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The Dark Room -- Photo Editing and Picture Taking. Advice, tutorials, questions on all things photoshop, photo editing, and taking pictures of beads or glass.

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  #31  
Old 2006-01-30, 11:28am
alissa alissa is offline
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I have a $8 lamp I got from Walmart long ago, and the shade for it is a translucent plastic bowl... with hole already cut in it. That would work well also.

Oh, and I downloaded my camera manual and learned how to adjust white balance! I took this photo earlier - I had to adjust levels a bit in Photoshop, but it's a heck of a lot better than it was. My lights also need different placement, but I'm on the right track.



Thanks so much, Evan, for posting this wonderful tutorial, and Shari, for clueing me in on camera usage!! : )

Last edited by alissa; 2006-01-30 at 4:09pm.
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  #32  
Old 2006-01-30, 6:55pm
Marie Marie is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EvanH
As you walk through the isles all of a sudden you see photo studios everywhere!

Evan
Isn't this the truth!! What a creative bunch we are
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  #33  
Old 2006-01-31, 11:13pm
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Thanks for the tutorial Evan.
I'm still working on it but your levels info has helped a lot.

Sally
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  #34  
Old 2006-02-01, 5:42pm
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Evan, I watched this video at work today (hope my boss doesn't read this forum! ) and I couldn't scribble my notes down fast enough on the Photoshop part of the tutorial! I pretty much have my own light box that works okay, but the photoshop editing was always a challenge for me.

Thank you again! Going straight home to play around with this.

Cheryl
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  #35  
Old 2006-02-02, 10:40am
EvanH EvanH is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmhorvath
Evan, I watched this video at work today (hope my boss doesn't read this forum! ) and I couldn't scribble my notes down fast enough on the Photoshop part of the tutorial! I pretty much have my own light box that works okay, but the photoshop editing was always a challenge for me.

Thank you again! Going straight home to play around with this.

Cheryl
Chery - (About your boss - I won't tell if you don't! ) Glad you enjoyed it! Let me know how the tips on Photoshop worked out for you.

Ev
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  #36  
Old 2006-02-02, 3:45pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EvanH
Chery - (About your boss - I won't tell if you don't! ) Glad you enjoyed it! Let me know how the tips on Photoshop worked out for you.

Ev
Well, as luck would have it, boss went home sick today so I took an opportunity to go shopping at lunch time for some of the clamp-on lights that you used in your tutorial. (FYI for anyone wondering - Home Depot has them for $5.95/each.)

I tried doing the photoshop routine last night, however my pictures are all on white backgrounds and unfortuantely I was unable to get pictures without shadows, so the 2nd layer of bluring didn't quite turn out right. I'm going to build the bowl setup tonight and give it another try. Any tips for doing this on white backgrounds? I prefer that over the gray gradients.

Thanks,
Cheryl
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  #37  
Old 2006-02-02, 4:09pm
EvanH EvanH is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmhorvath
Well, as luck would have it, boss went home sick today so I took an opportunity to go shopping at lunch time for some of the clamp-on lights that you used in your tutorial. (FYI for anyone wondering - Home Depot has them for $5.95/each.)

I tried doing the photoshop routine last night, however my pictures are all on white backgrounds and unfortuantely I was unable to get pictures without shadows, so the 2nd layer of bluring didn't quite turn out right. I'm going to build the bowl setup tonight and give it another try. Any tips for doing this on white backgrounds? I prefer that over the gray gradients.

Thanks,
Cheryl
Cheryl -

Use a 2 or 3 inch piece of an old 1/16 mandrel or a hat pin and make a 'flat' loop on the top. Put your bowl photo studio on a piece of styrofoam or an old pillow and push the pin through your backdrop into the styrofam. Either balance your bead on the loop or use a little bit of wax to hold it there. The seperation between the background and your bead will probably be enough to get it to stand out really well if you take the photo in macro mode and are close to the bead. Try that and let me know how it works.

Ev
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  #38  
Old 2006-02-02, 4:17pm
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I thought about that, but the problem is I usually photograph a strand of beads, not just one. That would be a tricky balancing act for 6-7 beads. I wonder if I strung the beads on a stiff wire, as opposed to something that would bend - then I could balance each end of the strand on two pins to get it off the floor of the background. What do you think?
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  #39  
Old 2006-02-03, 8:51am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmhorvath
I thought about that, but the problem is I usually photograph a strand of beads, not just one. That would be a tricky balancing act for 6-7 beads. I wonder if I strung the beads on a stiff wire, as opposed to something that would bend - then I could balance each end of the strand on two pins to get it off the floor of the background. What do you think?
Definately worth a try. Another possiblity would be to get a small clear plexiglass platform and lift it off the surface with your background underneath. If the lighting is even you should get much in the way of surface reflection.

Let me know how it goes ...

Evan
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  #40  
Old 2006-02-03, 10:51am
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Default Success!

Well, I think I might have nailed it! The only thing that didn't work for me was the slidy thing that holds the camera on. My camera was too heavy for it...but I improvised and got it to work. Here's a before and after. What do you think?


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  #41  
Old 2006-02-04, 7:50am
Bacchae Bacchae is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmhorvath
Well, I think I might have nailed it! The only thing that didn't work for me was the slidy thing that holds the camera on. My camera was too heavy for it...but I improvised and got it to work. Here's a before and after. What do you think?
Before and after what? The Photoshopping?

I really hope it is after the Photoshopping because I get images like the first one and haven't used my expensive-gift-from-husband light cube since.

Evan, thanks for the tutorial. Anyone know what the going price is for Photoshop these days?


- Sandy
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  #42  
Old 2006-02-05, 10:25pm
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Yes, the "after" is a result of what Evan said to do in Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop is pretty expensive. I think it's around $600 or so. My husband has it becuase he needs it for work, so I lucked out and didn't have to buy it myself.
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  #43  
Old 2006-02-10, 8:20am
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Great tutorial!

One question: what kind of bulbs do use in your lamps, I mean what watt?
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  #44  
Old 2006-02-10, 9:37am
EvanH EvanH is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jippo
Great tutorial!

One question: what kind of bulbs do use in your lamps, I mean what watt?
Hi - I am using 100 watt equivalent daylight flourescent bulbls in the the fixtures in my setup. They don't nearly as hot as conventional incadescent bulbs get and have pretty long life as well. Their actual wattage is much lower than their equivalent (I don't have them nearby right now, but it's somewhere around 20 watts per bulb).

Also I know that I've seen Photoshop discounted for around $390.00 if you look around. Yes it's still expensive, but in my case it's a rare day that I don't use it, so while not cheap, it get's a workout.

Hope that helps some!

Ev
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  #45  
Old 2006-02-10, 10:54am
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Thanks for your reply. As I don't live in the US but in The Netherlands I have to check out what those bulbs (flourescent) are called here.
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  #46  
Old 2006-02-10, 11:56am
EvanH EvanH is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jippo
Thanks for your reply. As I don't live in the US but in The Netherlands I have to check out what those bulbs (flourescent) are called here.
Here these are marketed as replacement's for conventional bulbs. They simply screw into existing fixtures. The bulbs are slightly more expensive, but last longer and don't generate the heat that conventional bulbs do.

Ev
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  #47  
Old 2006-02-11, 9:18am
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I have watched this tutorial a couple of times now...FANTASTIC....I have photoshop but don't really know how to use it and don't have a manual to help me out. So a tutorial like this is brilliant. Thanks
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  #48  
Old 2006-03-28, 4:02pm
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Thanks so much, Evan, for this tutorial.....I have watched the video three times now. I watched once even before my torch came in, then again to go and find the stuff I needed, and again today to make sure I did everything right...I don't have Photoshop(lost in a crash), but I do have a program that is ok....so off I go!! Thanks again.....
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  #49  
Old 2006-04-23, 10:53pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmhorvath
Yes, the "after" is a result of what Evan said to do in Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop is pretty expensive. I think it's around $600 or so. My husband has it becuase he needs it for work, so I lucked out and didn't have to buy it myself.

A less expensive version is Adobe Photoshop Elements. You can do the levels and stuff in it, and it works pretty much the same as Photoshop so far as how to do things. It just doesn't do them the same. I got my copy for $40 used, and new ones go for about $100.

I didn't get to see all of the tut, as for some reason it stopped in the middle of the mask sequence. I don't know if it is my computer acting up (serious need of upgrading) or something wrong on Evan's end.

Tracy
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  #50  
Old 2006-04-24, 9:24am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wmssihaya
A less expensive version is Adobe Photoshop Elements. You can do the levels and stuff in it, and it works pretty much the same as Photoshop so far as how to do things. It just doesn't do them the same. I got my copy for $40 used, and new ones go for about $100.

I didn't get to see all of the tut, as for some reason it stopped in the middle of the mask sequence. I don't know if it is my computer acting up (serious need of upgrading) or something wrong on Evan's end.

Tracy
Tracy -

Hi! With regards to the tutorial, try viewing it again. There are so many reasons why network congestion could have caused it to stop ... I just checked with our hosting company to be sure and all diags on the server look ok!

You might try increasing the buffer size for flash video on your end. Right click on the video in your browser and a menu will pop up. Select settings and move the slider bar all the way to the right. Once you do that your computer will buffer more data and it might play more smoothly for you. Hope that helps! -

Evan
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  #51  
Old 2007-01-04, 1:40pm
EvanH EvanH is offline
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Default New tutorial library page

Just in case anyone goes looking for this tutorial - It got moved slightly now that I've put them in an online libray index on our website. The index page is located at www.dawnandevan.com/tutorials.htm

Hope you all enjoy -
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  #52  
Old 2009-05-30, 5:51pm
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on a roll..................bump!
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  #53  
Old 2009-05-30, 8:43pm
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I am so glad I found this thread. I am making one of these and having fun collecting all the pieces...a real challenge for someone who doesn't know what a "friction lid bracket" is! Just in case any of you are having trouble finding this piece, I was finally able to find them at Grainger.

Great tutorial!!
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  #54  
Old 2010-02-16, 6:58am
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Just found this and wanted to say Thank you, the tutorials are great, and you have impacted and advanced my skills and the way I do things.

Pete
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