Photos -- New Camera Settings

[Bill Bulloch]

Sho y'all right....My Photos stunked. So, I finally broke down and pulled out the instructions that came with the camera and changed the settings accordingly. Below is a before and after picture.


200009200010
Before -------- After

John, I downloaded that Faststone software you recommended, but cannot figure out how to "compress" the file. This new photowas uploaded at 1024 X 863 with 127K. The old was 1038 X 780 with 138K.

Any futher advise is sholly welcome.

[Bill Bolen]

Wow What a difference Bill. I only read the instructions as a matter of last resort. After all REAL MEN don't need no %^(*$%^) instructions or ask for directions! Seriously a marked improvement....Bill...

[Steve Schlumpf]

Big improvement Bill! Well worth the effort!

In FastStone, when you go to save the photo (Control S) it opens the save window. In the lower right corner is a button labeled Options. Click that and you will find a slider that you can move to decrease the file size of the photo. At the same time it shows you what impact on photo quality the adjusted file size has! Play with it a little and you will see how easy it is to adjust the photo!

[Jamie Donaldson]

That's a good start to improving your images Bill, so now for another lesson on the way to achieve accurate representation of your excellent turning. This second image shows barrel distortion(fat lady effect), caused by placing the camera too close to the turning and shooting with a wide angle focal length lens setting. Back the camera away to use a longer focal length, then zoom in to crop the image.

[John Hart]

Hmmm...Thanks Bill for the push to read the booklet.

Unfortunately, it didn't help me. My turnings don't look anything like yours even after reading it twice. :)

[Roger Chandler]

Nice improvement Bill...........that form just looks all the better! Nice work, indeed!

[Jeff Fagen]

I thought your photos were scanned from prints.

[john davey]

Hi Bill, to be 100% honest I really think the first image is better than the second. the turning is stunning don't get me wrong. Don't kill me here as I am just an amature photographer but I have been doing this for quite a while. What you need to look into is your lighting. There are a ton of web sites explaining how to do product lighting so i will not go into all of the details but I think:

even lighting from both sides
Lighting the background evenly
An overhead/fill light (this is not mandatory but helps)
Proper angle of view. It was already mentioned the fat lady syndrome.

The reason I like the first image better is because the perspective is better, The only real issue is the shadow on the background. In the second image the background is over exposed on one side and under exposed on the other. The shadows kinda run all over the place and the seam in the middle of the paper is more distracting in this image. please don't take this as to critical. I think the turning is wonderful but the image just needs a little work. Again I am critiquing the photo and not the turning and I am not sure to what level you are looking to get you photos....John