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photgraphing pottery


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I usually photograph in front of a north facing window after noon so that the light is warmer and less blue, using a $10 vinyl remnant draped from the ceiling down onto a table as a background which helps to capture as much natural indirect light as possible. White poster board works well too.

 

It helps to use the macro (flower) setting on the camera. I also increase the white balance a couple of clicks because I prefer crisper colors without the moody glow.

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I have a home-made light box that hangs from the ceiling, with nine 100 watt equivalent CFL bulbs. I used to use photo floods, but they got expensive and run really hot. Plus with digital cameras color correction is super simple. The bottom of the box has diffusion plastic, so the light is very soft. My backdrop is a 4 foot wide piece of medium gray photo backdrop paper that hangs down onto the table. This provides a great fade to black that can be adjusted depending on the size of the pot. I'll try to get a photo of the setup this weekend.

 

post-6933-135485114241_thumb.jpg

 

post-6933-135485114241_thumb.jpg

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I use a graduated background white to dark grey in a large photo cube (use google to find one like at B& H camera)

The look is like this.

Mark

 

Your photo really pops, no shadow and colors are amazing

Explain more about photo cube, google is not helping

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Big Dave I bought my setup here-lights and cube-got the graduated background elsewhere

http://store.tabletopstudio-store.com/

This guy above is in Carpenteria in so-cal and is a photographer

 

You can get these cubes at many places-this place has the lights-I bought a larger cube but shows are my livelihood so great photos are most important

B and H camera(new york mail order house) has the cubes and sells the lights as well.

Here are few more shots with this setup.

I grew the bamboo for the handles

Mark

post-8914-135498696883_thumb.jpg

post-8914-135498696883_thumb.jpg

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I use two blue bulbs, an ez cube and a varitone backdrop.

 

For larger pieces I used the North side of the house in the shade with a roll of thunder gray backdrop paper.

Marcia,

My backdrop also is a veritone

What"s a blue bulb exactly?

Mark

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yOU GUYS ARE GOING TO LAUGH, BUT I HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH MIRRORS, CUSTOMERS THINK IS IS COOL

 

opps sorry caps. just had surgery and still on percoset...frikin hernia....lift with your legs friends ---oh wait that wouldnt help, make your friends lift for you.... yeah thats it

post-12771-13552820412_thumb.jpg

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I've been using a couple of these for larger work, and hanging a single overhead for smaller stuff. They are cheap and work well, they use a high output 5500k CFL bulb that is rated for ~10,000 hours and doesn't heat up like old tungsten. They're easy to white balance for and with either a veritone or seamless grey backdrop, easy to shoot good images with... With the increased availability of photo lights and the decrease in their cost, there is almost no reason not to have a modest photo setup. If you're serious about documenting, applying to shows, schools, or for publication, there is no other way to go.

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Attached is a pic of my set up - I made a "light box" -type thing from foam core and white "fabric" shower curtain liner (and lots of white duct tape). The photos I take of my work look good, but the one I took of the set up is a little dark because of being back-lit from the windows (I was in a hurry). The cost of the whole thing was only for the photo floods, long-armed lamps and of course the camera...

post-6260-135553093016_thumb.jpg

post-6260-135553094605_thumb.jpg

post-6260-135553093016_thumb.jpg

post-6260-135553094605_thumb.jpg

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I've been using a couple of these for larger work, and hanging a single overhead for smaller stuff. They are cheap and work well, they use a high output 5500k CFL bulb that is rated for ~10,000 hours and doesn't heat up like old tungsten. They're easy to white balance for and with either a veritone or seamless grey backdrop, easy to shoot good images with... With the increased availability of photo lights and the decrease in their cost, there is almost no reason not to have a modest photo setup. If you're serious about documenting, applying to shows, schools, or for publication, there is no other way to go.

 

 

I use three of these lights and a photo easy cube and a varitone graduated backgound-these are the lights to get.

Mark

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yOU GUYS ARE GOING TO LAUGH, BUT I HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH MIRRORS, CUSTOMERS THINK IS IS COOL

 

opps sorry caps. just had surgery and still on percoset...frikin hernia....lift with your legs friends ---oh wait that wouldnt help, make your friends lift for you.... yeah thats it

 

 

 

That is a cool effect.

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yOU GUYS ARE GOING TO LAUGH, BUT I HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH MIRRORS, CUSTOMERS THINK IS IS COOL

 

opps sorry caps. just had surgery and still on percoset...frikin hernia....lift with your legs friends ---oh wait that wouldnt help, make your friends lift for you.... yeah thats it

 

 

 

That is a cool effect.

 

Thanks Lucille, don't remember posting that...LOL

 

Doing much better now

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Attached is a pic of my set up - I made a "light box" -type thing from foam core and white "fabric" shower curtain liner (and lots of white duct tape). The photos I take of my work look good, but the one I took of the set up is a little dark because of being back-lit from the windows (I was in a hurry). The cost of the whole thing was only for the photo floods, long-armed lamps and of course the camera...

 

 

Bianca, I love your images, not to mention your work! The backdrop color is great. Can you tell me what you're using for the backdrop? How do you avoid the bluish cast that so many images seem to have? Do you actually shoot in front of the window without the outdoor light affecting your image exposure? And lastly, what type of camera are you using to produce such a professional product shot? Sorry for so many questions, but I'm just really impressed with your pottery image!

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I've been using a couple of these for larger work, and hanging a single overhead for smaller stuff. They are cheap and work well, they use a high output 5500k CFL bulb that is rated for ~10,000 hours and doesn't heat up like old tungsten. They're easy to white balance for and with either a veritone or seamless grey backdrop, easy to shoot good images with... With the increased availability of photo lights and the decrease in their cost, there is almost no reason not to have a modest photo setup. If you're serious about documenting, applying to shows, schools, or for publication, there is no other way to go.

 

 

Those are really nice shots of equally nice work! I'm really excited about those lights! They come with the baffle, the bulb AND the stand?? Is that a graduated-color backdrop or have you achieved that effect with light positioning? It's very dramatic without being distracting. What type of camera equipment are you using? I noticed that those lights are about 20"x27". Do they come apart and collapse for storage? And are you just using a naked bulb overhead? If so, what type -- daylight or full spectrum or....?

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I've been using a couple of these for larger work, and hanging a single overhead for smaller stuff. They are cheap and work well, they use a high output 5500k CFL bulb that is rated for ~10,000 hours and doesn't heat up like old tungsten. They're easy to white balance for and with either a veritone or seamless grey backdrop, easy to shoot good images with... With the increased availability of photo lights and the decrease in their cost, there is almost no reason not to have a modest photo setup. If you're serious about documenting, applying to shows, schools, or for publication, there is no other way to go.

 

 

Those are really nice shots of equally nice work! I'm really excited about those lights! They come with the baffle, the bulb AND the stand?? Is that a graduated-color backdrop or have you achieved that effect with light positioning? It's very dramatic without being distracting. What type of camera equipment are you using? I noticed that those lights are about 20"x27". Do they come apart and collapse for storage? And are you just using a naked bulb overhead? If so, what type -- daylight or full spectrum or....?

 

 

Oops, sorry. I just read the reviews for the light set and saw that they do collapse for storage. Are you using a light cube as well, or just the lights and a backdrop? Or is the light cube unnecessary? Do you extinguish other lights and rely soley on the lightsets from Adorama?

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yOU GUYS ARE GOING TO LAUGH, BUT I HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH MIRRORS, CUSTOMERS THINK IS IS COOL

 

opps sorry caps. just had surgery and still on percoset...frikin hernia....lift with your legs friends ---oh wait that wouldnt help, make your friends lift for you.... yeah thats it

 

 

I laugh not. Where it is important to show the bottom of the piece and the inside, this makes sense. It would be nicer if you could control the contrast and glare a little better. Is Photoshop viable for pictures of work for shows? I know that when working with brochures and other media where I had to show student work in printed format that the Photoshop or Gimp images helped me add more POP to the image. Thoughts?

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