What makes a great woodworking photograph?

[Don Kondra]

For comparison, this is my cherry entrance bench with brown leather seat.

Shot with two Alien Bees 640 w/s strobes with 2' x 3' softboxes from the sides and a Cowboy Studio 200 w/s strobe and 18" x 18" softbox from the top.



I should also add I've had a photo published in Fine Woodworking magazine shot with a 2 mp Kodak P&S with a white sheet for a backdrop. They did some major Photoshopping on that image though

Cheers, Don

[Steve Mellott]

Don:

Thanks for providing both the photo of your subject and the photo of your setup. Very informative for me. Thanks again.

Steve

[Mike Sandman]

My "other interest" is photography, and Don Korda's photos of his setup are excellent.

Just a couple of added points for people who aren't fluent in photo-speak:

A "softbox" is a box with a light in it and a large diffuser (like a translucent white fabric) over it. Without a softbox, a bulb casts a harsh shadow. By spreading the light across the face of the diffuser you get a big, broad light that casts soft shadows. By putting the light in a box you prevent light from spilling out in an uncontrolled way, although you could get by with just a diffuser and not use a box.

Using a compact fluorescent (CF) bulb is a super idea, because they don't give out a lot of heat. If you put a regular tungsten filament bulb into a homemade softbox you run the risk of overheating the box and causing a fire, or at least melting the box.

The suggestions about making sure you have soft shadows and using reflector cards to bounce light back up to lighten shadows are good advice. Just don't try to elimate 100% of the shadow, because if you do you lose the sense of depth in the photo. Don's photo of the wood turtle has excellent depth because the shadows are there, but they're relatively soft and controlled.

The suggestions about depth of field are right on target too. To get good depth of field you have to shoot at a small aperture, like f/22. That means the lens is admitting very little light. So to get proper exposure you need to have a slow shutter speed, and that means you need a tripod.

And finally, that means none of this will be easy unless you have a camera on which you can control the aperture. If you have an all-automatic camera you'll have a much harder time getting the depth of field right. If it's all-automatic, see if there's a "macro" setting. Using that may help

[Andy Bardowell]

Does anyone know how to save a link to this string to our profile for future reference? Or perhaps we can implore Don and others here to write an article on the subject.

[Don Kondra]

Don Korda, eh?

Oh well, just don't call me late for supper

Let me just add a couple words of encouragement.

This whole process may sound complicated but like everything else, one step at a time and all will become clear.

And keep in mind there are a number of fine photographers on this site more than willing to help with specific questions.

Cheers, Don

[Bill Huber]

To add a little about shadows to Mike, these two images were ones I did a long time ago to show what shadows do to and image. You can see in the first image the light is straight on and there are no real shadows and everything looks flat.
In the second image, the only thing that was changed was moving the light you can see all kinds of detail and depth to the image, you can see pits and indents that you would not even think were there in the first image.

These are very harsh shadows and are just to show what shadows will do for and image.

39884376.PC060558.jpg 39884375.PC060557.jpg

[Don Kondra]

Does anyone know how to save a link to this string to our profile for future reference? Or perhaps we can implore Don and others here to write an article on the subject.

Pretty sure you can just bookmark the thread...

And if you haven't seen this, Neal Addy has done a lot of work putting together some photo information.

Go here -

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=1181359

Cheers, Don

[Bill Huber]

The best piece of advice that I know to give to you is to listen to what Bill Huber has to say! It's well worth your while and fun to visit his web page also:

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber

There's a very good tutorial on photography basics. Be sure to check out his shop gallery also. In fact, you can spend hours looking at his photos!

The man is a humble genius, both as a photographer and woodworker. To top it off, he's a nice guy, too! He's been very helpful when I've had questions. I've learned a lot from him and never even met him in person.

(Bill, sorry if I'm ruining your reputation!)

Steve, the check is in the mail.....