The Green Dragon

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RustySocket

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Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
51
This is a Stabilized Green Maple Burl blank with the Copper Dragon themed component set. Friction Polished.

I'm continuing to work on my turning and photography and again looking for constructive criticisms, wit and suggestions.

I used the Polaroid LED tent and a Nikon D70 to take these.

Thanks for looking!
 

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budnder

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Dec 28, 2015
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Chicago/Tucson
Great looking pen and I think the photos look good. Trying to find flaws is more frustratin' than a dragon trying to blow out candles. Ok... if you pushed me for likes and dislikes, I like the closeup one the best, and not sure I care for the gradient background in the other two. But that's very subjective. If you don't post-process, that's something to think about - makes it easy to clean up those little bits of dust that always seem to photo bomb. I use Lightroom and love it - I can do 80% of what I used to do in Photoshop with it and it's just point and click to remove a dust speck.
 

RustySocket

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
51
Great looking pen and I think the photos look good. Trying to find flaws is more frustratin' than a dragon trying to blow out candles. Ok... if you pushed me for likes and dislikes, I like the closeup one the best, and not sure I care for the gradient background in the other two. But that's very subjective. If you don't post-process, that's something to think about - makes it easy to clean up those little bits of dust that always seem to photo bomb. I use Lightroom and love it - I can do 80% of what I used to do in Photoshop with it and it's just point and click to remove a dust speck.

I did a little bit of cleanup but I'm still learning the software. Right now im using Picasa because it's free but have heard good things about lightroom and Gimp.

The gradient is actually an artifact of the background reflecting the diffused light and I'm fighting it. It's a sheet of matte black material and no matter how I arrange it I get that band somewhere in the photo.

I appreciate the comments. I want to make my photos as nice as my pens. I just realized there is an entire forum related to photography so maybe this is not supposed to be here... However it is a new pen, I'm still new..and I believe there is a drawing selected from new posts in this forum.. so I'm going with two out of three.

Thanks again and keep the comments coming.

Scott
 

TimS124

Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2012
Messages
735
Location
Asheville, NC
Nice pen. For the middle photo...either increase the DOF you're shooting at or turn the pen more sideways. The focus at the top of the pen is a bit soft/fuzzy. The pen looks a bit too wide where it meets the top of the center band under the clip...it's likely just fine in person and the close-up makes it easier to spot.

The dark background with a dark pen body doesn't work well for me but that's a very subjective area (and if you like it, that's much more important).
 

RustySocket

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
51
Nice pen. For the middle photo...either increase the DOF you're shooting at or turn the pen more sideways. The focus at the top of the pen is a bit soft/fuzzy. The pen looks a bit too wide where it meets the top of the center band under the clip...it's likely just fine in person and the close-up makes it easier to spot.

The dark background with a dark pen body doesn't work well for me but that's a very subjective area (and if you like it, that's much more important).

Initially I shot the photos using a white background and am struggling with the metering on my NikonD70. I simply could not get a decent exposure. I was struggling with everything looking washed out. I believe now that I was confused on the mode I was shooting in and will go back at some point in the future and work on white background as that was my initial preference.

I see what you mean in respect to DOF. Something to pay attention to in the future.

You caught the one defect I knew about. The bushing mics out fine (I had this same problem on another set) and I believe the center band is slightly undersized on the upper edge. I'll check it in the morning. I am a perfectionist so this one will be disassembled and fixed.

Thanks for your comments.
 
Last edited:

TimS124

Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2012
Messages
735
Location
Asheville, NC
Nice pen. For the middle photo...either increase the DOF you're shooting at or turn the pen more sideways. The focus at the top of the pen is a bit soft/fuzzy. The pen looks a bit too wide where it meets the top of the center band under the clip...it's likely just fine in person and the close-up makes it easier to spot.

The dark background with a dark pen body doesn't work well for me but that's a very subjective area (and if you like it, that's much more important).

Initially I shot the photos using a white background and am struggling with the metering on my NikonD70. I simply could not get a decent exposure. I was struggling with everything looking washed out. I believe now that I was confused on the mode I was shooting in and will go back at some point in the future and work on white background as that was my initial preference.

I see what you mean in respect to DOF. Something to pay attention to in the future.

You caught the one defect I knew about. The bushing mics out fine (I had this same problem on another set) and I believe the center band is slightly undersized on the upper edge. I'll check it in the morning. I am a perfectionist so this one will be disassembled and fixed.

Thanks for your comments.

I have a D70 in a closet around here somewhere...and a D70S...and a D90. I'm now shooting a D7100. Each was an upgrade with the 70S->90 and 90->7100 being much bigger improvements.

The D70 is still a fine choice for what you're shooting and if you have a tripod (or a stack of books), you can shoot a fairly small aperture. F/11 with a 35mm or wider lens would have more than enough DOF to get everything (maybe too much) in focus. For stuff like this, I shoot aperture-priority and let the camera figure out shutter speed. If it's too dark or too light, tweak it with exposure compensation.

I found my D90 really needed some color correction as well. I didn't have the card to do that back when I actively shot with the D70S but it likely would've benefited as well. The D90 had trouble with certain shades of orange and yellow until I added a custom color correction. Keep an eye on your pen photos and if you see any non-trivial color variations, that's likely the fix you'll need.
 

RustySocket

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
51
Nice pen. For the middle photo...either increase the DOF you're shooting at or turn the pen more sideways. The focus at the top of the pen is a bit soft/fuzzy. The pen looks a bit too wide where it meets the top of the center band under the clip...it's likely just fine in person and the close-up makes it easier to spot.

The dark background with a dark pen body doesn't work well for me but that's a very subjective area (and if you like it, that's much more important).

Initially I shot the photos using a white background and am struggling with the metering on my NikonD70. I simply could not get a decent exposure. I was struggling with everything looking washed out. I believe now that I was confused on the mode I was shooting in and will go back at some point in the future and work on white background as that was my initial preference.

I see what you mean in respect to DOF. Something to pay attention to in the future.

You caught the one defect I knew about. The bushing mics out fine (I had this same problem on another set) and I believe the center band is slightly undersized on the upper edge. I'll check it in the morning. I am a perfectionist so this one will be disassembled and fixed.

Thanks for your comments.

I have a D70 in a closet around here somewhere...and a D70S...and a D90. I'm now shooting a D7100. Each was an upgrade with the 70S->90 and 90->7100 being much bigger improvements.

The D70 is still a fine choice for what you're shooting and if you have a tripod (or a stack of books), you can shoot a fairly small aperture. F/11 with a 35mm or wider lens would have more than enough DOF to get everything (maybe too much) in focus. For stuff like this, I shoot aperture-priority and let the camera figure out shutter speed. If it's too dark or too light, tweak it with exposure compensation.

I found my D90 really needed some color correction as well. I didn't have the card to do that back when I actively shot with the D70S but it likely would've benefited as well. The D90 had trouble with certain shades of orange and yellow until I added a custom color correction. Keep an eye on your pen photos and if you see any non-trivial color variations, that's likely the fix you'll need.

Thanks for the suggestions, in my head my camera is still new... didn't realize it's nearly 13 year old technology. Are you referring to a 18% gray card and custom white balance? Yes I use tripod and the remote ir trigger. The issue was likely poor focus. How do you meter for real dark barrels on light background?
 

TimS124

Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2012
Messages
735
Location
Asheville, NC
Thanks for the suggestions, in my head my camera is still new... didn't realize it's nearly 13 year old technology. Are you referring to a 18% gray card and custom white balance? Yes I use tripod and the remote ir trigger. The issue was likely poor focus. How do you meter for real dark barrels on light background?

I use a color card and a plug-in that figures out which colors your camera's sensor has (they all struggle with something...some are subtle, some aren't).

I think it's this one (or a similar one): X-Rite ColorChecker Classic Card MSCCC B&H Photo Video

For remote release, do you have mirror-lockup turned on? (it should be enabled so one click of the remote flips the mirror and another click takes the photo...eliminates mirror shake as a potential problem).

When using the tripod? Do you have the VR disabled? (I don't remember if the D70 had it...my D90 and D7100 do and I think my D70S did as well...it's vibration reduction and it can introduce problems when using a rigid mount like a tripod).

For metering, I set the camera to either meter on the full frame or the middle of the three choices Nikon gives me.

Also, I shoot raw...that makes it much easier to bully the exposure around after the fact (but "chimp" your shots while taking them...use the built-in histogram to verify good overall exposure, don't just look at the jpeg they process to show on the screen). I use LightRoom and can adjust selected areas easily if needed but getting rid of glare spots and other problems before clicking to take the shot is still important of course).
 
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