Early attempt

[Little Festo]

Well here's my 3rd bowl. Not too bad but the wood was a little difficult. the wood is "Beauty Leaf", a tropical timber that grows locally.


Peter

[Wood Borer]

I don't know much about turning but it looks OK to me.

Did you cut the timber yourself? Tell us more about the timber, diameter, height, hardness, is the dust deadly etc

- Wood Borer

[Sir Stinkalot]

Peter,

I must comment on the quality of the photo .... well done. Its good to see that the photo was carefully arranged to bring the best out of the turning with adequate lighting and no distracting background. I can't really comment on the turning but many woodies can take a thing or two from the photography.

Cheers

Stinky.

[Little Festo]

Thanks Sir Stinkalot. The photo should be ok as I'm a professional photographer. The bowl came up rather well and certainly photographed ok.

The wood was a bit tricky with the knots and seemed to have soft spots. The bowl is about 250 cm in diameter.

Peter

[Sir Chiz]

I do a bit of turnin' myself,and I'll tell ya that's very nice,especially for a third attempt.
I wouldn't dare show anybody my third. :o

Nice piece of wood too!

Do ya give photography lessons?? :D


Phil.

[Dan]

OK Peter,
How about letting us in on a few of the basics when it comes time to take a few pictures of the latest master piece. From what I can see dark backgrounds look good (magazines use them a lot). Lighting, from your photo it seems to be from above, but I could be wrong, maybe more from the front. Stinky might be able to help here too seeing as he spotted the quality of your photo without knowing you make a living from it.

Dan

[Sir Stinkalot]

Ok …. Here is Stinky’s uneducated view on photography and why I chose to comment on the photo rather than the turning (The turning is also very good by the way :))

1. The dark background is a good idea as it is the work that you are attempting to show off ….. not how much mess that you have on the kitchen table or what size your telly is. The exceptions to this rule are fairly obvious … 1. if you are displaying a new entertainment unit and you want to show it in context, 2. if the completed piece is huge and installed outside, 3. you are taking a photo of your cyclone in the workshop as we all like to see the layout and what other toys that you have. Most turning projects seem to be best shown alone as putting them into their final resting environment tends to distract rather than enhance.

2. Lighting. Lighting is a must …. we want to be able to see your hard work. A flash on the camera isn’t good enough as the light bounces off the work and can produce a very crude light. Use a few lights from different angles to play with highlighting grains or figures of your piece. The higher the wattage the better but desk lamps are better than nothing.

3. Position your work to show off the features. If I see one image I am more likely to stop and study the quality of the piece. If I see the piece from 101 different angles that aren’t showing anything new I am inclined to skip over 100 of them. The piece in question shows the rim detail and overall shape in the one shot. It also highlights the grain structure and the finish.

There are many articles about photography in back issues of woodworking mags but I found this link the other day on Gekko Timbers Web Site. It seems to be aimed quite high but the same principles apply at home.

Gekko Timbers Guide To Photography (http://www.gekkotimbers.com.au/free_downloads_woodworking_patterns/free_woodworking_downloads_pdfs/photography_woodwork.pdf)

I hope I haven't upset them by posting it.

I too would be interested in hearing Peters views on what makes a good woodworking photo.

Cheers

Stinky.

[Little Festo]

Well I suppose that I am lucky in respect of the photographic equipment I have available. I have a small objects table and studio lights set up so it makes it quite simple.

You are correct regarding having a powerful lighting source. Actually rather than try to explain it all I'll do a diagram and post it here.

I used a black sheet of perspex for the background. It works well as it is flexible and can be curved upwards behing the object to be photographed to create a seamless background.

Peter