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 Post subject: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 7:27 am 
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Hello everyone.

I am new to this, so please be nice :)
Is it possible to adapt any kind of gear on this camera that would make it possible to get results close to as using a extension tube?

We need to take magnified photos of emeralds.

From what i searched around i've found that this camera doest not support lens exchange, so is there any kind of external gear that, attached to this camera, would make it possible to take this kind of photos?

Or do i have to buy another camera? :)

Thanks alot.

Best regards.


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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 8:16 am 
ddutra wrote:
Hello everyone.

I am new to this, so please be nice :)
Is it possible to adapt any kind of gear on this camera that would make it possible to get results close to as using a extension tube?

We need to take magnified photos of emeralds.

From what i searched around i've found that this camera doest not support lens exchange, so is there any kind of external gear that, attached to this camera, would make it possible to take this kind of photos?

Or do i have to buy another camera? :)


Hi here,

You have a nice camera. Do you have the manual for it? If not, you can download a copy from http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/nop ... oprint.pdf.

You will see that your camera has a macro mode, focussing down to about 4 inches, and is also equipped with a self-timer. Sounds good to me :D

Enjoy.


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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 8:44 am 
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Location: Sweden
If you need to adapt for a microscope try to get an adapter for the filter threads.

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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 2:24 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:24 am
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Hello there!

thank you guys for the help.

I got the camera and it is really nice, i took some photos of a collector's emerald that i collegue have sitting on his desk for you guys to see.

I need to learn the basics about photography now :)

Image

Image

Image

Image

i promise to get better. Any hints?


Last edited by ddutra on Wed Feb 02, 2011 7:00 am, edited 3 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 2:33 pm 
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Hehe... nice piece of rock there :)

Try to play with the ligth a bit and try to get an even and neutral background.

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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 3:19 pm 
As Connie says, that's a nice specimen you have there :D What's the matrix that the emerald is on?


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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 6:56 am 
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Hi

2 of the pics i posted were too small, i corrected it.

I am kind of very new to this, plus english is not my native language so all this gemology terms are still confusing to me.

I guess you asked what kind of minerals the emerald is craved on, it is black mica schist and some white schist. The emerald is from Nova Era - Minas Gerais - BRA.

The owner of that stone wich is a partner of mine got offers on it from R$ 30.000,00 wich is about U$18.000,00 from what i hear, but he prefered to keep that one on his desk since the mine seems to be very productive and he fond it specially beutiful :).

I will take more pictures later and try to level up my skills on macro photography with the tutorials i found around here.

Thanks. Best regards.


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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 3:09 pm 
Thanks for the info on the Emerald and the other material to which it is attached. It does look like a lovely piece!

To expand a little on Conny's good advice to you:

1. Make it a rule to keep your backgrounds plain and quiet in colour. You want people to focus their attention on your specimen and not to be distracted by anything else. In your first picture and in addition to your quite complex specimen, you have included five unnecessary and distracting colours, patterns and textures.

2. Also in your first photo, there is a shadow of what could be the top of your head :) Make sure that you place your lighting so that there are either no deep shadows or they serve to increase rather then diminish attention on your specimen.

3. At least at the beginning, avoid tempation to use a built-in flash and work only with incandescent lights, setting your camera to compensate for this very warm colouration of your images. Better and more easily controlled effects are obtained by working with light coming from at least two directions. Don't be afraid to experiment by moving your lights around to create different effects. A person who never has made a mistake has never done anything worthwhile.

4. Good images are all about the effective use of light and, most often, strong image composition. Google on the words 'Golden Ratio' and read up on it. Then look for it in images you see everywhere, whether painted, sculpted or photographed; learn to recognise it and know why it's important; use it whenever you can.

5. For photographing gemstones, other than in an emergency, always:
- Mount your camera on a tripod (usually a table-top model) - or attach the camera to a microscope.
- Use a remote shutter release or the camera's built-in self-timer. Never release the shutter manually.

6. Quite often, for one reason or another, you can't compose or balance an image perfectly in the camera. Do experiment with digital photo-editing software and learn how to improve your photos after you download them from the camera. In particular, you will find the following very useful (as do almost all good photographers):
- Selective removal of distracting objects or other blemishes.
- Colour, brightness and contrast control.
- Image cropping. This is the cutting away sometimes of quite large parts of an image to improve it by concentration of a viewer's attention on some key feature in the original image as you captured it.
- Enlargement. Having cropped away unwanted parts of your image, you can magnify digitally what is left back to or even larger than the original image size.

That's probably more than enough advice to be going on with :roll: :lol: Seek constructive criticism of your pictures; it's the best way to learn - and self-satisfaction is always the worst :lol:


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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 8:15 am 
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Kerensky,

I really really appreciate that you had taken the time to write those tips for me. Thank you!

About the photos i posted, i just got the camera, put the rock on the table and clicked away! ON the first photo you can see me with a white/blue shirt hehe.

Here is what i will do:

> Fix myself a cheap basic macro studio like this one: http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-169853116-estudio-fotografico-2-refletores-tripe-fundo-infinito-bolsa-_JM or this: http://lifehacker.com/software/diy/build-a-10-macro-photo-studio-186538.php

> Buy a Adapter for this camere plus a kit with +2, +4 and +10 macro lenses.

> Read alot about light and macrophotography.

> Use the MANFROTTO Pro that my company owns for video footage

> Follow you guys tips


Then one month for now i will post pictures of new beutiful emeralds here.

Thank you all. Best regards.


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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:44 am 
ddutra wrote:

I really really appreciate that you had taken the time to write those tips for me. Thank you!


De nada.

Quote:
Here is what i will do:

> Fix myself a cheap basic macro studio like this one: http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-169853116-estudio-fotografico-2-refletores-tripe-fundo-infinito-bolsa-_JM or this: http://lifehacker.com/software/diy/build-a-10-macro-photo-studio-186538.php

> Buy a Adapter for this camere plus a kit with +2, +4 and +10 macro lenses.

> Read alot about light and macrophotography.

> Use the MANFROTTO Pro that my company owns for video footage

> Follow you guys tips


Then one month for now i will post pictures of new beutiful emeralds here.


I'll make you one more suggestion for now. For at least six months, buy *no* accessories for your camera except a table-top tripod. Your camera is a good make and is quite complex. Learn first to master its complexity and make it do what you want. It is macro-ready according to its manual and it needs no essential accessory for macro work. The more bits and pieces you buy, the more difficult you will make your learning process. You need to study the creation of effects with light and subject composition also. No gadgets will help you with this; they can only confuse and slow down your essential learning.

As a very young man, I once aspired to become a professional photographer One of my role models was a successful professional who wrote a very good book aimed at young aspirants like me. About 25% of the many photographs in his book were black and white images taken with a fixed lens, fixed focus, fixed aperture, cheap 'Box Brownie' camera made by Kodak for children and other 'happy snappers'. He was making the point that it is the ability of the man and not of the equipment that most determines whether or not a photographic image is a great one.

A good workman can work well with the tool he is given; he understands his tool, knows what he needs to do and knows how to get that done. Try to get some of that understanding of your camera and how to get the best out of it before buying more camera equipment. A good book on photography is a great idea though - as is a very thorough reading of your camera's manual and practice with all its optional settings.

To start, all you need is a steady table, a plain white background (a white, uncreased cloth will do), a couple of table lamps with long cables and with pearlised incandescent bulbs; also some sheets of white paper or clean white handkerchiefs you can use to further diffuse and reflect the light output. Using just these and your camera and tripod, get the best picture you can (which will probably be at about the 20th attempt :) ) and post it here for comment, if you wish. When you can produce a clean, well balanced photo with just those aids (and maybe a digital software editor), you are ready to buy that nice Mercadolivre tabletop studio and, maybe, get some finer effects. Still no more camera accessories though! :wink:

Good luck!


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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 6:21 am 
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Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:24 am
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Kerensky,

I can say no more but Thank you again. Very appreciated. Obrigado!

But i already brough a Filter adapter and a kit of 10,2,4 + macro lenses on Ebay. They will take a month to get here anyway, that if they dont get lost, stolen by our post office or hold by our autorities as contraband, hehehe.

As soon as i can i will get some rocks, some cloth, the lamps and the table tripod and try out your tips. I am also researching on a Book and will sure read the whole camera guide(manual), already have the PDF on my notebook. If the accessories get here i will put them aside for as long as it takes for me to take a decent pic.

Problem is i dont have much time, this is actually just a hobby, i am a System Analyst (Own a software development company) and a partner of mine got into the mining business and so am i, helping him as much as i can. Always had a thing for macrophotography but never had the time nor the context to learn. Now i have rocks sitting around and the oportunity to learn but dont have that much time.

But i wont give up. This will be a slow process for me but i saved up your tips and i promise if you keep reading this forum soon enough i will come up with some pics, and more questions... hope you guys still around to help me.

Best regards!


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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 6:45 am 
ddutra wrote:
Problem is i dont have much time, this is actually just a hobby, i am a System Analyst (Own a software development company) and a partner of mine got into the mining business and so am i, helping him as much as i can. Always had a thing for macrophotography but never had the time nor the context to learn. Now i have rocks sitting around and the oportunity to learn but dont have that much time.

But i wont give up. This will be a slow process for me but i saved up your tips and i promise if you keep reading this forum soon enough i will come up with some pics, and more questions... hope you guys still around to help me.

Best regards!


Come back soon and let us see how you are getting on :)


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 Post subject: Re: Nikon p100 & Macro
PostPosted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:31 am 
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ddutra, one thing I'll suggest on top of all the good advice that Kerensky has offered is this, look at all the photos you can and start trying to figure out why they are or are not successful. (By that I mean start trying to see why you want to keep looking at them.) A good photography book should help you learn to start looking for the things that make a good composition. While you will of course want to be focused on things of similar interest (the photos available all over this forum show an excellent range to help you see what does and doesn't work well for gemstones), don't feel constrained just to these types of images. Any good photograph will help you in learning how to compose your shots. And the more you work with the stones the more stones you'll come across that may look really good if you compose it like an Ansel Adams landscape. You'll know when you start really composing good shots because you'll spend your time looking at them even though you made them yourself. I can't wait to see what you do, share, share, share.

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