Photos for you, finally, eh?

[beaujolais]

OK, finally got a camera with macro. Test picture for you. Opal pendant, Mintabie region, flashfire pattern. Now, the base color of this opal is fairly white and it came out dark - why?

Comments/help appreciated.

 

[lin_ny]

Beautiful pendant!!

Picture looks poorly lit - could be why the opal is looking dark. What kind of camera are you using? I'd try taking the photo in bright, natural window light (not direct sun though). Make sure you're backing the camera up enough so it's focusing right - looks a bit blurry. You can also bump the ISO up on the camera to get the most of the available light. Hope this helps.

 

[beaujolais]

This stone is really much more saturated than this. Why did it come out this way? Tx. (Oh, that is not my hand, btw.)
--
Thanks Lin. Cannon Powershot. The opal was in indoor light. Will try what you said.

 

[lin_ny]

As far as saturation of a stone goes... that's gonna be pretty hard to photograph - from what I've heard. White balance will affect the colour and saturation of the stone. Honestly, even with the best of cameras, you're gonna have a hard time replicating what a stone really looks like in real life. You could try messing with the settings through the menu on the camera to change up the white balances and see if you get more true colours. You'll need to make sure you have enough available light - so like I said - beside a bright window. When I photograph people I usually have my camera on 'cloudy' white balance because it tends to warm skin tones up to more natural colours.

 

[chrono]

How's the white balance on your camera? Does the background piece appear true to colour (not just the opal)? What sort of light are you using?

 

[beaujolais]

Hi Chrono.

See, you did get me to buy a camera but now I guess I've got a learning curve before my photos will look o.k., it seems.

The opal is sitting on a blue case that is actually no where as dark as it came out in the photo (just as the opal is no where that dark, either). Good catch. The amethyst is actually purple not the purplish pink it came out in the photo as.

These were done on a cloudy day, indoors, indoor high-hat lighting.

White balance - does my little inexpensive Powershot have that? I have to look.
---------
Thanks Lin,
I'lll try more besides a bright window. Now I see why you all say you don't do pictures or don't get good ones on a cloudy day !
---

Oh, am I supposed to have the flash on or off?

Tx. so much,
sonoma

 

[chrono]

I never use flash but I don't know if it's any different for opals.

 

[T L]

I never use flash for macro photography. Do you have your macro mode on?

 

[beaujolais]

Macro was on. I won't use flash. (I did some with and without flash last time, as I didn't know which was right.)

Now, when I did macro & some zoom, the photos got fuzzy. I didn't zoom that much, either.

I'll try some more this weekend.

Thanks so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much !

 

[lin_ny]

Macro was on. I won't use flash. (I did some with and without flash last time, as I didn't know which was right.)

Now, when I did macro & some zoom, the photos got fuzzy. I didn't zoom that much, either.

I'll try some more this weekend.

Thanks so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much !

Avoid zooming... it will greatly decrease the quality of the photo. Good luck! Be sure to come back and post results !

 

[0-0-0]

Zooming does not decrease the quality of the photo as long as you are using optical and not digital zoom. When you are using optical zoom with auto focus you may find that you need more space between the object and the lens to get the camera to focus. I find it helpful to use a background with some text so that it's easier to see whether the picture is in focus on the camera.

 

[chrono]

You might be too close to the object you are photographing. Since your camera is very new, it should have a separate setting for the white balance. Any luck finding it in the operational manual?