This post was initially going to be how my cupcake decorating skills have progressed since my last disasterous attempt. But then I couldn't take a decent photo of them to save my life.
I have a nice camera. Not super fancy but for the price and model (Canon PowerShot S3 IS) it should take better pictures than I've been able to get out of it. I do a lot of post processing on my pictures to tweak them into something semi-decent.
Out of the camera they are dark and grainy. I've fiddled with the f/stop and ISO settings. I've tried bringing in additional light (like holding a shadeless lamp over my head while snapping a photo).
Last week, in a fit of desperation, I Googled "digital camera tips" and boom! The first tip I read said that digital cameras tend to take "cool" pictures and sometimes just changing the the tone or white setting to cloudy helps.
So in an inspired moment I dragged out the camera manual (novel idea, no?) and learned how to reset the white setting. I am the first to admit that I find the manual totally overwhelming. I'd much prefer someone just show me what to do. But there are so many different things to set that I've never looked further than the f/stop and ISO settings.
Switching the white setting to cloudy wasn't much better. But! I tried an experiment this morning. My camera has eight settings – automatic, daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, fluorescent H, flash and custom.
I already know automatic doesn't work for me and I hate using flash. So I took a series of pictures using the rest of the settings. The picture above was the most natural (and no post processing was done) and the setting is fluorescent. Click on the picture so you can see it better. Trust me it is way better than any of the other 35 pictures I took of that cupcake.
To illustrate here is a side by side comparison of how one little setting can make a world of difference:
So progress has been made in my photography education. And I think my cupcake decorating skills have improved too.
Not only can I NOT take good pictures, but I lost my manual! I’m hopeless! :~{
Thanks for the photo lesson although it was hard to concentrate while drooling over the luscious cupcake!