Photo question.

[ed4copies]

I am so glad we have the Exotics' forum, because a whole lot of vocal people will say this is an ad. In FACT, I am interested in some direction from those of you who do photography well.

I turned these "Maj'K" blanks easily and got the pens with gunmetal plating, thinking I would have less trouble with flashback from the components and should be able to get good pics of the color effect.

I am NOT impressed.

After trying my usual (two photo lights--florescent, above the product by about 2 feet, on either side)--I realized that was only going to give me "white" in the sections where the "color shifting" was taking place. I SEE this as a purple-blue color, but the camera sees it as white.

I changed the angle of the lights, placing them behind the blanks, so the reflection was minimized. That's how I got these photos---which I consider the best of the poor!!

I have tried changing the "f-stop"?? (the number from 3 to 8 on my camera) While this changes the darkness, it does NOT change the white to a color. I tried using the flash---not impressed.

The only thing I did not try (because it was night) was filtered sunlight.

Any other ideas???

AS you may have read, EdD is offering a free six pack of Maj'K blanks to the person who submits the best photo---I'd like to help people succeed!!!

Thanks for any input!!

Ed B (ExoticBlanks)

 

[edicehouse]

The first 2 are the same pen aren't they Ed B?

 

[ed4copies]

They are the same pen on the same background piece. A light blue denim. The second picture portrays the color accurately. The first picture was "photoshopped" to try to make the color of the pen more like what my eyes registered the color to be.

 

[Ed McDonnell]

I've not seen one of the Majk blanks, so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage, but listening to what your wrote (or reading what you said (particularly between the lines) :biggrin: I think I would try using very soft diffused lighting and longer exposure on a tripod.

I also decided to play with your photo a bit, taking into account your first two photos. A lot more could have been done if starting with a "raw" format file rather than a jpg, but what the heck. Here's a quick and dirty shop chop. How's this compare to the real thing?



Maybe you need to rethink trying to get a single photo that captures the essence of Majk and instead create a short video that shows the blank moving in light. Or you could create an animated gif that would accomplish the same thing but that might be more suitable for web page adornment.

Just some thoughts.


Ed (one of many, but like no other.....)

 

[ed4copies]

Thanks for your input, Ed (exceptional Ed??)

I briefly tried the vid camera, where I do know how to control light a little better, but the results were not great. PM me your address and I will send you the pen. I'd like to see good pics and I might be trainable---who knows!!

The original Ed (well, .... after Ed Davidson)

 

[SteveG]

If I change my name to Ed, can I post in this thread?

 

[Smitty37]

I have success (sometimes) using a method given to me by a photographer. Try Daylight with no flash and no artificial light at all, then work the photo to get the light right. Set up where there is no natural glare works best.

 

[ed4copies]

If I change my name to Ed, can I post in this thread?

Only if your not an "exceptional" Ed, he already posted.

 

[ed4copies]

We do have an opening for "excellent Ed"----wanna be he???

 

[Smitty37]

We do have an opening for "excellent Ed"----wanna be he???

I don't recall seeing a "driver's" Ed or "Phys" Ed either.

 

[yaroslaw]

Ed, as I'm very happy with my photos (and winning 1st and 3rd prize in BASH contest partly because of them I can give you few advices. I should mention, that any "color changers", be it chatoyance in great piece of wood or natural anodized titanium, drives me crazy always...

But a few things to mention:
1) Really make sure that you have no other different source of light than you use. That means - if you have fluorescent lights - NO other sources (sun, natural light from a window, incadescent bulb) should be present nearby. And with fluorescent, make sure every lamp has same marks from same manufacturer and ideally same date started to use. Identical, that means.

2) Actually, fluorescent is THE WORSE light to use with a photo! Incadecent (usual or galogen bulbs) will give you much closer colors! Do not buy in a "eco" argument

3) then, if you use galogen or normal incadecent bulbs, make sure your camera WB (White Balance) is set to that (it is "bulb" picture usually), not AUTO

4) you can get much more accurate colors using grey, white or black background. Neutral colors. White and black have theire drawbacks, and require a lot of practice, grey would be much easier - and than you can tweak colors in Photoshop or any smaller simpler free program you use with your camera by simply pointing grey area with "eyedropper tool".

I use light cube for photo (I've borrowed one from a friend, but they can be bought for around $30-40), and two powerful galogen lights (300Wt or 500Wt in a case that is used for bigboards lighting - $25 for a pair), and a camera on a tripod with long exposure and small F (F7-F9 usually, since I have DSLR with low field of view).

To catch chatoyance or color change, I usually have one light fixed from right side of the cube, the other I hold with my hand and moving from the left side from side to side, up and down and even to a top of cube (outside cube, of course) and making series, like 10-20 photos constantly changing light position. Than on a computer (with a GOOD monitor) I choose most interesting photo. With color changers - two photos with everything else (especially background color!) the same, but different colors of a material, can be good.

Unfortunately I'm pretty far away to participate in an Ed photo contest, as I do not know when I would be making new order to get this MAJ'K to try

 

[terryf]

Ed, have you tried a light tent with two off-camera flashes either side? - works wonders.

Agree with the longer exposure but not too long or the sensor starts to register noise.

ISO100 @ f11/f16 with 100m macro at around 2.5 seconds if using above method. If its under exposed the light source is insufficient.

The only thing that should stick through the front of the tent is the lens so nothing should be visible on the components and if it is, just change the angle slightly.

Shoot in RAW and worry about white balance in something like lightroom.

I would also suggest shooting the pen with the stand towards the back so that it doesn't become part of the reflection problem.

If you have a circular polarizer, it can help to reduce glare on the components whilst maintaining true colors.

 

[alphageek]

2) Actually, fluorescent is THE WORSE light to use with a photo! Incadecent (usual or galogen bulbs) will give you much closer colors! Do not buy in a "eco" argument

I think this is the best GEM of a tip in there. Fluorescent is replacing many, many bulbs (and I don't agree with the reasoning because the CFLs don't have the life that they should).

However for pictures - they are definitely the worst lights. Any other lights would be better.

 

[Ed McDonnell]

2) Actually, fluorescent is THE WORSE light to use with a photo! Incadecent (usual or galogen bulbs) will give you much closer colors! Do not buy in a "eco" argument

I think this is the best GEM of a tip in there. Fluorescent is replacing many, many bulbs (and I don't agree with the reasoning because the CFLs don't have the life that they should).

However for pictures - they are definitely the worst lights. Any other lights would be better.

As in many things in life, the answer is seldom black or white. A cfl intended for photography (~5500k AND CRI > 90) will do a fine job for photography. Buying the cheapest cfl on the shelf at home depot (????k and CRI 60) will likely lead to yet another firm declaration that CFL is the worst for photos. Use the right CFL and use it correctly and the results are as good as any other light source.

All lights, but especially CFLs, should be allowed to run for a while before taking pictures to allow the spectrum to stabilize.

As pointed out above, never mix light sources unless you want to spend a lot of time in post processing trying to fix issues this will cause. Set your cameras white balance to match your lighting. Cameras that allow custom white balances (and knowing how to use this feature) will give results that should (but not necessarily will) require the least post processing.

Making your lighting as diffuse as possible will help a lot with the glare on metal components. Photo tents help a lot, but something as simple as hanging a sheet of printer paper in front of the light will help a lot (just don't create a fire hazard).

Anyway, CFL has not seemed to be a problem for me. Under the right conditions it might not be a problem for you either. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.......


Ed

 

[yaroslaw]

Ed, I suppose Ed ("the original"?) is not using professional stuff, so cfls he is using are from home depot store. One thing bad with CFL is that quality of color degrades with a time (not a day, but a year - easily), so several lamps, if used, should have same period of usage to give consistent light.
Also, I do not know what camera Ed is using, but I suppose not DSLR, so he hardly has RAW, that means that best colors he would get if camera knows what light is used. And CFL's ARE different depending on so many factors, and in simple camera you have only one setting (using grey card? c'mon, it's not easy even if operator and camera knows about it).

That means - if you are pro and you know what to do - just do it You probably have everything that you need and know how to use it.
If you are beginner in photo - try to stay away from CFL, thay would not give any benefit to you but most probably will spoil colors, unless you really know what you are doing (than, you are not beginner).

 

[ed4copies]

Actually, the florescents I use are made for photography. But, as everyone who knows me will attest---they are "economy".

I can try halogen, I can get them, locally fairly economically (there's that word again).

But, I am learning some from the conversation (at least the words I understand!!)

Thanks to all for attempting to make me and my lights a little brighter!!
Ed

 

[Sylvanite]

The first issue to resolve (as I see it), is to set proper white balance. It's best to do that in-camera (using a gray card and "custom" white balance control), but if you can't, then check out http://www.penturners.org/forum/f24/photoshop-tip-3-correcting-white-balance-77424/.

As several others have pointed out, CFL bulbs do not provide ideal light. It takes some practice to get good results. It's easier to get good color rendition shooting outdoors on an overcast day.

Regards,
Eric

 

[edicehouse]

Order the blanks, make a pen, enter the contest.