Taking Mug Shots

i'd love to share pictures of my mugs on Humuhumu's Ooga-Mooga site ~ but i'm a doofus at taking pictures!

what tips do you have for me? i have a Cannon PowerShot A60 and a tripod. ~ and no i haven't totally read the instructions :roll: i pretty much use the auto focus and zoom. any advice on the other buttons on the camera would be appreciated. what kind of background is best? how close up should the picture be? and what resolution?

thanks!
elicia

I'm a Canon gal. Currently have a S30 but it just stopped working last week! arrggghhh So i just ordered one of the newer smaller ones today--the Canon SD400--it better be here by Friday!

On the S30 there's simply a little button with the graphic of a tulip that you press--this puts you into macro or close-up mode. Very simple. You'll get a fine photo if you use the auto mode. Experiment if you have the time.

I often like to shoot against a white background because I use my photos in artwork sometimes and this makes knocking out the background easier. I just use a couple of large white foamcore boards (like you find a Michaels).

Sample:

JUST hold the camera and say "give me love, give me love" over and over!!!

Does that work with other things and other areas of life as well? For example, let's say I have an empty Margarita glass. If I repeat, "give me love...give me love" what will I get??

Lighting is the key, and it doesn't really matter so much how MUCH light you have so long as it's well directed. If you don't have a lot of light available, use a tripod. No tripod? Get more light. The cheapest way to get more light is to go outside on a shady porch, tape a piece of white cloth to the wall for a background and shoot. Shade gives you even, nearly shadowless lighting. Use your camera's white balance pre-set with a white sheet of paper to correct for the blue cast of the shade and you'll have accurate colors.

Personally, I like to use old movie lights (Sylvania Sun Gun units are GREAT and CHEAP), bounce them off the ceiling and do the white balance pre-set. Gets me a solid f11 and into good depth of field range.

Getting good macro shots doesn't have to be difficult, or expensive. To learn about more advanced (but still cheap) lighting options, check THIS out!

You can purchase something like this: http://www.ezcube.com/ or do a google seach for "DIY softbox" for lots of plans and idea.

Of course, the cheapest way to do it is to take a piece of white foamcore outside on a bright, uniformly cloudy day.

I have found that drinking an appropriate number of Mai Tais is critical- enaough to get the creative juices flowwing, but not enough to blurr your vision. Then follow the advice of the previous people that know what they are talking about.

Seriously, they give some good advice. Reflected light is best since it is not too harsh.