I over-exposed the photo at the +1 mark. I think it worked pretty well to bring out the bold colors and to get rid of those pesky background shadows. Though I do sometimes look at this and think that the colors are a little too vivid -- especially the top orange, pink, and blue gumballs. So vivid that it borders on fake and over-processed. I am looking forward to a new camera (I have my eye on the Canon EOS 450D) that will provide some better-quality photos both in clarity and color.
If you suffer from shadows, here is some over-the-counter medicine!
1) Try over-exposing it with your exposure meter (from -2 to +2) like I did.
2) Try over-exposing it time-wise by changing the time value of the shot. You will definitely need to put the camera on a tripod or on something that will not move during the shot (e.g. not in shaky hands). Then, find your TV (time value) feature if you have one and choose to expose the shot for several seconds -- this is the time that the shutter will stay open to absorb all of those delicious photons (Mmmm, photons....). You might also want to mess around with your Aperture Value (the f-stop function that goes from around 2.7 to 8). The aperture value is basically the size of the opening (or aperture) through which light (photons) will travel. If your eyes are a camera, then holding your eyes open for a long time is the Time Value and squinting will change the Aperture Value.
3) Take a regular photo and then try to "burn" it out by turning up the contrast in post-processing and/or erasing the shadows from the top copy to reveal the shadowless copy layered below. I describe this method in detail on my Turtle picture.
4) Use your flash (yuck!). This can result in lots of ugly reflections, so I wouldn't recommend it. Plus, it usually adds the wrong type of light to an object, making it look like washed out or yellow. If you do use your flash, try changing the flash value -- this changes the time the camera flashes in relation to when the picture is taken and it can sometimes have a better effect than using full-force flash (especially when taking portrait photos).
(9/25/2009)
Tall Drink of Gumballs
I enjoyed playing around with my coloful gumballs. I used a white posterboard for my background and a small halogen desk lamp for the lighting. Because my camera doesn't always capture the true colors (and because I don't have the best lighting in the world), I over-exposed the photo at the +1 mark. I think it worked pretty well to bring out the bold colors and to get rid of those pesky background shadows. Though I do sometimes look at this and think that the colors are a little too vivid -- especially the top orange, pink, and blue gumballs. So vivid that it borders on fake and over-processed. I am looking forward to a new camera (I have my eye on the Canon EOS 450D) that will provide some better-quality photos both in clarity and color.
If you suffer from shadows, here is some over-the-counter medicine!
1) Try over-exposing it with your exposure meter (from -2 to +2) like I did.
2) Try over-exposing it time-wise by changing the time value of the shot. You will definitely need to put the camera on a tripod or on something that will not move during the shot (e.g. not in shaky hands). Then, find your TV (time value) feature if you have one and choose to expose the shot for several seconds -- this is the time that the shutter will stay open to absorb all of those delicious photons (Mmmm, photons....). You might also want to mess around with your Aperture Value (the f-stop function that goes from around 2.7 to 8). The aperture value is basically the size of the opening (or aperture) through which light (photons) will travel. If your eyes are a camera, then holding your eyes open for a long time is the Time Value and squinting will change the Aperture Value.
3) Take a regular photo and then try to "burn" it out by turning up the contrast in post-processing and/or erasing the shadows from the top copy to reveal the shadowless copy layered below. I describe this method in detail on my Turtle picture.
4) Use your flash (yuck!). This can result in lots of ugly reflections, so I wouldn't recommend it. Plus, it usually adds the wrong type of light to an object, making it look like washed out or yellow. If you do use your flash, try changing the flash value -- this changes the time the camera flashes in relation to when the picture is taken and it can sometimes have a better effect than using full-force flash (especially when taking portrait photos).
(9/25/2009)