On-Topic Photographs - How?? (...please)

[The Grand Wazoo]

Come on then all you photographic geniuses.

I need to know how to take perfect piccies of hi-fi gear.........so some tips would be useful.

Pretty please.

[Beechwoods]

Tripod, lighting, and decent exposure.

Oh, and make sure you're cleaned your kit first!

(I'm no expert, but these 4 rules are good for a start!).

[The Vinyl Adventure]

depends on the camera you intend to use

few tips though:
shot with a normal lens - (45-50mm focal length on a 35mm slr or 30 - 35 on a dslr). or as close to this as possible (not always practical but woth the effort if it can be done) (read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_lens )
this will give the observer the corect idea of depth and perspective
if you have a point and shoot digital compare the screen to what you see and try to make them match!

if you dont have much light a tripod is handy for perfection but not esential.

with tripod:

set camera on tripod
point in right direction
make sure flash of camera is turned off
set iso as low as possible
(if you have an slr with apeture priority mode set to between 5.6 and 8 this is likely where you lens works its best and will mean your hifi is all in focus front to back)
set camera to self timer (this ensures the camera is steady when it fires)
press the button.
...

depending on the light the shutter will have stayed open longer than you could have held the camera still so let it click twice before you return to the camera

beware of doing this in partiuly low light as any small sources of light will burn highlights

also depending on camera and colour of your hifi it may be worth experimenting with +/- a stop of exposure comp


without tripod

shoot in the part of the day that most light comes into the room. if direct sunlight hits your hifi hanging a very thin sheet/net curtain infront of the window will difuse the light nicely
you may find you need to set the iso of the camera higher but unless you have a top spec slr i wouldnt recomend going above 800
if in these circumstances with the camera set at its widest apeture is wanting to shoot at less than a 60th of a second (unless you have steady shot and then less than 15th) you are unlikely to get a sharp photo
in which case some more artificial light is required

if you must use a flash you must either difuse it or bounce it off the cieling - idealy both
alternativly use a lamp
any lamp that can be angled can be used for this
depending how much light is required reflecting light of ceiling can work or for a softer light put thin material over it
different colours of meterials can set a different mood

with or without tripod

if you have a shiny hifi watch out for reflections no one wants to see you, your camera and your cat watching you inquisitivly in the front of that shiny black box on your hifi rack

if you really suffer with reflections a circular polarising filter can help
screw it to the front of the lens and look through the viewfinder, as you rotate the bit that turns wilst looking an the reflective surface you should notice the reflections lessen and then disapear.
beware though even the best circ pola lens do reduce the light entering the camera so longer exposure times are required

(for a little bit of fun..... point a circ pola at a lcd tv (if you have one) you will notice as you rotate the filter the tv picture magically disapears.....)

thats about the lot i think.. if i think of anything else i will add it into this post later

...

good luck

[DSJR]

They always said that photography went hand-in-hand with HiFi...

I just point and shoot and hope for the best. Wifey had all the gear and I'll try to borrow her tripod next time. A small digital 6.3MP snapshot camera would look a bit daft on top of one though

[The Vinyl Adventure]

They always said that photography went hand-in-hand with HiFi...

I just point and shoot and hope for the best. Wifey had all the gear and I'll try to borrow her tripod next time. A small digital 6.3MP snapshot camera would look a bit daft on top of one though

might look daft but follow my "with tripod" pointers and you should get a good photo. any camera (within reason) can take a good photo!

i gave my next door neighbour my old tripod for her tiny little p/s nikon
my old tripod was a bloody great big steel thing! she does look a little bit silly using it but she commented the other day how much better her indoor shots of her artwork have been

[Haselsh1]

Compose your view using the LCD and then tilt the camera to around forty five degrees. That angle adds a very powerful dynamic which works well with hi-fi, cars, trucks and portraits. Check out:

www.pickeringphotography.co.uk especially the hobbies bit.

I can't recommend the use of a polariser as it absorbs one and a half stops of light and the reflection will probably enhance the photograph. Polarisers do not work on metallic surfaces only painted ones.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

that guy has got some pretty good hifi pictures! its very easy to take a picture but to take something that you could see used as part of a advertisment or promotional publication is a different matter! it does help if you have nice furniture too!

as for polarisers it depends on the surface of the metal, it would work with a highly polished smooth metal but not with brushed metals as the reflected light travels in many more directions off the finely dappled surface (at least that is how i understand it)
basic rule if you can see your face in it a polariser will work!
that was the sort undesirable reflections i was talking about ... cats sofas windows photographer etc and the light drop can be overcome with the use of a tripod

that said i definatly agree with you, reflections are often beneficial, i dont think i have ever seen a good studio picture of a car without reflections to bring out the design and body shape

[The Grand Wazoo]

Great stuff chaps, keep it coming!

[Haselsh1]

"Music should never be harmless." Robbie Robertson

That is such a fabulous quote.

Polarisers do not work on any metallic surface. If you photograph a car through a polariser the effect works on the paint and the glass but not on the chrome. As far as I am aware, polarisers only work on painted surfaces. More than that, I do not know. This is true whether the polariser is linear or circular. Try it out on a mirror... you'll soon see what I mean.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

yeah your not wrong

it does have a slight effect on the light shinning off the metal lava lamp but not nearly as much as the glass of it...

i stand corrected

everything shinny apart from metal shiney... how do these god damn thigs actually work??
dont answer that, i wont understand anyway! the last guy who i asked told me to try and think of reflected light as a shape that was of a slightly different shape to that of normal light. polariser have holes in them that are of a specific shape that only let one or the other shapes of light through

i think he was dumming it down for me!