Hedgehog, By Request

[akirlu]

Since Lucy said she wanted to see the hedgehog necklace when it was done, I've uploaded a couple of pictures to Flickr, and now I'm going to try to insert one of them into this entry. Wish me luck...!




Edit: Okay, that seems to work.

P.S. - Product photography is a bitch. I had to toss out most of my images for blurriness: inadvertent camera shake during longish exposures, as I was shooting without flash. And, truthfully, I just don't really love this Canon Powershot. Our Kodak just plain takes better pictures, but the macro-focus feature on it is broken. I'm very much looking forward to trying out the Panasonic Lumix Hal just bought, since the gyroscopic image stabilization is supposed to be able to compensate for camera shake. High tech, yo.

Comments

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've read the plaint about the Lumix being entirely automated, but I'm not really that buf about photography at this point. If I want to get all hairy-chested about manual settings, I expect I could borrow Hal's Nikon gear and use (gasp) film.

Um, not that I'm accusing you of needing to wax your chest, of course. You Do So Know What I Mean.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Do you use a tripod? Does the camera have a remote or a delay? That's how I use mine for jewelry.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I haven't been using a tripod with the Canon, no. For the sort of setup I usually lay out when doing quick-and-dirty product photos, it would be a lot of extra hassle. If I were trying to get closer to studio-quality output, I would consider it. Although even then, something much more compact than Hal's big Manfrotto tripod is probably in order. In any event, if the Lumix works as promised, dragging out the tripod should be rendered largely redundant. From the sample shots I've seen, it does remarkably with eliminating camera shake even in much lower light conditions than I'm talking about.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

What you wand is the Manfrotto mini. It will hold (officially) about 3 lbs, but if balanced properly I've used it for a 300mm on my Nikon F3. It has enough height that a box can be set up and the placement pretty much made mechanical.

The worry I would have closeup,(esp. handheld) is that you lose control of just what's in focus, because it's not shake that's going to ruin the picture, but back and forth (as I have had proven to me far too many times, when trying to shoot insects).

TK

p.s. I forgot to mention that it's a swell bit of jewelry.