How / where do you photograph your builds?

Its a great feeling, finishing a build, finding it 'works', being proud of it, taking a couple of snaps and sharing them with the nation. Too often though the little details that took you 5 sleepless nights to figure out are lost. Often the photos just dont say what you want them to say. So how do you lot photograph yours? I can use my cameras settings, so I guess this is more about background, lighting etc I usually lay mine on the grass outside as its a fairly uniform (ie non distracting) but its not ideal when its raining. Or dark. Or when I havnt cut the grass! I find normal indoor lighting changes the colour of everything, so whats the trick?... without spending a fortune of course!! Cheers

Replies

Bluesheart September 25, 2009 at 1:12pm

I think you are on the right track. Keeping the background simple and the lighting even is a good start. There are always exceptions of course. If the setting "says" something about the instrument, that can be used to advantage. Indoors, use window light if possible as it is the "right" color and bright. If too bright or harsh, you can drape a white sheet, shower curtain etc. over it to give a large ,soft light source. Avoid using the small built in flash if you can. They tend to create glare that hides the beauty or details of your creation. For detail shots, make sure you know how to use the "macro" settings and be sure not to get closer than the lens is able to focus. If your camera does not allow you to view "through the lens" , then you can find out what the closest focusing distance is in the manual ( you did read that little book ,right?) and cut a piece of string to that length. Stretch the string between the camera and the instrument and DO NOT get any closer than that cause if you do, the shot will not be sharp! Also, using a tripod or other stable mount will almost always improve your photos dramatically.
Diydc September 25, 2009 at 8:50am

I sadly do not even own a camera, so feel a little left behind on the subject at hand here....
J. K. September 25, 2009 at 4:37am

Outside light is fairly uniform in that it comes from the reflections from all around, the light is much stronger and the color temperature is around 5500-6000 kelvin which is hard to recreate inside. This is the light that the electronic flash on your camera tries to recreate but it lacks the punch to cover the distance or has too much of it when the subject is too close. So photographers try to make us of what they got to diffuse the light to make it more uniform. Like angling and letting the flash reflect off the roof(if it's painted white), using flash diffusers etc.

What most product photographers do is make a small enclosed space that's white on the inside with small opaque windows that they put their multiple flashes to work lighting up the subject called a white box or light box.

What I recommend you to do is get a big piece of white paper or fabric that you use as a backdrop to make your own improvised light box. Make sure it's not too glossy and it can be textured but then it gets a bit trickier with the color reflecting around, unless it's a backdrop from a photo-supplier. Another cheap fix is getting a cheap extra flash from a thrift store and fitting it with a slave flash trigger to get some extra light to the photo. Also natural light through a window also helps a lot and can be reflected around.