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+--- Thread: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) (/showthread.php?tid=170011)
Re: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) - archipirata - 08-09-2014
Cool video, thanks hal. The new job is photographer for Stewmac for all their product and advertising photos. That's why the photos, even of the tools, look so new and clean. And some of the "in use" shot are also mocked up in the studio. Some shots are taken in an actual guitar workshop but even there it is pretty clean. they have a big industrial vacuum system with hoses to all the machinery that sucks out the sawdust.
Re: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) - lost in space - 08-09-2014
What a cool job! Nice photos!
Here's a few things that might add some realism: : )
dim, incandescent/reddish lighting
ragged, dirty aprons
sawdust and shavings everywhere
wood rashes on forearms
bandaids on fingers, ravaged fingernails
jumbled piles of tools on workbenches
Not that you'd see any of this in my shop ; ), but just some suggestions.
Re: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) - steve... - 08-09-2014
(tu)
Beautiful photographs.
Re: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) - anonymouse1 - 08-10-2014
Nice lighting and depth of field. Nice work.
Re: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) - Octave Doctor - 08-10-2014
Nice photos, very overpriced tools. We have a couple good hobby shops close by, so I got mostly NOS stuff when I started doing repairs. There's not a lot of debris if you're just doing repairs, though.
I'd like to mention a phrase a friend of mine uses, "No matter what I do to your guitar, you're still not gonna play like Eddie Van Halen."
Re: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) - JoeM - 08-10-2014
Great photos! I do product photography on my job and use a couple of Photoflex soft light boxes and a few fills. What lighting and techniques are you using in the stewmac studio? Also are you photoshopping some of the shadows in some of the close product shots?
Re: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) - archipirata - 08-10-2014
I'm using what was there in the studio when I came. 4 Alien bees (320 WS) monolights. A couple of soft boxes and umbrellas, and an assortment of grids, bounces, reflectors, etc. I do wish they had some strobes with some more power, or a power pack system. I am usually shooting stopped down to at least f22 to squeeze out as much DOF as possible and the strobes are often maxed out. The shadows are both preserved natural or photoshopped, depending on a lot of factors like what it will be used for, do I need to cut out a path so it can be used in other composites, etc.
For the on white shots, it's usually flood lighting, trying to get rid of most shadows and even light overall. One consideration is that many of the shots have to work for both web and print and the catalog is printed on newsprint paper so high contrast is really important but sometimes the images are used for magazine ads or posters. Occasionally I do a bit more dramatic lighting using a tightly gridded strobe with some fill lights at about a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio. For the small shiny objects, I use a lot of white foam core and seamless to cover all the reflections and insert strips of black cardstock and strategically work them around to give black highlights where I want them.
Re: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) - JoeM - 08-10-2014
archipirata wrote:
I'm using what was there in the studio when I came. 4 Alien bees (320 WS) monolights. A couple of soft boxes and umbrellas, and an assortment of grids, bounces, reflectors, etc. I do wish they had some strobes with some more power, or a power pack system. I am usually shooting stopped down to at least f22 to squeeze out as much DOF as possible and the strobes are often maxed out. The shadows are both preserved natural or photoshopped, depending on a lot of factors like what it will be used for, do I need to cut out a path so it can be used in other composites, etc.
For the on white shots, it's usually flood lighting, trying to get rid of most shadows and even light overall. One consideration is that many of the shots have to work for both web and print and the catalog is printed on newsprint paper so high contrast is really important but sometimes the images are used for magazine ads or posters. Occasionally I do a bit more dramatic lighting using a tightly gridded strobe with some fill lights at about a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio. For the small shiny objects, I use a lot of white foam core and seamless to cover all the reflections and insert strips of black cardstock and strategically work them around to give black highlights where I want them.
Thanks for the info. Btw, I've been thinking of getting these tabletop seamless to cut down on the amount of photoshopping that I do to the product images:
http://www.amazon.com/MyStudio-Professional-Tabletop-Background-Photography/dp/B001546KP4
Re: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) - archipirata - 08-10-2014
I've seen those and I think they would work great but I'm on the fence about longevity. Some of the things I photograph are heavy with sharp edges and no matter how well you clean them, some still have grease come out and some of the raw ebony wood leaves black scuffs everywhere. I just wonder how the surface would hold up. After just a few scrapes or stains it might become more of a pain than it's worth. On the other hand I do go through a $25 roll of seamless fairly fast, due to the above issues. But at least I know I can just cut it off and have a clean smooth surface for the next shot. The other issue is my studio is SMALL, maybe 10x14 ft and that includes my desk. We have a larger warehouse area to set up larger shots but most are done in my office/small studio and I have no room for ANYTHING else in there. I do have one of those pop-up light boxes and find it useful once in a while.
Re: The glamourous world of lutherie (BW) - AllGold - 08-11-2014
archipirata wrote:
I do wish they had some strobes with some more power, or a power pack system. I am usually shooting stopped down to at least f22 to squeeze out as much DOF as possible and the strobes are often maxed out.
An alternative to more light is a tilt-shift lens.