Camera Settings

I understand that this doesnt relate directly to organics, but it was extremely helpful to me. I see alot of folks taking pictures (of course!), and, probably like myself dont know what half the settings on thier camera means. I'm hoping that perhaps others can add to this, but after taking ALOT of awful pictures, Stankie, Papawayne and Happy Buds gave me some excellent advice so I figured I'd pass it on. I am now even able to take pictures in my flower room, with a thousand watt HPS blaring away without the pictures looking all yellow and ugly.

Some may find this helpful, others not, but if it helps one or two folks its worth it.

Please keep in mind that I just copied and pasted some posts to a Word document - they are kind of jumbled so pick and choose between the lines.

Hope this helps some.

jerry.


PAPAWAYNE

First, disable the flash. It's too direct, too harsh, and it creates hot spots. Use CF bulbs for light if you have them, otherwise just use regular incandescent room lighting. Keep the light(s) above or to the side and behind the camera lens.

Second, if you don't have a tripod, rest the camera on a stack of books or something stable (don't hold it in your hands), and use the camera's timer function so you can click the shutter, step back and wait for the camera to do it's thing. This will eliminate any hand shake blur, especially if you increase the exposure times to make up for the poor lighting.

Camera settings:
Manual mode
Focus: Auto Focus - Area Mode
White Balance: Auto
Metering: Matrix
Best Shot Selector: Off (if your camera has that option)
Image Adjustment: Normal
Image Sharpening: Auto
Image Quality: Normal or Fine (I usually use fine, because I like to play in Photoshop, and Fine gives me more pixels to play with)
Lens: If your camera has optional settings for digital lens creation, just use Normal. Otherwise, select the lens that's attached to your camera.
ISO (sensitivity): 100 (or as low as it will go)
Exposure: Try using the Auto Bracketing feature (check your manual, it may be called something else). What that does is set the camera so that the next series of pics (usually 5) will automatically have the exposure setting changed from + 1,2 to - 1,2 around the 0 setting. You click the shutter 5 times and get 5 different exposures to choose from when you're done.

Edit: The F-stop setting controls the aperture size. The lower the setting, the bigger the aperture, which will bring everything into focus - foreground and background. The higher the F-stop, the smaller the aperture, which will cause the foreground area to be in focus, but blur the background and sides of the pic. Generally, lower F-stop settings are preferable, unless you want to add a distinct depth-of-field look to a pic.

STANKIE

Jerry, for taking close bud shots, I would recommend setting your camera to manual mode and keep every setting the same except play with the aperture setting for a particular distance. This is how I played around, and got familiar, with my camera for bud shots, growing and dried.

For instance on my camera when I take bud shots, here are the settings:
Manual mode (automatic fucks with too much), flash ON (ALWAYS for macro bud shots, unless natural sunlight is available(which it isn't in my grow room)), 1/180s (The fastest my camera will go with the flash firing), 100 ISO (lowest), center-weighted metering (not automatic, not center, but I believe this is a pentax thing, so).

The only thing I mess with is the f stop setting. 22 or 25 for uber close. 16-20 for 'medium close', 11-16 for 'far close' and about < 8.0 for a wide shot of the room.

Nothing matches natural sunlight, which is what I use for all my 'dried shots'. I don't really want to move my plants right in front of my front window for photo shoots, so that is why I always recommend using a flash.

I shoot in RAW and photoediting software is a big plus.


HAPPYBUDS


Re: Jerrys Organic Obsession

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Quote:
Originally Posted by papawayne
Edit: The F-stop setting controls the aperture size. The lower the setting, the bigger the aperture, which will bring everything into focus - foreground and background. The higher the F-stop, the smaller the aperture, which will cause the foreground area to be in focus, but blur the background and sides of the pic. Generally, lower F-stop settings are preferable, unless you want to add a distinct depth-of-field look to a pic.

Papawayne, you da man! Good job getting MX to buy a tripod too (he got it today if you want to go over to his thread).

I gotta correct this little part though

You've got your aperture and DOF (Depth of Field) relationship mixed up.

It's true that a higher f-stop will make the aperture smaller but that allows more things to be in focus, not the opposite.

Jerry, I have to agree with Stankie that shooting RAW is one of those small changes you can make a HUGE difference in the quality of your work. Unfortunately, your camera doesn't shoot RAW. Not a big deal though, just look for it when you get your next camera.

Macro Mode
Your camera does have a Macro mode (page 73 of manual - it's the little flower icon). It's meant for 0 - 1.6ft range. The camera in this mode will be expecting the subject to be that close and will make focusing easier. Generally speaking I agree with papawayne about using off camera lighting. Even with a $2,000+ camera you simply don't use the on camera flash because it can't do what a off camera flash can. With that being said I agree somewhat with Stankie. Using the on camera flash with a macro shot (as long as the exposure turns out alright) will really show off the ICE on your buds. If you do bring a light into your flower room make sure it's a 2700k light so that way it matches the color balance of your existing lights. If you use your flash it will have it's own color balance and it will be fighting the lights in the room (flash generally overpowers everything though).

Color Balance
Alright, one small improvement you need to make is getting your color balance right. Remember how MH or 5600k are best for veg and 2700k or HPS are best for flower? Well your camera sees color balance in K (Kevins) as well. So, if you're shooting in your flowering room simply adjust the K value of your color balance to 2700 and your white balance will be perfect every shot. Shooting plants in veg? Set it to 5600k and you're good to go!

Pretty neat right? Well that's how it's supposed to work. Sometimes we have different light sources with different values and that can make things difficult. Unfortunately, your camera won't let you set a specific K value. BUT, it will let you set a custom white balance. Check out page 77 of your manual it explains how to do a custom white balance. You just need to go into your flowering room with your camera and a piece of paper. Go to white balance set it to custom and make sure the paper fills the screen then push DISP. Your camera just set that piece of paper as white. It's important that the paper isn't over exposed or your camera won't be able to get any information off of it. Now take a few pictures around the garden. How do they look?

You aren't done yet! Now also set your camera white balance to Tungsten and take a few more pictures. On your computer compare the pictures under tungsten to the ones with the custom white balance. Which look better? Don't be afraid to post the pictures if you wan a second opinion. Some people don't even notice the difference between a proper white balance and a bad one. Kind of like how some people can see deficiencies and others can't (but me in that latter category).

Generally Tungsten on a camera is somewhere between 2500 - 3500k. If your camera thinks tungsten is 2700k then just use the tungsten setting and you are good to go in your flower room. If that isn't correct then it would be worth taking a few seconds to set it manually when you're going to take pictures. You can actually also do the exact same thing for your veg room. Except in veg we're looking for 5600k so we use the Daylight white balance setting.

Your pictures look great man. I think you'll help your self a lot by getting a proper white balance though.

Quick Note: Notice in this picture everything in the room looks yellow but the reflector looks white? That's because you were using a flash and the white balance was set to flash (or auto) but was overpowered by your HPS except where it bounced on the reflector. Kinda neat right?

hth.

jerry.

 

*lol* thanks guys,

It WAS very cool, after forever of yellow pics due to HPS lighting to be able to take one that wasnt yellow - and it was easily come by with the info above. We all like good pics, but for guys like me that just dont know the right settings on the newfangled gizmos, it was helpful. Cheers to Stanky, Happy Buds and Papawayne for the info and the effort! I;d like to see more tips for us camera dumbasses *lol*

Hope all of you are having a good weekend!

jerry.

 

Now, it's been way too long folks - how about some of you photography buffs help us all out with some tips and tricks?

Seriously - taking good pictures, general and close ups can be hard with all of te newfangled settings on these newfangled cameras.

Tips and tricks, cameraphiles?

Thanks in advance!

J