My first aluminum pic, criticism welcome

[doug king]

Hey folks,
I did my first laze on aluminum today and I wanted to post up the results to see what you thought. I am sure there are about a million of you out there that know more than I do and I am wanting to get better, what could I have done to improve the output....

One thing I already caught is that I should have changed the grey Ferrari text to solid white so that would have gotten pure black....

What else?

Original Pic
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[James Jaragosky]

[QUOTE=doug king;1276605]Hey folks,
I did my first laze on aluminum today and I wanted to post up the results to see what you thought. I am sure there are about a million of you out there that know more than I do and I am wanting to get better, what could I have done to improve the output....

One thing I already caught is that I should have changed the grey Ferrari text to solid white so that would have gotten pure black....

What else?



I like it.
The contrast seems a little to light, but that may be my monitor.
I really do like it

[Dan Hintz]

I'm with James on the title color and contrast... should be a bit more, but overall a nice job.

[doug king]

Thanks guys, I promise I will get better.... I think this is one of those things you just have to do a few so that you can see the cause and effect...

Experience is where this will help...

Doug

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

You're on the right track. Like you said, a little more experience - especially with more difficult photos and then you'll have a very quick idea what you need to tweak to obtain desired results.

I'll beat the others to the question..... What size is it? Did you use photograv? Any other details you can share will help a great deal when others search this forum for answers on "engraving photos on aluminum." :)

[Sergio Arze]

Looks very good!!!:). Practice makes perfect.

[Lee DeRaud]

Very cool. (+1 on "could use more contrast" etc.)

Is that on straight anodized aluminum or one of the specialty substrates (e.g. LazerBlak)?

[Dave Russell Smith]

Nice Job :)

[doug king]

You're on the right track. Like you said, a little more experience - especially with more difficult photos and then you'll have a very quick idea what you need to tweak to obtain desired results.

I'll beat the others to the question..... What size is it? Did you use photograv? Any other details you can share will help a great deal when others search this forum for answers on "engraving photos on aluminum." :)

Thanks for the kind words folks,

the sheet is 12 x 20 and the image itself is about 12 x 16, I used photoshop and a little Corel draw v4. The aluminum is just the black anodized as far as I know...

Doug

[laura passek]

Nice job.
That must have been quite a work out for your laser, removing all the black. Have you tried AlumaMark yet, it comes in several colors and would be less work for the laser which means less time.
Just a thought

[doug king]

Nice job.
That must have been quite a work out for your laser, removing all the black. Have you tried AlumaMark yet, it comes in several colors and would be less work for the laser which means less time.
Just a thought

I have indeed tried it with less than favorable results... I contacted the company Aluma Mark and they gave some recomendations but in the end I stopped trying to figure it out and take a small break and come back to it another day. The colors were off, a hazy brown and if you tried to go over it a second time it just got worse. I tried lower than suggested settings, right on the mark settings, a little higher and even multiple passes.. Very frustrating to tell you the truth.. The black has worked every time though...

I havent posted that problem yet, good that you asked.. A little pride involved in not being able to figure it out thus far and a huge desire to work through it. I am definately open to ideas.

Doug

[Bill Cunningham]

Not sure what kind of a machine your using Doug (should be in your Sig.)
But Photos on Alumamark can have it's challenges.. The #1 hint DON'T use photograv and keep the photo at 300 dpi or less (usually 150 is fine) and etch at 300 dpi Never at 600.. This is one I did on Gold Alumamark (12 x 20 ) for a special Canadian Armour Division retirement presentation (Apparently this WW1 painting has special meaning for Armour divisions all over the world) ..It's titled Good-Bye Oldman, by Fortunio Matania. The photo doesn't do it justice, the gold stuff is hard to photograph sometimes..

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

This is one I did on Gold Alumamark (12 x 20 ) for a special Canadian Armour Division retirement presentation (Apparently this WW1 painting has special meaning for Armour divisions all over the world) ..It's titled Good-Bye Oldman, by Fortunio Matania. The photo doesn't do it justice, the gold stuff is hard to photograph sometimes..

Looks good Bill. It's actually titled "Good-Bye Old Man." Here are some other images of it in this link (http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Matania_3/Matania_19.htm).

[Bill Cunningham]

Looks good Bill. It's actually titled "Good-Bye Old Man." Here are some other images of it in this link (http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Matania_3/Matania_19.htm).
Yup Forgot the space and the Cap 'M'. Oldman is the other horse that died next door..:D Sort of like Spiderman the Jewish crimefighter:p

[Henrik Hansen]

Maybe this could help somebody:
I have an old Mercury 12.5 w co2 laser. On Alumamark i use this setting:

DPI: 1000
PPI: 1000
Power: 35
Speed: 70

Normal focusing! :D