'No Frills' $75.00 home studio tent/lightbox

2 Long Rifle

Do you have custom WhiteBalance on you camera? Or in may be settings especially for this lamps?

Anyway you may try to fix it using PhotoShop - in many case AutoLevels or AutoColors or AutoContrast may help.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
That's also what I thought after thinking about it. Thanks Vassili.

Here's a little visual test that I use and send my clients when we are comparing brightness. Lets be sure we are all on the same page.

grayscale.gif


If your monitor is adjusted properly, you should see every gradient, from white to black. If not.... make some adjustments.

This visual is courtesy of www.dpreview.com.

This *may be* a source of the problem for you. I find your second 'improved' image very flat.

Coop
 
What a coincidence. I was just thinking of photographing some knives when this topic popped up again.

Reminds me of some of the essentials that I need to take care of.
 
Coop, Looking at the gradiant you posted, from R-Z is all black on my monitor, and it's as bright as I can go on it. I'm getting a new monitor with the new computer this week.

Now for another question, I can't find out how to cut out an oval portion of a knife in photoshop. The only masking tool is square. I have an oval one in Corel photopaint but when I rotate the image to get what I want it blurs the picture. Any advice? Dwayne
 
Dwayne,

I knew that gradient would help someone. Tough love...

On the LH toolbar in Photoshop is that section for the square. Press the little triangle next to it and you will have a selectin of other shapes, including oval or round.

Once you select a shape go to 'Select/Transform Selection' to rotate and adjust it. Hold the Shift Key down as you work a corner and the size will remain relative. Otherwise it will distort it.

Then, Copy and Paste onto your core image. Keep playing. :thumbup:

Coop
 
Thanks for the tip Vassili. Changing the white balance seemed to help. Next step is to try some editing. I'll be finishing the light tent today...with some luck ;).

With the white balance corrected the photo looks much more life like.

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Matt
 
Very nice knife!

Another tip from the photo book.

There is two types of surfase - matte and glossy. One does not reflect another reflects. For example mirror - you may put as many light as you want to lighten it, but it will not have any effect - mirror always show what is reflected in it and bounce other light away from camera, but for wood for example it is diferent and more light you put, more bright wood will be because it disperse bouncing light ray randomly.

Of course in real life it is more or less combination of this and polished wood may has mirror like surfase. But blades in general are mirror like and it is matter what is reflected in it. For this reason I always put pice of white foam sheet and lighten it, so this way blade reflects white and so looks better. I play with light triyng to light this white screen uneven putting lamp closer to it etc. Like you have it on you blade, but in you case I think it is direct lamp visible through some dispersion screen. You may try to move it a bit to pit more brightness on tip. But of course if you intend for tip to be darker it shoud stay this way - I don't know what idea you put behind it.

Making picture of knife is bit diferent then making picture of fase for example, because knife usually has both types of surfase matte - handle and mirrorish - blade and last one require some preparation to make sure it reflects right thing - like white screen or something.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Jim t-z looks the same to me, all black..
all up to T are graduated


I have changed computers, now have a dell 8200
but due for another one soon

if you look at my thumb nail page all the older images are darker other than the ones I've lightened up , I'll have to go through the sight and see the older pages and when I got this putter , that might be it..

what do I do to fix this t-z thing.??

thanks guys..
 
Dan Gray said:
Jim t-z looks the same to me, all black..
all up to T are graduated

what do I do to fix this t-z thing.??
Click to expand...
You need to adjust or replace your monitor.

Imagine that you could see all the gradients a few years ago. Now they are dark. And then you claim the images have all gone bad. :p

I smell a solution to both problems.... ;)

Coop
 
Down and dirty Photoshop....
Adjust Levels (not auto)
In the top center is a box that should say RGB.
Click on that and adjust each color separately from the bottom up.
Adjust by moving the end sliders under the graph (that looks like a mountain) until the just touch the mountain.
If they already are touching, leave 'em be.
Do this for Red, Green & Blue.
Then adjust the RGB by moving the middle slider to brighten or darken the image.

While this is not the 'proper' way to do it, it will get you in the ballpark.
And you can always go back to a particular color to tweak it a bit.

(my apologies if I posted this a couple of pages back. I know I meant to but was too lazy to back and check :D )
 
Dan Gray said:
1
gray115old.jpg

2
gray115.JPG

:
Click to expand...

OK I've done some Monitor adjusting
which one is the best to you 1(original) or 2 #1 is looking better to me now..
I see what you mean about the newer one looking flat..

what bothers me is, Jim your pictures and Murray's look great on this monitor
but was just a tad dark..

I'm getting the wife a new lap top next week, so I'll see what that looks like before I mess with my other pictures any more.:(
 
Dan,

Looks like you're making some headway and discoveries.

Of the two above, I still like #1 best. Here is #2 with some contrast and brightness added to my liking. Image quality is poor, but for this test it is my fave overall.

attachment.php


Coop
 
SharpByCoop said:
Dan,

Looks like you're making some headway and discoveries.

Of the two above, I still like #1 best. Here is #2 with some contrast and brightness added to my liking. Image quality is poor, but for this test it is my fave overall.

attachment.php


Coop
Click to expand...
thanks Jim
I think the brightness was the biggest key
as said that picture was taken a long time ago with a new to me camera
and just sat there all this time. the knife is long gone so I have to fix the picture up..just no time to do so right now..for at least all of them..
I'll have to make time I guess..but as you know time is money..
thanks for you help..and the rest for you for adding to the thread..:thumbup:
 
Dwayne,

I knew that gradient would help someone. Tough love...

On the LH toolbar in Photoshop is that section for the square. Press the little triangle next to it and you will have a selectin of other shapes, including oval or round.

Once you select a shape go to 'Select/Transform Selection' to rotate and adjust it. Hold the Shift Key down as you work a corner and the size will remain relative. Otherwise it will distort it.

Then, Copy and Paste onto your core image. Keep playing.

Coop
Click to expand...


Coop, I bet you feel like an old mother hen taking care of her chicks with having to answer all of our questions, but we do appreciate it.

I tried to do what you said about the triangle next to the thingy but my won't open up with other options. I remember at one point options doing that but not sure if it was in photoshop or corel draw. I went to amazon.com and ordered photoshop for dummies and corel draw for dummies, you know what they say about "if the shoe fit's :( Anyway I'll wait on them to come in and try to read up on a few things and try some more playing, Later, Dwayne
 
Hey SharpByCoop, I certainly learned some tips from you and others on this thread! Love your work. :thumbup: :thumbup:

I was thinking about the lightbox, when I realized that the interior of my Colman cooler is white and all the corners are soft. I set it on the counter, propped open the lid at a 45ish degree angle & took some shots. Most were less than fantastic but a few came out decent. Works in a pinch for simple displays if you needed to take a photo in a hurry and have a big cooler sitting nearby! :D

Canon EOS 20D, EFS 17-85 mm lens, 420EX flash, Colman cooler... As good as SharpByCoop's work? :eek: Well... I wouldn't go THAT far!!! Maybe on his worst day, with a bad hangover and without half of his equipment working...! Maybe not? :foot: :)
I will have to tweak this a bit to lose the shadow more. It'll work until I put together my own $75.00 lightbox! :)

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Jaxx:cool:
 

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Hey Jaxx,

Another quick and cheap concept! Light up that butt end and then you can start charging money for those shots.... ;) Anything that surrounds the knife with some diffused light works. (your flashed light was bouncing all over in there adding to the mix.)

Dwayne,

I don't have PS 5 to guide you. The later versions have the menu selections.

Thanks,

Coop
 
Another useful addition to a light box or photo setup is an Infinity Wall. This allows you to shoot photos that make the knife appear to be floating in space with no background. I shoot with an infinity wall when I know that I will be replacing the background in Photoshop. You can get a realtively inexpensive 18 x 28 inch table-top wall at B&H Photo for about $35. See

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...s&Q=&sku=347667&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

You can also get them up to 4 ft x 8 ft in white or black for about $80. See

http://www.clouddome.com/specs/prodShot_ibb01.html
 
Coop, I figured it out, You have to click, hold & slide to the right and choose which one you want. In Corel photo paint you just click it and the options show themselves. I love your photos, I'm constantly going to your website, Knife Legends and other places admiring your work. I love how it looks like you have 3 of the same knife sitting on one background and no ovals or boxes around them. The other ways aren't bad either. I'm playing with it and figuring out stuff. I'll post some pics when I get the chance. Thanks for all the time & patients with us, Dwayne
 
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