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 | Erik @ Bayonetta Costumes
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| | | I would like to label this entry as "Photomacroghaphy Tutorial for..." but it would sound just way TOO grand :p. So, I named it "Figure Photography Tips" (classified as macro photography) instead. I believe many figurines collectors take photos of their collections and many find that the outcome not satisfactory, especially those who use "Point & Shoot" compact digital camera. DSLR users shall face less or no problem at all as I believe many possess sufficient knowledge in macro shooting.
In this particular entry, I will show you very simple methods to quickly enhance your "not-so-good" figure photos taken using a compact camera in a poorly lit room or somewhere indoor using Adobe Photoshop CS. The device I used was my sister's low-end Panasonic LUMIX FX10 compact camera (but I love it).
Off-topic: I'll be getting a Canon DSLR EOS 450D soon. Canon official site.
Shooting The Figure With A Compact Camera Indoor
In the following example, Suzumiya Haruhi (Nendoroid version) was chosen as the subject. She was placed in a room lit with a single 4-foot pendaflour light at 1:38am. The Panasonic LUMIX FX10 was set to Macro mode preset setting (flower icon on the Mode Dial) which is very important for figure shooting. After shooting Haruhi, the resulting photo seemed washed-out in color and underexposed (dark) due to insufficient lighting. The camera auto-set itself to F2.8, ISO 250 and 1/8 sec (you may ignore this). Flash was forced to "Off".
Method A: Use 'Match Color' (Preferred Method)
Now, the magic begins and will finish in less than a minute. Open your photo in Adobe Photoshop and go to Image > Adjustments > Match Color. Drag both Luminance and Color Intensity sliders to the right. For this Haruhi photo, I dragged both parameters to the value of 160 (or any desired value as long as it pleases your eyes). And PRESTO! A much better photo! You may check the Neutralize box to auto-correct white balance but I did not. Lastly, crop or resize your photo if necessary and go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen Edges as the finishing touch.
| | | Above: 'Match Color' Adjustment Window |
| | | Above: After 'Match Color' Adjustment |
Method B: Use 'Levels', 'Brightness & Contrast' and 'Saturation'
Another simple but longer method would be re-adjusting the 'Level'. Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and drag the right-most slider to the left to the position where the histogram starts to incline. Then, drag the middle slider slightly to the left (about 1.25).
| | | Above: 'Levels' Adjustment |
| | | Above: After 'Levels' Adjustment (we are not done yet!) |
After you are done with 'Levels', go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and increase both sliders to +10. For better saturation, go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and increase Saturation to +20. Finally, follow the very final step mentioned in Method A.
Method C: Combine Method A and B
As the name suggests, you can mess around with your macro shots by using both method A and B on a same photo :)
Results:
| | | | Above: Before Enhancement | Above: Method A
(preferred) | Above: Method B | | | |
Conclusion:
At a glance at the above photos, Method B seems to be the best but if you observe thoroughly, you will find Method A produces photo with wider range of colors :) Another downside of using Method B is that it involves more steps and it is not "Action" friendly (a sequence of actions saved) in Adobe Photoshop since moving the Levels is heavily dependent on the histogram of a particular photo. You can forget about 'Auto-Levels', it sucks. And of course, there are other ways to get your indoor figurines shots better not mentioned here.
I hope Otakus who shoot their figurines with compact camera indoor will find this entry useful. Thanks for reading! | |  Read or post comment (7 Otaku comments)  | UltraBeast
(Proud Son of Cheras)
Posted May 23rd, 2008 11:43 am (Fri) | Nice! This blog is really rolling. :-D
DSLR coming soon ar? nice...
|  | Divine Fang
(Kuala Lumpur, MY)
Posted May 24th, 2008 8:16 pm (Sat) | Thanks! Many 'under the hood' improvements made and I'm having more and more ideas of making this site bettter.
Yup, DSLR coming soon... have been wanting to get one since 5 years ago :)
|  | gordon
(Singapore)
Posted May 25th, 2008 9:29 am (Sun) | wow these are indeed useful tips. i only started using photoshop recently so ths is an interesting read. ^^;
| | Divine Fang
(Kuala Lumpur, MY)
Posted May 25th, 2008 12:21 pm (Sun) | Arigatou!
|  | ron~
(Australia)
Posted May 26th, 2008 6:48 pm (Mon) | Nice tips!
Even with DSLR you will still need photoshop help :)
|  | kusakabemisao
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Posted November 3rd, 2008 1:38 pm (Mon) | This is very useful
I did something similar but with free sotfware
I might want to try it with photoshop instead^^
| | Divine Fang
(Kuala Lumpur, MY)
Posted November 4th, 2008 7:56 am (Tue) | @ kusakabemisao,
Thanks! Glad to hear that this could help ^^
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