East Indian rosewood burl. I got a fair load of that stuff. It's awesome, totally unpredictable grain & color. Thanks
New camera learning curve
- Thread starter qbilder
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East Indian rosewood burl. I got a fair load of that stuff. It's awesome, totally unpredictable grain & color. Thanks
let's not forget
aside from how great these are undoubtedly going to look when they are done, eric's cues are an absolute joy to play with.
i love the way mine hits and that "feel" coupled with the flawless workmanship makes Sugartree a must for all serious players and collectors ...
aside from how great these are undoubtedly going to look when they are done, eric's cues are an absolute joy to play with.
i love the way mine hits and that "feel" coupled with the flawless workmanship makes Sugartree a must for all serious players and collectors ...
Eric I know you spend a lot of time picking wood but it's almost like you made a deal with Mother Nature. Absolutely gorgeous wood. You never cease to amaze. I am very happy with my "wood". I usually spend some of time talking about my cues when I am in a pool hall. And I love every minute of it.
Thank you very much,
Chris
Thank you very much,
Chris
Bubinga. Really good bubinga.
Mother nature & I got a lil sumtin goin on, if ya know wut i mean
Seriously, i'm just lucky. I got a great working relationship with my suppliers & they hook me up. I also work hard & spend lotsa money searching for the stuff, and/or harvesting it myself. It's a helleva lot of fun, though.
Mother nature & I got a lil sumtin goin on, if ya know wut i mean
qbilder
I sent you an email, please respond when you can.
Thanks
Kevin
Nice Pics
Outstanding choice of wood! They will make some lucky owners a cue they will treasure a life time. :grin-square:
Outstanding choice of wood! They will make some lucky owners a cue they will treasure a life time. :grin-square:
funny
Thats is some funny chit!! It did get me going a little. Very nice looking wood you have there.
breaknrun <- spends way to much time dreaming about cues.
Thats is some funny chit!! It did get me going a little. Very nice looking wood you have there.
breaknrun <- spends way to much time dreaming about cues.
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You'd really want to look into lighting (like others have said). Hell, actually try this and see if the pics don't look any better without image alterations... Only costs a pack of cigarettes lol.
Good thing you've bought a DSLR. If you've not shot with one before and aren't aware of the RAW file benefits you will soon become aware.
The Camera Raw plugin for Photoshop will allow you to adjust an image to match the colors of the woods (as long as you've saved the images in their RAW format) as you might have noticed one of the settings in the plugin allows you to adjust saturation and luminance for individual colors and in this case the green cloth and blue chalk on the cloth is desaturated to grayscale, but I could also enhance the colors as to match how everything looks like in real life. The amount of information in RAW files is endless...
Have fun :smile:
RBC
Deceased
Eric,
Nice examples of mother natures beauty!
Pics look pretty good too. I like the cigarette flash diffuser!
The best thing I did for my pics was to buy a good lens. Its all in the glass and the light! I have a Canon, and bought a 50mm, 1.8 fixed lens and it was the best thing I have ever done.
Who knows, maybe I will build a few customs again. It's been a long time! Then I can show it to you for some critique!
Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
Nice examples of mother natures beauty!
Pics look pretty good too. I like the cigarette flash diffuser!
The best thing I did for my pics was to buy a good lens. Its all in the glass and the light! I have a Canon, and bought a 50mm, 1.8 fixed lens and it was the best thing I have ever done.
Who knows, maybe I will build a few customs again. It's been a long time! Then I can show it to you for some critique!
Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
How much would could a woodchuck chuck... Very nice, beautifully figured woods. I've owned several digital cameras, tho not as nice as your current camera. In every camera that I've dealt with, heck even some 35mm cameras, they tend to take better pictures without the flash. Whenever I've needed to setup a still shot, I just make sure there is plenty of light nearby from several sources. Fiddling with the manual settings usually gets a better shot too. I'm sure your experimenting, which is how I've learned to take good shots. Happy huntin!
Eric, a nice camera is great, but without a good lens and flash, it's pointless. I think a nice wide angle with relative close up capability would be great for cues. If you want to do some macro work to show close up detail, Nikon has a 60mm macro lens that is pretty awesome. You should be able to pick one ip on the secondary market for $300 or so. I might suggest a Sb-600 or higher for a flash. If you want to go a little cheaper as nikon flashes aren't cheap, you can get a Vivitar 285hv and a sync cord. I shoot pentax, so I only know a little about nikon, but my buddy shoots with the same camera as you. It just takes time to figure it out. If you do have any questions, you can email me since you don't PM. Cheapthrills77@yahoo.com
I would also recommend Adobe lightroom as CS4 with make your head swim. If you need a copy, let me know.
I would also recommend Adobe lightroom as CS4 with make your head swim. If you need a copy, let me know.
:grin-square:
Agreed. This is a fantastic lens.
It's rather pricey if you buy it new:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/66987-USA/Nikon_1987_60mm_f_2_8D_Macro_Autofocus.html#reviews
Consider the following:
1. When shooting shiny surfaces, you can minimize the appearance of "hot spots" and glare by setting up lights to approximate cloudy day lighting--that is, bright but highly diffuse light. Or you can just try taking photos outside on a bright day when the sun is obscured by clouds.
In the automated visual inspection field this technique is used to take photos of shiny, curved surfaces.
http://www.nerlite.com/CDI.html
This type of lighting can yield a "flat" appearance. For a more natural look you can add a spotlight or some other light to cast a shadow, create a hot spot, or what have you.
2. Background choice can be important. For highly figured, beautiful woods like these, consider shooting on a non-contrasty background with few apparent edges. A common practice for studio portraiture is to use soft, non-contrasty backgrounds. Our eyes (+ brains) are drawn to regions of strong contrast, and it's usually preferable to have those eyes drawn to the foreground rather than to the background.
3. One technique I've tinkered with is to suspend a cue several inches or several feet above (or in front of) the background. This makes it easier to choose lens settings such that the cue is in sharp focus but the background is slightly out of focus.
4. Since the cues aren't going to walk out of the frame, consider using constant illumination rather than a flash. If you set up your shot with lights that are constantly on rather than flashing, then you'll probably have an easier time composing the shot, tinkering with settings, etc.
5. Experiment!
Good luck. Those are certainly some fine looking pieces of wood.