Why do people suck so bad at taking pictures of pool cues?

V

vintagecollectibles831

Active member
I know, this is a question that nobody will be able to answer, but do you think that it is just laziness, or pure stupidity, or a combination of both?

How hard is it to take a decent picture, in this day and age, with current smart phone tech? The tech these days is so good that a 2 year old could take a perfectly clear pic.

So, what is it? Laziness? Stupidity?

And, does presentation not mean anything to people? I mean, clear your freaking room, before taking the picture. And, who wants to see the sellers bare foot in the picture, for example, lol.

It does not take a Pro Photographer to get a decent picture of a pool cue, these days, lol.
 
vintagecollectibles831 said:
I know, this is a question that nobody will be able to answer, but do you think that it is just laziness, or pure stupidity, or a combination of both?
Click to expand...

Neither, most people know how to take "snap shots" few know how to take portraits.
When taking portraits::
a) proper lighting is a must
b) proper metering is a must
c) perfect focus is a must
d) selection of Depth of field by adjusting the aperture is a must
d) clicking the shutter without vibrating the camera is a must

(d) requires the camera be on a tripod
(c) requires the camera auto-focus have been adjusted using proper marking on a board
(b) requires many image shave been observed to verify that the camera metering is well
(a) also requires taking the image in RAW form, adjusting for the temperature of the lighting, then setting of the black point, the white point and the gamma (if not a few more)

To most people, they take snap shots and you get whet they got.
This is why real photographers demand real money.

Me, personally, I can take perfectly exposed perfectly focused images without camera jiggle of objects {not worthy of the click of the shutter click, or timed such the a subjects eyes were closed or their lip positing in glare instead of smile}, I can then takes these to post processing, fix the color to what my eye saw at the moment of click, and make an excellent portrayal of something not worthy of the effort.:: photography is my lot in life. Sad Really...
 
I have taken tons of pics for selling items on Ebay, as a photographic MORON if it's not gonna fit in a 2 foot x 2 foot area taken from about 2 feet away with several contrasting textures/colors using something that resembles good lighting and a $150+ camera (shoes and hats are by far the easiest) you'll need some real skills or some tips by someone with some real skills to get clear pics.

If I can't take a pic using a 3 foot square area I don't want to mess with it, I use a ring light to not have to wrassle around a bunch of lights that'll do a barely noticeable better job but only because I'm a photographic moron but the competition typically can't spell PIC!!

The cheat code would be someone showing you a video of their cue photography set up while they're taking pics, and a list of their equipment but photography is still a real skill that takes a knack for perfecting it!
 
I have found it’s not easy to take good pics of cues lol you need to take quite a few because honestly if it’s far away to get the whole cue it’s not very detailed and if it’s close enough for the details it’s to far away lol
 
vintagecollectibles831 said:
I know, this is a question that nobody will be able to answer, but do you think that it is just laziness, or pure stupidity, or a combination of both?

How hard is it to take a decent picture, in this day and age, with current smart phone tech? The tech these days is so good that a 2 year old could take a perfectly clear pic.

So, what is it? Laziness? Stupidity?

And, does presentation not mean anything to people? I mean, clear your freaking room, before taking the picture. And, who wants to see the sellers bare foot in the picture, for example, lol.

It does not take a Pro Photographer to get a decent picture of a pool cue, these days, lol.
Click to expand...
I think I know the picture. Saw it that gross foot today lol.

I like the 10 pictures of the generic rectangle box case and 1-2 blurry pictures of the cue.

Or close-ups of everything but the points.

etc.

I’ve seen people selling a cues for $1000 and all the pictures were blurry. Who thinks someone would say sure I'll give you a grand for something I can't see.

Anyway $200 and it’s yours.

IMG_3825.png
 
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it's not easy to get good cue photos.
It's a skinny object that leaves most of the frame empty and it'll look small and can't see the details. so the best way is to photograph parts of the cue.
You need good lighting. bright light is not enough, you need soft light to reduce reflection.
You do need to be a pro with a good setup if you want to create great images.
 
Taking good photos of cues is a trial and error thing, it takes a while to get the hang of it. But taking acceptable photos if you wish to sell a cue or send pictures to a cuemaker for the purposes of evaluating a cue for a repair quote or something like that isn't difficult at all and I'm amazed of the amount of out of focus pictures I get. Just lay the cue down on a clean surface with good contrast, take the pictures outside, but not in direct sunlight and hold the damn phone still while taking the picture and it should be good.
 
vintagecollectibles831 said:
I know, this is a question that nobody will be able to answer, but do you think that it is just laziness, or pure stupidity, or a combination of both?

How hard is it to take a decent picture, in this day and age, with current smart phone tech? The tech these days is so good that a 2 year old could take a perfectly clear pic.

So, what is it? Laziness? Stupidity?

And, does presentation not mean anything to people? I mean, clear your freaking room, before taking the picture. And, who wants to see the sellers bare foot in the picture, for example, lol.

It does not take a Pro Photographer to get a decent picture of a pool cue, these days, lol.
Click to expand...
Any time you have many people producing the same thing independently, you'll also have a wide variance in the end product
 
vintagecollectibles831 said:
I know, this is a question that nobody will be able to answer, but do you think that it is just laziness, or pure stupidity, or a combination of both?

How hard is it to take a decent picture, in this day and age, with current smart phone tech? The tech these days is so good that a 2 year old could take a perfectly clear pic.

So, what is it? Laziness? Stupidity?

And, does presentation not mean anything to people? I mean, clear your freaking room, before taking the picture. And, who wants to see the sellers bare foot in the picture, for example, lol.

It does not take a Pro Photographer to get a decent picture of a pool cue, these days, lol.
Click to expand...
I feel the same way about allot of pro billiard productions. Camera movement, no one controls the floor properly.
 
Brian Mordt was great photographer of Cues, I was at his Home / Shop and asked how he did what he did. He used simple point and shoot Digital Camera, Goose Neck Lamp for light source. He was aware of hot spots, shadows, glare, etc that made bad pictures. Spent lot of time setting up photo, to get good results. He shot many images, only showed good ones.
 
You have to remember that a lot of people selling cues are old-school.
They only get 12 pics on a roll of film.

But yeah - nowadays there isn't much of an excuse. Take a few pics until you are sure that any cue detail you are trying to show is actually in focus without any 'noise' in the background. You're trying to sell it - make it look as good as you can.
 
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