new photo tent pen pics

[Curt Fuller]

I finally got my new photo tent delivered from Hong Kong (make a note to see where something is shipped from when you buy from the bay). Took some pictures of some new pens and a picture of an old vahse.

First pen is Desert Ironwood on a platinum Baron
Second is Koa with a small bead on a gold Baron
Third is Koa with some burned lines on a gold Baron
Fourth is a new pic of an old Cottonwood HF taken using the black background.

Anyone that knows anything about photography please chime in and tell me what I've done wrong or right.

[John Terefenko]

I think they look great and am interested in your photo tent. What did you get and where??? Maybe you can take a picture of your setup. Don't mean to hijack your thread but it was part of your posting.

[Curt Fuller]

Thanks John. I got the tent on ebay. If you search photo tent about a jillion come up everywhere from 8" and up, square, round, pyramid, you name it. I got a 30" square one and right now it's lit with two 500 w halogen lights (cuz that's what I have). I know zilch about photography but everyone with one of these setups always seems to have such nice pics that I decided to give it a go.

[Mark Cothren]

I don't know squat about takin' pics, but I know those are some nice pens... and a GREAT hollow form!!!! Very nice detail on a great piece of wood.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Curt........Nice pens and HF! Looks like you have that photo tent figured out!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Pictures look good to me Curt. I have been looking at the EZcube's on the bay.

[John Hart]

Yup...I'm with Mark....Gorgeous pieces Curt!!! Looks like you might have a bit of a hot spot on the left side of the tent. If you softened it up a bit, you'll pick more detail up on the HF. Very minor observation though....the pictures really look nice! :)

[Corey Hallagan]

Wow, those are sweet pieces. The DI pen is my favorite and man the color in that vessel!! Nice work!

corey

[Mark Pruitt]

Curt, those are some beautiful pens and an excellent job on the vessel. Pics look good also. I'm trying to figure out the photography thing too.

[Dennis Peacock]

Hey Curt....nice setup and I just LOVE that HF!!!!!! Care to send it to me? :cool: :D :D

[Jim Becker]

Kurt, the tent is doing a nice job with evening out the light. I suspect you need to make adjustments to the white balance on your camera to eliminate the amber/brown toning you are getting.

Here's a retouched (color balance and sharpen) example that probably is closer to actual:

50632

[John Terefenko]

I am going to have to look into one of these photo tents. It does seem to make a great difference.

[Curt Fuller]

Kurt, the tent is doing a nice job with evening out the light. I suspect you need to make adjustments to the white balance on your camera to eliminate the amber/brown toning you are getting.

Here's a retouched (color balance and sharpen) example that probably is closer to actual:

50632

Jim that looks great. I use MS Office Picture Manager to crop and resize my pics but I've never played with the color balance. I'll have to give it a try, play with it a little and see how it works.

Thanks!

[Ernie Nyvall]

Congrats on the tent Curt. They look good.

[Jim Becker]

Kurt, I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 for my picture work. Reasonably priced, especially when you can cop a rebate. That said, getting the camera settings "right" makes for a much better raw photo...you want to avoid as much retouching as you can as every little thing you change can degrade the photo. One other thing...once you resize for display on the web (and save to a separate file!) using your application's sharpening feature can restore a lot of detail that gets lost when you eliminate pixels to make it physically smaller.

[Mark Hulette]

Kurt-

What Jim B said... double check your WB setting and work the unsharp mask, but not too much as it looks "worked" :rolleyes:.

A lot of folks in the past have tried their hand at photographing their handiwork but got discouraged after having to take a roll of pics then get it developed only to find less than satisfactory results as they leaf through the pics. Digital has changed the learning curve of multi-light photography completely. Instant feedback- it's awesome for what you're trying to do here.

Also, as Jim said, you might want to invest in a photo editing app to get the most out of your images without degrading the original so much as to be unusable.

Keep at it and you'll be pleasantly surprised at the quick progress you make!

Nice work, too :D - really like the hollow form!

[John Terefenko]

I tried finding a white balancing card from a local photo store but it seems they have gone by the waste side. There are no more mom and pop camera stores to be had in my area. Will have to try to get one on line.

[Gary DeWitt]

Kurt, if you are using a camera that allows custom white balance, that will take care of your balance problem. If not, you need to play with the type of bulb you're using for light. There are low cost "daylight" compact flourescents out there. Two 500 watt halogens sounds like enough to set your tent on fire! Be careful.
The pen shots are good, I like the middle one best and last one least, as far as the backgound goes, because of the amount of texture. The HF is really beautiful. There could be just a touch more light at the base if you were to make any change at all. This can be acomplished by moving you light down a bit, or using a fill card (reflective card) on the side oposite your main light, if you can do this without creating a shadow from the other light.
Or just a small fill light coming from low right side.
Overall great shots, just need a bit of practice.
Much better than flash, eh?