Digital quality

The quality of a picture in this case refers to the technical way it's taken and the equipment used.

Images for the Web are usually of small size so that they can be downloaded quickly. This also reduces the usefulness of them for theft. Most digital cameras can deliver reasonable quality images for this purpose if the lighting, composition, and backgrounds are good. Many compact cameras have built in lenses which can zoom in close and offer a macro setting for close up work. The lens is an important part of the camera and quality varies widely. Unfortunately the quality of zoom lenses is compromised by the cost of manufacture and the amount that the lens is required to do (wide angle, telephoto, macro). The same applies to cameras where the lenses are interchangeable. Zoom lenses for these SLR cameras tend to be better, but the same problems apply with regard to asking a lens to perform a multitude of tasks. They tend not to be a master of any!

The alternative to the zoom lens for digital SLRs  is a prime lens. This is a single focal length lens. It can not zoom in and you will need several to cover all that a zoom can do. However, this shortfall tends to be over shadowed by the increased quality of prime lenses. As they are designed to do one thing they tend to do it much better. There are also specific prime lenses for close up pictures and other special purposes. As with most things, you get what you pay for and the more expensive primes tend to be much better.

The digital camera is often quoted by how many megapixels it has. This number is increasing all the time and it looks quite impressive to see 10 megapixels on an inexpensive consumer camera. This should be taken with a pinch of salt though, as the lens quality is of great importance as mentioned. Also, the way the pictures are saved in the camera dictate the quality. A JPEG file (which is compressed to save space) can be of lower quality than a RAW file (which is the image straight from the cameras sensor, with no compression or manipulation). Cheap cameras only offer JPEG and the in-built processors may not do a great job in preserving the quality.

One more aspect on cheaper cameras is the inability to use a manual mode for taking the picture. These cameras are designed mainly for convenience and tend to be automatic. Without that manual control you are at the mercy of the camera's in-built decision-making chips which doesn't seem to me to be a favourable position to be in.

If all you need to do is place basic pictures on the web then all of this is not too important. If on the other hand you may need the images to be printed in your marketing material then a better camera should be used (or better still try using me!) I can not recommend particular cameras but there are many reviews on the web to help make that decision. Also try the digital camera magazines. Better still, you may get good advice from colleagues who have actually use a particular camera. Don't automatically rule out second hand cameras or lenses either. Cameras especially tend to have a short sales life as new versions come along every week (or so it seems) and there is a huge market for used equipment for this reason.

Another aspect to increase the quality of your images is technique. I have covered exposure already in previous monthly tips, but I am a big fan of the use of tripods in my product photography. Keeping the camera rock still during exposures will improve the quality by eliminating camera movement or camera shake. This is very apparent with longer shutter speeds and close up pictures whereby you will be magnifying not only the image but any shaky camera work too.

The use of tripods also allows you to arrange your products better too by keeping the camera in one place while you move the product around.

Tripods differ in several ways. The heavier pods tend to be more stable, especially with a heavy camera or a big lens. Look out to for a good quality tripod head. The cheaper pods come with a head but you will need to buy a separate head with the better quality pods.

The heads come in two broad groups:

1) pan & tilt
2) ball & socket.

Pan & tilt allow you to adjust the up-down, side to side and the pan movements independently. This gives good control for product photography in a studio-type set up. The ball & socket heads are flexible by allowing you to move in any direction before locking it off with a screw. These tend to be favoured by nature photographers rather than in the studio.

A tripod and good head are useless if they are placed on a bouncy floor. Floor boards can be the source of vibration from other people or nearby traffic. This may not be something you have a choice over but it should be considered.

Having set up the pod and camera it's worth investing in a cable release to actually fire the shutter. If you are touching the camera during a longer exposure you may still get some slight camera shake. Modern cameras usually use an electronic cable release or even infrared. If your budget doesn't reach that far then you can always use the self-timer instead. Set it to say 2, 5 or 10 seconds (if you have the choice) and any slight vibrations should have died down before the shutter opens.

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