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Nice Little 2 Gram Nugget [Taking Photos]


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Cabelafella,

instead of trying to take a close up photo another approach that works well is to just take as clear of a regular picture and then use the crop feature in your photo editor and you will get a much more clear close up of the object you are photographing. you can experiment with just how close or far from the object with the camera gets the best results in your picture.

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Nice nugget and great photo!

 

I use a DSLR camera with a 50mm Macro lens to take close-up shots. I'm learning a new photo technique called focus stacking where you shoot multiple photos with different focus points and then merge them together in post-processing. The focus stacking requires the correct aperture to be used and some of the final images may take from three to fifty or more photos that are combined for the best results.

 

Here is a photo using this focus stacking technique ( I still have alot to learn) of one of my favorite gold specimens that I have found:

post-511-0-82211400-1448093999_thumb.jpg

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I found this motherlode beauty last weekend . but I have the hardest time taking close up photos of gold . does any one have any advise such as type of light , or camera settings. this one actually looks good .. what you all think.

First of all, this photo has a very shallow depth of field - a small "depth of field" area of the photo that is crisp and sharp. The higher the F stop (aperture setting) say F16 instead of say F5.6, the sharper the whole image will be, but the focal point must be established by understanding the focal distance from lens to object. (hard to explain this technique shorter than book length - study focal length and depth of field.) The higher the F stop the slower the shutter speed - shooting in manual is the best approach - shooting in auto mode will not get as good results.

 

It was correct in using a 50mm macro for this shot and getting up close BUT a higher magnification lens, say 300mm, at a further distance, zoomed in and as close as possible while maintaining focus and using a higher F stop would give much better results. Also, lens quality is very important. If your 50mm lens is "consumer" quality, all your efforts might be futile, never being able to accomplish your desired clarity, ever.

 

If you are shooting in jpeg you are losing quality. Every time you open/edit a jpeg you lose quality. Raw mode should be used. (usually found only in pro equipment) When working with a raw image you get the benefit of zero lose of quality. Adjusting color, contrast, sharpness, cropping and highlights will be very lossy when in jpeg but is no problem when in raw. The image, once edited, can then be converted to jpeg for web use. (Be sure to copy the raw image and save the original before converting)

 

Lighting should be carefully considered. On camera flash is not the last way to go. This will make for a 'flat" photo and also a "contrasty" photo. Also, out in the bright sun is not the best. To give depth to any image more than one light source is needed. A main light coming from over the should, say from 2 o - clock and then a fill light from the other side and a bit lower will give best results. This will give the subject matter depth. The second photo posted in this thread has that nugget looking flat. The goal in photography is to light the subject in a way that has 2 dimensions. Camera angle can also be adjusted lower in that photo and another light or bounce card could have been used for a second light or "fill" light.

 

I've gotta run -

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