Getting good photos using a flagship phone.

[Matt Meadows]

Team, any tips on getting good photos of my turnings? I'm somewhat limited on space so I can't set up a permanent photo booth.

What sort of useful, portable backdrop do y'all use?

Also, what about lighting? Just a Gooseneck light, to try to get some reflection from the Sheen?

I'm kinda stuck using my S22 Ultra phone to snap photos. Honestly it takes better photos than the most recent $250 digital camera I had.

I made an urn over the weekend and all my photos look really ho-hum. I didn't have a good backdrop and the lighting was all wrong. But it was the best I could do at the moment lol

 

[Dave Landers]

There's lots of other threads on the forum about this, so try a little searching on the site. I'm no expert, but have some thoughts for you...

For cheap and easy, you can go somewhere like Walmart of the dollar store (or your linen closet) and find a grey sheet. Not the best backdrop, but better than nothing to remove the background clutter. Hang it (or whatever better background you get) with spring clamps and/or painters tape etc so it drapes without wrinkles. Use the kitchen counter, dining table, living room floor, wherever. Lots more info and opinions about backgrounds on other threads, I only offer the sheet as a cheap/quick option that will make a huge initial difference in your photos.

Next step is lighting. If you can situate your backdrop so there's good indirect daylight from a window coming from the side, that is a good start. I'll leave the description of improvements on that to others (and/or your search results). Lighting is a big subject.

Then you probably want a tripod of some sort and a clip to mount your phone. My first tripod/phone clip was a chunk of plywood and rubber bands, screwed to some sort of stand I had laying around. Better things can be had on amazon. Use the timer on your phone camera (or a remote trigger - I got a cheap one with the cheap tripod I bought on amazon) - that'll keep the camera from bouncing when you take a pic.

Hope it helps a little

 

[Randy Anderson]

Of all the things that I get frustrated at and spend way too much time getting done it's taking pictures to post online for Etsy. I bought one of those foldable photo booths on amazon that works well but for a long time I did as Dave suggested, a piece of cloth or stiff poster board curved up behind the piece. There are lots of youtube videos on how to make your own small photo booth with a cardboard box, a sheet and a piece of poster board. Indirect light works best but light diffused through a white sheet or pillow case helps a lot.

Don't always assume more light is better. I sometimes get a better true life looking picture with very little light, sometimes it needs more. Different woods photograph differently. Darker woods are really a challenge for me to get right. Try different setups. If you're going for natural setting shots (on a table, a shelf, etc) then you're out of my league. Every time I try that I get disappointed.

 

[Kurt Manley]

Dave's suggestion of indirect window lighting from the side is good. The closer to the window you are the more the light will fall off, this helps with creating dimension.
These were taken with that technique. Make sure you have all the lights off in the room you are shooting in or it will mess with your white balance and the colors will be hard to fix.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Lighting and photography is a full-time profession for many people, trying to cover these topics on a blog is a challenge. There are plenty of books, articles, and classes available for people that are serious about the art/science. You could also watch a few YouTube videos for advice on equipment and techniques used for taking images with digital equipment. You can also look at software that can be used to modify and enhance your images after the images have been taken.