sanding/photos

[Fatstrat]

Hey everyone,
How fine should i sand before sanding sealer? If i go too coarse, it will show scratches, but too fine and the sealer wont adhere...will it? Can bare wood be buffed for a better finish, or will the tripoli do nasty things to it? Also, i would like to use a black backdrop for my photos (I think its more classy) but im having problems with exposure. I tried a dark gray backdrop, but i think it looks tacky. My camera is a cannon powershot sd600. I can adjust white balance and there is an exposure compensation thing, both of which ive messed around with, but the black still is giving me troubles. Any suggestions?
Thanks

 

[DCBluesman]

There is no such thing as sanding so finely that sealer will not adhere. Bare wood can be buffed with tripoli, but you run the risk of the residue being deposited in the pores and grain. This will negatively impact your ability to apply a high quality finish. I will leave the photography questions to the experts.

 

[gketell]

For your photography question, I've done a lot of black background shots. The trick is the get a grey card and put it in place of your pen, meter off it, then manually set your camera to those settings. Replace the grey card with your pen and shoot the picture and it will come out "perfect".

I quote "perfect" because even though the lighting is adjusted perfectly the shot will often appear dark anyway.

You can look at page 5 and 6 of my album to see the black/reflective background shots. http://www.penturners.org/forum/photo_album_view.asp?cname=Main+Album&mid=3449&cid=3762&page=5

But I had enough people complain that I stopped doing it. Now I try to pick a contrasting color at the same "intensity" level as the pen so the pen stands out and I don't have lots of contrast between the background and the foreground object.

One of these days I have to go buy a good background. That one is just a "heather grey" manila folder opened up. [:I]

GK

 

[Fatstrat]

Greg, that is exactly what i was going for. What were the complaints? I personally think the black gives it that extra touch of class and appears more professional. And yes, i will have to get a greycard. My camera's instruction manual said to do it with a white paper but it didnt work right. Also, what are you using for lighting there? I got a little tent kit from wallmart that came with 2 lamps each usung 20W halogens, but i didnt think it was enough so i put 35W in their place. And then i used a third over the top of the tent, its a fluorescent, i think (im sure usung different kinds of lighting is causing some untrue colors), and for the reflection light i used some leds. By the by, i just got my first statesman kit in the mail today. Looks pretty sharp.
Oh yeah, and as far as the sanding, thats what i thought, but somewhere i read that some sealers wont adhere properly if sanded past about 3600. I always thought that they absorbed into it so it wouldnt make too much difference. Anyway, thanks for the replies.