Want to show you work to the world? Want a place to post photos of your work and solicit the opinions of those that have gone before you? Post your work here.
Here is my second billiard. First rusticated pipe. This is my fourth stem. Probably my 15th or so pipe that I've kept (several have been tossed). I hesitated to post it because I know there are mistakes; some of which I made on the first one. I think the red stem ring was a mistake aesthetically. But, before I started I told myself I'd post it here no matter what so any and all criticism welcome. Photo quality stinks but probably okay for this pipe.
Has anyone done a video or primer on how to photograph pipes? I know there is a post showing which angles to shoot for a serious critique but I'm talking about lighting, focal length and all that. (I'm actually a serious amateur photographer. I've got high end gear.....but I've never done product type shooting and have been to lazy to get my gear out). These pics are from an iPhone 6. If there was a how-to on taking pipe photos and I made a decent enough pipe I'd try to do decent photos.
Thanks LL. On the back of the bowl I made the same mistake as on my first billiard. It is a little better than the first one. I know what needs to be done there but just can’t get it right. On the front of the bowl I’m still a bit lost and did not notice what you pointed out there. Once pointed out it seems obvious. Not sure when or why I made the bottom too narrow on the front view.
It seems like a lot of beginners make the same few mistakes with consistency. Very frustrating.
Keep at it! I will be making an order from VF next week, getting 3 blocks. But as a general rule I'll usually only have 1-3 per month till I get good enough to make money at it. In the mean time I watch for yours and others to post so I can learn from the critiques you get.
I hope to be at least half the person my dogs thinks I am.
Thanks for the link. That is helpful. Time to get out the camera gear and experiment. Of course photos that revealing will show _everything_ that is wrong. But that's what we need for the best critiques I guess.
Adui, I usually only have a few blocks on hand too. And yes, learning from other's critiques is very helpful (and less painful than seeing your own mistakes pointed out).
I have been fairly self conscious about posting my work because I can see a lot of mistakes myself. But it is still a good idea because on this pipe, for instance, I definitely did not see that I had made the bottom of the bowl too narrow. And mistakes like that extend to other parts of the pipe. In this case the transition between bowl and stem is also lacking because I took the 'cheeks' away too far and the transition is 'blurred'. So, post your stuff and learn from your mistakes.
The other thing that is worthwhile, if you need a little boost, is to look at some basic low end production pipes ($30-$50). While the shape might be machine perfect you start to see that you are doing some things far better than those. That helps you feel like you are doing more than just creating a tobacco smoking device even when there are flaws.
Thanks George. I have posted two of my three pipes for critique, I didnt post the first because while I like it and will always cherish it, its a freehand, with my own shape in mind, and I blew the shank so bad I've considered cutting it off, gluing a new piece of wood on, and reworking the whole shebang. I dont have a suitable shank replacement right now, and I'm afraid to make it unsmokeable so I haven't tried..
I hope to be at least half the person my dogs thinks I am.
Sort of off topic here but I did watch the smokingpipes.com video linked to above. Their product shots are superb, of course, but you will notice that they are using at a minimum four large studio lights, a nice arm on which to prop the pipes and a nice white product shot backdrop and a lot of Photoshop, etc.
Most of us don't have that sort of thing.
So I got my gear out: Nikon D750, AF Nikkor 105mm f2.8 macro lens, SB-600 flash mounted off camera. I used a neutral solid color background. I tried a white background but found that lighting and flash settings have to be just right for that. I used a clamp-on reading lamp and normal overhead room lighting and got very good results this way.
I am sure there are better and easier ways to do it (sometimes lower end cameras have auto settings that do a better job but this current set-up will work for my purposes (primarily just posting here). I also know there are inexpensive product backdrops you can buy to photograph products for eBay etc that make things much easier as well.
Something to be aware of: this sort of shooting shows EVERY flaw. On the pipe I showed above I could see scratches down in the slot funnel! I saw scratches on the top of the bowl that I did not see with the naked eye as well. Any imperfection in the stem-to-shank junction becomes glaring. Also, fingerprints, lint, wax build-up behind the lip or in the slot, dog hair....well....everything shows up. So even a perfectly executed pipe can look not so good without attending to those sorts of details.
And even the best can miss this sort of thing. On Tom Eltang's Flickr photos many of those gorgeous, perfect pipes have dust and lint on them in the photos. These may have been casual shots rather than final marketing stuff but I thought it was funny.
If I use this set up it may be a while before I have a pipe I feel is worthy of posting. No flaws can be hidden.
I used to have a setup similar to the one Smoking Pipes uses, but it took up an entire corner of a room, and it just wasn't tenable over the long term. I picked up one of those portable, foldable light boxes with LED lights a while back, and love it. The corner of the living room has been reclaimed for froo-froo stuff the wife likes.
The thing it lacks is the lighting from below, so you have to compensate. The gray card is important for setting color balance, and even with decent bounce lighting, proper color balance is needed and you can only do so much in post processing. But, with a setup like this, even iPhone pictures look professionally done if you do your part.
Not bad for 40 bucks. And yes, getting color right is important if you are selling pipes that a customer has not seen in person. And color balance can be difficult. In high end photo editing software using RAW files you can do a lot with color but it takes a calibrated monitor, etc, etc and that is a whole other rabbit hole to go down.
A white base can help with lighting from below since it reflects.
But I agree, that set up with a good late model iPhone should give you good results. Small sensors, like in typical smart phones are great for close up work as they give excellent depth of field (everything in focus from front to back).
I want to show my flaws. That’s what the forum Gallery is for. I know you know this, but don’t be afraid to show what you’ve done... and then let it be eviscerated by Sas or George D. I trust and admire these guys a lot and their opinions matter to me. I know they won’t steer me wrong and if my pride gets hurt, I’ll get over it and be a better craftsman for it.
Agreed. In the first picture of my pipe, side on, the bowl looks deeper (front-to-back) than it really is. This is not an issue with my 105mm but would still love to have one of Nikon's longer range macro lenses. But $$$$$$.
I bet some of the new three lens phones will remedy this if the user know which one to use?
n80 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2020 12:31 pm
Thanks for the link. That is helpful. Time to get out the camera gear and experiment. Of course photos that revealing will show _everything_ that is wrong. But that's what we need for the best critiques.
If you have an i phone, you can take adequate photos without buying a separate camera.
This was taken with a handheld iPhone X.
PM me, I will tell you how.
DocAitch
I trust and admire these guys a lot and their opinions matter to me. I know they won’t steer me wrong and if my pride gets hurt, I’ll get over it and be a better craftsman for it.
