FastEddy
The Slowest Guy In Town
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RCTalk Vendor
Here are some tips on taking digital photos of your RCs
All of these tips are to help you get better photos using any digital camera on the automatic setting. People that have a lot of photo knowledge may do things differently however using these tips will help you right away without having to think too much.
Here are a few quick things to do before you get started.
Clean your lens before taking any photos.
Make sure your batteries are charged.
Reformat your memory card or make sure it’s empty and ready to go.
Set your camera on the automatic setting.
I’m going to concentrate on still shots.
Taking your picture.
Place your RC or whatever you are photographing where you want it. Look at the background and see if it will distract from the product you are shooting. There should be a contrast of colors. You don’t want to shoot a black object against a black background. The larger the contrast of colors the more your product will stand out. If you’re looking for a natural background such as shooting your Maxx in the wild and you want the trees and bushes to be a part of the photo, make sure you place your RC properly to take advantage of the setting. The last thing you want is the neighbor’s car in your photo or the line of your driveway meeting the lawn distracting from your RC. Placement is important.
If you’re shooting in doors use a backdrop. Poster board is cheep and can be found in several colors. Using a solid backdrop will make your photo look more professional than taking a shot with your orange shag carpet in the background. A sheet or solid table cloth will work but it’s difficult to get the wrinkles and folds from showing up but is better than nothing.
Lighting.
Lighting will make all the difference in the world and should be looked at carefully when setting up a shot. The perfect lighting is 1:00 pm natural sunlight on a cloudy day with the sun behind you. Natural sunlight makes for great photos. The clouds defuse the light evenly and keep reflections from shiny objects to a minimum. As we all know the perfect setting is rarely available so we need keep the most important thing in mind, Keep the sun behind you.
Shooting in doors poses more of a lighting issue than outdoors. Household lighting is what they call soft light. Lighting is measured by temperature. A soft whit light like most indoor bulbs are around 2000-3000k in temp. The sun on a shady day is around 5000-6000k. The cooler light will make your photos dull looking and will also cut back on the contrast or details of your photo. Most cameras will have a built in flash the flash will re-create natural sunlight and help your indoor photo look better. Flashes create other issues such as shadows or hot spots. To eliminate shadows turn on as many lights as possible on all sides of the product you are shooting. Play around with placement of several lights to get as few shadows as possible. Now take your photo using the flash. Hot spots are reflections or washed out over light spots on your photo. To eliminate hot spots you can filter the flash. I have used many different things in the past. What you want is to find a piece of frosted plastic to hold in front of the flash. Make sure it’s thin and still somewhat transparent. You don’t want to block the light just defuse it.
Blurry photos.
An out of focus shot completely ruins the impact of what you are trying to show. Make sure your auto focus it turned on. A lot of people have difficulties making close up shots come out clean. Here are a few tips to help. Use a tripod to help keep the camera still. If you don’t have one try stacking things up to the proper height and set your camera on them. The next step to keeping the camera still is to use the auto timer. The camera moves when you press the shutter button. When doing close-ups the slightest movement will blur the photo. Place the camera as close as possible to your object. The less zoom you use the better. When you use the zoom for close-ups you have a greater chance of a blurry photo. It’s ok to use some zoom to frame the object the way you want it but use as little as possible.
Framing you shot.
The placement of your object in the photo can make or break it. Here are a few rules of thumb. For shots with active backgrounds like an outdoor shot of your buddy holding his RC, you will want the person and RC to take up 2/3rds of the photo. Frame it slightly off center left or right showing the bottom of the object being held and the top of his head being centered from top to bottom. It’s best not to shoot the photo directly from the front but to have a slight angle. Fore close up shots its best to have the object centered and taking up 80% of the photo. Again it’s best to shoot the object from an angle rather than dead on.
Home Studio
I have come up with a great indoor studio that can be set up in about 5 minutes and costs under $50.00. Being a do it yourself guy I have experimented with hundreds of products and have found this setup to be 99% of all that is needed. Everything can be purchaced at a local hardware store.
3- Clamp on work light reflectors.
3- Compact florescent bulbs 5000k-6500k
Poster board background
Here are some photos of my setup to give you an idea of how I set it up. You can use a work bench or a table but the important thing is you have a place to hang the lights.
I hope you find a tidbit or two in this article that will help you take better photos.
Regular shot with flash
Exact same shot with lighting and background
-Ed
All of these tips are to help you get better photos using any digital camera on the automatic setting. People that have a lot of photo knowledge may do things differently however using these tips will help you right away without having to think too much.
Here are a few quick things to do before you get started.
Clean your lens before taking any photos.
Make sure your batteries are charged.
Reformat your memory card or make sure it’s empty and ready to go.
Set your camera on the automatic setting.
I’m going to concentrate on still shots.
Taking your picture.
Place your RC or whatever you are photographing where you want it. Look at the background and see if it will distract from the product you are shooting. There should be a contrast of colors. You don’t want to shoot a black object against a black background. The larger the contrast of colors the more your product will stand out. If you’re looking for a natural background such as shooting your Maxx in the wild and you want the trees and bushes to be a part of the photo, make sure you place your RC properly to take advantage of the setting. The last thing you want is the neighbor’s car in your photo or the line of your driveway meeting the lawn distracting from your RC. Placement is important.
If you’re shooting in doors use a backdrop. Poster board is cheep and can be found in several colors. Using a solid backdrop will make your photo look more professional than taking a shot with your orange shag carpet in the background. A sheet or solid table cloth will work but it’s difficult to get the wrinkles and folds from showing up but is better than nothing.
Lighting.
Lighting will make all the difference in the world and should be looked at carefully when setting up a shot. The perfect lighting is 1:00 pm natural sunlight on a cloudy day with the sun behind you. Natural sunlight makes for great photos. The clouds defuse the light evenly and keep reflections from shiny objects to a minimum. As we all know the perfect setting is rarely available so we need keep the most important thing in mind, Keep the sun behind you.
Shooting in doors poses more of a lighting issue than outdoors. Household lighting is what they call soft light. Lighting is measured by temperature. A soft whit light like most indoor bulbs are around 2000-3000k in temp. The sun on a shady day is around 5000-6000k. The cooler light will make your photos dull looking and will also cut back on the contrast or details of your photo. Most cameras will have a built in flash the flash will re-create natural sunlight and help your indoor photo look better. Flashes create other issues such as shadows or hot spots. To eliminate shadows turn on as many lights as possible on all sides of the product you are shooting. Play around with placement of several lights to get as few shadows as possible. Now take your photo using the flash. Hot spots are reflections or washed out over light spots on your photo. To eliminate hot spots you can filter the flash. I have used many different things in the past. What you want is to find a piece of frosted plastic to hold in front of the flash. Make sure it’s thin and still somewhat transparent. You don’t want to block the light just defuse it.
Blurry photos.
An out of focus shot completely ruins the impact of what you are trying to show. Make sure your auto focus it turned on. A lot of people have difficulties making close up shots come out clean. Here are a few tips to help. Use a tripod to help keep the camera still. If you don’t have one try stacking things up to the proper height and set your camera on them. The next step to keeping the camera still is to use the auto timer. The camera moves when you press the shutter button. When doing close-ups the slightest movement will blur the photo. Place the camera as close as possible to your object. The less zoom you use the better. When you use the zoom for close-ups you have a greater chance of a blurry photo. It’s ok to use some zoom to frame the object the way you want it but use as little as possible.
Framing you shot.
The placement of your object in the photo can make or break it. Here are a few rules of thumb. For shots with active backgrounds like an outdoor shot of your buddy holding his RC, you will want the person and RC to take up 2/3rds of the photo. Frame it slightly off center left or right showing the bottom of the object being held and the top of his head being centered from top to bottom. It’s best not to shoot the photo directly from the front but to have a slight angle. Fore close up shots its best to have the object centered and taking up 80% of the photo. Again it’s best to shoot the object from an angle rather than dead on.
Home Studio
I have come up with a great indoor studio that can be set up in about 5 minutes and costs under $50.00. Being a do it yourself guy I have experimented with hundreds of products and have found this setup to be 99% of all that is needed. Everything can be purchaced at a local hardware store.
3- Clamp on work light reflectors.
3- Compact florescent bulbs 5000k-6500k
Poster board background
Here are some photos of my setup to give you an idea of how I set it up. You can use a work bench or a table but the important thing is you have a place to hang the lights.
I hope you find a tidbit or two in this article that will help you take better photos.
Regular shot with flash
Exact same shot with lighting and background
-Ed
Last edited:
But the past few times i have been takin pic on the top of my white car, out in the sunlight. pix come out good. everyone on RCNT is gona be a profesional photographer. lol.
