couple of new items

[Karl Card]

I had posted a week or so ago I was finally getting a new to me camera and a photo tent. Well I finally got them and happy to have them but have not quite tweaked the lighting on the tent yet..

I also included 2 pens I recently made.

[Jeff Nicol]

Karl, That is a nice little setup for taking pics of your creations. I have to build a much larger one as I have outgrown the first one I made. Once you start turning 20" tall vases the 2'x2'x2' box gets small in a hurry, but is still great for the smaller stuff.

Keep at the lighting and the settings on the camera and you will find the seet spot!

Have fun,

Jeff

[John Hart]

Looks great Karl!! I like your tent set up. Mine's too cumbersome. Gotta do another one so I actually use it.:o


I goofed around with your lighting a bit. Hope you don't mind
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[John Keeton]

Karl, good looking setup, and I think Hart has some good ideas on editing your pics. I usually play with the contrast and color balance on mine to get them right. For whatever reason, my camera just doesn't want to get the white balance correct, and I always have to tweak that.

That buckeye burl pen is really nice! I have looked for a good chunk of that for a HF, but finding one cheap enough to buy is difficult.

[David E Keller]

Nice looking photo setup and two good looking pens.

I'm far from being a photobug, but I'll pass along one little trick that has helped my photos. I use photoshop to edit and resize my photos, and one of the options in the guided editing package is for "correcting a color cast". I usually use it to fix the background color, and I find it makes the wood tones more accurate. I'm still tinkering with my photos and my turnings too.

[Karl Card]

I do not know everything about photoshop but once you learn some of it, nothing else even comes close. I mess with layers and abstracts etc.
I used to make money on the side by desgining winning business cards. Some may think a business card is just that but it can be so much more.

But anyway the tent is just a minor set back and when I get it dialed in it will be a blast. I still need to get a transparent pen holder, I have thought of making one out of,whatelse, wood but for this purpose I really want the transparent type that lets the pen stand almost upward.

Thank you for the comments on the pens... they are actually the ones I am going to use on the pen trade off deal.

[David E Keller]

...I still need to get a transparent pen holder, I have thought of making one out of,whatelse, wood but for this purpose I really want the transparent type that lets the pen stand almost upward.

Ken, you might check out the classifieds on the IAP website. Seems like I remember someone selling just what you describe for just a few bucks. Might have been Wolftat, but don't hold me to that.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Karl - really nice looking pens! Congrats on getting a photo tent! Takes a little playing around with lights - but it is worth the effort to have a setup that is repeatable!

If you have any questions about setups or photos - let us know. Lots of folks here with a photo background!

[Karl Card]

Ken, you might check out the classifieds on the IAP website. Seems like I remember someone selling just what you describe for just a few bucks. Might have been Wolftat, but don't hold me to that.



I will do that. I can get them where I get my pen kits but I am not ready to place an order yet and so there for it could be very expensive for just one piece.

Steve, thank you too... I may have some questions on the photo subject as soon as i get to playing with the tent.

[James Combs]

Karl, your tent looks almost identical to mine. I had the same lights but I didn't like them and there were only two. I picked up four flexible gooseneck desk lamps on sale at Walmart and some color balanced bulbs. Now I have one on each side, one on the top and one being used as a spot. It made a tremendous difference but the most important thing was setting the right white balance in the camera. It can be corrected with editing software but is is better to get it right at the photo shoot. Another thing I added was a matte vinyl gradient back ground.

Anyway these are some ideas to help improve your photography (at least they helped mine). Just keep plugging away at it. It will get there.