Photograv

[Jim Dornon]

WOW. That pretty much sums it up. Ordered Photograv from the lasers edge. Well worth the money if you are deciding weather or not to buy. Does not work well with oak though. To much width on the grain. Any one else notice this ? Jim

[James Jaragosky]

WOW. That pretty much sums it up. Ordered Photograv from the lasers edge. Well worth the money if you are deciding weather or not to buy. Does not work well with oak though. To much width on the grain. Any one else notice this ? Jim
Jim this post will probably turn out like the other dozen posts that started similar to yours. And end up with people chiming in on how great photograv is and others stating how over priced it is, and still others that feel that the can produce the same or better results with whatever photo program or combination of programs that they currently use.

It reminds me of the laser debates. you will have those that feel the manufactures of some lasers are gouging people for their product and services. And others that feel that they are getting a great value for there money.
Glad your happy thats what really counts.
Please post some pictures of your work with photograv.
I look forward to seeing some pictures.
Jim J.

[Richard Rumancik]

. . . Does not work well with oak though. To much width on the grain. Any one else notice this ?

Jim, oak is tricky to use successfully. It is not a problem specific to PhotoGrav. There is quite a bit of unevenness with the burn on oak, so for photos it can be unpredictable. You may end up with a dark streak going through a face etc.

However, I have made some signs with oak which are text-only and they look fine. (You don't need PhotoGrav for text however.)

[Jim Dornon]

Here are two pics that I did today in photograv. Still trying different things. These are on black painted acrylic. This is a lot easier than trying to do it in photo paint. Then again I guess once you know how to do it in photo paint it's just as easy. Anyone ever do mirrored acrylic with photograv ?:)

[Jim Watkins]

Jim,
One of the things I usually do is lightening up any photo prior to processing. I usually raise the brightness about 20% then process. The photo will look over over exposed, but will look brighter and better on wood anyway.

I am glad your happy. I was happy with my purchase as well.

[Jim Dornon]

Jim,
One of the things I usually do is lightening up any photo prior to processing. I usually raise the brightness about 20% then process. The photo will look over over exposed, but will look brighter and better on wood anyway.

I am glad your happy. I was happy with my purchase as well.

Jim, where do you brighten the image at. Photograv or another program ? Jim

[James Jaragosky]

Jim, where do you brighten the image at. Photograv or another program ? Jim
I use Corel to brighten the photo before processing in photograv.
there is a field to adjust images with the photograv program but i rarely use it unless i am working with granite.
black dogs are hard to do on any material. but the stuff looks good

jim j.

[Jim Watkins]

Like James I use the controls inside CorelDraw. Just find the brightness control and brighten it up by 20% before processing.

Run a test before and after brightening on a piece of baltic birch plywood and you'll see the difference. sometimes when I am not sure, i'll put the image inside a 1"x1" box and burn it onto a scap piece and if the part I'm concerned about doesn't look right, I readjust the image till it looks good to me.

The 1"x1" sampling will tell the story. At least it does for me.

[Bill Cunningham]

Photograv, or using a similar process is a must on black granite. the normal photo modes of most drivers won't give you a decent image.. Not only photos work well, but most coloured artwork in general is enhanced when converted to 8 bit gray and processed.. This was a job I sent out last week, done on 12 x 18 x 1" black granite, from a coloured file sent as a 'large' .jpg so it kept the definition quite well..
I love photograv, it makes life so much easier..