Photography help needed!

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dubster72

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I'm trying out a dark background for pictures to see if it works. So because my computer screen has gone U/S, I'm hoping that I can get a few opinions. The pictures look ok on my phone screen, but how are they on a proper monitor?


Also, I'm checking if the images get compressed during upload/posting. Marc recently thought that was the case, so this would provide an opportunity to check.


First up is the original pic in all its 2.6 mb glory


IMG_0004.JPG


Next is the same pic, but resized to just 136 kb


IMG_0004-1024x768.JPG


Finally, this one is from Photobucket





Cheers for all & any help


Patrick
 

john

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The images to get compressed when uploaded due to space, they also get resized to 800x600, the first image is better then the second, the third looks the same as the first just bigger.
 

monica

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the black card dose show it off very nicely,i do like the 3rd the best, :D
 
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There does not seem to be any great difference, but if pushed to choose then I agree with Monica's choice of number three.
 

grumpa

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I just bought a black matte foam board myself for photo-ing BIP's shows better detail and cuts glare ;)
 

flyjoe180

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Same here as the others Patrick, the third is a larger clear version of the first, the second is slightly blurred/blended and not as sharp.
 
H

Hellcat

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By logic the first picture has the better resolution in sharpness and colour.


As it has the highest resolution the first is closest to your original.


The second and third the resolution is filtered the colours thinner and the edges are not so crisp. Overall  softer pictures.


In Photoshop you can adjust the resolution. It will tell you the resolution of the picture you have here.


But every one has their idea of what suits them. Sharp or soft. Colours brilliant or muted. You must see it yourself


to determine your choice.


Hellcat.
 
J

John Rixon

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My advice is to shoot at maximum resolution that your camera will do, this way you have control over everything from the outset, meaning that once it gets compressed, it is from a high quality image, and therefore will look better compressed. One of the main probes with shooting to jpeg is that the compression already applied in your camera becomes victim of further compression which is out of your control. If you have a DSLR, I recommend shooting RAW, then edit in photoshop or paint shop pro (which is amazing for the money - recommend buying an earlier version 8 or 9, as it did get a bit bloated.  Photoshop elements is the king of budget editors though, and you are able to "save for web" where you reduce it to the limit of the site you are posting on, meaning it doesn't get ruined by some proprietary application! 
 
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tanktrack

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I find this is of great interest because i have just recently bought a small photo studio and the colours for the backgrounds are red,white,black and navy blue , iv tried the white but wondered  what would be the good ones out of the rest ,ah well. better try them out  :smiling3:
 
J

John Rixon

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If I had one of those Steve, I'd find a grey one!! One useful tip is, though, to try and get your exposure point on the actual subject. A white or black background can make the camera under or over expose, if too much of the background is visible. This is easier with a DSLR or good compact, where you can set for spot exposure. Just experiment, you'll find a happy medium and at least there isn't developing and printing costs involved.  As a last point, if you have bought one of these studios, you really ought to think about getting Photoshop elements, the combination of these will deliver really amazing results, and it's not too hard to get the basics of Photoshop. 
 
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dubster72

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Thanks for the input people, it's made for interesting reading!  :D


The reason I'm trying the black background is because with a pale one the model was coming out under-exposed. With the black one, it seems to give better exposure on the model.


Unfortunately a fancy DLSR camera is out of my reach; and I probably wouldn't understand how to use it! I'll do the best I can with my 5MP compact camera ;)


Thanks again everyone!
 

tanktrack

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If I had one of those Steve, I'd find a grey one!! One useful tip is, though, to try and get your exposure point on the actual subject. A white or black background can make the camera under or over expose, if too much of the background is visible. This is easier with a DSLR or good compact, where you can set for spot exposure. Just experiment, you'll find a happy medium and at least there isn't developing and printing costs involved.  As a last point, if you have bought one of these studios, you really ought to think about getting Photoshop elements, the combination of these will deliver really amazing results, and it's not too hard to get the basics of Photoshop. 

thanks John will give it a try


steve
 
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John Rixon

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...on a side note Patrick, re. your Avatar, Have you completed the whole series yet?
 
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dubster72

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...on a side note Patrick, re. your Avatar, Have you completed the whole series yet?

No I'm still on season one! That's why I love Netflix; I can never seem to organise my life to watch a full series when they're on tv, so I'm always playing catchup ;) I did the same with Breaking Bad 
 
J

John Rixon

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Wow, you've got a voyage ahead of you...


i finished it a couple of months ago, with a break in series 3 for Breaking bad! Still reeling from both of them!
 
D

dubster72

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Your jagdpanzer looks brill, by the way...

Thanks John, I'm calling that one finished, so I'll pop some pics up soon - just wondering about a crew.


I watched the prequel Better Call Saul straight after finishing BB & that was even better IMHO
 
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