Finally Got Some Pictures

[TB Roye]

After much hassel I have finally been able to get some decent pictures of my pens. Bought a light tent on Ebay and then had to modify it to get decent light. Turned it over so I could put plexiglass panel on top instead of the black panel it had (part of the case) The had to play with the camers (Kodak dx4530) and find the proper settings, then find some Photo editing software, Google Picassa2 that I can use to crop and size the pictures.
Still have a way to go for real good pictures but that is all part of the hobby, learning and keeping the brain active.

The first picture is a Pen for my Grandson to give his 1st grade teacher in Boise Idaho thus the color and clip. The second is Fountain pen made with a laminated blank from CSUSA. Now I need to figure out how to capition each picture. I am sliding down into Pen Turning addiction. Got into some group buys on Penturners.org so I have kits and blanks comming. Gas is to expensive so I will stay home and Turn.

Tom

[bfrikken]

Real nice job, I like both pens quite a bit.

[poolhound]

Tom,

Nice pens I like them both. The photos are pretty good the light tent helps a lot.

I would be happy to help with your photo setup. I am a semi-pro photographer and am probably better at that than my wood working (less margin for error)

Given our recent, and ongoing, thread on "be careful who you trust" you are of course at liberty to completley ignore anything I say


Light tents are a great help with still life studio shots, they help to even out and soften the light but as I am sure you have found you still need to take care of where you position the lights and the settings on the camera.

No matter what you do with the lighting its tough to get the results you are looking for unless you have control over the camera. If you leave it in auto (P mode on most cameras) it will second guess everything you are trying to do.

Does your camera have a manual mode or at least an Aperture priority mode (A)?

Some basic tips.

Always ensure the background is smooth and clean. its tough with cloth but iron out any creases. Posterboard or colored art paper can make interesting backgrounds that supply contrast to the subject.

Always use a tripod (i'm sure you do)

remote trigger or if your camera cant do this use the self timer. even the lightest press of the shutter button can introduce vibration that will affect sharp focus.

make sure the on camera flash is turned off.

experiment with other surfaces. for the right subject a black shiny surface can yield interesting reflections (see attached example.)

If you have any questions feel free to PM or email me (or not as the case may be)

[TB Roye]

Jon

Thanks for the tips. The camera doesn't have to many adjuments. I do have it in closeup mode with the flash off and picture quality at 3 stars, "Best" I am using a tripod that came with the light tent kit. The camera is about 8-10 inches up and is aiming down. I will try the self timer also. there is one setting I haven't tried it is a wide/tight button to zoom in. The kit cam with 4 backgrounds, white, blue, black, and red. The camera is a Kodak Easy Share DX4530 5 mega pixel. The software I am using is Googles Picisa. It was a free download and I can crop and adjust the size of the pictures. It also allows me to adjust the color and and sharpness. The Light tent has 2 lights on the side supposedly 50w tungsten bulbs of 3200K the light on top is a 75w equivalent CFL of 5500k I will take a picture of the set up and post it as a edit to this post. Lot to learn. I fee I need to lower the camers some and also the iron the cloth to smooth it out . Right now I am try to learn a lot in a short period of time. I have to work with the camera I have as LOML will not be happy if I go out and spend money for camera for my hobby. You know the slippery slope I am on.

Tom

[poolhound]

I have to work with the camera I have as LOML will not be happy if I go out and spend money for camera for my hobby. You know the slippery slope I am on.

Tom

Oh yes I know very well. unlike tools there doesnt seem to be any camera accessory that could be called cheap Good lenses are at least $400-$600 and great ones are $1000s...........

There are a couple of challenges with your setup and camera. Do experiment with the position of the lights. As the pen is much lower than the side lights, try to either lower the lights or find some way to raise the pens.

Even though you have some good lighting the camera in auto mode is going to try and maximise the light. It will do this first by setting the aperture to as wide as possible (lets more light in) the catch is that it reduces Depth of Field (DoF). This means the amount of the scene that will be in sharp focus. I can see from your posted examples that the front of the pens are less sharp that the backs. This is great when you want this to happen but to get all of the subject with the field of focus a higher f/stop aperture is needed. It may not be possible to do this with your camera. When I get a minute I will see if I can find the specs on it and check it out.

One thing that may help would be to set the tent up outdoors in bright sunlight (you wont need the lights), facing away from the sun. The tent will still spread and diffuse the light but it will be much brighter so the camera may choose a smaller aperture.

Do you know what EXIF data is? if you can find this from your files PM or email it to me. The EXIF contains all the information about the settings when the picture was taken. Try right clicking on the file, choose properties, then summary and advanced.

[OpaDC]

Very nice pens. I know nothing about the lighting and stuff. BUT i have come to the conclusion you are transplanted from Florida. Left pen = University of Florida , right pen = Florida State University , or near enough that this was the first thing to cross my mind when I saw them. You may be on to something.

[warrenp]

Nice job...and pictures look great too.

Warren

[Whaler]

Tom
Good looking pens and you are on the right track with the photos.

[leehljp]

Those are great looking pens. To me, on of the problems with most wood segmented or laminated pens like the one on the right is the "angle" with which they are made. I do not have ANY technical or academic knowledge of angles, but there is occasionally the pen with a combination of woods and a certain specific angle that just "leaps" out.

The combination of angles and color on the segmented wood does that for me.

[leehljp]

Very nice pens. I know nothing about the lighting and stuff. BUT i have come to the conclusion you are transplanted from Florida. Left pen = University of Florida , right pen = Florida State University , or near enough that this was the first thing to cross my mind when I saw them. You may be on to something.

You are the FIRST person from Florida that I have known to name "both" universities in the same sentence! Were you born in FL?

[TB Roye]

Opa


Don't think the Boise State Bronco's would like being compared to Florida, BSU in Idaho is as big as any Big Ten or SEC school. Everyone else has green playing field, not BSU it is BLUE. The pen is for my Grand Son't 1st grade teacher who wears blue and orange on the Fridays before BSU games. The only place you can get that blank is at the Woodcraft in Boise and they are $(9.99)

Thanks guys for all the nice complements I have about 30 more pens to photograph. I have gotten some colored poster board to try some different background. I have though about making a riser to get the pen up higher. I tried some pictures with a med blue background and I like that on the wooden pens the plastice pens might be a little more sensitive to color bacgrounds, maybe a grey or black might work with the plastic. Might try outside also. One thing about being retired I do have all the time I need.

Tom

[DonHo]

Good looking pens. Good work.
DonHo

[ragswl4]

Very, Very nice pens. I especially like the one on the right. I am a fan of cocobola and that pen looks similiar. Nice pics by the way. I really, really suck when it comes to photography. Too impatient I think. I hope to return to pen turning one of these days.

[TB Roye]

Rags

Your builidng a house in a Beautiful place. Just think some day you can roll the Lathe out onto the deck and turn your pen in the cool, blue mountain air.

Tom

[TB Roye]

New Pen Pic

After much help from Jon aka "Pool Hound", I ordered a couple of Pen holders and changed what I could on my Camera. Played with the Tullipwood. Thanks again Jon and everyone else for comments. I will be posting more pictures over the next few days. Click on picture for larger picture

Tom