Improving on improvement..

The other day I was faffing with the camera and although I did actually improve the lighting, I was still in the 'dummy' camp and still having problems.  I wasn't totally satisfied with the 'fuzzy' looking edges on my beads, I wanted clean, sharp images and that wasn't happening.

This is one of the photos from the other day, lighting not bad but its just fuzzy.  After several hours of fiddling with buttons and referring back and forth from internet to camera manual, the battery of the camera died, which wasn't a bad thing, so I had to take a break.  I only have the one battery, at the moment.

I got the camera out, yesterday, to take photos of my bead soup from my Bead Soup Blog Party partner Janet of Anvil Artifacts and had another fiddle with the camera, and would you believe it I stumbled across yet another web page but this one was so much help: just click the link.

When I posted the last blog post on my camera exploits I did find another dial on the camera, I knew it was there but I didn't know what it did so I ignored it.  Its the ISO controller.  This dial allows you to control the shutter speed and therefore the max light coming in.  I investigated further and found that the 'noise' which is the correct term for the 'fuzzy' image I was getting was probably due to my manual setting of the ISO number being at HI-Max, which I incorrectly assumed was the best setting for my picture taking of beads.  It isn't.  The higher that number the more noise you get.  So I have figured out noise reduction, shutter speed and how to control the ISO manually whilst taking the photograph as well as having it set in the programme.

I'm getting there!

So this picture is the original setting, programmed on Hi-Max ISO and also on the dial command button at the highest number 1/4000, which is the shutter speed, so 1 4000th of a second and therefore limited light coming into the camera, but lots of noise...I think I have that right, its confusing but I do know more or less what I am doing now.

I reduced the command dial ISO to the lowest number 1/40, too much light means over exposed.

After having a fiddle a bit more, I reduced the programmed ISO to 400 and the command dial to 1/200, so allowing the slower shutter speed and max light before noise.

The image is sharper and the background is lighter. 

The other day's photo

today's result

I re-took this photo of this particular bead, I struggled the other day, it was seriously noisy and I wasn't happy, hence thinking maybe I ought not to make encased beads ever again as I couldn't photograph the buggers, but...ta dah....clear, sharp and lighter background.  I will figure out the white background but I think that is probably a computer programme and I don't want to run before I can walk!

You might have noticed I have removed the mirror under the bead and photographed on white paper, I am now not sure which I prefer.....decisions decisions!
 

What the F.....?

No I am not swearing, although I will admit to saying some pretty rude words during my extensive session the other day, I was 'fiddling' with the camera.

 

Its the bane of many artists, regardless of medium, unless of course you are a photographer then really you should know this stuff.

 

F is aperture.  So what the F is aperture?

 

Maximum Aperture (Minimum f-number)

The maximum diameter of the lens opening is referred to as its maximum aperture or minimum f-number. The minimum f-number is the smallest f-number that can be selected with the lens. The maximum aperture varies from lens to lens and is included in the lens model name.

 

 

I took that from here, all about Nikon which is my camera, a Nikon D3200 VR...please don't ask what the VR is, I have absolutely no idea!

 

Photographing glass beads to put on the internet can take more time than making the bead itself and considering my love is the flame of the torch and the melting of the glass, taking the photo to show the world in the hope someone else will love it and buy it so I can buy more glass and burn more oxygen and propane, the photograph side of this can be ALOT tedious and can end in swearing and temper tantrums...the swearing I can almost accept, the temper tantrum from a woman in her 40's jumping up and down and threatening obscenities to what is basically an inanimate object is a little childish to say the least.

 

This is the photo in question, well one of the many.  The bead is a dark purple but the light is wrong and the bead looks black and well...rubbish...and its a nice bead.

 

I use a light tent and a couple of daylight bulbs, the light tent just stops the glare of the light bulb...apparently.  Yes the lights are on.

 



So I start fiddling with the camera and end up searching the internet in the hope of finding help in photographing these beads. 

 

I type in Photographing Glass Beads for Dummies.

 

Surprisingly I am not the only one, pages of websites come up in various degrees of big words and complicated sentences, I want one where they treat you like a right dummy and basically tell you which button to press and when to produce a photograph a professional would be proud of.

 



I stumble across this website its the light tent I use. 

 

Now I want a light thing that goes under the bead, but I use what I have and follow the instructions.

 

I drag out my camera manual and figure out my camera properly.

 

I now know how to change the F setting...without swearing!

Wanting light or even white backgrounds is what I am after, I rather like the background on the pictuer above and you can now tell its actually purple, but its all fuzzy and I don't want a soft lens effect - get me with the terminology - I want sharp and clear with white backgrounds.

 

Back to the manual and the website.

 



 

The picture above is better but do you think I can remember what button I pressed?

 

The one below is rubbish and I know what's wrong with it, its over exposed.

 

I am in danger of knowing what I am talking about.

 

Not only do I now know how to adjust the F I can also play around with the button that alters the E V settings.

 

Go me.

 

It took over 2 hours to get these photos, and believe me I took hundreds and fiddled with more buttons and settings than ever before, and do you know what made the most difference?

 

Moving the damn camera tripod back a bit!  Even though the camera is set on automatic focus - I am not professional...yet - the macro setting needs to be a little further back than 'on the top of' that I had the camera at.

 

This picture below is rather nice and its an awkward bead to photograph, its also too far away.

 



Getting there.  I cropped it!

 



Below, on a darker background, but its too fuzzy...too close!

 



There are many buttons on the camera and this one is the max exposure or EV if you want to be technical...I would say this one didn't work, but it was worth knowing how the highest EV setting worked.

 



I don't think this bead is going to have a white background this is as good as I got it, but its better than it was and although its not as clear and sharp as I would have liked it is created with soft colours so maybe I can't make soft colours sharp?

 



 

So we come to today and more beads to photograph - I am getting ready for the big Flame Off event in April so lots of beads being made - the photos are better...I think!

 

Encased beads are incredibly difficult to capture nicely for me, but the sculpture ones seem much better..note to self, don't make encased beads!