A Little How To Photo Help

[jeeperman]

Yes Sir, there is a worn spot on my desk, really a divitt by now. =}

[Steph]

Bump

And pin

[manylittle]

I have just spent well over an hour looking at your photos. All I can say is Wow!!! How do you get

the birds to stay in one place long enough to get some of your spectacular photos!!! You must spend

hours and hours outdoors!!! I am a amateur nature photographer wannabe. My stuff is not 1/10th as good as yours!!! I'd love to hear some stories about your photographic adventures!!!!

[jeeperman]

Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed them. Yes, hours and hours upon hours. lol There is always a bit of luck as to what you might find or what might happen right infront of you. If you are not out there, you can assume great things are happening somewhere and you are missing them. lol That said, when you are out there you have to know how to capitalize on what you do see. One, learn your target. The habits, what and where it eats, sleeps, sounds like in different situations and it's reactions to different stimuli.

It changes for all species and will help you know where to look. With the Snowy Owls for instance. I shoot them when they are moving thru for the winter. They prefer areas by water that is open, not overgrown, and has logs for them to sit upon and watch. They will see you well before you see them. So how do you get close? These birds are used to hunting and feeding around grazing animals up north. Why does that matter? Well, those logs that they sit on also protect them from predators. Predators will come over the logs toward them and they are gone because the logs slow the predator enough. Back to those grazing animals, they don't go over the logs but graze around them and never pay attention to the owl, walking back and forth past them. The Owl does not feel threatened. So to get close, I have bent over and slowly made my way at several 45degree angles back and forth past the Owl paying very little attention to him/her getting slightly closer every pass. I have even stopped for a second to rip grass out of the ground and then drop it little by little as I go. I am now an Elk or sheep. I have gotten within 30 yrds of Snowy owls. Most birds do not require so much, but you get the idea.

[zul32]

Thanks Jeeperman for your very helpful and informative note about Photoscape and what/how to do it! I'm new to the forum, and tried it out with my new avatar picture as you can see - it worked brilliantly!! I'm really happy because I'd originally had the free trial version of Photoshop, and I wasn't about to pay $10 a month to have something I rarely use. 

I only have 2 marbles in my collection now, but I look forward to getting more in the future.  I probably won't tell the wife (hehe) because I've already got a load of other things I'm into as well: ham radio, license plates, metal detecting, and casino chips! 

 

[jeeperman]

You are very welcome. Happy to have been of some help. Enjoy the hunt. 

[zul32]

New question here....

I hope there's a Photoscape expert reading this - In photoshop there's a function called 'Free Transform' where you can correct a section of your picture if say perhaps you didn't take it at exactly the correct angle. Is that available in Photoscape? Thanks.

 

[zul32]

I've got another Photoscape technical support question here. Hopefully someone may be able to answer this one too. I have two drives on my computer. A solid state drive (SSD), and my hard drive for all my programs. The SSD is the default C: drive, and the hard drive is my E: drive. I only wanted to have just the Windows OS installed on the SSD, but I just discovered that it automatically installed Photoscape on the C: drive without giving me any choice in the matter. 

Has anyone had this issue? Is there any way to get it moved over or reinstalled on my E: drive? 

Thanks!

 

[jeeperman]

Sorry I have not dealt with that issue, hopefully someone a little more tech savvy will come by. They may not see it here tho, you might have to ask in general chat in a new thread.

 

[cheese]

Excellent Paul, I should have been reading the threads over here and I wouldn't have had to ask you advice a while back! You solved my lighting issues and the locking up problems I was having with the camera was due to the SD card. I switched out to a regular card without WiFi and now it doesn't lock up anymore. I need to use my tripod now and I'll be shooting as well as I need.

[jeeperman]

You are welcome, no worries at all Chuck. I enjoy helping where I can. Glad it got sorted for you and you did not end up needing to replace more than a card. I will look forward to seeing the re-shoots. Happy New Year. 

[Dan]

Very nice read. Useing a phone camera s hard. Saving for a small camera. I been told many times about my pictures, and that is good. For now I am doing the best I can. I will get better for every. Day we learn. Thank you

[lopacki]

On 12/12/2017 at 9:09 AM, zul32 said:

I've got another Photoscape technical support question here. Hopefully someone may be able to answer this one too. I have two drives on my computer. A solid state drive (SSD), and my hard drive for all my programs. The SSD is the default C: drive, and the hard drive is my E: drive. I only wanted to have just the Windows OS installed on the SSD, but I just discovered that it automatically installed Photoscape on the C: drive without giving me any choice in the matter. 

Has anyone had this issue? Is there any way to get it moved over or reinstalled on my E: drive? 

Thanks!

 

If I were you I would uninstall photoscape, Then when you reinstall make sure it goes to the E drive. You should be asked early on where you want the program to go,

[Marbleized]

I'm pretty sure that even with a point and shoot, not everyone can take photos as nice as the one you shared, Jeeperman. Nice!

[Chad G.]

On 10/20/2013 at 2:39 PM, jeeperman said:

While I see many of you take fantastic photos of your marbles, I have been asked for a couple tips by a few. I have written an article for a couple other places and thought I might share it here and hopefully help answer some questions. Remember there is really no one right way to do things and if you have found what works for you, keep at it. Also something not mentioned in my article....Photoscape is free and quite easy to use to crop and replace backgrounds if you so desire.

Please, I am no writer...so cut me a little slack. =}

When I first started shooting marbles I knew it would be mostly a lighting and color issue. This turned out to be more true than I realized. If I finally got enough light there was either a color change due to the lights or I would burn out the lighter colors.

What I did on the cheap....I hit the hardware store and went to the lighting section and started trying bulbs two at a time. These are color corrected for natural light. Run about 6$ each. I tried a couple different brands before I found one that worked well. They work differently color wise between brands. I don't remember the brand I used but different ones will likely work better for different cameras.

Now about the camera....truly, you will have an easier time using a small point & shoot. Mine was about 100$ and only about 12mp if that. The thing here is that a point&shoot use a much deeper Depth of field than a full size camera with a macro lens. So what does that mean? It means that with a full size camera and macro lens you will likely be shooting at an aperature of F16 and still the DOF area of sharpness will be only a 1/4 inch deep and F16 lets very little light into your camera compared to the average point & shoot when they use F64 or there about and make up for the light loss in the camera.

I am not saying you can't shoot with a full size camera, it is just a lot more work to get enough light and everything in focus. I place my marble on either a mid grey piece of cloth or a semi old black T shirt. This will help with getting to the correct color. I use two bulbs if shooting indoors and those bulbs are placed in cheap aluminum shields with a clamp on style holder. Cheap hardware lights but they reflect the light well. I get the lights placed within a foot of the marble on each side just in front of the marble, and adjust distance as needed. when trying the lights make sure you get the highest power you can. These natural light corrected don't use watts but they usually say equal to _watts. You want equal to 100w. Natural light is measured in Kelvins. Cameras are set with Kelvins...the hot or cold of the light. Normal daylight is somewhere in the 5000K range some cameras are set at 5000k and some a little higher for natural daylight. The lights I suggested looking at are also measured in Kelvins. Look for something in the 5000K to 5800K and depending on how the images look adjust accordingly if needed. 5000K is slightly warmer {more yellow} than 5800K which is cooler white/blue. Remember....if you chose to shoot with regular light bulbs, your colors will be off. Likely to the yellow side. Your camera settings for different light may help but you will continue to struggle. You will get better color using flash, however you will face other issues.

Use of a tripod can help greatly. If you have a point & shoot....you can still use one. In fact it will be cheaper for you than for us with heavy cameras. All you need is a small desk top tripod. If you are using a DSLR get yourself a remote shutter release to use with your tripod, as you may struggle with enough light. I find it takes to large of a bump in ISO to make it worth trying to shoot handheld with the large lenses and light conditions inside. I use my big 400mm inside at about 1/8 second w ISO 100 and it works nicely. With a remote and tripod of course. After the shot is taken and loaded on the computer it may or may not be perfect. If I have done all my minor adjustments and have got the best I could in camera and it is just a little off.....then I take it into my adjustment program. I now use Lightroom 4. In this or a program like it you can adjust things like contrast, sharpness or temperature, or even each individual color. I rarely need to do much if anything but if it does not look as it does in hand I try and get as close as I can.

Now lately.....because I am lazy and don't feel like using two cameras daily....I have been using my full size camera. The totally blacked out backgrounds in some of my images were with the point & Shoot then cut out the marble and placed them on a black background in a computer program. { I have since, resumed the use of black background in my newest images} No need to go this far for ID purposes.. The latest images were done on a used semi black T shirt set on the ground outside or on my table inside. I have not yet bought the Macro lens that I want and have been using my fullsize camera and a 400mm lens. This lens will not focus on anything closer than 5.5 feet away. It is my wildlife lens. I shoot the marbles standing 6ft away and then crop the little guy from the center of the image. I can do it this way because of great glass 400mm zoom and 24 mp. They are acceptable for now, until I am set up the way I want down the road.

So....cheap camera, two color correct lights in aluminum housings on medium gray to washed out black. Camera on auto color balance {also try daylight} setting with the color corrected lights. And play with the light distance until it works for you. It will be different for different marbles. Light.....dark....or a mix. If you find you are having trouble focusing.....either you need more light or if you have the adjustment on your camera, you may need to use spot focus. With Point & Shoots. you may have a macro setting and this will change your focusing ability. The marble. Some have seams. A straight or curved line where it appears the colors meet. I like to photograph each of those two seams {some have one, some have none} first. I shoot them in a vertical position. These seams are something we use to help with IDs. I then like to turn the marble so that I am shooting the side between the seams and then again to the opposite side. Some marbles are uninteresting on the sides between the seams. Many times the top or bottom of the marble may be preferable. Top and bottom being at the end where the seam points. To show all four angles in one image I find Photoscape very easy and free online. It does a fast and simple collage after I have cropped the marble. I try and leave a little room for the marble in the crop. If you crop to tight onto edges of the marble it is actually more difficult to view..

This is also a great way to keep a good record of marbles that you have had ID'd being you can name the collage and always return to see what characteristics it had on four separate sides all at once, when trying to ID others you may have.

I have tried to keep this easy to follow for everyone. You could get deeper into the subject for sure. My hope was only to get you started. If you have questions or would like to get a little deeper into options......my email is [email protected] I also have a website for my photography other than marbles should you like to browse what I do. PHeupel-Photography

Good luck and more importantly...have fun!

 Just found your photo info, when I came back and looked at my post from earlier today, all will be a great help i'm sure. Thank you much I need all the advice I can get. I'm going to send you a test email, just in case I need any further assistance.

                                                                                                                                                              Regards,

                                                                                                                                                                         Chad G.

[Chad G.]

Thank's load's jeeperman, I'll soak up all I can from your post & the site you gave seem's to be just what the Dr. ordered. I guess the day's of disposable camera's and Kodak instamatic's are long gone, Thank you again.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Regards,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Chad G.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

[Chad G.]

A really basic and easily put together setup from AAM member Ernesto (AKA mrcom)  w/ some of the best results I've ever seen.

 

LINK :  https://www.allaboutmarbles.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=46681

[AvvaRae]

Great information, though I am not Camera Savvy.. I will be looking to find better lighting. I am horrific at taking photos currently all this backlit, close up, looks like a perfect black background stuff really throws me for a loop. ... I may read this a few times lol before my brain actually absorbs all this good information 🫣🙃☺️