Test portrait

bassduke49 · Post by **bassduke49** » Tue May 03, 2005 4:47 am

Here's a test portrait for the book, using the lighting/camera setup I'll bring to Columbus. Gotta work on the shadows a bit, but whatcha think?

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Tue May 03, 2005 4:52 am

Very nice, Paul!

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue May 03, 2005 5:13 am

Boyer sure doing a great job Paul. A nice photo.

rickaddict · Post by **rickaddict** » Tue May 03, 2005 5:18 am

It's a very nice photo, but isn't that guitar a monty brown?

My monitor is probably off.

bassduke49 · Post by **bassduke49** » Tue May 03, 2005 5:21 am

Hey, good pun, Peter!

incubus2432 · Post by **incubus2432** » Tue May 03, 2005 5:41 am

NICE!

bassduke49 · Post by **bassduke49** » Tue May 03, 2005 5:48 am

Jeff, yes, Monte. Looks a little red in the photo. Lighting was strobe, and I'm sure there will be more Photoshopping before the book is ready. However, Monte is a little redder than most photos show. I equate it with a strong ice tea in color. I've got to soften my low fill strobe some more as it is casting shadows from the bridge; maybe bring it more to the front as well.

patrickkelly · Post by **patrickkelly** » Tue May 03, 2005 6:30 am

If I may offer a suggestion, the guitar stand is a little distracting...I wonder if there is a way to prop up the instrument without a stand, or perhaps use a stand that doesn't wrap around the bottom and stick out at the sides as this one does?

morrow · Post by **morrow** » Tue May 03, 2005 7:02 am

The headstock seems a little prominent....I wonder about a lower angle

ken_swearingen · Post by **ken_swearingen** » Tue May 03, 2005 7:09 am

You know Jeff Scott is the one to talk to on this subject after all thats what he does for a living.

bassduke49 · Post by **bassduke49** » Tue May 03, 2005 8:32 am

To answer above: I'm thinking about modifying one of my guitar stands so it doesn't project in front of the lower body. I figure for the formal shots, I'll Photoshop out remnants of the stand.

I was shooting down slightly. The answer would be to aim from a central viewpoint, or back up and zoom in. Depending on the room I'll be working in, either would fix that.

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue May 03, 2005 3:35 pm

Paul,
The lighting looks good and you have already pointed out some issues to iron out (like that background!). Do you have a muslin backdrop? I think it would look better than the seamless as it would need to be perfectly smooth not to be a distraction. We use seamless at out studio and I hate it! Crinkled muslin looks better than crinkled seamless any day, plus it is more portable.

I agree some solution to the stand is needed but I know that is a tough one one to deal with. One possible solution is some kind of heavy box that has a rubber pad on it to "grab" the instrument and hold it up but be hidden behing the body of the bass. I did something similar but it wasn't too stable so I had to be very careful while shooting this:

What I used was an adjustable arm on a heavy metal plate as a base; the end of the arm had a gripper clamp that was rubber coated. As the arm was more like a gooseneck it tended to move around if I wasn't careful. I didn't have the time to construct a better solution but maybe you can.

apollo11 · Post by **apollo11** » Tue May 03, 2005 3:44 pm

Great shots, both of them. Paul, very elegant in the display. Your photography really captures the fact that a Ric is such a perfect guitar. The book will be a fantastic one, with images of that caliber.

Jeff, the picture of your 4005 never ceases to amaze me. It is a gorgeous instrument and this shot is certainly one of the best I've ever seen of any guitar. Simply breathtaking.

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue May 03, 2005 4:20 pm

Thanks Andrew!

bassduke49 · Post by **bassduke49** » Wed May 04, 2005 3:05 am

Jeff, thanks for the info. I contemplated getting a mottled muslin backdrop, but they seemed expensive for what I needed. My main concern is to have a neutral backdrop, and I figure I can photoshop out what I don't want. I may even do a clipping path around each bass and have it float on the page; something my designer and I will figure out later. That's the nice thing about digital photos: They are easy to fix later if you change your design.

On the weighted box thing, I really don't want to risk it for everybody else's basses. If it should tip over and fall -- eww, I don't even want to think about it. I'll use one of my stands with the low back support and Photoshop out the rest if needed. The main emphasis now is getting the shots at Columbus; I can do all the pretty stuff later.