Picture editing

[jl3140]

What do you guys all use for picture editing software/websites? I've seen MicroSpoons photos and they are absolutely amazing! I have a facebook page for my baits and I'm looking to step it up a notch on the photos I've been posting. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Josh

[ctom]

Photobucket has some editing/manipulation that is free. I'd sign up for a free account there, upload a few bait pictures and then practice editing them for sharpness, contrast, etc. It'll also help acquaint you with that website and how to navigate it without loosing what you've done. Its an interesting place.

I have a Canon program on my puter that does a real bang up job too.

Something to keep in mind with pictures of baits is lighting and having a very good understanding of how different types of light will work with or against the camera. Then too, what you have the baits sitting on will affect the outcome of pictures of baits. There are a whole lot of variables involved in pictures.

[gone2long]

Yep make yourself a light box will do wonders for your photo's.

[ctom]

A light box is a darned handy item. I really enjoy shooting pictures in sunlight. Sometimes direct sunlight is the king of the hill and at other times slightly shaded sunlight gets the nod. Terry cloth of different colors works real nice for a background if you don't want light to bounce back thru the bait or if you want a soft background appearance. Paper towel will work well too especially if it has some embossed pattern in it. Natural wood is tops in my book while using an opened mold also gets the job done in grand fashion if the mold is the same as the bait shown. Laying the baits on the smooth outside of a mold is sweet too at times.

Another aspect of picture taking is to use macro settings for some very close up shots to show some of the "inner fire" that hi lites and pearls create in the more transparent bait colors. By far and away the most useful tid-bit will be to use a tripod to assure your pictures start out sharp.

Today's digital cameras are relatively cheap as far as purchase goes and the sd cards are very afforadable. The beauty of digital photography though lies in image manipulation and most of that happens outside of the camera. Personally all of my pictures are shot using the highest level if resolution afforded in the camera. when its time to make adjustments you'll end up with a far better picture than if you shoot at economy settings. I have a 16 megabyte card that is in the camera at all times for taking tackle pictures. At the highest resolution on the camera, 16 megs is often ONE picture. I can get two pic on it at most. I also have 8 and 16 gigabyte cards for other photography needs and I just use the 16 for the single shots and clear the card when the picture is loaded into the computer.

[Brent]

a lot of digitals also have a setting to defocus the background, which really puts the spot light on the product, lighting is the other key

[Justin9j]

Josh. I search light box on here. A lot of good info.   

412 talks about a light box.  Good stuff.

[pjmcla]

I use Microsoft's Digital Image Pro to edit my photos. 
It is an older version; but does pretty good for me.
I need all the help I can get as I am not a very good picture taker.