I have a digital camera that takes reasonable photos. The one problem I have with it is that when I take pics of figures where the skin has dark areas blended into light areas the camera seems to try to seperate the colours out so I end up with light patches and dark patches not very blended.

Is it a case that my camera is crappy and I need another one, or is there some way of overcoming this, with certain lighting set ups or tweaking the camers settings?

my first guess about your problem is that you are stuck using a low color count setting - probably 256 colors or perhaps even thousands of colors. and are you sure the pictures are this way - could it be that you are just viewing the pictures on a monitor that is not using high or true color settings (which gives you millions of colors)? If it isn't that, try and look for quality settings somewhere on your camera's menu.

Another reason for the problem can be poor lightning...
Ciao
Fabio

martin,
Post a pic and we might have a better idea of what's happening.
Never mind...I checked your gallery and the pictures look great to me.
Al

I know this happens with me when you take photos using a flash. This occurs even when you have it set at maximum resolution. This is especially true when you use acrylic paints for painting faces. Its not as obvious if you use artist oils.

Try using either natural lighting or set up 2 light source at the back of the camera and take it without the flash. Soften the light by using reflectors to allow the figure faces to appear like the colours are blending.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies and advice. I noticed the effect most when I took some pics of my latest figure. http://photos.kitmaker.net/showphoto.php/photo/118801/cat/500/page/1
Although the colours are blended in well on the actual figure when I checked the pics on my computer it looked terrible. The pic was taken with a flash so I guess that I should invest in some "daylight" lightbulbs and try them in desk lamps.

Are you sure it's not your monitor or ? I just lookoed at this and even enlarged it and, while the shadows, especially those on the chest, are distinct, the rest looks fine.

I'm with Jeremy on this one. I have taken countless photos with my setup (Nikon D70s + SB600 flash) but for reasons I'm just learning of, have never been able to take good photos of figures. It's all about lighting, increase the amount of natural lighting and have 2 to 3 sources of fill-in light. and try and soften up the direct flash with a diffuser.

Frank

My Edit: BTW,.... nice photos in your gallery!

Keep the lighting simple, you shouldn't use three lights and a flash! If possible use natural light coming from behind and to the side of the camera, then use a reflector (a white piece of paper will do) placed just out of the shot to fill in the shadows on the side away from the natural light source.

You are trying to replicate natural sunlight, how many suns are there? ONE! The more lights you use the more shadows you'll get, so the more lights you think you have to add to fill those shadows. Trust me on this.

And don't use the flash. Too harsh, too uni-directional.

in agree that you might just have a situation with your monitor and not your camera - your photos look fine when i view them.

do you have an old monitor - or do you know how to change its color settings?

The colour settings on the monitor is a good suggestion.

To check - right click on your desktop and select 'properties', click on the 'settings' tab. Check the 'colour quality' drop down menu. You might have a too low setting selected. If you have it available, select either 24 bit or even 32 bit if you have that option.