Anyone know anything about photography in general? Question inside

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funk

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Ok, sup' homies...guys...women... -

Questions - I'm not a photographer, I'm a graphic designer and I have a novel idea for something I am launching soon, it's "like" a calender/magazine

Ok here is the thing, remember like Blair Witch Project, how it was done ony cheap budget and shit with not all the professional equipment, think of this in the same way

Ok now I do not own a studio - I do not own a top class camera etc etc, but I don't want a studio etc.

The pictures for this calender are going to be taken in "normal rooms" and the pictures will be taken with todays normal digital cameras - good ones, like that make good quality pics not 1 Megapixels or nothing but good ones.

Ok now, I will design the calender in say Adobe Indesign - I will get random pictures of my friends using a NORMAL camera on hi-res mode, not a professional camera

Is this ok?

Or like when it comes out for print, will it come out REALLYYY shit?

For example, I'm planning to print this calender on A3 paper, the normal calender look/style/structure

What do I have to make sure when taking these pics?

For example, if you go out and buy the Britney Spears calender, the pictures are good quality etc - I want my pics to be good quality also but I'm not going to be using a pro camera - just a normal digital cam

What res should I be looking to take these in? And anything else?

For example I took this picture of my g/f, and to me, that is good quality - Maybe could be better with some photoshop retouching contrast wise but it's still good. I also have it in the original size which I can't remember offhand and it was good on that too -



Need some help people - or info - or advice

Thanks!
 
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I'm no expert but my advice would be to set the camera (if possible) to the highest resolution and take the pictures in a well lit room. The quality sould be good enough to print off at A4-A3.

Also you would sell more if the girls don't have tops on! :D
 
That's what I thought J.P - I've taken loads of pics before with normal cams, touch them up in Photoshop, and print them off but I've never gone as high as A3 coz I usually do nightclub flyers and promotions for universities which are like...A5 size
 
Google is your friend:

DPanswer: Pixels FAQ

In essence, the size you need is determined by the resolution of the output.

Meaning:
Computer screen (72ppi) is different from print (varies) to even film, where you have to adjust to output as well, be it cinema projector or TV screen.

::emp::
 
hey,
i do photography.

you might like to look at 5megapixels and above for a3 sized prints.
go for 7 or 10 megapixel if you can.

the major issue i see you are using a camera with a direct flash, as seen from the red eye in your girl's eyes, plus the harsh lighting and shadows.

you might either like to get some studio lights and do more natural lighting, else get a couple of wal mart lamps or a tracklight and bounce a couple of hundred watts of lighting off the ceiling or off a white sheet of paper.

else, you can get a canon powershot g4 or similar DSLR with a flash that allows you to bounce it off the ceiling or a wall.

else taking them in daylight would save you the hassle of the lights.
 
Imaging tips for calendar

Hey,
Generally, you want to make sure of two things when printing digital images:

1) Have a high enough resolution in the original image
2) Use a high enough DPI (pixels per inch) setting

Obviously, the higher both of these are, the better. But since you do not want to get a pro camera (although you can now get a really good SLR camera for just a couple of hundred bucks on eBay), I would go for the highest quality setting your camera has to offer.

1 Megapixel (MP) is NOT good enough for an A3 format.
1 MP equals an image of 1024 x 1024 pixels. Try printing one out on an A4, and you will see pixelation. Now try to blow it up on an A3 sheet, and you will see what I mean....

3 MP would be my personal minimum recommendation, but even higher is better.

Actually, most commerical calendars in A3 format are probably taken with pro cameras (and often analog), but you would need at least 3 MP to get close to the quality, and not have pixels visible.

Now as far as pixels/inch - that is the density of the pixels. You can play around with that setting in Photoshop. As you will see, a a higher DPI will decrease your actual image size on paper - but it will look nicer and it you won't see pixels as well. The lower pixels/inch value you use, the bigger the image you can print - but you will increase visible pixelation. So it's a matter of tweaking it to find the "sweet spot".

To sum it up - try to either use your camera on as high of a setting as you can. Also play around in Photoshop with pixels/inch and image size settings. Try blowing up the image to the dimensions of A3, and you will be able to preview the quality before print.

When it comes to taking the actual photos, here are some other tips:
- try avoid using flash. Either use well-lit room, or extra lamps and lighting surrounding the subject. With SLR cameras, you can set the shutter speed and aperture rate, which allows you to take VERY nice images without using flash. This is the main big difference between a pro and a point-and-click camera such as yours. But since you won't buy an SLR, just go for as much light as you can without using flash



Hope that helps! :)
 
Damn thanks guys -

The thing is, I've taken pics before, with say 4-5 Mp cams, I've got them blown up to A3 and even larger before, but that was done by giving that to like Kodak shops and shit so maybe they have something funky that blows the baby up - Obviously I don't have that

My tools are purely the Adobe suites haha

Hmmm - Some other dude said the pic I took of my girl is shit because so many flaws in it from a photographers perspective but that's the point - I'm not a photo man, I don't want a photo man - this is a calender made by your typical guy for other typical guys who just want to see hot girls - period - real hot girls not celebs etc

But I will take into account the stuff Andrew has said and Images

Dude you say MP is NOT good for A3 then you say, 3PM is minimum? WTF?

SO when I take these pictures, like say the same one I posted above, I put that on a high res and I have it in the original format which is like massive, obviously I resized it to post easier etc but what kind of size do I want my pics to be in so that when I open them in Indesign and place them on the Calender template, it will be right for A3?

Daylight is better, thanks Andrew!
 
Here's what I see. Your photo looks like a snapshot. Mostly because of the scene it is in, but because of the lighting as well. If that's what you are going for, as in amateur hotness, that's cool, but that's the biggest issue for me. I would get the lights like the others suggest and build a backdrop. You can build a pvc frame and use some photo muslin from ebay for pretty cheap. If you get a dramatic color (bright green), you can change it pretty easily in photoshop.
 
darkpedro said:
Here's what I see. Your photo looks like a snapshot. Mostly because of the scene it is in, but because of the lighting as well. If that's what you are going for, as in amateur hotness, that's cool, but that's the biggest issue for me. I would get the lights like the others suggest and build a backdrop. You can build a pvc frame and use some photo muslin from ebay for pretty cheap. If you get a dramatic color (bright green), you can change it pretty easily in photoshop.
Click to expand...

Hmm that's true - It's not such a big deal to do that too - that was in her house, I don't know all the other rooms to well in her house, but in my place for example we got new clean flat single white color painted walls in the beach house - that could work!

But yes, we are going for amateur looks
 
Look at putting the camera on a tripod too if you won't be using a flash. Even a really cheap tiny tripod would be fine, under $15. Then trigger the shutter with the 2-sec timer.
 
easiest would be to go for outdoor shots.

if you can get girls to pose in bikinis in winter, all the better.

when i'm doing outdoor, i like to pick locations like railway yards and junkyards, or places with lots of graphitti in the background.

if your camera offers it, you might like to go for low depth of field, possibly with a low f-stop (like 2.8), this'll blur the background and make the photo look more arty.

the other thing is to shoot in black and white and color and see which turns out better.

i havent scanned much of my photo work, so cant show u exactly what i mean, but you might like to check out the shots a friend did of my daughter at: Bianca Wee
 
If you're taking pictures indoor and want them to look even half decent you are going to need a light kit.

It seems like you don't know much about photography, I would suggest taking a class (I'm sure they have lots in London). Or at least buy a book: Amazon.com: Perfect Digital Photography: Books: Jay Dickman,Jay Kinghorn

Even if you are not making a "professional" calender, you don't want it to look like shit.

Good luck!
 
What is a 'normal' camera?

My advice would be to go with a cheap digital SLR that shoots in camera RAW - that should be enough quality for printing and allow you to do the most corrections. (remember to stay at 300dpi and above).
 
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For the shadow problem try putting a layer or two of klenex ofer the flash to soften it up. And get a tripod.

You could also do some artsy farsty stuff with the photos in Photoshop to disguise the lack of pro image quality.

Are you printing these yourself or having them printed professionally? For professional offset printing your image resolution should be double your screen ruling, usually 150dpi. Take one of your photos into Photoshop and with resample off resize your image to the finished print size. Don't include borders around the image, just the image area. As you resize the image the resolution will change. The best thing would be to talk to your printer. If your going to do these yourself on your printer your going to have to work to get a decent calendar people will buy. Stapleing 12 sheets of paper together is not going to make an impressive calendar. If you want amatureish looking photos you still need to make the calendar look professional or it's just going to be crap (imo).

Hope this helps some.
 
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