What makes a great woodworking photograph?

[Brian Kent]

What makes a great photograph of a woodworking project?

What kind of lighting?

What setting?

No background or complimentary background?

How does an amateur with a digital camera get "good enough" lighting?

I would appreciate professional or hobbiest ideas (and yes, I know this is a whole course of study and a lifetime of knowledge, experience and equipment).

Brian

Examples very welcome!

[Rick Levine]

Like you said, depending on the application and the quality you need or desire it could take years to develop the skills to make a good photograph. The basics are lighting, composition, background and exposure. You might want to think about a course or two at a local adult education class. To begin with think about what you want to say with the photo. Are you just interested in a record of the project or are you trying to sell the piece.

As far as digital, unless you have one of the more advanced cameras you will probably not need electronic flash equipment, but an incandescent light source will make lighting much easier. A few flood lights and reflectors would be a good start.

Simplicity is the key to a good photograph. Keep the background uncluttered in most cases. This just touches the surface, I'm sure others will chime in with other suggestions.

This is just one example of a couple of my first woodworking projects I submitted to NYW a few years ago. The lighting was mainly daylight with some white reflector cards to fill in the shadows. I just wanted a record of the pieces so I didn't make the set up elaborate. That is how simple it can be.


http://www.compupal.com/Darkroom/table.jpg

[Matt Haus]

I bought one of those light tents off ebay. I get great lighting and the importance on the background is contrast. You want your piece to pop out. You also need a manual camera that you can set apperature settings. This allows you to get as much of the piece in focus. A shallow depth of field will leave parts of the piece blurred.

[Mike Henderson]

What makes a great photograph of a woodworking project?
I think it's having a really good looking model next to the piece of furniture.:)

Mike

[Rod Upfold]

Not knowing what level of camera you own.

The biggest problem that I see people do is take out of focus pictures. When I use to use film cameras you took time to focus the camera - so after spending time in the darkroom you have usable photos' and not ones that are out of focus. With the digital you can look at the picture right after you click the shutter.

If you can - turn off the auto focus and learn how to take focused pictures. Then later on if your camera allows you - you can learn about f/stops, speed and dept of field.

Simple is better - like the previous poster said...


Rod

[Chris Tsutsui]

How does an amateur with a digital camera get "good enough" lighting?

Wait until there's an overcast day where the sun is behind a nice haze of clouds. Sometimes early in the morning.

Then you get even light from the entire sky with less harsh shadows if photographing outdoors.

Some of my best photos were made with this free lighting... heh

[Bill Huber]

First, natural light is always the best when you can use it. You can get cheap foam board at the hobby shop as reflectors to us as fill in light. Reflect the light from a window to fill in the dark areas of the shot. You can also use a nice white sheet to cover a window so the light will be softer and not as harsh.

A tripod is always good also, unless you have very high shutter speeds you can get some blur hand held. With a tripod you do not have to worry about the amount of light you have, shot the shot at 2 seconds if you want and you will still got a good shot. Remember you want a deep depth of field, you want as much in focus as you can.

The background to me depends on, if you want to sell it or show it as a finished project. If you want to sell it the background should be somewhat the same as the item will be used in, not a lot of clutter but clean and nice looking so when the person looks at the shot they think how nice it looks.

If you are just wanting to show the finished project then a plan background is better I think. you are not showing anything but the project. The background should be neutral and somewhat contrasting.

Shadows are good but should be soft, harsh shadow don't look very good. This is were you want to use fill or reflected light to soften them so they are not just black but are a soft gray.

The color is always a big deal, your white balance should always be checked. Place a white paper in a test shot as a reference so you now know what white is. Then later you can check in software to make sure it is correct.

Take a lot of shots at different angles with different lighting, you never know just which one will look the best until you set down and review them all.

These are just my ideas, I am not a pro but I do have opinions.

[Brian Kent]

I think it's having a really good looking model next to the piece of furniture.:)

Mike

Yeah, like a nice model car or model airplane, huh!

[Brian Kent]

Not knowing what level of camera you own.

Rod

I have a Sony DSC-S70. It is about 8 years old. Very slow electronics but very sharp pictures. Carl Zeiss lens. I paid for the optics and not the electronics at the time.

For years I used a manual Minolta CLR so I know a few basics (hobby only) about F-Stops and Shutter Speed.

My current purpose is just to improve my furniture pictures, but any level of info I can gain is useful.

[Brian Kent]

I am finding the lighting information very helpful. I wouldn't spend a fortune on lighting so the natural light, reflectors, diffusing techniques are very good.

[Vic Damone]

I'm not sure what this technique is called but I've used to make catalog photos of custom parts and components.

If your camera has a bulb setting on the shutter release (the ability to hold the shutter open indefinitely) cable release, tripod, flash unit with an AC adapter, and you have a large enough space that does not leak any light.

Locate the subject about two feet away from a contrasting backdrop (sheet, curtain, empty wall, etc). Set up the tripod and the camera to obtain the desired framing of the subject.

Focus and set the aperture at f22 for depth of field.

Setup the flash on an extension cord so you can walk all around the subject.

Turn off the room lights, lock open the shutter then start popping off the flash in every direction, bottom up top down, side to side. Just stay out of the frame during the flash and don't flash directly into the lens.

The resulting image will have very little shadow if any. Front to back detail of the entire subject. If there's a drawback it's that the image is very analytical in appearance.

[Stephen Edwards]

The best piece of advice that I know to give to you is to listen to what Bill Huber has to say! It's well worth your while and fun to visit his web page also:

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber

There's a very good tutorial on photography basics. Be sure to check out his shop gallery also. In fact, you can spend hours looking at his photos!

The man is a humble genius, both as a photographer and woodworker. To top it off, he's a nice guy, too! He's been very helpful when I've had questions. I've learned a lot from him and never even met him in person.

(Bill, sorry if I'm ruining your reputation!)

[Chris Konikowski]

I didn't read all this, so I don't know if it is a repeat, but...

The trick to a good picture is taking a LOT of pictures. If you ever look at modeling shots, they have 100 or more pics that they get one or two great pics from.

Then:
Lighting and KISS.

[Rick Levine]

Chris,



The trick to a good picture is taking a LOT of pictures. If you ever look at modeling shots, they have 100 or more pics that they get one or two great pics from.


Sorry to disagree with you. That is what we used to call the "shotgun" approach. It does nothing but guarantee a lot of wasted film or digital memory. A better method is to think about what you want in a photograph, plan the lighting and composition then make the image. A few minutes of thought will save time, film (storage space), and give you a greater chance of getting the image you want.

Also, model shots are usually done by professionals that have had a lot of experience. They are shooting that many images to give the model a better selection for a variety of applications.

Anyone can get a decent photo if they shoot enough but you won't learn anything for the next time.

[Don Kondra]

Greetings,

For small objects I can recommend a light tent and CF bulbs with a color temp of 5500k. A set up like this is especially useful for even lighting on turned objects without glaring hot spots.

The light mount can be as simple as clip on reflectors, available for ~ $10@ at a home improvement center.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/donkondra%20tests/Cliponlights.jpg

If you are handy and thrifty you can fool with PVC pipe, cut up cardboard boxes, etc. or you can purchase a 28" x 28" light tent with four paper backdrops for $50 from Alzo Digital - they have the bulbs also.

http://alzodigital.com/online_store/light_tent.htm.

For larger objects, I feel a backdrop is essential. Check around locally, a 9' x 36' paper backdrop is ~ $50.

A tripod is a must as is a camera that allows you to shoot in Aperture mode. A high Mega Pixel dslr camera is only useful if you wish to print the images in a large format.

Try shooting at F8 - F11 and use a two second delay shutter release. Center focus point if available.

Lighting is going to depend on how much you want to spend or how creative you can get with natural light.

With continuous lights you can purchase light heads that take four bulbs, two of those with 45w CF bulbs work well.

This carved turtle by Jamie Russell was shot with two side lights and one top light. Two heads x 4 - 45w bulbs and a 27w top light. The tungsten equivalent of 1300w.

The angle is close to the most commonly used 3/4 profile.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Product%20Shots%20by%20Don%20Kondra/JamieTurtle.jpg

And the lighting set up... I built softboxes for two of the four head lights and a smaller top light with a clip on reflector..

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Product%20Shots%20by%20Don%20Kondra/JamieBoxSetup-1.jpg

This picture shows the bulbs, the larger bulbs are 85w and were not used to shoot the turtle box..

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Softboxes.jpg

Total cost was about $500. I've since moved on to studio strobes but that's another story :)

Cheers, Don

[Don Kondra]

For comparison, this is my cherry entrance bench with brown leather seat.

Shot with two Alien Bees 640 w/s strobes with 2' x 3' softboxes from the sides and a Cowboy Studio 200 w/s strobe and 18" x 18" softbox from the top.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/EntranceBench.jpg

I should also add I've had a photo published in Fine Woodworking magazine shot with a 2 mp Kodak P&S with a white sheet for a backdrop. They did some major Photoshopping on that image though :)

Cheers, Don

[Steve Mellott]

Don:

Thanks for providing both the photo of your subject and the photo of your setup. Very informative for me. Thanks again.

Steve

[Mike Sandman]

My "other interest" is photography, and Don Korda's photos of his setup are excellent.

Just a couple of added points for people who aren't fluent in photo-speak:

A "softbox" is a box with a light in it and a large diffuser (like a translucent white fabric) over it. Without a softbox, a bulb casts a harsh shadow. By spreading the light across the face of the diffuser you get a big, broad light that casts soft shadows. By putting the light in a box you prevent light from spilling out in an uncontrolled way, although you could get by with just a diffuser and not use a box.

Using a compact fluorescent (CF) bulb is a super idea, because they don't give out a lot of heat. If you put a regular tungsten filament bulb into a homemade softbox you run the risk of overheating the box and causing a fire, or at least melting the box.

The suggestions about making sure you have soft shadows and using reflector cards to bounce light back up to lighten shadows are good advice. Just don't try to elimate 100% of the shadow, because if you do you lose the sense of depth in the photo. Don's photo of the wood turtle has excellent depth because the shadows are there, but they're relatively soft and controlled.

The suggestions about depth of field are right on target too. To get good depth of field you have to shoot at a small aperture, like f/22. That means the lens is admitting very little light. So to get proper exposure you need to have a slow shutter speed, and that means you need a tripod.

And finally, that means none of this will be easy unless you have a camera on which you can control the aperture. If you have an all-automatic camera you'll have a much harder time getting the depth of field right. If it's all-automatic, see if there's a "macro" setting. Using that may help

[Andy Bardowell]

Does anyone know how to save a link to this string to our profile for future reference? Or perhaps we can implore Don and others here to write an article on the subject.

[Don Kondra]

Don Korda, eh?

Oh well, just don't call me late for supper :)

Let me just add a couple words of encouragement.

This whole process may sound complicated but like everything else, one step at a time and all will become clear.

And keep in mind there are a number of fine photographers on this site more than willing to help with specific questions.

Cheers, Don

[Bill Huber]

To add a little about shadows to Mike, these two images were ones I did a long time ago to show what shadows do to and image. You can see in the first image the light is straight on and there are no real shadows and everything looks flat.
In the second image, the only thing that was changed was moving the light you can see all kinds of detail and depth to the image, you can see pits and indents that you would not even think were there in the first image.

These are very harsh shadows and are just to show what shadows will do for and image.

123708 123709

[Don Kondra]

Does anyone know how to save a link to this string to our profile for future reference? Or perhaps we can implore Don and others here to write an article on the subject.

Pretty sure you can just bookmark the thread...

And if you haven't seen this, Neal Addy has done a lot of work putting together some photo information.

Go here -

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=1181359

Cheers, Don

[Bill Huber]

The best piece of advice that I know to give to you is to listen to what Bill Huber has to say! It's well worth your while and fun to visit his web page also:

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber

There's a very good tutorial on photography basics. Be sure to check out his shop gallery also. In fact, you can spend hours looking at his photos!

The man is a humble genius, both as a photographer and woodworker. To top it off, he's a nice guy, too! He's been very helpful when I've had questions. I've learned a lot from him and never even met him in person.

(Bill, sorry if I'm ruining your reputation!)

Steve, the check is in the mail.....:D