HOw do you guys get such clear close up pics of gear?

[bombtek]

Not perfect but it is a damn sight better than how it was working for me before. TBH I did read through the manual a while back, but being unfamiliar with many of the photography exclusive terminology, I pretty much did not get it. You folks cleared it up for me a bit. Thanks!!



I should have lowered the sharpness I think to soften it a touch.

[AEK-Jackson Fan]

I think steadiness makes a huge differences. If its something important, or you have time,Id suggest a tripod,makes a huge difference.

Yeah, also shutter speed, how open the lens is, and a few other factors (which should be taken care of automatically with the macro setting).

[MetalMedal II]

In addition to the Macro setting (the "flower" icon on alot of cameras, my friend showed me that using some kleenex taped over the flash helps disperse the light and make it much more natural than what a full flash does. Either that, or use more ambient light (daylight works wonders) and turn off the flash.

A steady hand is a must. I think that's what those small tripods are for.

[sully]

No flash if you can avoid it, too. What happened to NOTP's kickass sticky thread about guitar photography?

sully

[Endrik]

yep, avoid flash if it's possible, I absolutely loath what flash does to colours

[Endrik]

but if there's not enough lighting you can use exposure compensation by increasing the +/- value but if that's not enough but you have a tripod or some steady place where you can put your camera on, then you can increase the shutter speed. Also it's reasonable to use self-timer so you don't have to push the "shoot" button which can cause some vibration.
Basically with tripod or steady ground you can shoot in any kind of lighting without flash, when it comes to non-moving objects. You can shoot in pitch black and have everything clear on the picture if you use like 10 second shutter speed. That's for non-moving objects unless you want to create a certain effect like making the cars look like aurora borealis or something like that.

[Hellbat]

Flash does not affect colors if you color balance things properly. Flashes generally have a 5-5.5K colour temperature which is close to daylight. Incandescent lights have a 2.5K-ish colour temperature and Flourescent runs from 3K-4K. So if you are going to be using a flash with incandescent lighting you should use CTO (orange) gel over the flash. Some flourescents will need orange gel or even green gel to balance out.

The problem most people run in to with flash is they have all these other light sources hitting the guitar and the camera sets it white balance for the 5.5K flash and all the other light is now tinting the picture.

[Endrik]

have used tons of different white balance settings and whatnot... still I hate flash
and it all depends where you are shooting, mathematical calculations are one thing but in reality the natural lighting doesn't follow those rules.
I don't even have to go to southern hemisphere to see drastical differences in colours and lighting... during the summer I can just drive 60 miles to the county in east and stay at the same longitude and the colors are just so different.
And indoors it depends what materials and what type of colours have been used for the interior etc.
My hallway and stairway has really warm terracotta and orange tones, sort of med-south europe/Morocco type and no matter what you do it doesn't look good on the picture if you use flash. Even my friend who is a pro couldn't get it look like I wanted with his 5000 dollar Leica. The flash just ruined it.
But then again I'm real picky when it comes to capturing "warm" colours. There's certain intensity I like to see and flash just gives some temperature to it which I don't like.. even if it's just a micro degree. It's like with guitar sound. You just know that there's some frequencies that annoy you.

[roodyrocker]

The reason you are not liking the flash pix is because its coming directly from the camera and hitting the subject head on which gives it a pretty flat effect. On small point and shoot cameras you are kind of stuck with that. On higher end cameras you can remotely mount the flash so it fires off axis from the camera. That comes out much better. you can even get into multiple flash setups from different directions. The same is true when shooting pix of people, straight on flash is very convenient but not very flattering. Off camera or bouncing the flash onto the subject is much better.
Anyway, for the original poster's question, the macro setting is likely your problem. Lenses have a minimum focusing distance. IOW they can focus up to so many inches from the subject, moving the lens closer than that and it can't focus unless you move back. It sort of like holding an object in front of you and moving it closer to your face. At some point your eye can't focus on it, its blurry.