feed back on marble photos

[Thomas Edwards]

Hello to all,

I'm new to the group and would like some opinions on some black marble photos that I recently finished. Photos where from a friend with a high dollar digital camera. I processed in Photo Paint to first remove the background, which was a white wall, I used the cut-out lab. Then processed in PhotoGrav and sent to the laser through Corel X3. The marble is from Laser Sketch. The size of each piece of marble is 8" x 10". I have been working to improve my photos on marble and would like some feed back from the group. Also, I applied Armor All on the marble before loading into the laser, first time I have tried this tip.

Next, point of interest. I live in metropolitan area located in the Southeastern US (approximately 750,000 people within 30 mile radius). I was thinking of offering the photos on marble as another service for my business through gifts shops, photographers, etc... Anybody else having luck with photos on marble?

Thanks in advance for any comments and feedback.

[Frank Corker]

Thomas, they look excellent. Not much else to say really, edges look nice and the contrast perfect. Great job

[Thomas Edwards]

Frank,

Thanks for the reply and words of compliment. I have wasted more marble then I care to think about trying to get these results, but I think I final have hit the "sweet spot" for the marble settings on my machine.

[Sandra Force]

They look nice and the contrast works well. Congratulations on finding the sweet spot. There seems to be a good market for the marble pictures you just have to work your way into it.

[Frank Corker]

Frank,

Thanks for the reply and words of compliment. I have wasted more marble then I care to think about trying to get these results, but I think I final have hit the "sweet spot" for the marble settings on my machine.


Believe me Tom, we have all been there, I could have paved my driveway with the amount of granite tiles that I've hoiked into the bin!

[Garry McKinney]

Hi Thomas,

They look pretty good, from the look I assume they are in the standard marble, and not the hard. But I must warn you about one thing, there is certain inconsistancies with the laser marble. I just finished a job where I did 32 plaques. Out of the 32 18 were acceptable on the first pass. 9 took 2 passes , 3 took 3 passes and 1 took 6 passes before the image came close to meeting the quality requirement. The last one , would not accept the image , until I got really ticked off , and changed the settings on the machine. I reset the 120 watt laser to 100 percent power and 15 speed , for some reason that worked and the image came out.

The pieces all from the same shipment, all cased packages. The inconsistancy in marble can drive you insane.

Nice job on those two . I hope you find the sweet spot to always be the same .

[Thomas Edwards]

Frank,
Maybe we should have saved all those practice pieces of granite and marble, by now we might have the best looking driveways around.

Garry,
The marble was standard and not the hard. I have not tried the hard. I was about to go insane trying to get the photos to look good, in fact, I told myself this was the last piece that I was going to try. I made a few adjustments, loaded the marble, hit the button, and turned my back. I didn't want to see it at all. When the machine was done I turned around and was pleasantly surprised. So I loaded another piece of marble and ran the next photo. Results are good for now, I'm hooked. I'll enjoy for now until I hit that batch of marble that you spoke about. Now maybe I can sleep better tonight and not have this laser thing keeping me up.........what, I must be dreaming!!!

Sandra,
thanks for the comments and I will slowly work my way into the photos on marble and not commit to anything too big for now until I can make sure I have a better handle on this thing.

[Darren Null]

Those are excellent quality. My one criticism- from somebody who plays with this stuff all day...others may not notice- is that the edges seem sharp; particularly on the woman. Might I suggest feathering to black with a radius of about 2 pixels to soften the edges? Make the cutting-out look less obvious.
Just a suggestion.

[Thomas Edwards]

Thanks for the feedback Darren,
The cut-out area around the female is the one area that I'm not completely satisfied with, hair line are not easy. I'm not completely adapt with using the Corel X3 at this point, but I continue to learn something daily. Can you give anymore pointers or a little more detail how you go about the cut-out process.

[Stanley Waldrup]

I also would like to know more about the cut out process and on the process on softing back the edges as you were explaining. I also have just started playing with pictures and have a few marble blanks to play with.
Thanks
Stanley

[Joe Hubbard]

I've been fooling with pics with mixed success for awhile and struggled with the whole cut out and fading thing. While I don't have an epilog (I have a trotec because the epilog dealer in my area moved away) - Epilog has an excellent tutorial section and cover this very topic far better than I could. http://www.epiloglaser.com/tech_library.htm Look for interactive transparancy tool. The pics on the marble by the way are very well done - this might help slightly. I hadn't thought of paving my driveway with trial pieces - not a bad idea though - there are some of those tiles I'd love to run over. Joe

[Kim Haubert]

I have not yet purchased a laser. The dealer I am talking to tells me it is as easy as printing a picture. Yet I see some of you joke about paving a driveway with tryouts. Is it as hard as it is made out here or somewhere in between?

Kim

[Scott Shepherd]

I'm new to PhotoGrav as well and I'd have to agree. In just a couple of days and only a few tries, I see the material rack getting empty. I wrote Photograv an email asking two questions that were quite specific. For example, if you look at the power/speed settings for acrylic, it comes out to something like 87P, 100S on my machine and wattage. Yet, their sample files show a file done on acrylic with a 50 watt machine and they show a power setting of 23 or something. How come your sample shows being done at 23P, yet your settings for that material show a recommended power level of 87?

I went to dinner with the manual and sat at read through it all again. Feels like I'm trying to learn Chinese. The manual uses terms I have never seen or heard and I'm pretty sure there are several words in there made up and applied to the process.

I also asked another very simple question regarding the ULS systems, and was told that he was unaware of the settings I asked about.

So guess what? You're on your own, except for the help of the great people on the forums. And once you burn that first 1/4" of stone, it's scrap if it's not right.

My opinion- it ain't Plug and Play by any means. Anyone telling you any different either has low standards for their work, they have a ton of experience using it, are naturally brilliant, or they are lying :D

[John Fruen]

Hi People
With regards the coraldraw tutorial i'm following every step to feather the edge BUT it will not apply at the end, any idea's what i'm not doing ?
Everything else is going according to the instructions.

[Frank Corker]

To soften the edges, you need to use the smudging tool, it varies from program to program but generally it will look like a finger or in Corel it's the smudge tool which looks like a cotton wool brush. You just move around the edge, softening it as you go.

[Garry McKinney]

When I do a cutout in cutout lab in corel x3, once I save the cutout and return to paint I fill in the background. Then I use the blend brush to correct the edge. It is less aggressive than smudge. And blends the pixels together for a more even adjustment.

Excuse the blank outs but it is a gift that has not been picked up. The coloration is all natural, I use no paints nor armor all. and the photo isn't touched up to brighten it.

Garry

[Thomas Edwards]

Thanks to all who replied and for the great information and advice on the cut-out process. I will certainly try each of the tips that are mentioned.
Tom