Cue Photography?

Greatblzofire

Greatblzofire

Neil Olsen Custom Cues
Silver Member
I just finished up a Sneaky Pete and posted it in the Wanted/For Sale section:

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=2590705#post2590705

The cue came out nicely, but I cannot get the photos to look as the cue does in person. This has been an ongoing chalenge for me and I am getting very frustrated.

Can someone please give me some direction on how you get your pics to come out so nicely? I have tried different settings and lighting. I have tried taking pics inside and outside. The results are just never that great.

Help please!
 
The photo's don't look to bad,some members I suspect have as much in there photo equipment as their cues.:eek:
 
Not a cuemaker so haven't taken cue pics. But I'd say your focus looks good. It's a lighting problem. On the first pic notice the glare on the top of the lighter colored wood and the shadowy area on the near side of the dark wood.

If you're shooting outdoors you may need to add a diffused reflector (white) to add some light to the shadow area and try blocking the source of the glare.

There are a few threads on the main forum about using a light box.
 
Tbeaux said:
. . . add a diffused reflector (white) to add some light to the shadow area and try blocking the source of the glare.
Click to expand...

Excellent advice. Taking really good pictures of a cue is much harder than it should be.
 
Cues are hard to take good pictures of as if they have a good finish it will cause to much glare. As far as those pictures go I kind of agree that they don't look nearly as bad as some I've seen but at the same time I've seen much better.

Someone stated that they thought the pictures were in good focus but the lighting is off. I feel just the opposite. The lighting could be improved slightly but the focus and sharpness are pretty horrible. Cues, unlike people or scenery are mechanical so need good clarity. You don't want soft lines in the cue itself. Good pictures don't come by accident. There must be good composition which is the photographer's inherent ability. The clarity and technical correctness of the image is in the camera and it's settings. For great pictures three things are needed besides the composition. 1. is a good camera so as to record the image correctly to the settings. 2. And the most important as far as I'm concerned, You need a good lens so that the sharp lines and clarity make it to the film or memory. and 3. a post processing program so that the touch ups can be made such as erasing some of the glare. It's much easier getting the correct lighting if you have the ability to remove the glare afterwards.

For best lighting a light tent can be made which would only be good for taking pictures of cues and can cost quite a bit for the materials and lighting and they take up much room for set up. A great, cheap, natural light tent is no tent at all but out on your front porch early in the morning on an overcast day with no flash. Probably the best lens would be a good 85mm so that proportions would be consistent in the cue.

Dick
 
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One thing I have noticed in many of the cues posted (at least the ones I have bought) is that the colors in the pictures are not accurate. If you're using a digital camera, you want to adjust the white balance to get the correct colors in the picture.
 
I agree that cue pictures are HARD to take.

I find it difficult to pick up the grain in the shaft.

My 2 cents,

Gary
 
junkbond said:
One thing I have noticed in many of the cues posted (at least the ones I have bought) is that the colors in the pictures are not accurate. If you're using a digital camera, you want to adjust the white balance to get the correct colors in the picture.
Click to expand...

Adjusting the white balance will certainly help taking more accurately colored pictures for yourself but it still doesn't allow for people to see the actual colors over the internet as every ones monitor show's hues and colors differently.

Dick
 
rhncue said:
Adjusting the white balance will certainly help taking more accurately colored pictures for yourself but it still doesn't allow for people to see the actual colors over the internet as every ones monitor show's hues and colors differently.

Dick
Click to expand...

I totally agree on this..
 
Greatblzofire said:
I just finished up a Sneaky Pete and posted it in the Wanted/For Sale section:

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=2590705#post2590705

The cue came out nicely, but I cannot get the photos to look as the cue does in person. This has been an ongoing chalenge for me and I am getting very frustrated.

Can someone please give me some direction on how you get your pics to come out so nicely? I have tried different settings and lighting. I have tried taking pics inside and outside. The results are just never that great.

Help please!
Click to expand...

I feel your pain. I'am going down the same road But your pics look good. BTW nice build too
 
rhncue said:
Adjusting the white balance will certainly help taking more accurately colored pictures for yourself but it still doesn't allow for people to see the actual colors over the internet as every ones monitor show's hues and colors differently.

Dick
Click to expand...
That's obviously true. But if you don't provide the right colors in the source, even a properly-adjusted monitor will not provide a correct image. All the photographer can do is provide the best possible image.
 
jaydog468 said:
I feel your pain. I'am going down the same road But your pics look good. BTW nice build too
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment on the cue.

I am going to try the pics again today with some of the advice given here. If the results are better, I will repost.
 
Greatblzofire said:
I just finished up a Sneaky Pete and posted it in the Wanted/For Sale section:

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=2590705#post2590705

The cue came out nicely, but I cannot get the photos to look as the cue does in person. This has been an ongoing chalenge for me and I am getting very frustrated.

Can someone please give me some direction on how you get your pics to come out so nicely? I have tried different settings and lighting. I have tried taking pics inside and outside. The results are just never that great.

Help please!
Click to expand...
penturners.org has a large section on photography and photo tents,they deal with the same problems taking pictures of pens as we do and have some good info
 
Neil,
I made my light box out of some 1/2" pvc and semi-sheer, utltra-white wedding dress fabric from the local fabric store. I use a nice 18 meg DSLR (Canon T2i) with two spot lights and overhead lighting, and it's still no slam dunk. On the very day that you posted this, I had just spent about 2 hrs trying to get some good cue pictures. I felt like a fashion photographer in France, and I still wasn't really happy with most of them.

Close-ups are easy enough - use the macro mode on your camera, and get 4" - 12" from the subject. Done.

However, I have problems getting what I want out of a full length cue shot, and lighting is the key. I was using an 18-55mm lens, and I think I'm going to go with a smaller one so that I can get closer to retain detail while still getting the whole cue in the shot.

One thing is for sure, you can take some nice pics outside on a bright but overcast day. The trick there is blocking out the direct light to reduce the reflections, and reflecting some light to reduce the shadows.
 
Mr Hoppe said:
Neil,
I made my light box out of some 1/2" pvc and semi-sheer, utltra-white wedding dress fabric from the local fabric store. I use a nice 18 meg DSLR (Canon T2i) with two spot lights and overhead lighting, and it's still no slam dunk. On the very day that you posted this, I had just spent about 2 hrs trying to get some good cue pictures. I felt like a fashion photographer in France, and I still wasn't really happy with most of them.

Close-ups are easy enough - use the macro mode on your camera, and get 4" - 12" from the subject. Done.

However, I have problems getting what I want out of a full length cue shot, and lighting is the key. I was using an 18-55mm lens, and I think I'm going to go with a smaller one so that I can get closer to retain detail while still getting the whole cue in the shot.

One thing is for sure, you can take some nice pics outside on a bright but overcast day. The trick there is blocking out the direct light to reduce the reflections, and reflecting some light to reduce the shadows.
Click to expand...

Taking good pictures of a pen is much easier than a cue because it is not nearly as long. Your only main worry is lighting. On a cue you have the problem of wanting detail but by the cue being so long it is hard to do. Using a wider lens, I don't believe is the answer as then the picture of the cue is distorted unless an architectural lens laid sideways would probably give the correct proportions. An 85mm, in a 35mm camera, is known as a portrait lens as it gives the correct perspective between length and width. It is this reason that a really good lens is needed to get good portraits of a cue as distance is needed to get the complete cue in the image with this lens and then the picture needs to be blown up and then cropped so that detail can be seen. With a cheap lens this magnification will show the limits of the cheaper lens and camera.
Cameras have come a long way since I dabbled in them and I never kept up with the progress that the newer digital equipment is capable of and since I'm not a nut over photography any longer so I don't feel like spending the time to learn. I do have a lot of money tied up in some good, now obsolete bodies and a number of good lenses. I paid more for a dedicated flash for one Nikon I own 20 years ago than the one fellow paid for his entire camera but like he said, it's the Indian, not the arrow for the most part.

Dick
 
I'm in about the same spot you are, Dick. I've got a couple of boxes of Pentax bodies, lenses, filters, motor drive, etc., and a half dozen Victor spots out in the garage. I was given a nice Olympus digital camera a few years ago, and thought it would be a snap to transfer all my photographic experience to the new camera. Wrong! One of these days, I'll go uncrate all the old stuff so I can take decent pictures again.

Howard
 
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