The Mockingbird

[HumblePipe]

I have not posted a pipe in the gallery in quite some time. This was a beautiful piece of briar that I puchased from Vermont Freehand. I am the worlds worst photographer, thought I should add...

[Sorringowl]

That looks like a beautiful pipe, overall. Nice shaping, nice grain, good proportions, etc. But (and this is a small but), is it really that yellow??? If so, wow, that is a Yellow pipe! If not (and I know you mentioned you're not that great of a photog), you might want to (or give someone permission to) photoshop this for you so it is a true representation of the actual color.

Or, it looks like you have your flash on your camera and took this indoors. If that's the case, try taking this outside and putting it on a neutral background (a piece of wood is good) and keeping your flash off. If you've got a Macro setting on your camera, use it, with a tripod, if possible, and you'll even get a little depth of field that will really bring the grain out on this one (which has crazy grain already).

That being said, nice job.

[HumblePipe]

Sorringowl, haha thank you for the advice, the pipe is more of a golden color in person, not as yellow as it seems. I actually use my iPhone camera hence the bad pics.

[WCannoy]

Two thumbs up on the pipe!

Two thumbs down on the photography! Pbbbtttttt...

[HumblePipe]

Thanks Wayne. I think.... haha

[wdteipen]

You mean Walt.

This is your best shaped pipe so far from the profile pics. I'm not crazy about the shank going from round at the stem to oval as it moves toward the bowl. Go all oval or all round and the shape would go from good to great. The understain is uneven. That's one I don't have any good advice for because I still have a tough time with this one when the briar doesn't want to absorb the stain evenly or well. You might try heating the stummel to get better penetration and/or sand longer with higher grit. Lastly, the stem concept could be more defined/developed. All that said, it's a big leap in improvement in your work, IMHO.

[HumblePipe]

Thank you Wayne (the real Wayne, and sorry Walt not sure how I biffed that up). I really appreciate the critique! I may redo a bit of this!

[GPipe]

I really like the shape, grain, and color of your pipe. Nice job.