How To Photography

The how-to pictures on this site are taken with a Cannon Digital Rebel camera under mixed natural and incandecent light.

The addition of the green seamless background has been a huge improvement since the white tabletop and black parts create way too much contrast for good pictures.

Closeups use a Cannon macro lens.

A Manfrotto/Bogen variable-friction articulated arm and table clamp provide convenient hands-free photography using manual focus and the self-timer.

Here is what the shop looks like when it is setup for photography. There is no camera on the arm because I'm using it to take these pictures.
I've constructed a remote control cable for my Digital Rebel using a 3/32 inch stereo connector (RadioShack 274-298) on one end and #22 solid copper pigtails on the other.
Here is how I've wired it:

  • ground -> sleave -> black
  • focus -> ring -> red
  • shutter -> tip -> white

Focus and shutter both present a 3.3v level with respect to ground. Grounding focus initiates autofocus; grounding shutter triggers the shutter release. The 3.3v level dissapears when the corresponding button is pressed on the camera so camera state changes can be detected through the same cable.

A Cyboard will see the camera as a high going low when either focus or shutter is activated. Here we've fed shutter into ValueFilterMeter which has measured modest sutter lag.
Going the other way, the logic outputs on the NegativeTransform are suitable for activating focus and sutter on the camera. I've trigger the camera with a photocell driving an AnalogKnobConverter by connecting it as follows: 

    photocell -> analog -> negative -> shutter
I wouldn't have plugged my camera into my computers if I hadn't read this circuit first.

 
Last edited April 14, 2010
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