Roadsmith
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posted on February 15, 2004 12:40:07 PM new
Hi, all. I really do pretty well with most of the photos I take, but I have trouble if I want to show a title page of a book, or photograph words in an ad. No matter how still I hold the camera, or how right-on I photograph the page (perpendicularly), the words are always disappointing.
I have Adobe PhotoDeluxe Home Edition 4.0, no user manual, and I"m wondering if there's something in the editing that I'm not aware of to help change this problem. (I edit every photo as carefully as I can.)
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"I have resolved to allow my friends their peculiarities." -- Samuel Johnson
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dadofstickboy
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posted on February 15, 2004 12:49:26 PM new
You may not have a manual but the program should have a Help,Read Me section.
Never used Adobe so no help there.
I have made mud pies.
[ edited by dadofstickboy on Feb 15, 2004 12:50 PM ]
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OhMsLucy
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posted on February 15, 2004 01:22:05 PM new
Hi,
Have you tried a tripod?
Lucy
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your kids.
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photosensitive
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posted on February 15, 2004 03:47:20 PM new
Do you have a flatbed scanner? That is the best say to record text.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
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getalife
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posted on February 15, 2004 04:38:45 PM new
It also helps to have camera that takes good sharp closeups. Light it from an angle and take the picture with the camera mounted on a tripod as perpendicularly as possible.
The scanner idea sounds good too as that would keep the page flat.
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Roadsmith
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posted on February 15, 2004 05:04:57 PM new
Thanks, guys! I have a scanner (in husband's office here) and I have a tripod, which I've never used. The problem is that when I'm on a roll, taking lots of pix for a bunch of auctions, I don't like to take the time to set my camera aside, go to the scanner, etc. etc. I may try it though, soon.
What stops me with the tripod is that then I'd have to elevate each item I photograph to just the right height, whereas when I"m holding the camera, I can move myself up and down for the right angle on an item. (I do sound lazy here, don't I?)
___________________________________
"I have resolved to allow my friends their peculiarities." -- Samuel Johnson
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OhMsLucy
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posted on February 15, 2004 05:40:58 PM new
Hi,
Adele, you're not the lazy one, I am.
Here's link to a picture of my camera set-up. It's darn seldom I have to do anything other than raise/lower the tripod or elevate something higher than the vase in the pic.
http://imagehost.vendio.com/preview/oh/ohmslucy/camera.jpg
Another advantage is the camera on the tripod is always hooked up to an AC adapter. No fiddling with batteries.
Editing to add: Your pictures are wonderful! I looked at some and they're great. Chief Pasqual looks a bit tired but that's understandable, considering his age. LOL!
Lucy
[ edited by OhMsLucy on Feb 15, 2004 06:12 PM ]
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Roadsmith
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posted on February 15, 2004 09:20:21 PM new
Lucy: You have a very impressive photo setup there! My tripod is just a tabletop tripod, but perhaps I can rig something up similar to yours.
Thanks for the compliments on my photos. I do care a lot, and most of the time, as I said, I'm pleased with the results. It's just those danged words on a page that have me stymied!
___________________________________
"I have resolved to allow my friends their peculiarities." -- Samuel Johnson
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lindajean
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posted on February 15, 2004 11:36:02 PM new
Lucy: What type lamp and what watt bulb do you use? I love the setup.
Edited to add:
I too have trouble with words. I sell postcards and the pics come out great but when I resize them the words are faint and light while on the postcard they are dark and black. The actual photo section looks great. I have a Sony 5 megapixel. Usually take the pics at 1.2 then half them and crop. They are so clear at full size, but when I half them I just lose the wording almost totally.
[ edited by lindajean on Feb 15, 2004 11:37 PM ]
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OhMsLucy
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posted on February 15, 2004 11:43:50 PM new
I have trouble with pictures of words too.
Evenin' all...
Most of the time, if I make sure I'm perpendicularly oriented (whatever that means...) AND I make sure I have the auto-focus on, AND the light is okay, I come out with decent pics. Sometimes it takes a bit of fiddling around with the contrast and brightness and maybe sharpening the pic but generally it works out pretty well.
A while ago I sold a book on weaving. It had so much info I wasn't inclined to type out all the chapter headings. So I decided to put pictures of the first few pages in the auction. It worked out fine.
That first pic took me a while to get right. Then it was just a matter of changing pages.
Lucy
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OhMsLucy
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posted on February 15, 2004 11:58:54 PM new
Hi Lindajean,
Maybe you're compressing your images more than you need to. I've discovered with words on a page it's important to take your picture in it's final size and not compress it or make it smaller. My camera has three image resolutions. I use the lowest. The other two just make a larger image which loses sharpness and clarity when I make it smaller.
I don't use the lamp very much. Mainly for backlighting (I can change the position) when the light from the windows isn't landing where I want it to. Sometimes I use a mirror to bounce light onto a specific area.
The bulb in the lamp is a 25 watt frosted. Just enough to give some overall soft lighting. The room lights are GE Reveal bulbs.
This works very well for me. Very little shifting of myself or the item and with the tripod there's no shaky hands issues.
The main problem I run into is the changing light. The set-up is in the southwest corner of the room with windows on both walls so as the sun changes the light changes with it.
Maybe I'm overly picky when it comes to my pics. Matter of fact, I think that's what I enjoy most about eBay - getting perfect pics into an auction. The rest is just dummy typing and stuff like that.
Me
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lindajean
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posted on February 16, 2004 12:08:05 AM new
 Me too on the perfect pics.
I tried taking them at the lower resolution, but then the entire pic came out dull. Maybe I should try again.
I'll play around a bit tomorrow and will check back in if I just can't seem to get it right.
I know what you mean about all the info. I'm going to be selling some record albums next month (waiting for Ebay to decide what they are going to do with the category thing ) and I want to just take pics of the backs rather than trying to type in numbers and tracks.
[ edited by lindajean on Feb 16, 2004 12:08 AM ]
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OhMsLucy
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posted on February 16, 2004 12:14:46 AM new
Hi Lindajean,
Pictures of the words are just as good as typing it all in. You know, sometimes you can find a list of the tracks on Google. I did when I sold a couple of Singing Nun albums. Of course FedEx lost the package but that's a whole 'nother story...
Have you tried using a close-up lens? Works for me unless the item is too big.
Mostly I use available light but once in a while the flash does better. Just have to try different stuff.
Lucy
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rlewln
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posted on February 16, 2004 01:42:46 PM new
Yes, a good picture is worth a 1000 words (so to speak) but remember text in an image won't be found in a title/description search.
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OhMsLucy
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posted on February 16, 2004 04:03:47 PM new
Good point, Rlewln. Which is why one needs to think about what to show in an image versus what to type out. I think titles of chapters in a book are okay.
Or names of songs on a record. Although someone might do a description search for the name of a song, I suspect they'd be searching for the artist first.
Lucy
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Roadsmith
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posted on February 16, 2004 05:29:16 PM new
Lucy sweetie! What kind of camera do you use? I have a Sony Mavica and I'm trying to absorb/understand your talk about "compression" and "lowest image resolution." I'm so technically deficient that I don't know how that would translate to my Mavica. Any hints?
___________________________________
"I have resolved to allow my friends their peculiarities." -- Samuel Johnson
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OhMsLucy
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posted on February 16, 2004 05:45:40 PM new
Ha ha Adele!
I'm sure there's someone else around here who can explain this techie stuff better than I but here goes.
I have an old HP C200. It has three image resolution settings. I use the lowest one. Using higher settings creates a larger image, which would be good if I were printing the pictures but not needed for auction images.
Compression has to do with saving the file. I think it makes the file smaller??? I use Microsoft Picture It for editing and use compression level 10.
I would imagine this stuff would apply no matter what make of camera you have.
Me
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