Hollow form photographed with new lightbox

[Roderick Evans]

Spalted beech hollow form commisioned wanting simple teardrop finial in African Blackwood
Experimenting with my new lightbox,trying various conditions and exposures.
Size 5" dia x 2 1/4".  C & C welcome about the form and the photography.

[John D Smith]

Hi Rod, Beautiful looking Hollow Form and super Finial nice spalting Yes what a difference a light box makes to the photograph I don't know why more people do not use them considering they are reasonably inexpensive and you can make one quite easily out of a cardboard box.

                                                         Regards John

[Les Symonds]

Hi Rod...it certainly is a lovely piece, but for me it's the spalted side that works the better. The black spalt lines are the perfect foil to the blackwood finial, whereas i don't feel that the textured side adds much to the piece. i can understand why you chose to texture it, especially as this side would otherwise have been quite plain, compared with the spalting....but it could always have been the back! Overall, I love the shape and the proportion.

The photography aspect i something that I'm not well placed to comment upon. However, from my own experience, I struggle to find the appropriate settings on the camera that will enable me to get a greater depth of field in my photos. I dabble with ISO settings and with F-stops, but I never seem to be able to get the whole object into focus. It will be interesting to see what others say.

Les

p.s. I like your signature quotation!

[woodndesign]

Rod, you've excelled with the form and pictures. Maybe a little bulbous in the teardrop, yet it sets the form just right.

With the pictures, that is someting else, turning is never that simple ..  .. tooling, sanding and finish, let alone the nature of wood itself.

I'd found with years of 35m, the bigger F-stop the better for DOF (Depth of field) .. F11 > 22 at best, depending on light still gave a fast speed... Digital now, an I'm as lost as the rest with all the settings the camera wants to make automatically.

My WIP picture I find best to use telephoto and like my 35m lens and 135mm lenght, keeps the camera out of the way, but preset on the tripod to take shots as I go .. untill the battery goes flat before too long and never finish the shots.

Telephoto is ideal with your lightbox, fill the view finder with the piece, metering should then measure the piece and not any light/backlight source which can happen, if you're at F11>22 you use full DOF.

Your top picture works the best, light sources both sides, maybe best if reflexed an not direct, the other pair of pictures, you've a direct light .. flash fired .. which mine always wants to do ... any setting.. the light takes away from the form here. Still excellent pictures for the back ground shades/shadows.  Well done.

Cheers  David