Author Topic: Klicky Photography - a rough guide  (Read 10828 times)

Offline Martin Milner

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Klicky Photography - a rough guide
« on: May 19, 2008, 19:50:56 »
Gustavo was asking about how to take clearer pictures, so here's a short guide on what I do. I'm no master photographer, but this works for me.



A light background may reflect more light, but it'll also make the subject appear darker. In this case I'm using an off-white quilt.



I set the flash to not go off, as for me this always washes out the photo. Flash will freeze the action and allow a faster shutter speed, but these klickies aren't moving very fast, so I have no need for as fast shutter speed. I've set the white balance to indoor (tungsten) lighting. Leaving the camera set to daylight setting will result in a yellow tinge.

The camera is on macro mode, which on my make is indicated by the tulip over the middle button of the 3 along the top of the camera.

The camera is obviously on a small tripod (cost less than $10), and set to use the timer delay, to avoid shake. You could balance the camera on a box or book, but the tripod makes life easier. The timer is the stopwatch like symbol. Most cameras offer a 10 second delay timer. My fancier one offers a 2 second delay, which saves 8 seconds of the rest of my life each time I take a timer photo.



My camera is set 7" from the subject, on macro mode. Unfortunately Gustavo your Kodak Easyshare CX7300 camera doesn't seem to have a macro setting (I checked the specs and it says minimum focal length is 31.5 inches. )



To get the photo of the first camera on a tripod, I had to use a  second camera on a tripod. Handheld wasn't good enough, I still got camera shake.

The third camera taking the picture of the second camera on a tripod taking the picture of the first camera on a tripod is on a tripod. At this point we ran out of tripods and cameras.



This is the picture the first camera took, unretouched. This is my customised SWAT tank, with rollbars added to beef it up and silver hubcaps replacing the standard yellow ones.

The bottom corner wheel is slightly out of focus, but the top of the top klicky's helmet is in focus. The depth of focus using macro mode is not great, maybe three inches at best.



Same picture, cropped and resized using Microsoft Office Picture Manager, which I think comes with most PCs as standard. There are fancier software programs out there, but this works fine for most of my klicky pictures.

You can see some dust particles on the vehicle and helmets, so I'm quite happy with this quality, but not the state of my dusting. The camera used is 6 megapixels, so I can zoom in more with the cropping and resizing and still not get grainy. It all looks pretty crisp to me except the klicky's left thumb, which I think is an oddity of the angle it's at to the camera.

Offline Richard

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Re: Klicky Photography - a rough guide
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2008, 20:53:07 »


Great guide, Martin!  Thank you ...  :wow:

Sometimes, I forget how lucky I am to live where I do.
(Thank you for reminding me.) ...  :love:

Here in the tropics, all I have to do is go outside and snap away.
(Also, I probably don't see as well as I used to, so everything looks wonderful.) ... :lol:

After reading your very well written guide, I grabbed my Canon PowerShot A510.
And, I went outside and took this photo of one of our Caribbean's finest ... ;)

Thanks again and all the best,
Richard

see attachment

Offline kaethe

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Re: Klicky Photography - a rough guide
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2008, 00:29:53 »
at the rate of sounding low tech, what is the best way to post photos?

thanks
kaethe

Offline Gustavo

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Re: Klicky Photography - a rough guide
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2008, 01:04:05 »

Unfortunately Gustavo your Kodak Easyshare CX7300 camera doesn't seem to have a macro setting (I checked the specs and it says minimum focal length is 31.5 inches. )


This is the bit of info that I needed to hear :-\ ... On the other hand, it will save me much more than 8 seconds of the rest of my life. As I thought, there's no way to focus with the camera I have here; I'll have to get a new camera :hmm: Which is a good thing! ::)

Thanks a lot, Martin!, for all the trouble :yup: This tutorial is great, and it helps not only me, I believe -- and hope ;D!

... Aw, & nice swat team this of yours, btw ;)

G.
 :)
Gus
:blackhair:

Offline Martin Milner

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Re: Klicky Photography - a rough guide
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2008, 07:02:02 »
at the rate of sounding low tech, what is the best way to post photos?

thanks
kaethe

I use Photobucket which is a free internet site for hosting photos.

Once you've signed up with an account, you can upload photos to it, and it provides a quick link which you copy & paste into your message.

I resize photos (when I don't forget) to 640x480 pixels in Microsoft Office Picture Manager, there's a presetting to do this, so they fit inside the final message frame on this board.

Others post thumbnails (see Richard's post), but I prefer to go with the full picture from the out, as it's quicker and easier for the reader, and doesn't interrupt the flow of a photostory.

Frequently with the thumbnails I've found I've navigated away from Playmofriends by mistake and have to log in gain.

Offline Sylvia

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Re: Klicky Photography - a rough guide
« Reply #5 on: May 20, 2008, 07:49:17 »

This is a great how-to guide, Martin! Thank you for taking the time to write and post it.  :D

The third camera taking the picture of the second camera on a tripod taking the picture of the first camera on a tripod is on a tripod. At this point we ran out of tripods and cameras.

This made me laugh! ;D

I don't generally usually use a tripod, but I'm thinking I might try one in future because it sounds like a very good tip. :)9

Frequently with the thumbnails I've found I've navigated away from Playmofriends by mistake and have to log in gain.

I'm not quite sure how that can happen. :eh?:

Unlike on some other forums - such as playmoboard - the thumbnails at PF open in the same window as the post, and not on a new page. I often used to accidentally click the page closed instead of navigating back to the text with the back button. Very annoying, so I'm glad it doesn't happen here. ;)


Offline Martin Milner

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Re: Klicky Photography - a rough guide
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2008, 08:52:05 »

I'm not quite sure how that can happen. :eh?:

Unlike on some other forums - such as playmoboard - the thumbnails at PF open in the same window as the post, and not on a new page. I often used to accidentally click the page closed instead of navigating back to the text with the back button. Very annoying, so I'm glad it doesn't happen here. ;)


I find that if I click on the link rather than the picture, the picture comes up big but has replaced the thread rather than opened in a new window. If I inadvertantly close the picture, thinking it was a new window, I'm now no longer on the board and have to start over.

It happens a lot to me, probably because I'm used to opening new windows rather than using links to navigate away from a page, so I choose not to use thumbnails. Just a choice of style.

Also when posting a reply, you can't see the thumbnail attachments, but you can still see an embedded link, so it's easier if you're trying to comment on a picture that you can sell scroll back and still see it.

Offline playmofire

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Re: Klicky Photography - a rough guide
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2008, 09:21:44 »
A great guide, Martin, and I wonder if there isn't the start of a "sticky" here on photography?

Like Sylvia, I was puzzled how you managed to leave PF when clicking on a picture, and even if you are clicking on the actual link, it's a puzzle to me.  If I left click on the link, I'm asked if I want to open the image or save it to disc.  If I left click on the picture, it enlarges.  If I right click on the picture, I'm asked if I want to open it in a new window or a new tab.
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Offline Richard

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Re: Klicky Photography - a rough guide
« Reply #8 on: May 20, 2008, 19:20:17 »


Hello, Martin ...



Like Sylvia, I was puzzled how you managed to leave PF when clicking on a picture, and even if you are clicking on the actual link, it's a puzzle to me.  If I left click on the link, I'm asked if I want to open the image or save it to disc.  If I left click on the picture, it enlarges.  If I right click on the picture, I'm asked if I want to open it in a new window or a new tab.



I have to agree with Gordon. Even though I'm using a "single click" Mac, I can't understand why you're having the problem that you're describing.

Clicking on the image simply enlarges it to it's original size on the open page. Clicking on the enlarged image reduces it to the thumbnail on the open page. And, clicking on the image title downloads the image to your desktop.

The only way I can physically leave the open page is by "forgetting" to click on the enlarged image and instead clicking on the "back" button (which I've, occasionally, been known to do) ...  :-[

All the best,
Richard


Offline Richard

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Re: Klicky Photography - a rough guide
« Reply #9 on: May 20, 2008, 20:00:41 »



Hello again, Martin ...  :wave:



Others post thumbnails (see Richard's post), but I prefer to go with the full picture from the out, as it's quicker and easier for the reader, and doesn't interrupt the flow of a photostory.



The main reason that I use "thumbnails" is because I'm an old meanie! ...  :hmm:

Unregistered "guests" and "visitors" can't see photos and images that have been directly uploaded to the Playmofriends website. If they want to see our "pretty pictures," then they have to pay their five Euro membership fee just like the rest of us ... :lol:

All the best,
Richard, the "old meanie"


Edit: Changed "that" to "then they" ... Makes sense now ... :lol:
« Last Edit: May 21, 2008, 14:01:22 by Richard »