PhotoGrav on mirror

[Dean Barber]

Which material on photograv works best for mirrors?

[Frank Corker]

Light wood will get it - and don't forget to flip it!

[Bill Cunningham]

I use cherry with the light vert. Grain.. Actually, it's the only cherry they give you to choose from, and come to think of it, the only 'light' one as well!! So I guess thats what Frank meant too.. When in doubt on what to use for anything new, try that one first.. It gives decent results on just about anything..

[Jason Lippert]

I use White/Black IPI Laser Plastic. I figure it is essentially what you are simulating after you come back and spray the black paint on the reverse of the mirror. Even then, there are many cases where a small amount of tweeking to the settings are necessary. (Resolution, edge enhancement, screen density.) Really depends on the photo itself. I suppose I just found this be a good staring off point.;)

[Dean Barber]

ok.. I tried the cherry wood..am I doing something wrong? I am doing a photo & it engraves very nice on wood. On the mirror however, I get alot of black dots all over the face..is that how it should be? or do I need to adjust settings?

[Frank Corker]

Dean, help us all out a little here, what type of laser do you have and what wattage.

It sounds like your speeds are not matching your subject matter, or the picture is being engraved at too high a resolution for the image. I'd recommend that we are talking of a maximum of 300 dpi and that is on a picture about 3 to 4 inch.

If you like email me the picture, I'll take a quick gander at it and let you know.

Did you try the other method I outlaid in my post here - http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=65376&page=3
You might get a better result.

.

[Bill Cunningham]

The amount of 'dotting' you get anywhere on a picture is related to the amount of shading photograv see's when it's doing the conversion.. The dots represent simulated shading.. As Frank said, if the Res. is too high, or the threshold set too high, (remember this 'is' line art your working with) your going to get a lot of simulated shading, hence a lot of dots..
This is a enlargement from a old family type picture, and the section enlarged was only about 1" square to start with, all the rest of the people that were in the picture were 'dodged out' (hows that for a old darkroom term:D..) the mirror picture is 5 x 7.. Lower res for mirrors or any glass for that matter, works best..

[Abdul Baseer Hai]

I do wedding pictures on cork. The problem I have is with the edges of the lady's white dress. If I lower the brightness or increase the contrast, it darkens the faces.
Should I be doing edge enhancment? If yes, then can somebody tell me how. I use Photograv and corel photopaint (X3)
Thanks
Abdul

[Bill Cunningham]

Abdul; just use the 'paint mask' on the area of the photo you want to darken.. With the mask you can define just the areas you want to change, or, the areas you dont..

[Jason Lippert]

For those of you are interested in mirror lasering here's my most recent project. It's one of the largest one that done photos on. It was a bear to get out of the frame:( but I think it turned out well

[Bill Cunningham]

They look really good Jason.. Photo mirrors can make very unique gifts.. Clip art, line art, logos, and emblems also look good in mirrors.. I'm laying one out for my sister, and she wants a coloured scripture verse, so text looks pretty good too.. This is one I did for someone on the local Military base to be framed as a memento for a retiring officer ..