New bowl, better pics?

[Mike Golka]

Well here is the latest peice off the lathe, my first staved bowl. Woods are Birdseye Maple, Maple, Bloodwood, Cherry and Alloewood. 9" in dia. 4" high. Critiques welcome. I've been playing around with the white ballance settings on my camera and think I've got that figured out:D but still need better lighting:(.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Mike that is a beauty. Really cool.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice design Mike! Love the color contrast! Photos look pretty good!

[Richard Madison]

Mike,
Lighting looks ok from here. You could leave a little more white space around the piece when cropping, to frame it a bit better. Assuming your background is white, could brighten the first and third photos just a tad more.

Nice work on the bottom layer. Very difficult to make that turn out right.

[Phillip Bogle]

That is nice work. Quite a bit more work, skill and time than I have right now.

I made a living in photography and graphic arts. I do not have too much of a problem with the cropping except the last shot is a bit too tight if you were trying to show the entire bowl. IF you were trying to direct our attention to the fine geometric work on the bottom I would then crop tighter and show just the section that has the design. The objective in photography is to communicate the one idea, so you have to "simplify" by eliminating everything that is not important to the "idea."

Do not be afraid to try using a piece of white cardboard, foam core, or even foil. Reflected light is a tool that all photographers use extensively. You have the background set up nicely. If you do not have lights you might be able to buy some cheap slave strobes. Take a little practice but they can help a bunch. I have bought a slave for under $20. The photo magazines have ads that can direct you to a good deal.

[Jim Becker]

Nice piece.

On the photos, you still have somewhat of a color cast, probably from your lighting. Some more massaging of your white balance is necessary. Here's a retouch of your center photo. Please tell me if it's closer to the actual color...

95171

[Mike Golka]

Ya, thanks Jim. What program did you use to retouch it? I have played around with Photoshop But didn't bother this time because I finally figured out how to use the custom white balance feature of my camera. I used a small lamp with a compact florecent bulb but think a better light source would have much better results. At least now I seam to be headed in the right direction

[Jim Becker]

I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 for my retouching, Mike.

[Richard Madison]

Even with the white balance preset correctly in the camera, a picture can look a little underexposed. The white background looks just a bit off-white. Sometimes just increasing the brightness a little will whiten the background and also correct the color. Don't make it any more complicated (or expensive) than it has to be. Always try the easiest (and least expensive) improvement first.

[Phillip Bogle]

The background like snow scenes and dark black background are always problematic. The solution is to set your exposure reading by the light level measured against your hand. Place your hand palm facing the camera, in the light that you are using for the shot. Meter from the hand. This will work indoors or out. A pro may carry an 18% gray card and do the same thing, but your flesh is very close to neutral as well. You can set your exposure compensation at + one %of a stop but that can be tricky if you move around. My preference has always been to under expose a bit, since I can remove but adding something that is not there, is nearly impossible.

Mixed lighting is a challenge and florescent is the toughest to balance. Even with a white balance set for it florescent will still have a blue/green cast.

You are headed in the right direction. The first biggest improvement you can add is a tripod with cable release. No one can hold their camera perfectly still.