Taking Pics With an Digital SLR.

[Alex Stylianou]

All of you guys are pretty good at photography. Could someone please help me take pics . I have a Panasonic Lumix. I think the one of my late grandad's rollie was just lucky . I appreciate your expertise.

[Gedanken]

Panasonic makes DSLRs?

What model Lumix is it? If we know its features, we can provide better advice.

[Alex Stylianou]

It's a DMC - FZ20

[Gedanken]

OK Alex, as far as basic photography goes, the three most important things are:

1) lighting
2) lighting and
3) lighting

Seriously though, if your lighting's not right the best camera in the world won't help you. The key to it is getting enough light to register on your camera's CCD, and that needs to be taken care of ahead of anything else, and because you are taking shots of a watch, you have to be careful that the reflection off the crystal doesn't spoil the shot.

In light of this (pardon the pun), you need a lighting source that is bright enough to bring out the features of the watch and dispersed enough so that reflections off the crystal don't obscure the dial. Natural sunlight is good, and taking the shot in a well-lit room (but without the sunlight shining directly on the watch) is a good start. If you don't have that, reflecting a bright lamp off a piece of white paper that's placed reasonably close to the watch will help.

Two camera settings that will help get more light into the camera are the shutter speed and aperture size. The lower the shuuter speed and the larger the aperture, the more light you will get. However, each has its own drawbacks.

Slower shutter sppeds mean more risk of camera shake, so you'll probably need to use a tripod and use the 2-second timer so that you don't shake the camera while pressing the shutter button. Also, at anything less than 1/6 second shutter speed, your second hand will be blurred (since the second hand moves at 6 beats per second).

Larger apertures mean you get less depth of field, and it's harder to keep things in focus. For example, with a large aperture for a close-up shot, the dial may be in focus but the bracelet may not, or in macro shots, the edge of the photo will be blurry.

That said, with proper light and a tripod, a shutter speed of 1/30 seconds and aperture set between f/2.8 and f/3.5, you should be able to get pretty decent shots.

Whatever you do, keep your ISO speed as low as possible (ISO 80 on your camera). Sure, with ISO 400 the picture comes out bright, but you lose a lot of detail and if the lighting's still not good enough you'll see noise in the form of speckling across the darker areas of the picture.

Also, forget about using the built-in flash. All you'll get is a whited-out shot and probably reflection off the crystal or other shiny parts of the watch.

Anyway, your FZ20 has manual settings (the "M" setting on the dial on top of your camera. Start by setting the camera up on a tripod (or a stable surface if you don't have one), and play around with the shutter speed and aperture settings until you get it right. If nothing works, change the lighting. All the best!

On a side issue, the FZ20 isn't a DSLR but a prosumer instead, but the difference is really academic unless you want to change lenses or play with raw files.

[ginzo]

Gedanken, Good stuff here. Thanks for the detailed post.

[nko51]

My biggest problems are lighting and glare, if you can get these right along with focusing you will have it made. There is an article in John Broziak's "Aa Unauthorized Rolex Guide", which explains the process.

[Gedanken]

Originally Posted by ginzo

Gedanken, Good stuff here. Thanks for the detailed post.

Thanks, Robert! We discussed photography in more detail in this thread: http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=11986. I believe it'll cover the issues that nko has just raised too.

[Gedanken]

Actually, I've just realised that this thread's not in the Open Forum as it should be (hey, it's half past two in the mornign here ). I'm moving it now.

[Subfiend]

One of the best things about TRF are the photos and the members who contribute their expertise. Thanks guys.

[Gedanken]

Thanks, Dave - we aim to please!

Anyway, to expand on the point about apertures and depth of field, here's an illusration. I've taken two identical photos using different aperture settings. This shot was taken at 1/10 second shutter speed with an aperture of f/2.8:



The one below was taken at 1/6 second shutter speed and f/5.6 aperture:


I've adjusted the brightness of the first photo just to equalise things - at this point, it's the focus we're interested in and not the brightness.

Now both photos were focussed on the watches, but don't look at the watches (yes, yes, a tall order on this forum ), but instead look at the keyboard and the front edge of the desk.

In the first photo, the watches are in sharp focus, but the keyboard and the edge of the desk are blurry. Compare this to the second photo, where even though the focus on the desk and keyboard are not as sharp as that on the watches, you see a lot more detail than in the first photo.

Now there's no saying if the first photo is better than the second. It all really depends on what your intention is. If you want to bring out emphasis on the watches, the first photo is better, but if you want to capture the whole scene, a smaller aperture brings more of the overall picture into focus.

[JJ Irani]

Good work, James....and an excellent explanation coupled with some great info!!

[Gedanken]

Thanks, JJ - besides, I'll take any excuse to play with my 400D.