How to Post Great Photos in Threads

[St0ney]

Originally Posted by milagro

They're not. At best they are around 1 meg on average. What's the deal here, the amount of megapixels in the camera? Is there anyway in the future I can try to make bigger pics or is it simply a matter of my 3.2 megapixel camera being able to do so much?

Yep you got it.. gotta have much higher Megapixel to get higher rez pics. You can also look in your camrea menu and see if you can turn up the image size.. Mine goes up to like 2200x1800 or something but normal use the next size down sao i can take more per memory card.

Originally Posted by n_d_shadows

Stoney, from your call I found a copy of fireworks MX. Awesome program btw, but the issue is I can only save as a PNG file. Does anybody know if there is a difference in size betweeen a PNG and a JPEG? What effects will saving in this form have?

you need to export not 'save' or 'save as'. use export or export wizard under the file menu and you can choose what format you want to use.

[Pepperpot]

Originally Posted by St0ney

you need to export not 'save' or 'save as'. use export or export wizard under the file menu and you can choose what format you want to use.

Sorry bout that! Yes fireworks is export. I keep bouncing back and forth between photoimpact and firworks, one uses "save as" the other "export". Hope I didn't confuse, thanks St0ney, I'm learning!

[n_d_shadows]

Thanks guys got it now.

[BaadPuTthyKat]

Just learning this stuff myself, but I found a great site for walking us through some of photoshop's functions. There are LOADS of tutorials here .(twenty something demo's ?) I hope to show some improved budshots as they reach a flowering frenzy

"Sharpen" is all I know about really, so far! Next post of the budbox will have pics in the same area as the words. WaooHoo!

[milagro]

Wow!


This puppy hasn't been shaken out in a while.

There's loads of information here for you shutterbugs to make those photos more presentable to your fellow members.

There is still however, always room for more tips, and for those of you with skills and experience, to offer some more pointers to the rest of us.

One of the tips already mentioned within these pages; is that with digital cameras, one should take lots and lots of shots in hopes that one or two will be the killer pics.

I was photographing buzzmobile last night and got one terrific shot out of 35. When you look through your compiled shots and see that shining example of perfection....

it's like finding buried treasure, or a nice silk shirt in the thrift store (right arnold?) .

Here he is:



Of course having such a splendid example of macho musculature in an arthropod doesn't hurt in creating such fine photo specimens.



milagro

[Moshe]

n_d_shadows:
Probably gotten the answer by now, but if you haven't, the difference between JPEG and PNG is that JPEG is a lossy format (part of the image quality is lost). PNG is lossless (no image quality is lost). Lossy formats save A LOT smaller than lossless. PNG is good for archive purposes and it's best if you can set your camera to save in RAW or TIFF format. If your camera saves to JPEG you already lost some image data (usually not something you'd see without zooming in).

Everyone:
I would like to add a few more concepts...

If you don't own a tripod, try taking pictures using a flash. When using a flash, the camera shutter isn't open as much and picture come out clearer. The problem with using the flash is that reflective surfaces can cause light-blooms and shadows will look artificial.

CFL lights are really good for green-photography. Although you do lose a tinge of yellow.

When taking photographs using digital cameras, always half-press the capture-button so that the auto-focus can kick-in and give you clearer pictures. Usually the camera will beep indicating it's locked on and ready to shoot.

You can manually set the shutter speed on most cameras, this will give you clearer pictures at a loss of dark-ranges. But since we're shooting with lots of light, shouldn't be an issue at all.

If you plan to sharpen the image, do it before resizing as it will make the sharpen look more realistic.

Every digital camera should have a Macro Mode. Some have Super Macro Mode which is designed to focus on areas between 2-4 inches, usually at a fixed focus. This is the best mode for bud-pictures without the use of an external magnifier.

Some cameras have custom photo-profiles. One of these profiles is Flower mode, which can be useful

Lastly... You don't need a $1000 SLR camera to take good pictures, especially in well lit areas such as your grow area. I'm using a 3mega pixel camera which is about 10 generation old these days (new models come out so often these days).

And as you can see... you can take nice close-ups:

[Mr Burns]

I never taken up photography but having parents and a sister who were photographers at varying times, I did learn the golden rule in framing the subject.

As with everything you see on television, eye level should be 1 third from the top of the frame. Look at any portrait or every television programme and you'll see everyones eye level 1 third from the top.
If you take any object and give it the same treatment, imagining it as a human portrait, you can't go wrong.
Of course there are artistic variations on this, but for simple framing of a subject it never fails.

Even most compacts also have a macro facility nowadays too. If you use the macro when it's not realy needed and from a couple or so feet away, you can keep the subject in focus and blur out whats behind. This can give the main subject a sharper and more pronounced appearance.

If you take both the above into account, it can look like this.



I don't claim to know a lot about photography, but with these two rules in mind, and taking at least 5 photos of each subject, I'm bound to get one I'll be pleased with just as anyone should.

Burnsy.

[milagro]

Yo Mr Burnsy,


Why didn't you post this little tidbit in the How to Post Great Photos in Threads thread?

That thread is a work in progress that should be continually growing so as to produce nothing but great photographers here at HC.com.

Your post here is a worthy bit of knowledege but will eventually be lost in the labyrinth of old, wornout threads, while the How to Post Great Photos thread; being a sticky, will live on forever.

It's not too late to double post. Maybe you could change a word or two?



milagro

[Mr Burns]

Aggi.
You a secret MOD? Looked back in and it was moved

Thanks buddy.

Burnsy.

[Igrow2]

On more advanced cameras that let you choose the aperture a larger number like f/22 will have a larger depth of field (how much is in focus) and a small aperture like f/4 will have a smaller depth of field.

Most of my pictures are taken in aperture priority mode. That is, I set the aperture and the camera picks the shutter speed for a correct exposure.

In macro shots the total depth of field available becomes very small so a high f/stop like f/32 may only give you 2" or less depth in which the subject will be in focus.

To get the whole bud in focus with close-ups position the camera so that it is equal distant from all parts of the subject as much as possible. On the other hand you don’t want to be looking up at the bottom of the leaves (in general) because it is not a natural view. I also find that if the top (hairs) of the bud are in sharp focus, than the whole picture seems more in focus. Therefore I usually position the camera around even to the top of the bud sometimes a little higher or a little lower (on larger buds).

Higher f/stops require more light or slower shutter speeds so a tripod and no wind becomes very important.

In general on point and shoot cameras portrait mode will give you less depth of field and macro mode will give you more depth of field. Once you have the shot set up try all modes and see what the difference is on your camera. If your camera allows it choose your aperture setting manually.

These where taken on a windy day so they are not perfect but I think you will see that you want just enough depth of field and no more.

Aperture f/30 large depth of field -subject gets lost in the background:


Aperture f/7 small depth of field -subject pops out of the background: