Roy Odom on sat 10 feb 07
The trick to getting true color of your pots is to use your light tent with
bright white bulbs (like the Daylight compact florescent bulbs available
everywhere) and getting the white balance adjustment on your camera right.
Refer to your owner's manual and you will find the correct menu setting to
get that set up. You position your pot in the tent, put a bright white piece
of paper (like the back of a poster) in front of it, set the white balance
and shoot. If you take a picture without doing that and one doing it I think
you will notice a huge difference. The other thing you can also do is go to
any camera store and purchase what is called a gray card. With it positioned
in front of your photo you will be adjusting your camera to the right
exposure for the available light based on the color of the gray on the card
which is a little like the midpoint of a scale of color - it gives an
average setting to your camera (again, refer to your owner's manual for
instructions on your particular camera).
Happy shooting!
Roy B. Odom
Stonecreek Studio Pottery
....in dreary Ft. Worth firing two kilns to have enough bowls for my
commitment to Empty Bowls for this year
>From: Joyce Lee
>Reply-To: Clayart
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Cameras for Shooting Pots
>Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 15:11:34 -0800
>
>
>I'm afraid of my newish camera. I've had it a couple of months and haven't
>used it ever. However, as always when NCECA rolls around, I'm feeling
>a crunching dread. This is the time when many of you prepare to
>respond to my ongoing request to bring pics of your work because next
>to seeing the buds, the next best thing is seeing their work plus the
>huge advantage of having them available to explain it all to me! Glorious!
>
>These days you're asking that I do the same since all you ever see of
>my work is a piece or two for the mug exchanges. Fair enough. I have
>shelves of completed pieces and would like to shoot them so that I
>may share also..... not that they're so grand, but to show you that they
>do exist and where I am on the continuum.
>
>My camera, which I'm told is good enough for such shots but I don't
>know that personally, is a Cannon PowerShot S410 Digital Elph.
>I have one of those little tents in a bag for shooting as we were
>shown by Russel and Jennifer at NCECA.
>
>What do you thing? Any suggestions? Recommendations? I've
>taken pots to the local shop but didn't like the results.
>
>Thank you for reading and pondering. I need all the help I can get!
>
>Joyce
>In the Mojave hoping that David and Diana et al will present another
>workshop on extruders, one not so close to NCECA. I'll be at the
>next one for sure!
>
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>
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Joyce Lee on sat 10 feb 07
I'm afraid of my newish camera. I've had it a couple of months and haven't
used it ever. However, as always when NCECA rolls around, I'm feeling
a crunching dread. This is the time when many of you prepare to
respond to my ongoing request to bring pics of your work because next
to seeing the buds, the next best thing is seeing their work plus the
huge advantage of having them available to explain it all to me! Glorious!
These days you're asking that I do the same since all you ever see of
my work is a piece or two for the mug exchanges. Fair enough. I have
shelves of completed pieces and would like to shoot them so that I
may share also..... not that they're so grand, but to show you that they
do exist and where I am on the continuum.
My camera, which I'm told is good enough for such shots but I don't
know that personally, is a Cannon PowerShot S410 Digital Elph.
I have one of those little tents in a bag for shooting as we were
shown by Russel and Jennifer at NCECA.
What do you thing? Any suggestions? Recommendations? I've
taken pots to the local shop but didn't like the results.
Thank you for reading and pondering. I need all the help I can get!
Joyce
In the Mojave hoping that David and Diana et al will present another
workshop on extruders, one not so close to NCECA. I'll be at the
next one for sure!
Jennifer Boyer on sun 11 feb 07
Hi Joyce,
You only need a few more things besides your light cube. The point of
the whole system I showed at NCECA is that it's EASY.
Backdrop:
Do a web search for Varitone or Amvona graduated background. These
are plastic sheets that make a good drape. I like the black to white
type, but gray to white is also good. If you look at my pix on my web
site you will see they go dark to light, and the variation is in the
back ground itself. The sheets come in a couple of sizes. One is
about 36" wide and the other is about 48" , more or less if I
remember right. The cost shouldn't be more than 60.00. You may find
some deals on Ebay. Check out some photo web sites first and then try
Ebay.
Get full spectrum florescent bulbs and reflectors to screw them
into. You can get clamp on reflectors at Home Depot. The bulbs make
it so the color of your pots should be good using the default
lighting setting of your camera.
One way to use the reflectors is to suspend or clamp them over your
photo shoot table. I do have mine on stands like those shown at the
web site below, but you can clamp them onto anything. My photo shoot
area has some cabinets and shelving around it and I clamp lights to
those.
The lights look like this
http://store.tabletopstudio-store.com/lightsets.html
You can get the bulbs cheaper than Table Top Studio here:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/products.php?cat=55-Watt-Compact-Fluorescents
I have an overhead lighting setup, but you could get away with 3 of
these bulbs in reflectors.
So you'll have your cube (on a table) with the background in it and 3
reflectors set up on stands or clamped to furniture so they are about
a foot or 2 from the light box, aiming through it. It should be in an
area with no other light source, so you can shoot at night if every
room in your house has that beautiful Mohave light coming in.
YOU NEED A TRIPOD. Take your camera to a camera store and have them
show you how to attach it.
The only things you need to learn to do with your camera:
TURN OFF THE FLASH
USE THE COUNT DOWN FEATURE
All cameras have these. The main thing is turning off the flash. The
count down feature is good because it clicks the shutter without you
having to touch(shake) the camera. It's the feature that allows the
picture taker to run and get in a group shot.
THe only other thing is to fill as much of the picture as possible
with the pot. Most cameras have a zoom feature. Use it.
THe camera manual isn't as difficult as it looks....
There are other things you could know, but wait til you master what
I've laid out, and then ask for more info.
Jennifer, STARTING SIMPLE, if you can believe it
On Feb 10, 2007, at 6:11 PM, Joyce Lee wrote:
>
> I'm afraid of my newish camera. I've had it a couple of months and
> haven't
> used it ever. However, as always when NCECA rolls around, I'm feeling
*****************************
Jennifer Boyer
Thistle Hill Pottery
Montpelier, VT
http://thistlehillpottery.com
*****************************
Vince Pitelka on sun 11 feb 07
Joyce -
Digital cameras have all sorts of complicated options, but to just get good
photographs, they are incredibly simple - really just point and shoot. The
macro option allows you to shoot close-ups, and that is usually a very
simple single button process. Otherwise, with most digital cameras, you
just press the "power on" button and start shotting images. The Digital
Elph is designed to be a very user-friendly camera, so the controls will
likely be very intuitive and common-sense. I understand your trepidation
completely. Every time I buy a new electronic gizmo I am initially
intimidated by it. But then I spend a few hours with the instructions
(which seem DESIGNED to intimidate, and where any useful information is
always preceded by many pages of dire warnings and conditions), and pretty
soon any trepidation is defused and I realize how simple it really is.
Remember, despite evidence to the contrary in many of the instruction
manuals, the makers want their products to be as accessible as possible.
Good luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures at NCECA.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
Maurice Weitman on sun 11 feb 07
Roy Odom wrote:
>The trick to getting true color of your pots is to use your light tent with
>bright white bulbs (like the Daylight compact florescent bulbs available
I think Roy's advice is generally sound, but be=20
careful when using the word "Daylight" with=20
respect to fluorescent lamps. As "Cool White"=20
is used to mean a bluer, colder light, "Daylight"=20
is generally used to describe a general tendency=20
towards warm, yellowish light, a tone that might=20
be more difficult to correct.
Roy probably meant to refer to a full-spectrum=20
lamp, or perhaps one more closely balanced to a=20
natural, outdoor light. I use lamps that are=20
sold as 5000=BA and find them close enough to a=20
good source unadjusted.
But as Roy and others have mentioned, most decent=20
(above point-and-shoot) digital cameras have=20
white balance and color correction capabilities.=20
This would be preferable to relying on=20
post-camera adjustments with software.
Regards,
Maurice
Cheryl Weickert6 on mon 12 feb 07
The best part about digital cameras is that if the picture you took isn't
to your liking you just hit the delete button and it's gone! So Joyce get
that camera out and take lots and lots of pictures, what you don't like
delete, and take some more pictures.
Pinky in balmy MN, really it's the first time it's been above 0 for a
while and it even got into the 20's F today.
On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 11:37:04 -0600, Vince Pitelka
wrote:
>Joyce -
>Digital cameras have all sorts of complicated options, but to just get
good
>photographs, they are incredibly simple - really just point and shoot.
Lee Love on mon 12 feb 07
They make florescent here in Japan, spectrum adjusted, especially for
photography. These are better than shooting with the old tungsten
type bulbs, because they do not loose their color correction over
time.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
http://potters.blogspot.com/
"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." -
Henry David Thoreau
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
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