Taking a Picture
- Thread starter soccer05
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DaveT435
Active member
- Jun 23, 2012
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What are trying to photograph..swirls?? They are the hardest. I use a DSLR and put it on full auto...you might try portrait setting?? I'm really not sure about that. If you know how to adjust your aperture you might try adjusting that. If I remember correctly the lower the setting the more light you let in...
RoadRageDetail
New member
- Jun 1, 2012
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Often what happens is the camera focuses on the reflection in the paint vs. the paint's surface where defects exist.
Put a piece of tape or a smudge on the paint and have the camera focus on that before you snap the pic. The surface defects should be more evident.
Put a piece of tape or a smudge on the paint and have the camera focus on that before you snap the pic. The surface defects should be more evident.
mhphoto
New member
- Jun 5, 2012
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Find an angle that the highlights the defect.
If it's a point and shoot, find the macro setting and turn it on. Then find out if your camera has spot focus. If it does, turn it on (which will focus on whatever is in the middle of the frame). When taking a picture, move the defect to the middle of the viewfinder and half-press the shutter button. If your camera also has manual capabilities, set the aperture (f-number) to the lowest number, which is generally f/2.8 on P&Ss. This will allow you to have the background (in this case whatever the paint is reflecting towards you) more blurred, focusing on the defect.
The reason P&Ss have trouble focusing on tiny scratches is because their autofocus works by analyzing the contrast in a scene. It moves the focus back and forth until it finds the position with the most contrast in the scene, which usually means the reflection of the contrast-heavy scene is what it catches and focuses on, rather than the little scratch.
If it's a DSLR, put your lens on manual focus and figure out just how close your lens will let you get to the defect. Then choose spot focus and the lowest aperture, though with with DSLRs you could stop down the lens a bit more and still get great results. You could keep it on manual focus or put it back on automatic, whichever works for you.
Hope this helps.
If it's a point and shoot, find the macro setting and turn it on. Then find out if your camera has spot focus. If it does, turn it on (which will focus on whatever is in the middle of the frame). When taking a picture, move the defect to the middle of the viewfinder and half-press the shutter button. If your camera also has manual capabilities, set the aperture (f-number) to the lowest number, which is generally f/2.8 on P&Ss. This will allow you to have the background (in this case whatever the paint is reflecting towards you) more blurred, focusing on the defect.
The reason P&Ss have trouble focusing on tiny scratches is because their autofocus works by analyzing the contrast in a scene. It moves the focus back and forth until it finds the position with the most contrast in the scene, which usually means the reflection of the contrast-heavy scene is what it catches and focuses on, rather than the little scratch.
If it's a DSLR, put your lens on manual focus and figure out just how close your lens will let you get to the defect. Then choose spot focus and the lowest aperture, though with with DSLRs you could stop down the lens a bit more and still get great results. You could keep it on manual focus or put it back on automatic, whichever works for you.
Hope this helps.
magna_power
New member
- May 13, 2012
- 192
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1. Get a very bright light (the sun works).
2. Aim the camera at the reflection of the bright light (maybe a little off to the side).
3. Now for the hard part, focus on the paint, not the reflection in the paint. Best thing for this is to put something on the paint that you can focus on first, or if you have a DSLR go to manual focus.
Also, if you're able to, set the camera to allow you to overexpose the shot, you're interested in getting the swirls correctly exposed, but the camera will want to make the bright light correctly exposed.
Post up some attempts if you still can't get it. Also, mike wrote a thread about how he does it somewhere on here.
2. Aim the camera at the reflection of the bright light (maybe a little off to the side).
3. Now for the hard part, focus on the paint, not the reflection in the paint. Best thing for this is to put something on the paint that you can focus on first, or if you have a DSLR go to manual focus.
Also, if you're able to, set the camera to allow you to overexpose the shot, you're interested in getting the swirls correctly exposed, but the camera will want to make the bright light correctly exposed.
Post up some attempts if you still can't get it. Also, mike wrote a thread about how he does it somewhere on here.