Help Taking Photos

[was25]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum but not so new to marble collecting. I intend to sell some marbles on e-bay but my picture taking skills are not that great. In particular how do you photograph clear marbles ie cat's eyes - to show the color inside? I have many where I want to show the hybred nature or to show adventurine that is deeeper inside the marble. I also have colored base glass transparents with swirls inside. Any suggestions would be helpful!

Thanks was25

[midmo]

back ground helps on some as with these

[mmuehlba]

just keep moving the camera also helps as when viewing you will see if it looks good before you shoot and just a different angle some times makes the difference ?? I still use my diansour Mavica FD73 even had to have my new computer made special with a slot for 3 1/2 floppy disc. here are some I just snapped in the cabinet . Mike

[lstmmrbls]

With the new megapixel cameras you can actually get far enough back to use the camera flash(with macro) and get a great pic with plenty of focal depth. Just crop the marble out of the pic and it should look great.

[jeeperman]

To add to what others have said.....light!! Good light will make it easier for your camera to focus. If you are inside and not using the sun, I use daylight corrected light bulbs. Either way those, regular bulbs or sun....don't forget to set the appropriate white balance for the type of light...it will make a difference with your colors.

[was25]

just keep moving the camera also helps as when viewing you will see if it looks good before you shoot and just a different angle some times makes the difference ?? I still use my diansour Mavica FD73 even had to have my new computer made special with a slot for 3 1/2 floppy disc. here are some I just snapped in the cabinet . Mike

Mike beautiful pics and marbles! I have a decent digital camera and am now learning how to use some of it's more difficult features ie. appature and speed settings. I'm still confused about when to use wide appature hi speed or vice versa with all its combos. I'll keep practcing. Thanks wendy

[was25]

To add to what others have said.....light!! Good light will make it easier for your camera to focus. If you are inside and not using the sun, I use daylight corrected light bulbs. Either way those, regular bulbs or sun....don't forget to set the appropriate white balance for the type of light...it will make a difference with your colors.

[was25]

Thanks for reminding me about the white balance. Forgot about that setting. wendy

[jeeperman]

No worries Wendy. Once you get a few shots that you like...post them and we can sometimes better offer suggestions. As for background, even tho I crop mine out, I find it best to shoot against black. Others like a medium grey. Use something that absorbs the light and is not reflective. Hopefully these tips will shorten the learning curve for you as great marble pics can really be difficult for some.

Good luck!

[Chordus]

Use the camera's zoom (regular zoom, not digital). Cameras are generally very touchy when it comes to close-up photos. The zoom allows you to back up to where the camera can more easily focus. If you need to back up even further, just crop the marble like lstmmrbls said; most cameras these days will give you large photos even if you're not really close up.

Also, use manual focus if you can. Auto-focus can be problematic sometimes.

One thing that some people like to do is crop only the marble out, using a circular cropping tool or whatever. I would encourage you to avoid this; leave the marble in it's background. That's just my personal preference, though.

[jeeperman]

The issues with zoom digital or otherwise is why I suggested good light. I use macro with digital zoom and get nice detail and have 0 problem with focus. However it was nearly impossible with poor light. If you back up to much and don't use your zoom to it's capability you risk losing the ability to get a detailed shot with the large cropping. Here are a couple with my little coolpix pocket camera.

[was25]

The issues with zoom digital or otherwise is why I suggested good light. I use macro with digital zoom and get nice detail and have 0 problem with focus. However it was nearly impossible with poor light. If you back up to much and don't use your zoom to it's capability you risk losing the ability to get a detailed shot with the large cropping. Here are a couple with my little coolpix pocket camera.

Thanks for your input again and beautiful marbles and photos. What light source are you using for those pics? It looks like one bulb above and to the side of the marbles. Also what are they sitting on for the pics? Thanks again Wendy

[jeeperman]

I use two Reveal daylight corrected 100w bulbs about 10-12 inches from the marble, positioned at 10 and 2. All other lights in the room turned off as not to contaminate color. They are cheap @less than 5$ each and I use the cheap 7$ aluminum hood and socket set-up sold in most hardware stores. There are other ways to get good shots but this is the least expensive and most consistent formula I have found. I set the marbles on a black folded T-shirt.

I have seen others get good results with the camera flash, however my small camera could not. Infact without the lights I could not get it to focus as mentioned by others above.

Good luck Wendy