The Secret to Scoring Awesome Detail Shots
So you’re trying to take some photos of your bling. Or your finished DIY menu cards. Or the sweet shower invitation you got the other day. And you already know Anne Ruthmann’s tutorial like the back of your hand. But the pictures just aren’t coming out right. Why???
My hunch is: You’re probably not playing close enough attention to Step #3.
Good light is ESSENTIAL to a great photograph! The easiest light to work with is natural light because it’s the most powerful and consistent. Make your way to a nearby window or take it outside. If you don’t have any natural light to work with, you can get creative with a flash light, the light coming from your computer or TV, or just any ol’ light in the ceiling or from a lamp around your house. In order for the light to be bright enough in an artificial lighting situation, you may need to get closer to the light source, which is why a flashlight may sometimes work better in these situations.
The first time I tried to take these shots, it was a gloomy day and I was trying to use the natural light from a north-facing window. Every single shot I took was blurry. Since I don’t have tons of artificial lighting in the house, I decided to be patient, knowing that the best shots I take are on sunny days.
And a few days later, I got a perfect day!
I positioned myself under this west-facing window on a sunny afternoon:
And started clicking away.
I also used a white sheet of paper as a background. This helps to bounce the available light back at the camera and the object, giving the camera the illusion that the setting is brighter than it really is.
Pictures come out blurry for two reasons, generally. One is focus. You have to have focus. If your camera is having trouble with this, try a simpler background. My white envelope worked perfectly for this.
The other is shutter speed. Your camera’s shutter speed will slow down if your environment isn’t bright enough. I’m sure you’ve taken a photo at a party and heard how long the camera took to snap it, and thought “that’ll for sure be blurry”. That’s because your shutter was open too long. The camera leaves the shutter open as long as it needs to to absorb enough light for an adequately bright shot. Unfortunately, most people can’t stand statue-still for longer than 1/20th of a second or so, and so we get blurry photos.
I snapped about 150 photos of Mr. Mary Jane’s ring on that aforementioned cloudy day. Most were shot at 1/10 of a second, and I got maybe two usable shots. When I changed location and shot on a sunny day with a bright background (the envelope), I took about 100 shots (at 1/80 of a second or faster shutter speed) and almost all of them were crystal clear.
Yes, I have a pretty nice camera. But that really doesn’t matter as much as you may think. Your skill and knowledge matter much more than how much your camera cost. Case in point:
I took that one with my Canon Powershot SD300 Digital Elph, which is a 5-year-old, 4 megapixel point-and-shoot:
[source]
So if you’re having trouble getting a good shot, don’t whine about how much your camera sucks.
- Follow Anne Ruthmann’s tips.
- Get your camera to focus properly (even if that means a very simple background).
- GET MORE LIGHT!
- THEN, get some MORE LIGHT!
What’s your number one tip for amateur photographers?
