look for contrast/brightness in your picture editing program to adjust the paleness some cameras put at pics (because of white point settings or whatever reasons)...

usually an increase in both contrast and brightness for 10% enhances the pic enough

(it's not manipulation of the paintjob, it's an adjustment at the digipics so that they look as the mini does in reality.

also the function 'curves' and 'levels' can help to improve the white/black balance.
if not only set to RGB but individual colour channels this can help you to correct e.g. too blueish or yellowish light.

I have done so on several members pics, just to see how good they look in reality, e.g. changed the settings until the base looked black and not grey anymore, then the other colours looked really good.

Beate - are you using Photoshop? Many of the members would not have access to that level of professional software or your experience, so they may not have the fine control over the images that we might like. Many of the image editors do not allow for percentage control over adjustments - they go for 'mild' or 'full' and who knows what they might be.

It may just be better to retake photos until you have one that looks right, rather than relying on the computer to fix it. It is more time consuming but also more likely to be accurate, plus it makes it easier for the rest of us to see anyones work properly.

_________________
Published ebooks:
Instrument of the Empire
A Note of Defiance
Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla
More to come!

I think many editing programs do have such controls I mentioned. e.g. the free Gimp has them (with many) or iPhoto (that comes with every mac) (with a bit fewer range)

sure, if the pic itself is good already, less work is needed.
(AFAIK somebody is writing an article anyway, so I should not elaborate here)

it starts with light during photographing. and the surrounding light/colours.
I prefer daylight. Sunlight is nice but creates unpleasant shadows sometimes or makes reflections become only white halo. Even a dull grey day gives better light than artificial (if you don't have many proper sources).

and the settings of the camera, at least choose clouds or artificial light before taking pics (white point settings are only neccessary at very specific pics/scenaries)

anyway, I can see the quality of a mini no matter how bad is it photographed (except blurrings of course , but it seems that some don't get the deserved good comments only because the photograph doesn't look good. and that is such a pity!

Absolutely true - I was a little disappointed with the photos in the latest awards as there seemed to be a lot of darker images where the details were obscured and it was very difficult to get an honest feel for the quality. I voted for what I could see to be the best in each category.

_________________
Published ebooks:
Instrument of the Empire
A Note of Defiance
Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla
More to come!