Eleanora Eden on fri 9 aug 96
Hi All,
Just afew cents worth about photographing pots. After quite afew years
of tungsten lights and tungsten film and polarizing filters over the
lights and on the camera I am now using dulling spray and daylight and am
generally quite happy with the results. (I make shiny pots.)
Eleanora
Eleanora Eden 802 869-2003
Paradise Hill
Bellows Falls, VT 05101 eden@maple.sover.net
John Connolly on wed 31 may 06
Presuming you are using a standard lens (50mm, 100mm,etc) the probable cause of distortion is not holding the camera level. If the bottom of the lens is closer to the subject than the top, the lower part of the image will appear closer and larger than the top. The converse is also true, as is left and right. Somewhere on top of your camera there is probably a cross to indicate the film plane. They really should incorporae an electronic level.
John Connolly in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Maurice Weitman wrote:
At 17:49 -0500 on 5/31/06, Taylor Hendrix wrote:
>1. What is the term for distortion of the subject matter, say a pot,
>when photographing it that makes is appear to be of a different
>overall shape that it actually is? I'm guessing it is like taking a
>picture of a building and getting the fat bottom, skinny top thing.
Do you refer, perhaps, to... The Scheimpflug Principle? Probably
not, but how often can one drop such a great name?
I think the distortion you mention comes from being too close to the
subject, and therefore need to use a wide(r) angle lens/zoom setting
than would be desirable. Viewing the pot from too steep an angle
(above or below center) will make that worse.
Thus, I am always surprised when I see photo setups pictured,
described, even recommended where the camera is so close to the pot.
I believe a truer perspective is gotten by keeping the camera more
than a few feet from the pot and using a longer lens/setting. The
often undesirable telephoto effect of foreshortening an object is
easily avoided by not going nuts with distance/length. I like to use
(the 35 mm equivalent of) around 100 mm, but I'd say that anything
from 75 mm to 200 mm would be fine.
It's also fairly easy to crop an image if your lens isn't long enough
to match the distance from the object.
>2. What does one need to keep in mind when setting up pot shots (hehe)
>to keep the above distortion from happening?
Do I have to repeat myself?
>Y'all are so sweet.
Down boy.
Regards,
Maurice
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Taylor Hendrix on wed 31 may 06
Two questions:
1. What is the term for distortion of the subject matter, say a pot,
when photographing it that makes is appear to be of a different
overall shape that it actually is? I'm guessing it is like taking a
picture of a building and getting the fat bottom, skinny top thing.
2. What does one need to keep in mind when setting up pot shots (hehe)
to keep the above distortion from happening?
Y'all are so sweet.
--
Taylor, in Rockport TX
http://wirerabbit.blogspot.com
http://wirerabbitpots.blogspot.com
http://clayartmugshots.blogspot.com
Maurice Weitman on wed 31 may 06
At 17:49 -0500 on 5/31/06, Taylor Hendrix wrote:
>1. What is the term for distortion of the subject matter, say a pot,
>when photographing it that makes is appear to be of a different
>overall shape that it actually is? I'm guessing it is like taking a
>picture of a building and getting the fat bottom, skinny top thing.
Do you refer, perhaps, to... The Scheimpflug Principle? Probably
not, but how often can one drop such a great name?
I think the distortion you mention comes from being too close to the
subject, and therefore need to use a wide(r) angle lens/zoom setting
than would be desirable. Viewing the pot from too steep an angle
(above or below center) will make that worse.
Thus, I am always surprised when I see photo setups pictured,
described, even recommended where the camera is so close to the pot.
I believe a truer perspective is gotten by keeping the camera more
than a few feet from the pot and using a longer lens/setting. The
often undesirable telephoto effect of foreshortening an object is
easily avoided by not going nuts with distance/length. I like to use
(the 35 mm equivalent of) around 100 mm, but I'd say that anything
from 75 mm to 200 mm would be fine.
It's also fairly easy to crop an image if your lens isn't long enough
to match the distance from the object.
>2. What does one need to keep in mind when setting up pot shots (hehe)
>to keep the above distortion from happening?
Do I have to repeat myself?
>Y'all are so sweet.
Down boy.
Regards,
Maurice
Arnold Howard on thu 1 jun 06
From: "Taylor Hendrix"
> 1. What is the term for distortion of the subject matter,
> say a pot,
> when photographing it that makes is appear to be of a
> different
> overall shape that it actually is? I'm guessing it is
> like taking a
> picture of a building and getting the fat bottom, skinny
> top thing.
That is perspective distortion. To reduce distortion, move
the lens farther from the pots. Keep the camera as level as
possible. The more you tilt it downward, the more the
distortion. You can correct distortion in Photoshop using an
editing tool called Transform. A picture that is completely
free of perspective distortion, however, looks odd.
My first Paragon kiln pictures contained too much
perspective distortion. I had tilted the camera too far
downward, so the tops of the kilns were wider than the
bottoms. The owner looked at the prints and said "Toss
them."
But instead of reshooting the kilns, I made more prints in
the darkroom with the same negatives. By tilting the print
easel under the enlarger, I was able to get rid of the
distortion. The owner approved the new prints. However, the
kilns were too tall because I had tilted the easel. But no
one ever noticed it.
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com
Fred Parker on thu 1 jun 06
On Wed, 31 May 2006 17:49:41 -0500, Taylor Hendrix
wrote:
>Two questions:
>
>1. What is the term for distortion of the subject matter, say a pot,
>when photographing it that makes is appear to be of a different
>overall shape that it actually is? I'm guessing it is like taking a
>picture of a building and getting the fat bottom, skinny top thing.
I believe that's called "parallax error."
>2. What does one need to keep in mind when setting up pot shots (hehe)
>to keep the above distortion from happening?
Make sure the center of the lens aligns with the center of the piece
(avoid shooting up or down onto the piece). Also, use a so-
called "normal" or slight telephoto lens -- the kind that might be used
for portrait photography. For 35mm photography this means from around
50mm to appx 90 mm. Avoid wide angle lenses (less than 45 or 50mm in 35mm
equipment) or wide angle zoom settings. Those will exagerate parallax
error.
Fred Parker
Paul Lewing on thu 1 jun 06
on 6/1/06 6:25 AM, Fred Parker at fhparker@PRODIGY.NET wrote:
> Make sure the center of the lens aligns with the center of the piece
> (avoid shooting up or down onto the piece).
While that will correct the distortion, that's almost never a good idea when
photographing pots. For virtually every pottery shape, you want the lens to
be slightly above the rim, so the piece looks three-dimensional. A
straight-on shot perfectly level with the middle of the pot is probably the
least interesting angle possible to shoot from.
Paul Lewing
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