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Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knew any easy ways to take a great pic without building this ridiculous photo studio, or whatever.
Any tips/ tutorials would be much appreciated.

1.) have a nice camera. If you can crank the aperture ratio way up while still being able to hold the shot steady, it's how you get the most models in focus in the same shot. Good lighting definitely helps with this.

2.) get a software application called "the gimp". It's worse than photoshop, but it's free, and has the important tools anyways (like a curves and saturation editor).

The macro setting on your camera goes a long way. It's the button with a little flower on it. Hold your camera steady and take your pictures in a decent environment. Putting figures on/against white paper and having multiple light sources is good.

I'm a total novice, but I found the manual focus on my camera was a lot of more helpful than the macro. It could be because it's cheap though.

To those who take such amazing pictures, what is the best background colour? And do you use a tripod or anything to take the photos?

Its all about lighting as far as I can tell. Get great lighting and the camera has a much easier time trying to focus.

Try a light box if you need a good photo. Buy one or make one like here...

http://zdmazza.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/diy-lightbox-easy-to-make-and-cheap/

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Dakka_Modeling_FAQ:_Photographing_Models

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Photography:_It%27s_All_About_Light

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Photographing_your_models

Vent's tutorial is also worth looking at.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/317430.page

Ailaros wrote:
2.) get a software application called "the gimp". It's worse than photoshop, but it's free, and has the important tools anyways (like a curves and saturation editor).

Get Gimpshop instead. It's easier to use, and most of the photoshop hints, tips and tricks work with the menus (so PS books can be helpful).

1. Learn your camera's capabilities. Read the manual. Practice. Even a 4mp camera can take good pics if the optics are good. A 10mp phone camera won't have the same quality optics as a decent actual camera. Size matters here. The lens on a phone camera is a lot smaller and errors creep in at that scale so much easier. I've used both 4mp COMPACT ZOOM and a 10mp DSLR and got comparative results with both. It's partly the camera and mostly your skill that makes or breaks the shot. You can do magic with an average camera - but not even Ansell Adams can do magic with a crap one. Higher megapixels just make the picture suitable to print at larger sizes (and make the file sizes larger) without resolution loss.

2. Macro is your friend. Get a tripod (or beanbag or something. DO NOT TRY TO HANDHOLD unless you have dead mans hands - no shakes.). Hand shake at macro and tele ranges is magnified by the lens. A single mm shift is enough to ruin the shot.
3. Find the minimum focus distance for macro (it's in the manual). DO NOT GO CLOSER. Most will tell you the minimum and maximum distances.
4. Lighting. Try to have two light sources (either side pointing at it from at least 30cm away - you don't want them in the shot). Daylight bulbs if you can get them.
5. Background is important. DO NOT USE WHITE. Many cameras underexpose against a white background. Go for a soft blue or grey.
6. If your camera can do MACRO and SELF TIMER together, then bonus. This will eliminate even minor camera shake from shutter button pressing.
7. Most cameras these days have decent program modes. Trust them
8. Practise.
9. See above.
10. Ditto.

You get better the more you practise. Practice doesn't necessarily make perfect, but it can make for less crappy.
At least you aren't depleting the Silver halide reserves when you do it these days. Practising photography with digital cameras is sooo much easier than it was with film.
Nowadays you can just delete the bad shots. I learned not to waste film on a bad shot. It got expensive otherwise.

Agreed on everything above.

You can aslo get hold of a cheap photo tent on eBay - from around £10 (depending on whether you go the auction or buy-it-now route), they're those pop up type tents so fold away into a real compact pouch for storage, they normally come with a few different coloured backdrops as well. I got one of these a few weeks back along with a couple of really cheap lamps from Argos and now take all my ebay auction pictures with it, noticeable difference in quality. Oh and you'll also need a tripod, again these can be bought cheap on eBay.

My best tip for taking photos would be to use the timer function, as even with a tripod you'll get some camera shake, so the timer allows for this to be completely cut out... And the beauty of digital photography is that you get an instant result and can delete any that are poor quality, how did we ever survive with 35mm film!!

I've had good luck with a couple clip-on desk lamps from target... Under $6 each.

Also, if using a white backdrop, you may need to fiddle with the white balance on your camera (or possibly in post production) as the all-white page tends to make things come out weird... When I was shooting a lot, they were very yellowed compared to real life.

awesome! thanks guys! hopefully I'll have some new 'refurbished' photos up soon!

The GIMP isn't the only free/cheap alternative to Photoshop. For example, I'd consider Pixelmator for Mac if I needed a good image editor... I've hear d a lot of good things about it of late.