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Permalink Reply by kathryn Barrel on February 2, 2012 at 1:48pm

I use my regular ol' fugi digital, and do cropping and shaprpening with Picasa, a free proggie from google. I Do not ever retouch photos because I feel that is misrepresentation on the professionals part. You can also use Irfanview, another free google proggie that works well with picasa. Resizing, flipping, photoframes, etc.  Check out what i did with my pics at www.skinmaven.net   NO retouching, but I did a little blurring on the edges only of some pics for a softer look.

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Permalink Reply by Crickett Enos on February 3, 2012 at 10:11pm

I had this issue with a camera I was using, the closeups were blurring.  Of course it was operator error LOL.  I hate admitting that!  But now I actually use the camera on my phone (droid incredible) it works great.  Maybe you are standing too close to your subject?  As long as the pic is in focus you can crop it closer and it should work. 

I also have adobe photoshop elements and do some cropping and stuff.  Like Kathryn, I don't do any retouching either, I want the photos to be true to life.  I think I'll try that Picasa, sounds interesting.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on February 4, 2012 at 7:13am

Try using the flower setting.  Press down slightly to get the green box and then take the picture.  I work at a Derms office and we just use a Kodak camera.

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Permalink Reply by Carrie Patrick on February 20, 2012 at 11:26am

I know this is from a few weeks ago but I just noticed it ... one of the best things you can do to get better photos with ANY camera is forget about the camera itself and look at your lighting. With good lighting you can make pictures from a $20 camera look like you're using a $2000 professional one. Pay attention to whether you're taking the photo in natural light (ie near a large window), fluorescent light (always terrible, it gives everything a green tone and is not usually bright enough to allow good focusing), or whatever other kind of lights are in the room. Mixed light will also give a poor result (eg natural light through a window, plus fluorescent light overhead, plus camera flash).

Using the camera flash is one of the quickest ways to make a photo look terrible because it washes out the features of the skin and reflects straight back into the camera lens. This is why you never, ever see a professional photographer using the pop-up flash on their camera. They have those big flash guns so they can get the flash as far away from the lens as possible.

Spend a bit of time researching "portrait photography lighting" online and you will learn a lot without having to buy anything. Then you can figure out a lighting setup that you can use conveniently in whatever room you usually take your before/after pics. This might be something as simple as getting a bright lamp that you can position next to a white wall, and try out some test shots with a friend standing in a particular location, so you will know that is exactly the lighting and location that will work best for your client photos.

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