I'm looking to upgrade my camera lens. Any advice or thoughts? - Page 2

risingstar · 12-24-2014, 02:26 PM

I used more natural lighting here, which is generally fine, but it meant taking the risk that the figure might look more pale or washed out...

risingstar · 12-24-2014, 02:31 PM

This one was another complicated shoot because of the white features on the figure's face... It almost felt like there was some kind of filter between the camera and the figure making it a bit harder to hone in on the detail.

risingstar · 12-24-2014, 02:43 PM

My general objective in taking pics is so that you can almost feel like you can reach out and grab what you see on screen. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Here's another attempt which didn't quite hit the mark... Definitely not the right mix of lighting and natural lighting. I'll need to take another shot at this one at some point. I'm not sure what I was trying to accomplish here... lol.

risingstar · 12-24-2014, 02:59 PM

Better mix of lighting here but could use some more work...

I took this pic in one of the display room which has a skylight. Decent effect but I would have preferred less lightning on his pants. However, again, too much lighting risks washing out the facial features...

risingstar · 12-24-2014, 03:06 PM

This shoot had some nice clarity to them. The red and black really pops. However, I think I could have used a little less sunlight here as well.

risingstar · 12-24-2014, 03:08 PM

I'm probably being too perfectionist or hard on myself. Thing is, whenever I see room for improvement, I can't help but focus in on what it would take to brings things to another level...

WickedlNl · 12-24-2014, 03:30 PM

As far as the diorama goes, did you check in settings if you are using single focus point? So when u look through the viewfinder and you see a little red square or dot where its focusing. You can either chose AUTO so it turns up all focusing points and gets everything infront in focus or take the picture from a bit further so that your center is focused on the whole diorama and then just crop it (makes it zoom) and you should now have completely focus piece.

As for the warmth, do you use Photoshop at all? If not i highly suggest PS Lightroom 4. Its meant for digital photography only so just play around with it for one day and you will get the hang of it. You have tons of sliders for example, just by pushing to the left or right you can get in 1 sec the warmth you desire and same goes for detail, just slide up the "shadows" bar and all dark spots will reveal light.

So yea lens wont help with that but it is sharper than the one you have for example now so your image quality will go up.

EDIT:

Its all about playing around as you say, especially with the light. For example Quinn you could just raise the exposure or the whites in the picture. Btw great statues and shots, I really like the superman one with the light on top illuminating him!

WickedlNl · 12-24-2014, 03:42 PM

EDIT #2

As I can see you are really more interested in taking shots mainly of the statues, maybe its best to chose one spot in the house you will always use for that so you have a little consistent spot. If you gonna buy the lens, add this as well, its only $50. And you get to adjust and point the light any direction or height you want. It gives this fake natural lighting effect because of the "curtain" over the lightbulb. So you wont have that shine/glossy exposure on the statues and pretty much you can aim at the statues however you like. I think this would work great for you!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...0_x_70_cm.html

This is the difference it makes:

risingstar · 12-24-2014, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WickedlNl

EDIT #2

As I can see you are really more interested in taking shots mainly of the statues, maybe its best to chose one spot in the house you will always use for that so you have a little consistent spot. If you gonna buy the lens, add this as well, its only $50. And you get to adjust and point the light any direction or height you want. It gives this fake natural lighting effect because of the "curtain" over the lightbulb. So you wont have that shine/glossy exposure on the statues and pretty much you can aim at the statues however you like. I think this would work great for you!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...0_x_70_cm.html

Thanks! I'll look into that. I appreciate the time you took to post some thoughts on this.

P.S. 99% of my shots take place on that table. I'm quite consistent about THAT, at least... lol. It's kind of like my signature, in a sense.

risingstar · 12-24-2014, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WickedlNl

As for the warmth, do you use Photoshop at all?

So yea lens wont help with that but it is sharper than the one you have for example now so your image quality will go up.

EDIT:

Btw great statues and shots, I really like the superman one with the light on top illuminating him!

I sometimes use Corel paintshop. Sometimes I use Microsoft picture manager if it's simply to crop.

I also think it's time to upgrade my lens!

Thanks for the thoughts on the pics. I realize I'm probably being too critical. My thought is that I think I can turn the corner on this one and be where I want to be with the gear I have.