Working on my photography

Re: Working on my photography

John K Jordan

Not having seen the piece, I can believe the color. Looks yellow/orange but maybe that's the true color of the wood. Did you set set a custom white balance for the lights?

Is the inside of the bowl black on one side or does it need some light? You can often use a piece of white paper or cardboard to reflect some soft light where needed.

This picture John Lucas posted once shows a piece of white paper on the left.

I'm not a big fan of black backgrounds but prefer a neutral color background with some soft shadows. I think that shows the shapes better. This is a personal preference, however.

JKJ

Re: Working on my photography

John Jordan

Way too much photoshop. John's right about the background if for no other reason than publications, magazines show invitations etc prefer similar backgrounds to put together articles, advertising etc. and the white/grey to black is best for that. The basic image you have is good, but the images seem to be floating in space with an odd colored background. Ideally all you should need to do is sometimes adjust contrast, crop so all your images fill the frame with some room around the piece. Vertical format is best for most purposes. Also rotate the bowl so it is level, and put the details in their own photos. A singular piece is much better. Try to shoot as if you don't have a digital image editor, then use it to do minor adjustment.

John Lucas will send you a good article and lots of info if you ask. He may have already offered that to you.

This is from a veteran of the cutthroat jury process of the high end craft shows where images are everything, and more recently as a fairly regular juror that has seen the best and worst.

John

Re: Working on my photography

john lucas

They just appear too dark. At least on my computer. Overall not bad but just underexposed or darkened using Gimp. The best bet on all digital images is to try and get the exposure as close as you can. Then if you must, do some adjustments on the computer. Almost always when you try to do large adjustments on the computer the images suffer.

What I always suggest to people is to try and photograph the piece. If it's not coming out like you want send me the photo. then back off and shoot a photo of your photo booth showing me the lighting and describe what the lights are. I can almost always help you get a good photo if I see that.

Mike, I'm Working on your photography, ....

http://JamieDonaldson

...and have these suggestions. The posted image appears to be underexposed, and you have "overcooked" the image file with Gimp. I agree with others that the black background is dramatic, but not the best representation of the work for viewing details. The upper R image is the better view for initial presentation of profile, and the larger image a 2nd view of the colorful interior.

Re: Working on my photography

Mike Schwing

John, my laptop needs a color balance adjustment that I didn't realize until I saw this photo on some other screens. It is way on the red side overall.

Monitor calibration

John K Jordan

>>>John, my laptop needs a color balance adjustment that I didn't realize until I saw this photo on some other screens. It is way on the red side overall

I wondered about that but most display hardware seems pretty good these days.

When I was doing 3D modeling and graphics and photo stuff for a living we were paranoid about color. The color monitors (mostly CRTs at first) were carefully calibrated. We used profiles to make sure files sent to the printers matched what was on the monitors.

I would periodically send files to others then go see what it looked like on their monitors. Easier today with web pages. This doesn't prove my monitor is right but gives a better feeling that it's not far from what most people are seeing.

Just yesterday I found a box on my shelf with a professional monitor calibration device - this uses an electronic color photo sensor stuck to the monitor with a suction cup. The software created a monitor profile automatically. Can't remember, the software probably ran in Windows NT or earlier.

You can adjust a monitor manually, first by adjusting the black and white points and grey by displaying calibrated grey scale image files, then do the same to balance the color. The important thing about a monitor is to adjust it in the same room light, both intensity and color, that it will be typically used when working.

I used to have all the files and instructions but when I searched for calibrate color monitor Sir Google gave lots of reading material.

PS: I just googled spyder pantone colorvision optical and see you can still get the the monitor calibrator I have, probably revised numerous times. The really nice thing is the price has dropped so much it's relatively free now! I see other options too.

JKJ