Photography #1: A Photography Studio In The Shop

Thank you, Todd. I am just beginning with my digital camera. Your tips will help. Gotta get a tripod.
Happy New Year !!

-- Please visit me at http://dustynewt.com

I think the “big nugget” in there is turning the flash off. That does require the subject to be lit by other means, as you described. By the way, great examples to show the lighting. I really like your work.

Thanks for the lesson. My daughter keeps telling me I need a better camera and that the pictures I take don’t show well. One more thing the learn about if I want to progress.

-- Working at Woodworking http://www.VillageLaneFurniture.com

The results are worth the trouble.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Good info, Todd. I bought photo lights and backdrop paper. I really don’t like the paper and think I will go to clean tarps as you have. The lights are on stands and make great portable work lights. Except when they get knocked over by boards. I’m like that.

-- Thos. Angle

great tutorial.

(can’t imagine where I’d get all that empty space though. Ha.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Todd -

This is an excellent blog on woodworking photography. I have a real intert in this area. I greatly appreciate your tips. Thanks!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

Don’t think that you have to have a big SLR type digital camera to get these results. I am shooting everything with my Samsung V700 point and shoot digital. The cameral is small and will slip into my pocket.

The key feature for me was that it has manual mode and you can override the exposure settings in program mode, which is what I use the most.

All my digital photography is done with this camera. The key is no flash, use a tripod, and long shutter speed.

This photo was taken with my point and shoot of Cooper’s house at night with a the shutter left open for about 5 seconds.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Instead of the canvas tarps you should pick up some ‘seamless’ backdrop like this stuff $42 comes on a roll so you can hang it on some electrical conduit or pvc pipe and provides the look you get in catalogs where all you see is the item.

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

Here is a great tutorial for setting up a garage photo studio (not that your tips aren’t great too Todd)

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

Great advice, Todd! Very informative and well written. It is so true that the photography is everything when you can’t show the piece in person. I have always been a photography nut but never indoor/studio shooting. About 99% of my shooting is outside and I have really gotten good at using natural light. But I guess the indoor stuff has always seemed a little mysterious because you have to create natural looking light. You have made it look easy. Thanks!

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

Damian- Thanks for the links. I had to figure everything out on my own because I did not have many of these resources available to me. I did not have a computer at the time.

I was thinking of purchasing some seemless backdrop material too. Because the bar runs the same direction as the trusses, I had thought about a recessed area in the ceiling to roll it into.

This is what I love about the blogs, so much information comes back!

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

If I may then…Several things I do also is of course to use a tripod, use the cameras “timer” function to eliminate all motion (that’s why that night shot came out so beautiful Todd) and use a Photoshop program that you can understand easily.

I have Adobe Photoshop 7…it’s a $700.00 program that will do it all, and more, but way to expensive for the amatuer. I also have an Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 (came free in bundled software with my scanner) that I’ve found to be so much easier to use. Most of our digital cameras also come with photo editing software on the supplied disc. Check these programs out for adjusting your pics guys. Several times I have made perfect adjustments to a photo just by clicking the “Quick fix” button!

You can also try using a spot light to hi-lite certain areas in your photo. Sometimes just by spotlighting the backdrop itself throws a whole new effect to your project.

And another thing I always do is to take several shots of the same subject using different features in my camera. IE: Shoot a shot with the camera set to “automatic”, followed by several pics in “manual mode” using the camera F-stop set at different settings. Some cameras will also allow you to vary the intensity of the flash, backlite flash, etc. Try it.

So to sum it up, it’s all a big experiment. The nice thing about digital photography though, is that you can delete the obviously bad shots without wasteing film money.

Great blog topic Todd! I think David was doing something along this line as well.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

I have Photo Shop and it’s way to complicated for me. I use Irfanview http://www.irfanview.com/ and find it suits my needs and it is free. Quite a few people I know use it with great success.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

Ah – more great input guys.

Dadoo – you are right about using the self-timer to let the camera settle down.

I have PhotoShop Element 4 in my Mac for $99. I saw that it came free with a Wacom Tablet and some printer brands (that I did not buy).

My Mac has iPhoto and the new version is much better than its’ predecessor and easier to use than PhotoShop Elements. I did just get a manual for PhotoShop Elements a couple of days ago, it is incredibly powerful for the money.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

I just added this to my Favorites as “Photography 101”, I am sending the link to my wife now. Thank you all for the great advice.

-- "so much to learn and so little time"..

Very impressive Todd. Thanks for sharing.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Thanks Todd. Very much like mine. The hard part is not using the tarps when you have to paint something. When I went to the WDC I had a pro do my photos. He had the same type of set up except he had about 8 tarps on the rod and each one was died a different group of colors for different backgrouds. You can see it in the background of my project Alder and Pine.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

What makes this so great is the extra information from you guys. Thanks for all the input.

Dennis really brings up a good point. For the best results hire a pro.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

One piece of software that is pretty good and not too complicated is Paint.NET – and you can’t beat the price!

-- http://www.north40custom.com -- http://north40studios.etsy.com --

and then make sure your pro is a pro, otherwise you get an amateur photographer who “wants” to be a professional and knows as much about the craft as I do about woodworking. .. or you get someone who knows the technical stuff but just doesn’t quite have the artistic ability to create something “wow”.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

This is great information, Todd. I never would have considered the wrinkled look over ironed, and would then have driven myself crazy (crazier) trying to get a neutral backdrop.

Another option for doing basic image editing on a Mac is Graphic Converter. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of PhotoShop but is a good basic program.

-- Chelle http://artsgranddaughter.blogspot.com

Thanks Todd, a lot of useful info. Very helpful indeed, you do great work you have to know how to show it off. mike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

Todd,
In my profession I get to see and work with top photographers in action – You have done a GREAT job with the conditions and tools provided -Exceptional color and lighting -NICE work.

-- Bill - - Ad-Marketing Guy, Ramsey NJ