Cigar Pictures 101

mikeyj23 · 10-15-2008, 11:46 AM

We all love cigar pictures, but it seems we get some examples of the following:

I'm no professional photographer, and all my pictures come from a $100 camera I got 2-3 years ago at Best Buy (Panasonic DMC-LZ3). There are a few quick, simple ways to ensure great cigar pictures.

First: Be aware of where the camera focus is. Often in the middle of the camera screen you'll see something like [ ] - the camera will attempt to focus the image to whatever's inside the brackets or box. Put the CIGAR inside the box, not the background. If you want the cigar off-center in the image, focus on the cigar by half-pressing your shutter button, then move the cigar or lens to frame the picture how you want. The focus will still be set on the distance of the cigar rather than the background.

Second: Make sure you have enough light to take a decent picture. In all three pictures above, there was not enough light in the room so the flash either reflected off the cigar band (pictures 1 and 2), or there was no flash, resulting in a very dark, blurry picture (3). Flash is not a replacement for ambient light. It can certainly assist if there's already plenty of light in the room, but you won't likely get a good picture of a cigar in a dark room just by using flash.

Just correcting focus and indoor lighting, we've improved from this to this:

Not perfect, but certainly an improvement.

Third: If possible, take pictures outside. Natural light is 100x better for pictures than artificial light. Find a fun location to set the cigar(s) or hold them, and make sure you're focusing on the cigar. Now we've upgraded to this:

Lastly: Become familiar with the Macro mode on your camera. Nearly all modern/common digital cameras will have a Macro mode - often represented by a flower on the mode selection wheel or screen. Macro mode is a specific setting for taking pictures of close things. In our examples here the change isn't dramatic, but often the change is very significant. Here's a picture taken with Macro mode:

I'm no professional photographer and I have an incredibly average camera, but great pictures are possible with just about any equipment. Pay attention to your focus, lighting, background and Macro mode and hopefully we'll see some great pictures from average photographers!

10-15-2008, 11:46 AM	#1
mikeyj23 Feeling at Home Join Date: Oct 2008 First Name: Michael Location: Texas Posts: 635 Trading: (10)	Cigar Pictures 101 We all love cigar pictures, but it seems we get some examples of the following: I'm no professional photographer, and all my pictures come from a $100 camera I got 2-3 years ago at Best Buy (Panasonic DMC-LZ3). There are a few quick, simple ways to ensure great cigar pictures. First: Be aware of where the camera focus is. Often in the middle of the camera screen you'll see something like [ ] - the camera will attempt to focus the image to whatever's inside the brackets or box. Put the CIGAR inside the box, not the background. If you want the cigar off-center in the image, focus on the cigar by half-pressing your shutter button, then move the cigar or lens to frame the picture how you want. The focus will still be set on the distance of the cigar rather than the background. Second: Make sure you have enough light to take a decent picture. In all three pictures above, there was not enough light in the room so the flash either reflected off the cigar band (pictures 1 and 2), or there was no flash, resulting in a very dark, blurry picture (3). Flash is not a replacement for ambient light. It can certainly assist if there's already plenty of light in the room, but you won't likely get a good picture of a cigar in a dark room just by using flash. Just correcting focus and indoor lighting, we've improved from this to this: Not perfect, but certainly an improvement. Third: If possible, take pictures outside. Natural light is 100x better for pictures than artificial light. Find a fun location to set the cigar(s) or hold them, and make sure you're focusing on the cigar. Now we've upgraded to this: Lastly: Become familiar with the Macro mode on your camera. Nearly all modern/common digital cameras will have a Macro mode - often represented by a flower on the mode selection wheel or screen. Macro mode is a specific setting for taking pictures of close things. In our examples here the change isn't dramatic, but often the change is very significant. Here's a picture taken with Macro mode: I'm no professional photographer and I have an incredibly average camera, but great pictures are possible with just about any equipment. Pay attention to your focus, lighting, background and Macro mode and hopefully we'll see some great pictures from average photographers!