Taking Photos...

[John Grabowski]

Hey All,

I am new to the forum and relatively new to wood turning. I was reading an article in wood turning design magazine about photographing pens ideally. So I decided to MAKE a photo tent. It is working out pretty well, but lighting is an issue. I was wondering if any of you have a recommendation as to what type of lighting I should be using to illuminate my pens and such before photographing? Or how to illuminate them?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

John Grabowski
Warren, OH

[John Grabowski]

I guess these pictures may help...This was taken with a Canon Rebel in a white photo tent with fluorescent lighting supplementing the flash.

John G

[Mike Vickery]

I guess these pictures may help...This was taken with a Canon Rebel in a white photo tent with fluorescent lighting supplementing the flash.

John G

Ditch the flash
Set you light source to flourecent ( you might get better results from different settting depending on their color temp)
Set Camera to Macro mode.
Use a tripod and the timer to take the actual picture so your camera is not moving.

Adjust you lights. You have either to much light coming from the right or have an over head light on causeing the shadows on the left of the pens. (might be the flash though)

set camera brightness to +.5 or +1 ( you will have to test)

All in all a pretty good picture though a little fuzzy probably from the camera moving and a little more shadow then I would want.

If you go over to penturners.org they have a photography section in the forum dedicated to photograohing pens. The guys that hang out their knwo a lot more then I do.

[John Grabowski]

I appreciate your help...I am playing with the camera settings now and trying to get a better photo...I think my big problem now is the light positioning...It is coming along.

Thanks for the help with the settings

John G

[Dale Johnson]

i use two desk lamps from hd that have natural light tubes in them. same light temp. as overcast outdoor. one on each side of the light tent.

[Tony Joyce]

Try using "Full Spectrum" lights from both sides with no flash. Full spectrum light bulbs are available in many sizes, just get a couple of cheap holders & couple bulbs. Experiment a little and you'll find the right combo. 1000bulbs-dot-com has all the light bulbs you could want at reasonable prices.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Looks like you already got lots of good info, so I'll just add - Nice Pens! Hope you get the photography thing down soon as we will all enjoy seeing your work!

[Robert Wachala]

I've been working on getting a site up for my father. I created my own light tent as well for his products. This is an example of one of his practice pens. This is in no way a good example of his finished products I was just using them to plug into back end of website while I develop it.
http://www.treespun.com/test/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/a80844e6b836e3b9c192e45f040ac2f4.jpg


I created the light tent in around 15 minutes
http://www.treespun.com/picture/tent.jpg

The two clamp lights are 100 watt floods and the left work light is a 500W halo. On the camera I set lighting to tungsten and, light settings to 1/5-1/10 depending on the item(s) I was taking photos of and I set the F to an 8.0. (No flash needed) A flash will end up giving you a yellow type background. Also set to macro mode of course. I can get some more detail on the photos but no tripod with macro mode is really hard to do. I'm still waiting for my tripod to be delivered once I get that in I can really pull some detail out ;)

[Jim Becker]

Look in the articles forum...I believe there is a version of Jamie Donaldson's Phrugal Photo setup and lighting is part of that discussion.

[John Grabowski]

Ok, I have made some updates and now I am using halogen work lights to illuminate my tent but I am using tissue paper as a screen and also to set the work on...I am looking for something that will work better. Any suggestions??

I think the photos are much more clear. I am still hoping to eliminate the pinkish tint...I have change all settings but my camera doesn't seem to have a macro setting.

Anyway, here they are....enjoy...One is Cocobolo and the other is wood to be name later...

JG

[John-Paul Murphy]

Hi John,
You’re getting there
Try shoving a straight pin through a piece of stiff cardboard. Then the tissue on top of that with just the pin point protruding. Set the pen or pencil point down on the pin. You may have to remove the ink cartridge / lead first.
I tried a paper clip also but the mechanical pencil would not slide down over the clip.
A small finish nail may also work

[John-Paul Murphy]

John
I am a Nikon fan so I don't know the Canon buttons.
For macro look for the dial where you set the type of photo….it should have an icon of a mountain, a person’s face, a person running….some stuff like that. On my Nikon it is a picture of a tulip…that is macro mode. In addition some lenses will have a macro mode, an actual switch on the lens.

For the pink tint.
The draw back to tissue is the color of what ever is underneath will bleed through. Check that first.
In the old days we fixed color with lens filters and film…
Now a days
You should have a white balance or (WB) setting on your camera. It is probably in the menu list somewhere (Nikon has a button on the back with a WB on it)
Set the light tent up as if you’re about to snap the photo but remove the pens. Now set the white balance. That should correct for the pinkish tint.
You’ll have to peruse your manual for the Canon for details
If you can set the white balance in macro mode you are all set.
IF not you will need to set the camera to one of the manual modes (the M, A, S or P on a Nikon) to set the color balance.
Good and bad news is in manual mode all setting are now set manually.
Or
Fix using editing software if available
or
Add or switch to some “cooler” bulbs a little more towards the blue end of the spectrum.

ps this thread may be getting so far away from turning it may need to be moved?

[John Grabowski]

I think this is getting better. Let me know what you guys think of these guys.

Thanks for all who helped with this undertaking.

John G

[Ben Gastfriend]

I'd have to second the Jamie Donaldson thing. Worked really well for me!