Brian Effinger
01-17-2010, 8:25 PM
After wanting one to photograph my turnings in for a while now, I finally got around to making one Friday night. Yeah, I know, a really exciting Friday night! :p
138735
It is 18" tall, about 18" deep, and with the rails pictured here, it is about 26" wide. I used the cheapest white sheet I could find at Target ($7.49) and a couple cheap ($6.50) clamp lights from Home Depot. The lights aren't the greatest, though. The clamp doesn't hold to well so I had to reinforce it with a spring clamp. The light on the top (which isn't on) is Rockler's clamp light, which is much better, but it also costs $20. I am still a undecided on what to do about the lights - leave them as is, or take them back and get something different.
The bulbs are 45 watt 5100k fluorescent bulbs from Steve Kaeser Backgrounds. A little pricey at $8 a piece, but equivalent bulbs at HD are nearly the same price, and I believe these are probably better quality.
The background is homemade - sort of. I used photoshop to make a 24x36 picture of a grey gradient and took it to Office Max to print out. Unfortunately the only heavy paper they had was glossy, and this shows in the photos somewhat. You can see a reflection as well as the shadow:
138744
This is a 6-1/2" dia. x 2-1/2" high bowl of catalpa finished with danish oil and buffed. It is fairly thick at 1/2", but I think it is ok, because it is light, and functional (it is currently holding some Hershey kisses :)). I wish I could pick up the chatoyance of the wood in the photo. That is something I'll have to work on, if it can be done.
The next one is a rosewood vase, I think. I think it is rosewood, not I think it is a vase. It has no finish on it, just buffed with all 3 wheels. It also smelled like cocobolo when I was turning it, but I am sure that is not what it is, because I did not have an allergic reaction to the dust. It is 4" high and 2-1/2" in diameter.
138742
The last one is a small butternut bowl. It is 3-3/4" dia. x 1-3/4" high, finished with danish oil and buffed. Because of the angle of the bowl and camera, you can't really see the reflection, though.
138743
These three were taken with my inexpensive Canon point & shoot on some stacked books. Since the set up was on the floor at the time, it was too low for my tripod and 10d.
I did a little tweaking of the levels and curves in photoshop, then rotated when needed and cropped. I also added some simple borders with the stroke tool. I have been playing around with borders on few more bowl photos and will post them later.
I also have the #39 varitone graduated background from Photo Tech (on the recommendations of Steve Schlumpf and Neal Addy), but wanted to try the cheap homemade version first. Since I was recently made the photographer for one of the turning clubs (http://www.wnywoodturners.com/) I belong to, I wanted to have a background to take around and one to keep at home so it won't get damaged.
I have taken a some photos of a few more bowls, and I plan on re-shooting the turning posted above. I'd like to play with them and photoshop a little more. I'll be posting them soon.
In the mean time, please offer me any comments, critiques or suggestions. I am thick-skinned and can take it. ;) I've also got some knowledge of photography and a little of photoshop, so get technical if you want to. I can take that also. :) I really want to build upon and improve what skills I have.
Thanks for taking a look and putting up with a long post. :D I hope it all made sense.
Brian
138735
It is 18" tall, about 18" deep, and with the rails pictured here, it is about 26" wide. I used the cheapest white sheet I could find at Target ($7.49) and a couple cheap ($6.50) clamp lights from Home Depot. The lights aren't the greatest, though. The clamp doesn't hold to well so I had to reinforce it with a spring clamp. The light on the top (which isn't on) is Rockler's clamp light, which is much better, but it also costs $20. I am still a undecided on what to do about the lights - leave them as is, or take them back and get something different.
The bulbs are 45 watt 5100k fluorescent bulbs from Steve Kaeser Backgrounds. A little pricey at $8 a piece, but equivalent bulbs at HD are nearly the same price, and I believe these are probably better quality.
The background is homemade - sort of. I used photoshop to make a 24x36 picture of a grey gradient and took it to Office Max to print out. Unfortunately the only heavy paper they had was glossy, and this shows in the photos somewhat. You can see a reflection as well as the shadow:
138744
This is a 6-1/2" dia. x 2-1/2" high bowl of catalpa finished with danish oil and buffed. It is fairly thick at 1/2", but I think it is ok, because it is light, and functional (it is currently holding some Hershey kisses :)). I wish I could pick up the chatoyance of the wood in the photo. That is something I'll have to work on, if it can be done.
The next one is a rosewood vase, I think. I think it is rosewood, not I think it is a vase. It has no finish on it, just buffed with all 3 wheels. It also smelled like cocobolo when I was turning it, but I am sure that is not what it is, because I did not have an allergic reaction to the dust. It is 4" high and 2-1/2" in diameter.
138742
The last one is a small butternut bowl. It is 3-3/4" dia. x 1-3/4" high, finished with danish oil and buffed. Because of the angle of the bowl and camera, you can't really see the reflection, though.
138743
These three were taken with my inexpensive Canon point & shoot on some stacked books. Since the set up was on the floor at the time, it was too low for my tripod and 10d.
I did a little tweaking of the levels and curves in photoshop, then rotated when needed and cropped. I also added some simple borders with the stroke tool. I have been playing around with borders on few more bowl photos and will post them later.
I also have the #39 varitone graduated background from Photo Tech (on the recommendations of Steve Schlumpf and Neal Addy), but wanted to try the cheap homemade version first. Since I was recently made the photographer for one of the turning clubs (http://www.wnywoodturners.com/) I belong to, I wanted to have a background to take around and one to keep at home so it won't get damaged.
I have taken a some photos of a few more bowls, and I plan on re-shooting the turning posted above. I'd like to play with them and photoshop a little more. I'll be posting them soon.
In the mean time, please offer me any comments, critiques or suggestions. I am thick-skinned and can take it. ;) I've also got some knowledge of photography and a little of photoshop, so get technical if you want to. I can take that also. :) I really want to build upon and improve what skills I have.
Thanks for taking a look and putting up with a long post. :D I hope it all made sense.
Brian