Photography Advice
Geoff France & Vince Cunningham
Holmfirth Camera Club
VINCE – Puluz Light Box
Vince showed us how to use the light box and talked about editing pictures and about various editing packages. He has very kindly has donated / loaned the box to the club.
This has a built in LED light source, various assorted interchangeable coloured backgrounds – these can/should be selected to be in context with the subject.
Pictures can be taken either from the front or from the top through a hole in the roof of the box. This is ideal for small to medium size carvings. Below are some example of carvings photographed with & without the box.
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Vince demonstrated using a mobile phone (iPhone or Android) - mostly using the AUTO setting.
It was suggested that if the photo’s are blurred it may be due to a dirty lens.
Basic editing can be done directly in a phone using the built in settings
to Crop an image and to enhance or reduce Highlights and Shadows.
Without
With
Without
With
Software editing packages
SNAPSEED – FREE to download , simple to use but very powerful and is often used by professional photographers.
Can be downloaded onto a mobile and photos edited directly on the phone.
It can also be downloaded to a laptop or tablet if you prefer a bigger screen.
It has the ability to “Clone” out unwanted spots/blemishes etc. – e.g. on the background
There are numerous tutorials on the web.
Sharing and Exporting photo’s - e.g. to email.
If emailing a picture to someone so they can make an A4 print the image size needs to be 3000x2000 pixels
A file for the web should be 1600x1200 – Although OUR web editor programme automatically scales Jpegs to the correct size so ther is no need t do anything when sending them.
Good software for resizing images is FASTSTONE.
A good app for sending numerous photos by email is WeTransfer.
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Geoff - Photographing Larger Carvings
Geoff set up a way for photographing larger carving using 3 large cardboard sheets joined with duct/duck tape with a sheet of hessian cloth draped over it – he found the hessian to be a good background for wood carvings without being too bland
If not using a dedicated set up try to photograph against a plain surface and ensure there are no distracting objects in the background.
Lighting – if possible have the light coming from behind and DO NOT USE FLASH as it can tend to flatten the image, cause shadows and can lead to unwanted highlight spots / reflections.
Position most carvings at a slight angle NOT directly face on – this adds depth and looks more interesting.
For carvings with depth & texture such as relief carvings it is also best to have the light coming from from the side at about 30 – 45 degrees.
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Relief carvings will need to be propped up in some way.
If photographing with a camera having adjustable settings it is best to use Aperture priority set to a large aperture to give a narrow depth of field to help blur the background.
IF processing or editing the pictures on a Windows 11 computer the new Photo Programme has a remove/replace Background option witch is worth trying.