# Guitar photography tips



## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Seems like every other person, in every instrument forum around the World, is able to take better gear pictures than me. I know the basics ie turning off the flash mounted on my camera, but my pictures always turn out .. well ... crap! I've tried to use natural light in my home, but its hard to get the exposure right.

Anyone have tips they can share? Or a pointer to another site which might have this info?

Update: I found this website, buts pretty high tech. I obviously dont have a Hasselblad, or those white "umberellas". I"m looking for basic tips.

http://www.tarisio.com/pages/about/photo_instr.php


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

First off, I think a green blanket is vital!
(sorry, couldn't resist)


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## xuthal (May 15, 2007)

Pretty much just get the correct setting and plenty of natural light.I took this picture with my cheap old sony cybershot when i first got it second hand.I corrected for the high light levels and maybe a cloud was passing overhead "muting" the harsh sunlight.Can't be sure but i did go into the basic settings,removed the flash and chose the appropriate option.I think it turned out pretty well.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

the only thing I can suggest is to take a ton of pics from slightly diff't angles, and you are bound to get some gems among the lot.
(thank goodness for digital cameras!)
and generally, the more light from outside sources - ie. not the flash - the better.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

I just got a new camera (sony A33) and took a class on this stuff (it's still mostly greek to me). If you're using a flash you need to filter it so it's not too harsh, this could simply be holding a tissue in front of it to mute it a bit. Also, natural lighting is a good idea, but I would have a big white bristol board or sheet hanging opposit your guitar to reflect as much light as you can on it.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Don't forget to use the macro setting for close ups.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

I always find that natural sunlight does really well with guitars and amps, brings out the colours


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Natural light helps a lot. But having a good camera helps too. I have a small 14megapixel Samsung camera which I got for those grab and go situations, small enough to put in my pocket and an Olympus DSLR with just 8megapixels and I still get better pictures with the DSLR. You can also try tweaking the photo a bit using photoshop or whatever software you have. I use a free software called Irfanview and use that for cropping, changing formats and even tweaking the photos a bit. It doesn't have anything really fancy but it does have basic stuff you can use for editing a photo. If you are interested in it, you can download it here: IrfanView - one of the most popular viewers worldwide


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## Shark (Jun 10, 2010)

Natural light is best when it's natural shade.  Non-direct sunlight is the easiest to work with. The two most common problems people have is that the light is either two harsh or too dim. Obvious, I guess. Too harsh looks crappy and causes bright spots mixed with detail-killing shadows, while too little light will make the camera compensate by increasing the ISO (causing graininess), popping up the on-board flash (giving its own harshness), or dropping the shutter speed (making the photo blurry) - or a combination of those.

Here are some basic tips:

1. Find a place with even, diffuse light. A shaded area outside or a room with sun coming through soft blinds are both good.

2. Try to minimise the clutter in the background. A plain wall, the backyard lawn, a fence, the case lining, a sheet (on or off the bed), etc. - all of these things will help your main subject to pop out of the scene better.

3. Get down lower to the level of your subject, or prop it up higher. Compositionally, it looks much better when you are either looking straight across or slightly up towards the subject (talking about products and not people).

4. Stand back and zoom in to the subject. This often looks better than getting up close and shooting wide. There are obvious exceptions, but it's a good general rule. The wider you shoot, the more the lens will distort the scene. 

5. If you want to take the photo at night, use supplementary lighting like lamps. Or you can grab a strong flashlight with the light aimed indirectly at the guitar (e.g., bounce it off the opposite wall). You might want to rest your camera on a steady surface and use the timer in order to avoid too slow of a shutter speed.

6. Take lots of photos from different angles and choose the best ones.

7. Mixed lighting temperatures can be ugly. I.e., if you are in a room with sunlight coming through the window plus fluorescent lights in the ceiling then you're in for colour trouble. Try to keep things as consistent as possible. So, turn the overhead light off, if you can, or set up lamps that have the same types of bulbs.

8. Try to learn the manual settings on your camera. Find a happy spot for your minimum shutter speed that you know you can hold the camera steady at. Open the aperture up as wide as it will go (the lower the number the "better"). Keep the ISO as low as possible. ISO is kinda like the volume control on a non-master volume control amp. The more you turn it up the more it breaks up (the grainier the photo becomes). It's great when you have no other choice, but best avoided if you can help it. The goal is a clean image.


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## Jocko (May 17, 2010)

For best results I use a tripod. No flash. Using Aperture Priority set the camera to f22 for greatest depth of field then using shutter delay (as if you wanted to be in photo) which gets round camera shake, take the picture. If you need more light then set camera on Manual, f22 and shutter speed 2x or 4x the Automatic setting. Adjust shutter speed until you get the exposure you want. A light, behind guitar, shining on background, works fairly well. (See "Kawai guitar" in Vintage forum)


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Take 100 pictures, at least a few of them should be stunners.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

I have an old film SLR that takes great pictures. Our digital camera I consider the about the same as a point and shoot .. or not very good. But it's all I have. I find with it that a lot of the times it's better to take the shot and then zoom in the editing process. 

It used to be standard to point the flash up and bounce the light of the ceiling and create indirect light. I use some cheap halagon work lights sometimes. You could try diffusing something like that too.


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Hamstrung said:


> First off, I think a green blanket is vital!
> (sorry, couldn't resist)


) Speaking of Faracaster, he's taken loads of very good photos of the various guitars and amps he's had over the years. He showed me some of them. When he was taking photos of my Les Paul he was continually shooting and he even deleted a few in the camera that were under or overexposed or slightly blurry. He'd probably have some really good tips for you. One tip I have, if you have Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or any other digital editing program is to use the crop tool if you have too much area around the main subject you're shooting.


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## Jocko (May 17, 2010)

Make sure you have a plain background. Nothing worse than competing clutter behind your guitar.


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