Taking Pictures any Advice

[Klassy Klaws]

I am looking to start taking some nice photo's of my work to display around my room I am looking for some advice about all aspects of the photos.

I have a Sony Cyber-shot 6.0 Mega Pixels camera it also has a Macro setting.
What is the best position to put the hands in?
What props is good to use?
Anything that I should avoid?

And really any other tips from some of you fantastic geeks who take beautiful photos.
:hug:

 

[geeg]

I like hands in a graceful position the fingers slightly curved (around an object perhaps).

Nothing looks worse than hands photographed flat down on a table .. they look like bunches of bananas ... It is the nails we want to see, not so much of the fingers ... very few people have beautiful hands and nails.

 

[angelina221]

When i had my 1-1 eyelash extension training with Nouveau, I was given a couple of tips about taking pics.
The best one was to stand a bit further back and use the zoom, rather than standing a bit closer.
The pics are clearer then

 

[user 35377]

Props can be anything that might coordinate or contrast the nails themselves. Jewelry, flowers, a vase, a strip of material (velvet, satin, etc.).
If your camera has a macro setting defined by a small flower, this would probably be best.
Lighting is very important, natural lighting is best--by an open window or outside. But if you have the means to build a "light box", that is best. If you can build a small (1 ft. square) box frame and cover the top and two sides with a piece of thin white cotton and place the two lights shining toward the sides from outside the box is best.
A tripod will be your best friend! You can purchase a cheap table top one from just about any department store.
I'm sure Bob Giblett could give you many more tips and he should be around sooner or later.
And one more thing, your software is pretty important too as it will allow you to edit your photo, add elements and watermark your photo also. Watermarking is important when posting pics to the internet.
Good luck!

 

[honeycure]

I like to have my clients hold a big flower or rose and kind of cup it, so that their fingers look more slender and their nails glisten under the light.

I also add oil onto their cuticles to make it shine more. It's very important to have light reflect off the nails so you can see how smooth your work is.

 

[rachirv]

hi klassy klaws!

have a look on websites such as ellisons, hof, nsi etc, and look at there posters that they sell! they will give you lots of inpiration and then you can have a go yourself by tweeking etc

hope this helps xx

 

[BobSweden]

Thanks C-C MyNails ;-)

Here's an article I wrote a while ago:
Iryna Giblett - Nail Art: How to use a compact camera to make nail photographs

I agree with Geeg that the fingers should be slightly curved. Some models fingers aren't straight, so if the fingers are tensed you see a distinct curvature which is not nice.

If we taking photo's for a step by step, I place the models hand on an unturned glass as then the shadows from natural light or flash are much weaker. Best to use natural light as mentioned before - if not available place some thin tissue paper over your flash - or some scotch tape. The flash will be less harsh.

If using props, just make sure the color gives a good contrast to the nails. The prop should not be too busy and deflect the eye away from the nails.

As I mention in the article. I prefer not to use Macro, but photo further away and then zoom in and crop the photo using software. If the camera is too close it's not only more difficult to get focus across the whole nail and finger, but also the flash is so much closer you often white out the image.

Hope this helps a bit ;-)

Bob