Here is another Top 10 list for PBC thread readers that may find something useful when photographing the tricky subject matter of pool ball collections. The following tips I’ve put together from years of experimenting and collecting suggestions from pro photographers - and by all means, this isn’t an all-inclusive list nor every trick in the proverbial book, so if readers of this thread can find something useful amongst the 10 items below, your photos of billiard balls will be even better than they already are
Here goes:
10. Use whatever camera device you have available. One you’re comfortable with. iPhones and iPads work great. Use that DSLR if you have it handy and know how to use it as well as you do that smartphone.
9. Clean AND polish the ball set you want to capture before the photo shoot. Take a few extra minutes and do them one at a time with the “best techniques” and products recommended previously in post #1150 dated 5/6/19. Place a bit more emphasis on the cue ball since it will be the most challenging to get all chalk marks removed.
8. Use a standard black ball tray or black background photo board if possible to keep things consistent and provide best contrast with the balls. Trays will also give you near-perfect ball spacing that allows neighboring ball reflections. Avoid using the ball box they came in.
7. Don’t use a flash of any kind. Reflected, indirect lighting always works best.
6. With the balls on the tray, angle that tray slightly so the overhead lighting is not projecting straight down at 90° to the balls creating unwanted reflections. Elevate the far edge of the tray at least 20° from horizontal and then keep your device parallel to that new angle so everything is square.
5. Avoid any special effects, HDR or editing of any kind that changes the ball coloring in any way - you want to showcase the balls as close to their original characteristics as possible.
4. Make slight but noticeable corrections for the barrel lens distortion. Using smartphones (and most camera lenses) to take photos of your ball set, you will most likely see results that look like this typical “before” photo:
It’s worth noting here that every ball was perfectly centered in the tray as they would appear if you pulled them off of your shelf to play (before arranging them in any way). See how the balls appear to be out of round and not centered with the lens after taking the photo? It’s somewhat of a shock to see them all out of position and look like they were tossed onto the tray without care.
Without using expensive lenses or photo editing software, you can use a simple trick while looking at the screen image on your device before snapping the pic. All you need to do is rotate each ball slightly, getting the numbers centered within the ball edges as close to perfect as possible - to ALLOW for the expected lens distortion. One at a time of course. Here is the same ball set moments later using this tip and it’s “after” photo:
3. Use a tripod. This way, you’ll be able to re-create the same setup parameters such as distance from the balls, angles, lighting and so on for each ball set you acquire over time.
2. Verify the settings on your device are set to capture the highest quality possible with what you have. Go to SETTINGS and scroll down until you see Camera and see what options you have. For (most) social media or personal device photography, the “High Efficiency” camera capture will give nearly the same quality as using the “Most Compatible” setting while saving a ton of storage space.
1. Don’t be afraid to use the Markup feature right on your smartphone device (preferably iPad) with your photos while Editing them (cropping, etc). Don’t change the colors or effects - but using the various marker sizes and pen colors can rid a photo of unwanted glare or edging that cropping and setup can not. Experiment. You can always revert to your original or simply duplicate the photo and leave the original untouched. Oh - use an Apple Pencil if your device allows.
If there are any pro photographers reading this PBC thread, please feel free to chime in and add any other pointers or corrections that I may have erred on.
Here’s to the best pics possible
~K.