[thechat] Photography help

[Andy Warwick]

On 2002/08/23 05:12 pm, "Madhu Menon" <webguru at vsnl.net> wrote:

> OK, I have a digicam - a Canon Powershot A20 (2.1 megapixel)
>
> I suck at photography. I really do.
>
> What I want to know is how to make my digital pics look this good:
> http://www.simonhoegsberg.com/
>
> Is this a function of the camera, the editing software, or both?

Madhu

The key thing with any photo is the lighting. Avoid flash on the camera. Get
an external flash unit and - if possible - bounce the flash off a white wall
or styrene board, never directly onto the subject. Use a tripod and a couple
of smaller fill lights to 'model' the subject.

The classic '3-point' lighting they use in movies is a great start point for
studio work.

    <http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~candace/design1.htm>

Once you have a raw shot, you can't do any better than the book Professional
Photoshop 6, by Dan Margulis, for things to do in your software to improve
it. (Though Professional Photoshop 7 is due very soon, if you do plan to
buy.)

<http://www.ledet.com/margulis/articles.html>
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471403997/103-2992074-467265
8>

Photoshop can rescue some pretty awful shots when it comes to brightness,
contrast, color casts, etc. but there is very little you can do about
composition and focus.

Under another email I've sent you a quick curve correction on one of the
photos from your blog. Basically, up the midtones 10-15%, make the whites
neutral (equal RGB) and sharpen.

If you want me to have a quick look at some of your other photos off-list,
(I do photo retouching as a day job - amongst other stuff..; spent 2 years
in a digital photography studio before I set up on my own) let me know.

Andy W