Hand Planes; A Photographers Prospective

[Marco Cecala]

My wife is a professional photographer. She is shooting photos for an upcoming article I am writing for Popular Woodworking Magazine about inlay.

As I was getting things set up, she took a few minutes and some planes and came up with this image. If only my finished work looked this good.
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[Todd Burch]

Way too many LN's there buddy! Way too many!

[Ryan Brucks]

beautiful!

agree you have enough LN... ready to setup it up to the hotleys? :)

[george wilson]

The planes in the foreground are out of focus. For that reason,none of the planes can be seen clearly. I'm not a good photographer,but I suggest that the planes in front of the others need to be in focus.

My wife is also a professional,used to run the dark room at Colonial Williamsburg. She says that if the picture was taken with a much smaller F stop,the planes would all be better in focus. A pinhole camera has unlimited depth of field,for example. So,the smaller your F stop,the closer you'll come to getting a greater depth of field.

[Mike Allen1010]

Marco,

Beautiful photo! -- thanks for sharing. I always love the hand tool photographs!

I am a horrible photographer myself and your wife's beautiful image really illustrates that in photography, like most things, you can immediately recognize the work of a professional. Excellence is always apparent even to the layperson.

I hesitate to even ask, but I'm wondering if your wife had one or two tips that would help the rest of us take better photographs of our work? For example, I'm always wondering which direction the light should come from? Maybe it's a subject is too complex for a simple tip.

Congrats on your article in Popular Woodworking -- I look forward to reading it.

all the best, Mike

[glenn bradley]

The planes in the foreground are out of focus. For that reason,none of the planes can be seen clearly. I'm not a good photographer,but I suggest that the planes in front of the others need to be in focus.

Where the analytically minded and the creative photographer meet :D:D:D

[Jim Belair]

I LIKE the shallow depth of field/ large f stop your wife has chosen to use. The knob of the middle plane (especially with its unique grain) really draws the eye in, and makes the photograph a work of art, not just another shot of a line of planes. Bravo!

Jim B

[Robert G Brown]

It is a good photo in the abstract but I am with George Wilson on this one. I was disappointed when I opened the thumbnail to not see a clear image of a beautiful hand plane.

[Larry Fox]

I LIKE the shallow depth of field/ large f stop your wife has chosen to use. The knob of the middle plane (especially with its unique grain) really draws the eye in, and makes the photograph a work of art, not just another shot of a line of planes. Bravo!

Jim B

+1 - when I saw the image I assumed that it was intentional and I think it creates a nice effect as the far ones are also out of focus. Great photo of a great set of planes.

[Matthew N. Masail]

It's a beautiful photo! if I may add my comments I'd like to see more of an angle to show off the planes better.

[john davey]

I like the shallow DOF.. It draws the eye to the knob in focus in the middle of the screen. What I do not like is the blue on the plan just going out of focus behind the knob, I am not sure if this is just a reflection or you have painters tape on the side of that plane for some reason. Easily Photoshopped out though.

[Todd Burch]

OK, my turn.

The in-focus knob appears to not be related to the dark handled in-focus tote - they are different planes. (edit - or, maybe they are the same plane - the knob count and tote count seem to match - should be more obvious)

I like the shallow DOF, but if taken at a different angle that would focus (no pun intended) on a one plane's significant parts, I would like it better.

[Matt Radtke]

+1 - when I saw the image I assumed that it was intentional and I think it creates a nice effect as the far ones are also out of focus. Great photo of a great set of planes.

Likewise. Are taking artsy photos or documentation photos?

[Jack Curtis]

I LIKE the shallow depth of field/ large f stop your wife has chosen to use. The knob of the middle plane (especially with its unique grain) really draws the eye in, and makes the photograph a work of art, not just another shot of a line of planes. Bravo!

Just because the closest planes are out of focus doesn't mean she did it via large f-stop, there are several ways to achieve this. For example, perhaps the lens' focal length is exceeded in the close capability, like the planes are two inches away and the lens can only focus down to four inches. However, a small f-stop maximizes depth of field.

[Marco Cecala]

The planes in the foreground are out of focus. For that reason,none of the planes can be seen clearly. I'm not a good photographer,but I suggest that the planes in front of the others need to be in focus.

My wife is also a professional,used to run the dark room at Colonial Williamsburg. She says that if the picture was taken with a much smaller F stop,the planes would all be better in focus. A pinhole camera has unlimited depth of field,for example. So,the smaller your F stop,the closer you'll come to getting a greater depth of field.

Great eye George, we can always count on you for sage advise.

The photo was actually a study in spot focus, hence the obvious things you pointed out. When the magazine comes out, I'm sure everything will be sharp as a pin.

[george wilson]

If for a woodworking magazine,I humbly submit it should be documentational. It isn't going into a gallery of impressionistic art. Glad you aren't offended,Marco. That was not my intention.

[Marco Cecala]

Thanks for the comments. My wife is doing a presentation on depth of field and selective focus. Hence the image.

Those of you with photo skills understand this, those like me who know nothing see a pretty picture of hand planes all in a row.

Her web site contains many images (most in focus) for those who would like to look. She does amazing work and I get to make frames for some of it.

[Todd Burch]

Well, I think it's only fair that you post a pic of one of your frames for audit as well!

[Jim Belair]

Her web site contains many images (most in focus) for those who would like to look. She does amazing work

Would you post a link please Marco?

[Marco Cecala]

Would you post a link please Marco?

Sure Jim. www.skylineimages.net (http://www.skylineimages.net)

Todd; These are some in progress shop photos. So much of this stuff leaves before I can get Rebecca to properly shoot it. Please excuse the quality of the photos.

235439A detail of silver, ebony and turquoise inlay.
235440Frames in oak, ash and cherry.

[Joshua Byrd]

Just because the closest planes are out of focus doesn't mean she did it via large f-stop, there are several ways to achieve this. For example, perhaps the lens' focal length is exceeded in the close capability, like the planes are two inches away and the lens can only focus down to four inches. However, a small f-stop maximizes depth of field.

True, but the planes in the background are soft as well, so it's a shallow DOF in this case. There was no exif info in the image, so I couldn't tell what settings she used.

The image as a whole is okay, but hate that she picked the ugliest knob to focus on. :p Would have also been better if the center third was more cohesive instead of the meandering line that it is. That's my opinion, and we all know what they say about those...

[Jack Curtis]

True, but the planes in the background are soft as well, so it's a shallow DOF in this case. There was no exif info in the image, so I couldn't tell what settings she used.

The image as a whole is okay, but hate that she picked the ugliest knob to focus on. :p Would have also been better if the center third was more cohesive instead of the meandering line that it is. That's my opinion, and we all know what they say about those...

Yeah, as I wrote the message I knew I'd regret it because there was no way I planned to explain the many ways depth of field is affected. For example, she could also have achieved a narrow dof via lens tilting.

[Todd Burch]

Pretttttty nice Marco!

[Joshua Byrd]

Yeah, as I wrote the message I knew I'd regret it because there was no way I planned to explain the many ways depth of field is affected. For example, she could also have achieved a narrow dof via lens tilting.

Isn't that the (expensive) truth. Let's not even begin to discuss all editing software! :D