Getting good pics of chins? (Hopefully image heavy :))

[tcraighenry]

Curious about what you do to get good pics of your babies! (Because there are so many and I'm jealous to be honest!)

We have pretty soft lighting in our house and naturally she's not active a lot during the day. So a lot of what I take comes out a little grainy without tweaking. Using flash makes her eyes go demonic and reflects off her fur.

(She's a pink and white, so she already has demonic little eyes sometimes!)

My camera is a point and shoot.


This is what I'm getting in a very well lit part of the house:

This is after some tweaking with temperature and after reducing noise:


Hello by colliedlight, on Flickr

Demonic chin with Flash

What kind of settings do you use? Lighting? Flash? What do your before and afters look like?

(Facebook compression also really screws up photos. Flickr tends to be a better host!)

 

[tcraighenry]

(Also adorable Flickr pool!)

http://www.flickr.com/groups/chinchilla/pool/with/6834235811/

 

[Sycamore Chins]

We try to photograph ours during the day and have natural light lighting up the room. No flash. That way their color looks it's best. We have our camera set on the fastest shutter speed (motion setting) and take a bazillion pictures. I'd say for every 10 pictures I take, I get 1 good one.

 

[ReneeM]

I make my dad do it He is an amateur photographer and takes great pictures. He got a wonderful one of our little boy Moshi. I try taking pics with my camera phone.

 

[greychins]

Expensive DSLR camera with high shutter speed. Takes photos in 1/200th of a second - almost no blurry photos that way!

I typically use the flash because without it, we have such bad lighting that I have to have the shutter speed at like 1 second... and then the photos are blurry... but the colors come out more natural without the flash.

 

[andreya]

I love the third one. She is so cute. =)

I take all of my pictures with my phone.

 

[Jaina_Organasolo]

I use Macro setting and always get as close as I can. I've taken some lovely ones but most are of blurs and empty spaces.

 

[sheena lee]

Bright natural light is always best, as is a camera where you can adjust the settings to get a faster shutter speed. Often in natural light, the Automatic setting will do just fine.

A camera with a fast auto-focus is important too! The iPhone for example is really slow, and I often get blurry shots of Chia if I'm using that. With a good DSLR, the chances of getting non-blurry pics are much better.

Here's some links to photos I've taken in various lighting situations.

Natural light on cloudy day w/ Canon 40D
http://chiachinchilla.tumblr.com/post/18697006864/chia

Natural light on bright day w/ Canon 40D
http://chiachinchilla.tumblr.com/post/17048967119/chia-this-afternoon-i-woke-her-up-and-she-was

Bathroom lighting at night w/ Canon 40D
http://chiachinchilla.tumblr.com/post/18237954936/chias-playtime

Bathroom lighting at night w/ Canon 40D and accidental long-exposure
http://chiachinchilla.tumblr.com/post/17509374101/i-took-a-lot-of-photos-of-chia-recently-and-while

Bright natural light (morning) w/ iPhone
http://chiachinchilla.tumblr.com/post/14901662565/sometimes-i-kneel-on-the-floor-in-the-morning-and

Ceiling light at night w/ iPhone
http://chiachinchilla.tumblr.com/post/18485236926/sleepy-chia-after-an-hour-long-playtime

Table lamp + TV at night w/ iPhone
http://chiachinchilla.tumblr.com/post/18485082598/somebody-likes-friends

 

[PetoftheDay]

Many cameras have "red-eye reduction" mode as one of the flash choices, use that, just in case. For close-ups - anything less than a foot away from the camera, use Macro mode. Always use the highest resolution setting your camera has. Images that are slightly blurry at high resolution can look better when reduced a little, the opposite is not true!

Lighting, as others have mentioned, is key. The more light the better, essentially! And for chins-in-motion, use the "sports" mode on your camera and try that!

Pay attention to the background. Often setting a colored towel down, you can get a better picture of a light-colored chinchilla. White on white is not usually a good idea, or of course black on black.

And bribery is often the best trick - have a tasty treat handy, and even a normally busy chin may hold still to nibble it!

 

[ChinnyMom]

if only cameras came with 'chinchilla setting', :rofl:

 

[ticklechin]

I use a cannon rebel eos, in front of a large window for natural light, I use a large hay box drapped in a white sheet for background and containment of the chins in question.

 

[ChinchillasByDesign]

We use our show table (white) and turn on our show lights. We have a DSLR and like Allison, we take a TON of pictures and just keep the best of them.

 

[jess32247]

I tweak the settings on my camera a bit, like turning up the brightness, slowing the shutter speed, little things like that help alot. It also helps if you have natural light to take the pictures with. Maybe you could look through your cameras manual and see if you can find any settings you can change!

Here's a pic of my little lady hehe!

ReneeM - LOL about making your dad do it! My mom ends up holding the camera upside down when she takes pictures, so she leaves it to me instead