Photographing woodwork.

[woodbe]

Many thanks for that explanation, woodbe. I'll squirrel it away for the future.

I've attached an example taken with a 100mm macro. There is the full shot, reduced to fit the 100kb rule, then a full size crop of one edge of the frame showing the trench cut into a piece of Huon pine strip. For reference, the Huon strip is 24mm wide, and the slot is 1mm wide and about 0.8mm deep.

woodbe

[TassieKiwi]

I think the 2 biggest things that spoil a shot are the wrong background, and poor lighting. Cameras are set at an 'average' setting for exposure off "neutral Grey 15%" which is about the same as those grey foolscap binders, or battleship grey, orthe poxy grey of my desk here, much like 10,000 other desks in melamine. If you use say a bright white background, the object will appear too dark as the camera is trying to compensate. A very dark background will do the opposite, as will bright reflections off the workpiece. Unless you want to create contrast with stark shadows, heaps of diffused light is the best. Outside on a cloudy day, bright light reflected of ceiling and walls, flash deflected off white polystyrene etc. The beauty of digital is that you can check the result straight away.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

What ruins my photos is the cameras insistence on focusing either on the background, or some calc'd "average distance," instead of the desired object. When the reason for the photo is blurred almost beyond identifiaction, any time spent on the window dressing is wasted. "Oh! What an artistically placed... whatsit?" [shrug]

Cheap cameras give cheap snapshots. I still hate mine!


Actually, while we're on the subject of photography... I was told by a mate recently that there are adapter plates for some of the older SLRs to convert them from film to digital. I imagine it's basically a CCD lying in the film plane?

Anyone know if there's one to fit my beloved ol' Praktica SLR? Over the years I've amassed enough lenses/filters/etc for mine that I could've bought a couple of new cars. Now it's just so many dust collectors. I've googled it, but need to refine the search parameters... I don't have several lifetimes to wade through the returned results.

[woodbe]

Sorry Skew, the adapters are all backs for Medium Format cameras, and they cost a bomb. The expected arrival of a 35mm sensor to fit our old SLR's just hasn't happened. PhaseOne are one of the most successful digital back makers:

http://www.phaseone.com/Content/p1di...y%20chart.aspx

woodbe.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

The same story as it was 5 years ago, eh?

"They'll be available soon, but don't hold your breath. In the meantime, can we interest you in one of our new digital..."

[echnidna]

I found the easiest way to get good pics is outside on a cloudy day.
Very few problems with lighting and shadows.
But take pics from various positions and some should turn out great.

[TTIT]

I found the easiest way to get good pics is outside on a cloudy day.
Very few problems with lighting and shadows.
But take pics from various positions and some should turn out great.

I aim for the same thing Echidna but out here we only get 5 or 6 cloudy days a year (read it and weep Melbournites!). Instead of waiting for clouds, I find mid-morning light under the verandah is best but it's a pain having to wait for just that time so I intend rigging something similar to the article in Australian Woodworker.
On the macro subject, my little Canon 7Mp job magnifies things so much it scares me - shows way too much detail that my fuzzy eyesight normally blissfully misses. It's forced me to concentrate much harder on my finishing techniques!

[ciscokid]

This is simply great information. I'm glad I browsed this section. As my woodworking progresses I plan to get a website. Now I have a chance at half decent photographs.

Thank you!

[Shedhand]

I've attached an example taken with a 100mm macro. There is the full shot, reduced to fit the 100kb rule, then a full size crop of one edge of the frame showing the trench cut into a piece of Huon pine strip. For reference, the Huon strip is 24mm wide, and the slot is 1mm wide and about 0.8mm deep.

woodbe

I know this is on pold post but I just found it. If thats Huon Pine I'm a monkey's blind great aunt.... looks a lot like crapiata...

[Iain]

Bear in mind also that digital is not subject to colour shift due to colour temperature like miniature format cameras**, so shooting under artificial lights does not yield the same problems, therefore, the use of filters for correction is minimised.
I opt to use a UV filter, mainly as a lense protector, and polarising filter to reduce glare.
For control over depth of field you do of course require a manual overide or at least an aperture/speed preference on auto mode.
One of the reasons I bought my beast (Fuji S7000) is that I can use every function manually and operate an external flash, set up where I want it.

** Miniature formats correct classification is anything not plate, eg: 35mm 6 x 6-6 x 7-6 x 4.5, effectively anything that uses roll film.
Got rapped on the knuckles years ago when I did a BA Photography Science Stream at RMIT for calling a 6 x 6 medium format, cost me a few points.

[Coldamus]

Iain,

On your Fuji, is manual focus achieved by twisting a focusing ring on the lens as in film SLR cameras?

When I bought my Olympus, one feature that swung the decision was that manual focus was available. However it is done by selecting manual focus mode from a menu and then using buttons on the back of the camera to focus back and forth.

This is OK for still subjects (although fiddly) but otherwise useless except to set the focus at a fixed distance.

What makes it more annoying is that the auto-focus is ridiculously slow. If taking a picture of a pet, for example, any cat or dog will have turned around three times, done two somersaults and gone home to bed before the auto-focus is ready. Consequently I get lots of pictures of rear-ends, empty spaces and blue sky.

It occurred to me that if your Fuji has true manual focus, it would have most of the benefits of a digital SLR at significantly lower cost. The zoom range should be sufficient to compensate for lack of interchangeable lenses.

regards
Coldamus

[Iain]

On the side of the camera is a switch for AF-CF or MF, I select MF and turn the ring as in a normal SLR, if the subject is well out of range there is a button in the centre of the switch that is an auto focus, so I just press this and proceed with the ring.
I find this is good for macro as aften the camera can be fooled and will focus on something more prominent than the subject.
This pic shows the switch on the side, no menu involved.
I like the camera even though it does not have interchangeable lens, but it does have a lot of other things which swayed me such as:
AA batteries (read affordable)
Rapid shoot
Rapid shoot and retain last 5 frames.
That last one inparticular as I shoot a lot of horse events and getting a horse jumping is near on impossible with a single shot.
Below is the camera profile and the floating horse

[Bleedin Thumb]

Iain how do you take a photo of your own camera? Especially a profile shot!

[Coldamus]

Iain,

Thanks for the info.

That seems like an excellent focusing arrangement.

regards
Coldamus

[Harry72]

Bleedin, I reckon he used a mirror clicked then turned the camera and let go real fast!!!