Thread: Taking Pictures with a Point and Shoot Camera

I have a Canon SD770IS camera. This camera is great for taking pictures of humans, but razors is another story.

First i have to thank Undream for helping me get to the point of taking mediocre pictures

Any advice for settings or tweaks? I have found using natural light helps, but still need a bit more

I'm going to assume you know about diffusing light since you mentioned natural light. That will help reduce some of the harsh shine you may get because of the reflective surfaces as wells as evening out your tones. Using PowerShot SD770 IS Digital Camera as my source of features I can see that you have a fairly limited range of focal stops. I would open that aperture as wide as you can (2.8 f-stops on your canon) and even try using the built-in macro mode. This will let you get flat on shots (not end-to-end) with a good degree of detail. You're going to have to experiment with end-to-end shots since you're going to want a large depth of field (smaller aperture, higher f-stops). That should be some information to get you started.

Best way to make good products shots, if you don't have enormous softboxes and high powered strobes, is by using or making a light tent with a relatively high power light, farthest possible from the box, but as far as these objectives are attained: you will want to maximize the depth of field and sharpness, as well as have correct exposure at the lowest ISO but you don't want to use too small of an aperture because that will create diffraction, thus make your picture less than optimally sharp.

Usually the peak of most lenses will be 4-5 stops lower than their highest aperture (at the corresponding focal lenght if you have a variable aperture zoom lens). So you'd want to shoot at f11-f16... I rarely shoot higher than that nowadays, unless it's very specific macro photography, speficif products that require more DOF or with a bigger format camera. Sorry if my advice digress from the other poster and may be confusing.

There are a lot of web site about DIY light tents so I would start looking at those. Also, learn the basics of photography AND light as well as the manual mode of your camera, that is essential to progress and be able to apply knowledge to virtually anything.

Here's the best book I read about light Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting: Amazon.ca: Steven Biver, Paul Fuqua, Fil Hunter: Books it's not overly scientific, as the name would imply and is very hands on in its teachings. This one teached me most of the things I needed to know when I first started years ago: Amazon.com: The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography - Book 1 (Ansel Adams's Guide to the Basic Techniques of Photography) (9780821225752): John P. Schaefer: Books

Also, learn how to calibrate your white balance if you shoot in jpg format.
And learn to get the perfect exposure. For products and studio shoots, I find that a reflective exposure reading won't cut it and makes me lose a lot of time... for that I prefer a light meter w/ incident reading (the little white dome). If you're serious about it, try to find an older one for cheap.

I guess holla back if you need more information.

Use natural light, switch off the flash, use minimum possible ISO and aperture 3,2-5,8 That should be enough.