Cigar Pictures 101

[mikeyj23]

CS loves pictures, but it seems like every day we get some examples of the following:


I'm no professional photographer, and all my pictures come from a $100 camera I got 2-3 years ago at Best Buy (Panasonic DMC-LZ3). There are a few quick, simple ways to ensure great cigar pictures.

First: Be aware of where the camera focus is. Often in the middle of the camera screen you'll see something like [SIZE="4"][ ][/SIZE] - the camera will attempt to focus the image to whatever's inside the brackets or box. Put the CIGAR inside the box, not the background. If you want the cigar off-center in the image, focus on the cigar by half-pressing your shutter button, then move the cigar or lens to frame the picture how you want. The focus will still be set on the distance of the cigar rather than the background.

Second: Make sure you have enough light to take a decent picture. In all three pictures above, there was not enough light in the room so the flash either reflected off the cigar band (pictures 1 and 2), or there was no flash, resulting in a very dark, blurry picture (3). Flash is not a replacement for ambient light. It can certainly assist if there's already plenty of light in the room, but you won't likely get a good picture of a cigar in a dark room just by using flash.

Just correcting focus and indoor lighting, we've improved from this to this:

Not perfect, but certainly an improvement.

Third: If possible, take pictures outside. Natural light is 100x better for pictures than artificial light. Find a fun location to set the cigar(s) or hold them, and make sure you're focusing on the cigar. Now we've upgraded to this:


Lastly: Become familiar with the Macro mode on your camera. Nearly all modern/common digital cameras will have a Macro mode - often represented by a flower on the mode selection wheel or screen. Macro mode is a specific setting for taking pictures of close things. In our examples here the change isn't dramatic, but often the change is very significant. Here's a picture taken with Macro mode:


I'm no professional photographer and I have an incredibly average camera, but great pictures are possible with just about any equipment. Pay attention to your focus, lighting, background and Macro mode and hopefully we'll see some better pictures around the board!

[scottw]

Thanks for the tips. I use the cell phone camera, only one I have, it's convenient but the pictures suck.

[white_s2k]

Good info, I suck at taking pics

[kayaker]

Nice job on the photos and explanation.

[Cozy]

But how do you post them in the thread like you did? I just can't figure that out

[barbourjay]

Originally Posted by Cozy

But how do you post them in the thread like you did? I just can't figure that out

get a free image hosting account. then you can store pictures online. photobucket will work and it's free and you can it will even give you the code to use to have the pictures show up in threads.

[Poriggity]

I am with the original poster here.. Macro is your friend. I couldn't figure out why my cigar pics were not coming out good, until I figured out the Macro function, and it made the pics 100 times better, like this:



Scott

EDIT: And yes, photobucket works great. I use it for everything, except for cigar command, where I use Image shack, as it is the only site that hasn't been blocked yet by work filters for those viewing cigar command at work.

[mikeyj23]

I use imageshack for image hosting - although they're not so slowly being overtaken completely by ads. I might switch to photobucket soon.

[kayaker]

I just upload my photos as attachments and they come up with a nice thumbnail that you can click on.

[Da Klugs]

Artificial light has it's charms as well.

[d.o.]

I would think hosting the images here would be the best all around. That way you're positive that everyone who has access to the site can view see them. A lot of image hosting sites are blocked by various firewalls.

[petewho]

Originally Posted by mikeyj23

Natural light is 100x better for pictures than artificial light.

Good info, but this is the only part I'd disagree with. Pick up any fashion magazine and you'll see mostly studio shots with artificial light. I suppose more accurate would be to say that average household incandescent bulbs that run around 2900K won't convert well to the typical point-n-shoot digicam's auto white balance feature (sunlight is in the 4000K-5500K range, depending on where in the sky the sun is). That, and the typical low-light levels inside the house force the camera into a high ISO mode that produces grainy pictures.

One of the best ways to improve pictures is the very thing that nobody ever wants to do - put the camera on a tripod or other support. (with point-and-shoot combine the tripod with the self-timer or else you'll shake the camera when you push the button negating the benefit you get from the tripod). Works best when combined with some manual overrides on the camera and a basic knowledge of how a camera works.

Another thing that works well for compact digicams - set the camera to the max image size, take the picture from further away, then crop it down to the image you want. Macro mode is nice, but up close you get a shallower depth of field (more chance for it to be out of focus).

[mikeyj23]

Originally Posted by petewho

Good info, but this is the only part I'd disagree with. Pick up any fashion magazine and you'll see mostly studio shots with artificial light. I suppose more accurate would be to say that average household incandescent bulbs that run around 2900K won't convert well to the typical point-n-shoot digicam's auto white balance feature (sunlight is in the 4000K-5500K range, depending on where in the sky the sun is). That, and the typical low-light levels inside the house force the camera into a high ISO mode that produces grainy pictures.

Thanks for the clarification. As I said, I am NOT a photographer - I just know that the lightbulbs in my house don't facilitate as good of pictures as the sun outside. This is certainly a guide from the layman and for the layman, so I went for the general rule I've discovered.

[kayaker]

Originally Posted by petewho

Good info, but this is the only part I'd disagree with. Pick up any fashion magazine and you'll see mostly studio shots with artificial light. I suppose more accurate would be to say that average household incandescent bulbs that run around 2900K won't convert well to the typical point-n-shoot digicam's auto white balance feature (sunlight is in the 4000K-5500K range, depending on where in the sky the sun is). That, and the typical low-light levels inside the house force the camera into a high ISO mode that produces grainy pictures.

I have to disagree a little with your disagreement. I wrote an article for a kayaking magazine, including pic. They suggested taking the shots outside. As you say, regular housing lighting often isn't good enough. Studio shots with proper lighting is a expensive way to go for our cigar shots, and it's just trying to replicate the brightness of an outside shot in a more controlled environment. Just my .

[stearns]

Originally Posted by Da Klugs

Artificial light has it's charms as well.

it could be pitch black and that picture would be drop dead beautiful...

stearns