Photo comments welcome

[Dewey Torres]

Today my new photo tent set up arrived. I just got it set up and took a couple more pics of my last project for comparison.

What I would like to do is turn another tonight and take another pic ...trying to improve.

Love the turning community!:D


Old pics:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=73&pictureid=1392

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=73&pictureid=1393

New pics:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=73&pictureid=1415

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=73&pictureid=1416

[Scott Conners]

Dewey - much better lighting! The second photo needs a bit more light on the front of the stopper, but it's looking a lot better. You may also want to check into how to set the white balance on your camera to avoid the pink color cast. It looks like the camera is trying to match sunlight, and your lights are much warmer (redder). Try setting the camera to incandescent (usually a small incandescent light bulb symbol). If your camera has it, you can use the custom white balance setting - consult your manual on how, it's usually pretty simple once you've tried it.
I also see a slight rose color to the shadow - this usually means that there was more than one color of light hitting the subject. It could be window light mixed with incandescent lamps, or just different types/wattages of bulbs. It's very slight, and not that important, but if it bothers you try to make sure all the light hitting the tent is from the same exact type of source.
I popped them into my photo editor and corrected the white balance and increased the exposure and contrast a bit. You can really see a difference from your first pictures!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dewey - congrats on getting your photo gear set up! How cool is that?

Just opinions here - but I really like the profile shot in the first photo. You want to take angles that showcase the form and not distort it. The very last photo - new one - would work better if the camera was looking at it more straight on with just a slight elevation to get a hint of the top. Make any sense?

Next question... what are you using for graphics software? You want to try and get a good white balance from your camera to get as close to real colors as possible. A good software program will allow you to make fine adjustments to the photo to correct the little things. In both of the new photos - there seems to be a slight red tinge to everything. It could be the photo or the way my monitor see it.

Hope that opens up some more questions for you!

Again - congrats on getting the tent! It will make a huge difference in your photos!

[David Christopher]

Dewey, what kind of photo booth/tent did you get...can you take a picture of your setup...Im tired of taking photos of my countertop... BTW the pics look much better

[Dewey Torres]

Thanks guys:

The edited photo that Scott did up for me is exactly what I am looking for.

Darn that red tint. I also noticed it and purposely didn't mention it hoping one of you would tell me how to fix it.

I did not use any editing software and that is my problem. My camera is old and cheap digital on its last leg but if I can use the editing software to get it looking like Scott's rendition I will live with that for quite a while.

I am out to the shop again to turn another and I will download some software and try again and of course welcome you comments.

Steve,
You busted me! I questioned the perspective on the stand up shot... I too hated it.....

Dewey...is getting critical ...what out!:cool:

[Dewey Torres]

David,
Here is the device I bought:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FBF400

With supersaver free shipping it was 41.78 for everything you see.

Mini tripod, 2 lights w/ bulbs, a grey and a blue back drop, (I didn't like either so I used poster board), and a carrying case. The whole thing folds up and there are nlyon pockets for the lights and the tripod. capacity is 16" x 16".

[David Christopher]

Thanks Dewey Ill be getting one soon

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dewey they are a looking better. Keep at it and it will get there.

[Dewey Torres]

Ok,
Forget the less than phenomenal turning:rolleyes:

I downloaded some software and went back to the tent.

What do you think?

Second glance still too much red...

[Scott Conners]

Dewey - Here's a new program I think is worth checking out...and the best part is, it's free! It's an online image editing program by Aviary - www.aviary.com (http://www.aviary.com). It's called Phoenix, get to it here: http://aviary.com/tools/phoenix#

Here's what you do: Click on run phoenix, then go to File>New Document and click yes to open a new document. Select the file on your hard drive and open it. The most basic adjustment is levels, and a quick and dirty tool that often will get you 90% to what you can do by hand is the Auto Levels tool. Go to Image>Auto Levels. This is what you will get from only that tool:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111347&stc=1&d=1235632142
Auto Levels may not always work perfectly, but it's a good start. The way to fine tune it is to go to Image>Levels and select the color channel at the top (in this case, red). Play with the three slider at the bottom until you get a result you like - often it's a small adjustment to the middle slider that will be all you need.
Playing a little bit with the red levels and adding a touch of brightness got me to this:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111350&stc=1&d=1235633507

To save, go to File>Export Image. Click generate, and once the image finishes uploading the Download button will light up. Click Download to save to your hard drive. IMPORTANT: You need to add the file extension when you save! The default format is PNG, which is just fine, so the name would be something like stopper1-autolevels.png. Adding the .png is important. I'm not sure if this is because aviary is still in beta or what, but if you add the extension it will work fine. If you forget, you can always add it after the fact by right clicking on the file where you've saved it and choosing Rename. Then add .png to the end of the name and hit enter.

Aviary isn't perfect (yet), but it is free and fast, and lets you do things like re-size and crop images, and adjust color levels and such easily. Hopefully this will help with those photos that just need a little color balancing to look perfect.

For some reason, uploading the images to Sawmill Creek is making them softer, I'm not sure why - maybe it's re-encoding them for some reason? They are more clear and less fuzzy before I upload them.

[Dewey Torres]

Ok...
I will play more tomorrow...getting late!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dewey,

Most of the software adjustment work better when done in a sequence. Example - crop the photo first if you are going to do that, then resize the photo, then focus, then color adjust. Reason for sequence is to maintain your adjustments. If you change colors first, then crop, then resize - you will get compression and actually change the final photo.

Here is your same photo - with a little touch up.

111353

Play around with everything for a while and when you have questions - we'll be here.