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How to ContributeA few worries about photos...

22nd Jul 2016 22:23 UTCJonelle DeFelice

Hi all

Been doing a little looking around the site and started adding some specimens to my personal online collection here.

Now, let me see if I have this right:

Members can upload photos and A) they can be placed in USER status or B) PUBLIC status, is that correct?

Now, what if someone wants to add some specimens to their personal collection section, and they don't yet have a super wicked nice photo yet, BUT still wants to upload a photo for cataloging purposes? Will that user get a slap on the wrist for not uploading a better photo, OR will it simply just be OK'd for their USER gallery?

I have been wanting to upload more photos, but have a HORRIBLE time getting decent light onto specimens without reflections, so I don't have great shots of everything I have yet.

I just don't want to get kicked off the forum for not uploading perfect photos like so many of you do!

JD

23rd Jul 2016 00:17 UTCDavid K. Joyce Expert

Hi Jonelle, i'm a photo reviewer for mindat and I look at certain photos and decide if they should be for "Public" status or for the "User" alone. If the photo is a good one and reveals important info about the specimen and seems additive for the location, I relegate it to the public status. If the photo is poor or of a poor specimen that does not seem to contribute to the public good, I relegate it to "User" site only. That is the way I do it, anyway. I hope that is acceptable. I think it is possible to upload improved photo's in the future if your photographic capabilities improve.

I look forward to seeing your photo's!

David K Joyce

23rd Jul 2016 01:52 UTCPaul Brandes 🌟 Manager

Jonelle DeFelice Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I just don't want to get kicked off the forum for

> not uploading perfect photos like so many of you

> do!

>

> JD

Trust me Jonelle, this isn't Survivor; you won't get voted off the island for bad photos! :-D

I too am a reviewer/locality expert on Mindat and I look at several things when approving photos for either public or user galleries. Photo quality is but one aspect of what I look at. Another is how many specimen photos already exist for that locality and can they add anything to the overall general knowledge of the site. For your own cataloging purposes, you can add as many photos as you'd like. Don't worry about not having a professional photo rig; we all had to start somewhere, and you may find out that you really enjoy the challenges photographing minerals enough to warrant getting better equipment. You can also replace photos of the same specimen whenever you like. I am in the process of re shooting and replacing many of my photos because I have honed my techniques to the point of producing splendid specimen and locality photographs.

If you have questions about taking better photos, why don't you post your questions to the Mineral Photography message board for ideas.......

23rd Jul 2016 02:27 UTCJonelle DeFelice

OK, so I won't get admonished for adding less-than-stellar pics to my personal specimens. Gotcha! (tu)

" You can also replace photos of the same specimen whenever you like." YUP, I saw that... GREAT feature! ;-)

"If you have questions about taking better photos, why don't you post your questions to the Mineral Photography message board for ideas....... " Wellp, I have tried many of the tips I have read there and on other forums relating to my other hobbies, and no matter what I do, I do not get the same results. Not having a DSLR and proper lighting really does me in, I am afraid.

Some day, when I hit the lottery, I WILL have a 25+MP DSLR with proper macro lens, proper lighting, proper tripod........... and hopefully proper results! :-) For now, I have to use my out-of-date cameras, the floor to keep the camera still, and whatever light I can steal from the sun coming through the porch door that isn't making shadows and/or reflections.

An uphill battle... Stamps are SO easy, just SCAN THEM! ;-)

23rd Jul 2016 11:04 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Jonelle,

Thank you for uploading pictures to Mindat.

I am a reviewer too and look at multiple things before to put it to user only. If it's a bad pic of vanadinite from Morocco, I don't hesitate.

But pictures of minerals not charged yet to a locality, can be very helpfull to collectors and these get passed.

But you don't need an enourmous amount of money to make good pictures. It helps, off course :-D

The most important thing is a decent tripod.

My first pics where made with an old Nikon Coolpix 4500 and an E-bay tripos.

But what's important is to keep your specimen out of the sunlight.

I shoot in the shadow under a cypress tree. Just think to put your camera settings to " shadow " and close-up view.

I still use this method and non of my pics are in user gallery;-)

I hope this helps.

Best regards from Belgium.

Paul.

24th Jul 2016 21:50 UTCJonelle DeFelice

AHA, so still outdoors, but NOT in direct sun. If it ever stops being over 90ºF and full sun here, maybe I can try that! :-) In lieu of a good tripod, I prop the camera up somehow then use the timer (tu)

25th Jul 2016 11:41 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Be happy it's warm where you live. We just had 4 weeks of rain.

Don't use a coloured umbrella as the colour will contaminate the real colour of your specimen. Umbrella against reflections, yes, but use a black one covered with a black opaque tissue.

But it's essential to put your camera settings on shadow.

These tips are for hand specimens off course. Micro is a different story.

Good shooting.

Paul.

11th Jul 2017 23:32 UTCJonelle DeFelice

Hi all

Bumping this thread with a little update, as it has been almost a year since the last post!

I have continued to try and get some decent shots of my little collection. And I STILL yell and swear (internally) over the results.

Part of the problem may be that I can’t afford to update my cameras. One is 14MP, the other 12MP. Both are mega-zoom point & shoots.

I have been using 80-200ISO to cut down on noise, and the lowest (highest??) f-stops (the lowest #) which I think means the largest aperture, thus more light. Sometimes I swap to the opposite f-stop and adjust the exposure time, to mix things up a bit. Even tried a set of macro lenses with an adapter. No matter WHAT, something is out of focus, even before my Helicon Focus license expired. The image still has blur/fuzz when viewed at 1:1 (100%). There is ALWAYS digital noise. But I never see any on everyone else’s images! I try to clean it all up with PaintShopPro, but there's only so much that can be done.

Is everyone else simply using mega-megapixel DSLR’s with macro lenses and pro lighting???

That is another issue… LIGHT. When I can manage to get enough light on the subject, I end up with either shadows or reflections… or BOTH! I know I need some diffused lighting, but I haven’t been able to get any with my budget/space limitations.

12th Jul 2017 01:42 UTCWayne Corwin

Check around, some camera shops give free lessons, it may help you Jonelle.

12th Jul 2017 01:51 UTCJim Robison

Jonelle

I take lots of mineral photographs with a point and shoot using the MACRO setting. (I eventually got a camera I call the beast, and found it did amazing things, but I got by for decades with much less.) With my little point and shoot zero to ten X lens I can get down to within several inches of a piece and get decent hand held shots. The thing is, to understand what is going on taking a photograph, and taking lots of pictures, easy in the digital age, you can learn a lot, especially if you can download them and view them on a monitor.

Having said that I need to say - When I first started serious photography many decades ago using my first DSLR,, the best piece of advice I ever got was from a seminar by a National Geographic photographer. Rule number one - ALWAYS use a tripod. Rule number two - see rule number one. There are quite decent tripods for not very much money. You pay a little more for one with swing and tilt, and adjustable legs, and a lever operated crank for elevation. Advantages. You can compose the shot and if you get tired, just look away and when you come back you have the same image. Secondly, you practically eliminate vibrations and camera shake. This gets complicated when you are doing macro and super small specimen shots, but I never found it to be a limit for what I needed. I use it for sporting events when I need to zoom in and compose a photo. Have taken many photographs of my kids at track meets, soccer games, etc. and some up with great results. I was using a zoom lens, and a DSLR then but the key was always the tripod.

Rule number three, remember that as you change the distance from the camera to the specimen, or vary the aperture of the lens, the depth of field changes, becoming quite shallow sometimes. So with a tripod you can stand back a ways, zoom in, and still increase the depth of field. If your little camera has any zoom capabilities, you can focus in on the specimen. Otherwise, shoot at the highest possible resolution (number of pixel counts) you can get, and with a simple computer editing program, zoom and crop. This limits the sharpness of prints you can get or limits sharpness at magnification on a computer screen, but I do this all the time for my use, and it works well for me.

Others on the site can advise you what pixel frame count to use to get Mindat acceptable photographs, but you may find a good work around here. I always make my shots at the highest possible counts.

Bottom line, a tripod is an extremely useful tool. I soot pics of thousands of wild flowers, and there a tripod was even better because you could wait for the wind to die down and make a quick shot. I took a close up slide (that dates me) of a wild orchid using a tripod very close to the ground, and was able to blow the photo up to a 12" x 16" print that is still very sharp. A flower less than six inches tall was cropped by half in the print, and the flower part of the picture is over twelve inches tall.

Good luck as you continue on your journey in this fascinating hobby and your newly developing skills and knowledge. As you are learning over the months, lots of excellent questions from you and your readiness to learn make a big difference. When I see your name on a thread I always look at the posting, because I have learned so much myself from answers to your questions.

12th Jul 2017 02:57 UTCJonelle DeFelice

TRIPOD - yup, along with the camera's timer... though sometimes I use a VCR cassette to prop it up ;-)
ZOOM - yup, I know that with a non-SLR, when you zoom, you loose pixels, especially when you get into the digital zoom range
FLOWERS - yup, wind likes to whip up ONLY when I try to snag a photo!!! ;-)

(For the record, the two cameras I have are the Canon SX40HS, and Panasonic Lumix FZ45. Upper end super-zooms, but alas a bit out of date now.)

What is so darn annoying, is that I have been taking car and railroad photos for years and years, even had some published, and yet these _^^%*@#*(*%^#*&^ minerals are getting the better of me!!!

Well... so do moving trains in low lighting... can't figure that out, either... (www.newenglanddepot.net )

12th Jul 2017 07:28 UTCJim Robison

Jonelle Clearly I was preaching to the choir. Sorry about that. I looked at your web site, but couldn't tell if you had many close-up shots. Looked like most of the model train stuff was manufacturers data.

So the issue is close up shots of inanimate objects. What is the pixel spread of your camera, and image count? That may help us figure out what is happening. With a digital camera, some of them have a combination of optical and digital zoom. My little Nikon's have both. The optical zoom helps a lot, but when I push the zoom up into the digital range pixel count does indeed collapse. Does your camera have any optical zoom capabilities?

Hang in there. With digital camera prices coming down, an entry level DSLR may soon have what you need. If you have lens systems from the film era, some digital camera lines may allow you to use those. Used lenses are often very reasonable in price. You may also be able to find a used DSLR. Photographers always seem to be upgrading their systems.

12th Jul 2017 23:12 UTCJim Robison

Jonelle I tried to send you a PM, but my computer is acting up. Look at the end of the one I wrote last night. There should be an addendum at the bottom of it.

13th Mar 2019 00:59 UTCChristine Iacobuzio-Donahue

How to delete the first photo uploaded when I have a better one? Right now if I look at my personal collection list the ones with suboptimal photos have a ? in place of the image. I have uploaded better quality ones and thought it would automatically replace the first but they are both there.

Thanks in advance!

13th Mar 2019 10:07 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

You go into the edit screen for the photo you want to replace.

Then you upload the new photo and after it has been uploaded you hit the update photo and information button.

13th Mar 2019 12:23 UTCChristine Iacobuzio-Donahue

ok, I seem to have missed that. Thank you

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