[thechat] Digicam advice

[Hassan Schroeder]

Madhu Menon wrote:

> I've been trying all day to shoot some close-up pics of food and 
> cocktails. All the pics come out either blurry (possibly because I don't 
> have a tripod), with muddy colours, or not sharp enough even with 
> 1600*1200 resolution. 

I'm not speaking for Ron, eh, but from my experience I think you
absolutely need a tripod for this kind of thing. You might even
consider a Cloud Dome (http://clouddome.com/); I just recently
broke down and bought one, and *so* wish I'd gotten it sooner.
And so does my Photoshop-fiddling-and-tweaking-slave :-)

> Is it just a resolution thing? Will moving to a bigger, badder 4 MP 
> camera fix it? Will it get rid of the wildly overcompensating flash that 
> bathes my subjects in about twice the light that is need?

More res will likely give you better pictures, yes, but the flash
thing -- I was using a home-brewed setup of light arrays, reflectors
and diffusers (a/k/a sheets of bubble wrap!) to get good results --
but not nearly as good as with the Cloud Dome.

I *wish* I had a financial interest in them, but no, just a customer.

FWIW!
-- 
Hassan Schroeder ----------------------------- hassan at webtuitive.com
Webtuitive Design ===  (+1) 408-938-0567   === http://webtuitive.com

                           dream.  code.