TL and others...Camera Help ?

[ooo~Shiney!]

So I went out and bought a camera like TL just bought (Nikon Coolpix S6000) based on the pictures TL has been posting
as well as the fact that I had an old Elph that I recently gave to my son who is an Art major and needed a camera for a required blog
for one of his Art classes......

So, I LOVE the clarity of my everyday shots so far, much much better than the Elph (which is at LEAST 4 years old I think)

Problem is, when I take snaps of my stones, I want them to look like this:

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Problem is, more often than not, the macro seems to be focusing more on my finger, or the ring's band, for example, than the stone.
I have it set on macro, and the little green box seems to be centered on the stone.
The occasional shot does show the stone well, but not even as well as I can get with my iphone / loupe combo....
I have not been able to reproduce the clarity and closeness of TL shots.
But I would like to learn.

Any advice welcome.
I can't seem to upload any of my shots for examples at this time since I don't have a son around to show
me how to do it.
I have taken a few shots in different lighting, outside, in front of a window, under incandescent lighting, etc.

 

[minousbijoux]

Hah, TL, you knew you could influence the stone market, but did you know there has now been a run on Nikons because of you?!! I bought one too!

I'm right there with you Oo-Shiney!

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Here is a quick pic I snapped holding my loupe in front of my iphone,
I can't get anything that looks like this with my camera?

(HeeHee MB, how is it going with yours??? )

 

[Barrett]

This may work for you...My situation was different but the concept is the same. When I would take pictures of tourmaline rough or crystals and wanted to use the white paper test in sunlight(particularly blues) my camera would have a hard time taking pics with the sunlight bouncing off the white paper into the lens. For some reason it wouldn't focus. The only time this ever happened with any type of light was doing that technique in mid-morning or afternoon sun. No other light or time of day would this happen. What I would do then was position my camera where I wanted it and then take my finger, a leaf, or some other type of material. If I used my finger I would place it right next to the stone(s) and then click the button half way down to auto-focus on my finger then I would move the camera the 1cm over to where the stone was sitting and then fully click the button. With something like a thin leaf or any thin material that is not glassy you just hold it up against the stone then auto-focus, then remove the leaf and fully click the button to snap the pic. It will have focused where the leaf was which is right up against the stone so it will be in focus or real close...might need to take a couple to get one in exact focus.
I used a leaf because I was in sunlight outside and leaves were plentiful. I could always focus on gems or what have you in lighting conditions except reflected sunlight. In your case I might get some non-glossy construction paper in many colors then match up a col;or close to your stone then place right over the stone with your camera on a tripod or braced...half click the button to auto-focus...pull the paper away then press the button down.

This is an easy and quick way to get in focus on material that your camera won't focus on but I would not recommend doing it all the time since it's really not the best way to shoot gemstones. . Maybe you are to close or to far away from the stone? Is there a manuel focus?

 

[T L]

I find that the auto macro doesn't focus as well as the macro in the settings. Make sure you first have macro mode on (the little flower button on the bottom of the round dial). Then click the Scene button. On your screen, go down to the second icon, and look for the double flower icon in the list of icons. Try that and see if it focuses better. Thanks for the kind words on my shots.

Oh yes, the focus is much better in sunlight or when you have ample amount of light. If you don't, then forget about focusing.

 

[LD]

This may work for you...My situation was different but the concept is the same. When I would take pictures of tourmaline rough or crystals and wanted to use the white paper test in sunlight(particularly blues) my camera would have a hard time taking pics with the sunlight bouncing off the white paper into the lens. For some reason it wouldn't focus. The only time this ever happened with any type of light was doing that technique in mid-morning or afternoon sun. No other light or time of day would this happen. What I would do then was position my camera where I wanted it and then take my finger, a leaf, or some other type of material. If I used my finger I would place it right next to the stone(s) and then click the button half way down to auto-focus on my finger then I would move the camera the 1cm over to where the stone was sitting and then fully click the button. With something like a thin leaf or any thin material that is not glassy you just hold it up against the stone then auto-focus, then remove the leaf and fully click the button to snap the pic. It will have focused where the leaf was which is right up against the stone so it will be in focus or real close...might need to take a couple to get one in exact focus. I used a leaf because I was in sunlight outside and leaves were plentiful. I could always focus on gems or what have you in lighting conditions except reflected sunlight. In your case I might get some non-glossy construction paper in many colors then match up a col;or close to your stone then place right over the stone with your camera on a tripod or braced...half click the button to auto-focus...pull the paper away then press the button down.

This is an easy and quick way to get in focus on material that your camera won't focus on but I would not recommend doing it all the time since it's really not the best way to shoot gemstones. . Maybe you are to close or to far away from the stone? Is there a manuel focus?

Strangely that doesn't work with my camera. I've tried it on a number of occasions and it remains out of focus!

Shiney - one other thing to try is to put your ring/stone on a table then put the camera on the table about 4-6 inches in front of the stone and tilt until you can see the gemstone, focus and then shoot. This takes the wobble out of the photo and gives you more control. Also, don't use a white or black background to start with - try somethig neutral and go from there.

 

[T L]

I often hold my breath if taking a photo of a ring on my hand. Even the motion of breathing can cause a blurry photo!!

 

[Largosmom]

I hold my breath too, but use a slightly different technique...take a full breath, then release about half. The release relaxes you a bit.

Focusing can be a challenge...make sure it is focusing only on one point. Many cameras have a mode where they can focus on several points in the view of the lens.

Laura

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Thanks TL, Largosmom, LD and amethystguy !!!!!
I will give it a try and see what I come up with !!!!

I realize it's a learning process.
My problem is, I want to just shoot a picture and have it
magically turn out perfect !!! HA

I was busy all day yesterday, and am working the rest of the week, but
I will have some time to take a few pics in late afternoon sun
(if we get any) so I will see how it goes, and try to post some results !!!!!

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Oh I just noticed amethystguy posted a nice thread on gemstone and mineral photography,
will have to read through it after I get home from work !

THANKS everyone !!!!!!!
It's sure to help !!!!!!!!!!

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

I find that the auto macro doesn't focus as well as the macro in the settings. Make sure you first have macro mode on (the little flower button on the bottom of the round dial). Then click the Scene button. On your screen, go down to the second icon, and look for the double flower icon in the list of icons. Try that and see if it focuses better. Thanks for the kind words on my shots.

Oh yes, the focus is much better in sunlight or when you have ample amount of light. If you don't, then forget about focusing.

OK I just tried that idea and it seemed to work well !!!
Who knew?
I guess it would help if I actually read the directions that come with the camera, but........... nah.....

I am going to read amguys thread next, but the above suggestion seems to be workin' good!
Thanks!

 

[T L]

so where are your photos?

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

EeeeeeeK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am having sons coming home this weekend from college !
SOMEONE will be helping me set up a way to get these babies sized (or cropped?)
for proper uploading onto PS......

I tried earlier, and the pics were way too big to upload,
( help? again ? )

Pictures WILL be coming, I promise......

You know, as an aside, when I upload my pictures from my camera into my PC and look at them,
some of them look ok.
and then I hit that enlarge button?
When I do, I lose an awful lot of resolution.....

Are you all doing that on photo shop or something?
Do you get to enlarge the photo you already took, but
keep the sharpness of the resolution? (did I say that right?)

Sorry for all the questions.....

 

[T L]

I use paintbrush to crop. It's an archaic image editing software under accessorites in Windows. There's a crop icon, it looks like a little dotted square. I crop super up close on my macro shots, so I don't lose color. You can use shink/skew to shrink the photo, but I find it makes the photo lose color and resolution.

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Testing........ Buddy

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

OK here are a few pictures I snapped after I got home from work this afternoon, with the sun going down....
They are not cropped, enlarged or changed in any way.
These are all works in progress....
I used the setting that TL suggested the other day..... Thanks, TL
First, Chrysoberyl..... hopefully

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

It seems like the color of these pics on PriceScope is not quite what I am seeing on my monitor at home.....
Hmmmmmm ????
The clarity is not as good, either, or is it my eyes?
Well, anyway.
Mahenge Spinel ring.
How I love it!!!!! But Soooooo frustrating to take a good clear picture of it!!!!
Let's see how this looks....
This was a picture I took the other day in front of my bathroom window....
I had just bought the camera and did not know about the "super macro" setting at that time.
See how the camera wants to focus on the ring band and on my finger-hairs ?

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Here are a couple of pics I took outside this evening....
The lighting was a bit different in each of these shots....
Not sure about it.

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Actually here are my ultimate favorite pics of my Mahenge....
iphone while sitting at a red light, with the sun shining in the car juuuuust right

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Ok here are some of Barry Pastel Pink Tourmaline,
this was very difficult to capture.
I have to say the color in the picture doesn't accurately represent the true color of the stone.....
Barry must just be tearing his hair out trying to get the colors right on these !!!!!

Well, that's about all for tonite !!!!

 

[T L]

Your pictures came out great, and I love love love that chrysoberyl. I lost out on it at one time, but glad you got it and can take pics of it. I see yours has minty sparkles too.

Make sure your white balance is properly working. I keep mine on auto in the sunshine, but sometimes it has to be adjusted for different kinds of lighting. Adjust it so that your skin looks to be it's normal shade when you're looking threw the viewer. The white balance is in the menu. Also when downloading to PS, it sometmes makes you lose image crispness unless you save it as a png file, and sometimes you do lose color saturation, but I don't know how to correct that with uploading to PS.

More pictures!! Love the little conure. He's so adorable, and colorful!!

 

[minousbijoux]

Ooo-Shiney: your pics are great - now here's where you tell us that you're still working on the color balance and that actually Buddy is green and purple...

 

[Treenbean]

How about using a table top tripod like a gorillapod, to get crispy in focus pics? My camera has a tendency at times to focus on the background shooting through a hole really seems to help at times especially when I want to get a good pic of facets.

 

[T L]

Actually here are my ultimate favorite pics of my Mahenge....
iphone while sitting at a red light, with the sun shining in the car juuuuust right

Your stone has great fluorescence!

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Thanks for the encouragement and advice TL, MB and treebean !!!

I am sorry you lost out on the chrysoberyl, TL, but I am happy I got it !!!
I was studying your advices about chrysoberyl at that time, and when I saw that one I thought....
"that must be what she's talkin' about"
Thanks about Buddy, he has a lot of personality packed into that little body !

I will try the thing with the white balance.... and I will have one of my sons get on that png file thing !!!!

MB, thanks for the encouragement ! Buddy has pretty colors, ya ?
He really hates the camera, his "stick biting" is a display of what he is going to do to YOU if he
catches you !!!!!!!!!!! It is accompanied by lots of shrieking and feather shaking !
Usually when he's angry, his head-feathers puff up like a dandelion ~ little puff-head !

Treebean, I did buy a small tripod ! I haven't taken it out of its package yet,
hopefully I will give it a whirl this weekend, although I will be "on call"
I have pretty steady hands in general, but it's amazing the "shake" that the camera picks up!!!!

 

[chrono]

Buddy with an attitude – gotta love a bird like that.

That’s one chrysoberyl I wouldn’t mind owning as well. I can see some minty colours coming through. The Mahenge absolutely pops in the sun too so it has to have fluorescence.