Hand Planes; A Photographers Prospective

[Marco Cecala]

My wife is a professional photographer. She is shooting photos for an upcoming article I am writing for Popular Woodworking Magazine about inlay.

As I was getting things set up, she took a few minutes and some planes and came up with this image. If only my finished work looked this good.
20120626_Popular Woodworking_0053.jpg

[Todd Burch]

Way too many LN's there buddy! Way too many!

[Ryan Brucks]

beautiful!

agree you have enough LN... ready to setup it up to the hotleys?

[george wilson]

The planes in the foreground are out of focus. For that reason,none of the planes can be seen clearly. I'm not a good photographer,but I suggest that the planes in front of the others need to be in focus.

My wife is also a professional,used to run the dark room at Colonial Williamsburg. She says that if the picture was taken with a much smaller F stop,the planes would all be better in focus. A pinhole camera has unlimited depth of field,for example. So,the smaller your F stop,the closer you'll come to getting a greater depth of field.

[Mike Allen1010]

Marco,

Beautiful photo! -- thanks for sharing. I always love the hand tool photographs!

I am a horrible photographer myself and your wife's beautiful image really illustrates that in photography, like most things, you can immediately recognize the work of a professional. Excellence is always apparent even to the layperson.

I hesitate to even ask, but I'm wondering if your wife had one or two tips that would help the rest of us take better photographs of our work? For example, I'm always wondering which direction the light should come from? Maybe it's a subject is too complex for a simple tip.

Congrats on your article in Popular Woodworking -- I look forward to reading it.

all the best, Mike

[glenn bradley]

The planes in the foreground are out of focus. For that reason,none of the planes can be seen clearly. I'm not a good photographer,but I suggest that the planes in front of the others need to be in focus.

Where the analytically minded and the creative photographer meet

[Jim Belair]

I LIKE the shallow depth of field/ large f stop your wife has chosen to use. The knob of the middle plane (especially with its unique grain) really draws the eye in, and makes the photograph a work of art, not just another shot of a line of planes. Bravo!

Jim B

[Robert G Brown]

It is a good photo in the abstract but I am with George Wilson on this one. I was disappointed when I opened the thumbnail to not see a clear image of a beautiful hand plane.

[Larry Fox]

I LIKE the shallow depth of field/ large f stop your wife has chosen to use. The knob of the middle plane (especially with its unique grain) really draws the eye in, and makes the photograph a work of art, not just another shot of a line of planes. Bravo!

Jim B

+1 - when I saw the image I assumed that it was intentional and I think it creates a nice effect as the far ones are also out of focus. Great photo of a great set of planes.

[Matthew N. Masail]

It's a beautiful photo! if I may add my comments I'd like to see more of an angle to show off the planes better.

[john davey]

I like the shallow DOF.. It draws the eye to the knob in focus in the middle of the screen. What I do not like is the blue on the plan just going out of focus behind the knob, I am not sure if this is just a reflection or you have painters tape on the side of that plane for some reason. Easily Photoshopped out though.

[Todd Burch]

OK, my turn.

The in-focus knob appears to not be related to the dark handled in-focus tote - they are different planes. (edit - or, maybe they are the same plane - the knob count and tote count seem to match - should be more obvious)

I like the shallow DOF, but if taken at a different angle that would focus (no pun intended) on a one plane's significant parts, I would like it better.

[Matt Radtke]

+1 - when I saw the image I assumed that it was intentional and I think it creates a nice effect as the far ones are also out of focus. Great photo of a great set of planes.

Likewise. Are taking artsy photos or documentation photos?

[Jack Curtis]

I LIKE the shallow depth of field/ large f stop your wife has chosen to use. The knob of the middle plane (especially with its unique grain) really draws the eye in, and makes the photograph a work of art, not just another shot of a line of planes. Bravo!

Just because the closest planes are out of focus doesn't mean she did it via large f-stop, there are several ways to achieve this. For example, perhaps the lens' focal length is exceeded in the close capability, like the planes are two inches away and the lens can only focus down to four inches. However, a small f-stop maximizes depth of field.

[Marco Cecala]

The planes in the foreground are out of focus. For that reason,none of the planes can be seen clearly. I'm not a good photographer,but I suggest that the planes in front of the others need to be in focus.

My wife is also a professional,used to run the dark room at Colonial Williamsburg. She says that if the picture was taken with a much smaller F stop,the planes would all be better in focus. A pinhole camera has unlimited depth of field,for example. So,the smaller your F stop,the closer you'll come to getting a greater depth of field.

Great eye George, we can always count on you for sage advise.

The photo was actually a study in spot focus, hence the obvious things you pointed out. When the magazine comes out, I'm sure everything will be sharp as a pin.