Jump to content

sandtonman

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    57

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by sandtonman

    grey card metering off D100

    in Nikon

    Posted

    Hi Steve

    I dont think their results are special..but at least they have done a decent attempt at it..my experience with lots of these ring shoots is that they tend to be all overexposed ..there is quite a lot of clipping on the hightones...

    cheers

    grey card metering off D100

    in Nikon

    Posted

    Steve

    Thanks but I beg to differ. Yes the background was the table, but the table was covered with White seamless paper if you read carefully. So this white background appears as grey and off pink color in the different photos...If you think you can reproduce a white background from this kind of setup then I will be interested to know how.

    grey card metering off D100

    in Nikon

    Posted

    Steve

    I think what you are telling me, is to direct the light more and add another diffuser ..ok I will try that...I may even design a table with a light source underneath...the surface I use for my jewelry is clear perspex..the watch sits on a semi trasnparent perspex which is off white..

    I also now have a 3rd light set up above the light box and pointing down..that has given me a more vivid photo , better lit with greater contrast..

    I have seen setups where they use softboxes as well as a light tent..maybe you need to look at this link..would be interested in your comments..

    http://ny.webphotoschool.com/Shooting_Jewelry_in_a_Tent/

     

     

    Also I dont use a meter..I meter of the camera..I point at the 18 % grey with the camera close, and read off the readings...maybe its better to use a hand held meter?

    Thanks for your input

    grey card metering off D100

    in Nikon

    Posted

    Hi steve

    I am using two light sources outside my light tent (which is basically semi-transparent plastic..the two sources are 500W each on either side of the light tent..you can see the light tent undre my photos..I think there is no seperate subject/BG lighting as such..because it is one whole diffused light..

     

    I was just thinking in terms of colours and optics..a surface is only white because it reflects all the colours..and since diffused light has light which is randomly orientated, there is lots of scattering as well as reflection of the light..maybe I thought that is why it is not white..its the same reason why the sky is blue..it is not really blue, but because blue light scatters more into our eyes then red light, we see the sky as blue...:-)

    Also I did use spot metering ...

    grey card metering off D100

    in Nikon

    Posted

    Edward

    Some guy told me in another part of the forum that the D70 is set to be about 2 stops under exposed, and he thought maybe the d100 and suggested that I should ask here..so I am doing that..

     

    I have a theory that you can not get a white background in a diffused lighting environment which is what this is..this has been my experience..it always appears off white or slightly grey..and I think this is because the light is very diffused..I have never seen someone photographing in a diffused light a product which has come out with a nice clean white background..most of the jewelry photos you see in a jewelry magazine have been touched up with Photoshop to remove the background with White...

    grey card metering off D100

    in Nikon

    Posted

    Steve

    I pointed my camera on the grey card on Auto, read off F16, 1/25th.

    Went to manual, loaded those in and shot at the white..it was not white..but grey..so I dropped down to F16, 1/5th to get the white white..but if I take my photos with these settings I get a photo which is heavily over exposed...so I am back to taking a photo with grey background, and removing the background with Photoshop..I dont think you can get white background under the conditions I am shooting...

    OK..2 PHOTOS taken with 2 different light tents..comments please

    in Lighting Equipment

    Posted

    Robert

    Thanks for your reply. The histogram I just use for checking..it tells me if the photo is clipped at the high tones or not, and and check to see if the mid tone peak is in the right place..its just a checking tool..

    You say the photo is not perfect..I want it to be..so what in your opinion is wrong( the line at the back..thats easily corrected..thats where the perspex table edge is..)...anything else..white background..you cant get it..you have to take that off with Photoshop..anything else..the Lighting..is as near perfect as I can get it..

    OK..2 PHOTOS taken with 2 different light tents..comments please

    in Lighting Equipment

    Posted

    Hi

    These are currently my best photos with all the corrections and

    everything (pls see my last post). Both these

    photos ,http://www.photo.net/photos/SandtonMan no1 and no. 2 in my

    portfolio (the first 2, Gold ring with light blue stone) were taken

    with two different light tents:

    1. Photo 1 was taken with a semi Trasnparent Plastic Light Tent..now

    I am using 3 light sources instead of 2 ( 1 above 150W, and 2 on each

    side 500W)

    2.Photo 2 was taken with Chaffron material and tracing paper.

     

    Now which of these two photos of the gold ring do you think is the

    best...It is subjective, and looking at both histograms there is not

    much of a difference..I would like your opinion ...Many thanks

    PS The background is as white as I can get right now, and anything

    more I would have to take it out with PS

     

    TIA

    Ok..I have the results for the Grey Card for those who responded to my earlier post

    in Lighting Equipment

    Posted

    Hi

    I have put this in a new post . The old post about why I was not

    getting White Background but grey, most of the respondendts suggested

    I use a Grey Card to Calibrate my metering and that White appears as

    Grey to my Digital Camera (D100) until I calibrate it with a Grey

    Card..well I did this today..and here are the results:

    Please look at the first 3 photos at :

    http://www.photo.net/photos/SandtonMan

    Photo 1: Is the Grey Card next to the White Background which is a

    shiny white Photographic paper in my light tent. What I did , I first

    pointed my lens (Sigma Macro 105) with spot metering at the Grey Card

    and read off the values (F16, 1/25th, ISO 200 +0.3 EV)

    I then went to manual and loaded the readings and shot Photo 1 which

    is the Grey Card next to the white background. As you can see the

    grey is TOO GREY and the white is not very white at all. Infact

    looking at the histograms, the grey peaks at 94 and the "White" at

    186.

     

    PHOTO2: I then ussed the same settings, F16 but went down to 1/6th

    sec shutter...and I got a lighter grey and a better white background.

    The histogram peaks shifted to grey at 137 and "white" at 227. That

    is much better then Photo 1. But still my white is not snow White.

     

    PHOTO3 : Photo 3 is just the White Background, same setting as Photo

    2, but with a shutter speed of 1/5th instead of 1/6th. It is a very

    good White and the Histogram peaks at 242 which is near the edge of

    White.

     

    What that means is that when I pointed my Lens on the Grey Card and

    got F16, 1/25th , the Grey was too dark. so my Meter is underexposing

    the grey and shifting it from midtone to darktone by quitea bit.

     

    I had to go to shuuter speeds from 1/25th to 1/5th to get My White

    Background (Photo3). I am not sure what this means , but this tells

    me that the camera settings are wrong..the photos are darker then

    what they should be and my Grey Card metering is way too dark and not

    really grey and I have to decrease my shutter speed by a factor of 5

    to get the right histogram for both the mid grey and the white..

    So what do I do, do I take my D100 to Nikon and get it re-calibrated?

     

    Many Thanks

    White Background..3 different Colors...?

    in Lighting Equipment

    Posted

    HI Stephen

    Thanks..I did that already and I got some good shots which I am relatively happy with, I say relatively. I know I need to imrpove on my lighting..I am gona add another light from Top..I am shooting RAW and PS is doing a tremendous job with the contrast and the sharpness..

    But I decided yesterday to really test the camera and take these shots of the white background..and I was amazedd at the results..just how many folk out there know that if you take a picture of the snow or someone skiing, it will come out grey and you have to cary this little grey card with you..I am curious if my F90 will behave the same way as my D100

    From what I understand , Nikon and the other manufacturers, calibrate their meters with 18% grey...and actually, very little is said in the manual about this..So does that mean that for best shots you always have to cary the grey card with you..because each shot is different, and if the meter is trying to decide that the midtone is really grey , then its ok, if the scene is like that..if it is not..as in my case, its trouble..

    I now know how to remove the grey background with PS and I am going that route..but if the camera is set up incorrectly from the start..something is gona get lost somewhere, either contrast , resolution or whatever..any post processing is loosey, so I try and set up the camera to do minium post processing..

    and now I am told that my contrast is not all that great because my pixels start at about 30 and go up to only 210..which is only 7..but having checked the histogram of many jewelry photos, mine as well as some "very famous sites", I see a histogram which is either packed in the middle or clipped at one end..and I plan to put up a post and some histogram pics on that soon about contrast...I am trying to get a good lighting situation to get maximum contrast of my rings..

    cheers

    White Background..3 different Colors...?

    in Lighting Equipment

    Posted

    Laurie

    I am using a Nikon D100. I think the Grey card readings may conflict with what I am trying to do , which is getting the right DOF and shutter speed to give me the right exposure. I am shooting F16 1/10th.

    As far as more lights..I think I have enough lights right now, 2x500W, and the subject is small anyway (Jewelry). I may add a third light vertically down to give better contrast to the jewelry

    White Background..3 different Colors...?

    in Lighting Equipment

    Posted

    Chris, laurie

    Thanks..I will go out and get a grey card..so all I have to do is just take a photo of the grey card, and i assume, the D100 somewhere will take readings of this photo and say , aha, this is grey..I dont have to tell the camera, this photo is of a grey card do I? And when it shoots a white background, it will get those grey readings and say, oh this is white ..not grey

    I am using very strong Tungsten 2x 500 W lamps, so there is plenty of light...So perhaps underexposed is the wrong word, maybe a grey/white confusion by the camera is the right word?

    And I am not going to play with grey cards and white balance, because the white balance is now correctly set for the lights I am using..

    Underexposure, Low Contrast

    in Nikon

    Posted

    David

    Thanks for the reply. I would agree with you that getting the lighting right is a factor. Maybe I should include another lamp either vertically down or something light that. What is this Curve ? Is this related to one of my photos?

    thanks

×
×
  • Create New...