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Jedi Padawan
Tutorial - how to photograph your lightsaber
Okay, first let me make perfectly clear that I am most definately NOT a professional photographer.
Now then.........
As more and more people purchase/upgrade to digital cameras, they often underestimate how different the picture-taking process can be. They often fail to read the entire manual, or just dont' practice using the feature on their camera. Anyway, here we will discuss tips on photographing our lightsabers.
The biggest topic containing photos, is about the hilts. There are plenty of blade picture around, but not a lot to experiment and customize with. So no great need to show off blades.
For photographing your hilts, there are several MUSTS.
1) Lighting is crucial. Natural light is always better than a flash, or other artificial light. Digital cameras have automatic and manual settings for color balance. Most newer ones are fine when left on manual. Anyway, always have the subject well lit. Try to have a contrasting background. Chrome does not turn out very well on a very dark or very light background. Try to find something that will not blend in with the reflections.
2) Close up photos are best for showing off the details, but here is where many people mess up. All digital cameras (at least from the last 3 years) have two obvious modes. There is a basic standard normal mode, and there is a close-up mode. DO NOT USE ZOOM. The close up mode will usually look like a flower. This mode is used when taking pictures about 30cm, or 12inches, away. This mode is great for partial hilt pictures (pommel or emitter ends - one at a time).
3) Posting - I recommend resizing AND cropping your pics down to at least 1024x768, maybe even 800x600. This will help in speeding up the topic page loading. Feel free to LINK to larger resolutions. Cropping the pic will allow for a large image of the hilt itself, while eliminating the wasted space (background).
If you need a program to do these things for you, IrfaView is FREE, and supports nearly EVERY image type.
I hope people use this. Let's show off our work (and other's) as best as we can. If there are questions, post them, and I will do my best to answer them. I'm sure I'm not the only one around here that could answer, though.
Don't be afraid to practise, and good luck.
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http://www.members.shaw.ca/Dahak/
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i would also say get a simple background maybe lay it on a pillowso you background doesnt mess with the focus of the picture
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"Many claim to have found serenity, and through serenity to have overcome anger. Such arrogance is astounding."</center>
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speaking of photographing lightsabers.....does anyone have a picture of an LED saber with a red blade? i looked on the gallery and wasn't sure if the one red saber there was an LED or an EL. i'm thinking of making my next saber LED but i don't want to attempt it if the best "red" i'll get is just as orange as it is red.
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yes scaloth i posted my newest creation a heiland synchronar converted to darth vader ANH with a red/orange 3 watt star in it along with a sound board/ i posted pics of the blade and the hilt in a seperate post folling the blade pics. theyre in the post your pics section.
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scaloth, the red Luxeon led is the same color as the MR Vaders. Usualy they come out orangy looking in pictures, but not to the naked eye.
Here is a good example with comparisson pics between the two:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MESO%3AIT&rd=1
Born of Sith, seduced by the light.
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He is a comp pick of a red-orange LED next to a Vader FX.
http://www.jedisabersmith.com/led.html
JediSaberSmith
An Elegant Weapon From A More Civilized Age
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