Photographing Finished Frames

[Nigel Nobody]

John,
That's a great setup you have and the result you get is excellent! The design of the framing is very pleasing!

What camera do you have?

[The Jolly Good Framer #1]

I seem to remember our good friend Mike Welshframer posting on here his simple method of photographing frames without getting glass reflection....

Get a full sheet of black mountboard and cut a hole in the middle for the camera lens.
Poke the camera lens through the hole and take the picture.

I’ve not tried this myself, but I can see the theory behind it. Don’t think it would work with the flash on though.

[Bagpuss]

Yes, I remember Welsh Framer's posting about this and I tried it with a black sheet hanging from the rafters, it works OK but I do like John M's setup with the camera on the ceiling. I have a camera on the ceiling but hadn't worked out a way of getting rid of the reflection on the glass ( I always forget to leave the glass out beforehand ). I don't totally understand how it works with the strobes but definitely worth investigating.

[Bagpuss]

After seeing John M's results with his camera over the bench setup, I thought I would try my camera on the ceiling again, this frame is finished with 2mm float, I'm really pleased with the results, I have daylight tubes in my flourescent lights but no flashes or anything, I think I'll carry on using this, more than adequate for my website I thought. It's so much easier laying it on the bench than trying to hang a black sheet backdrop I did do a litle 'tweaking' in Photoshop Elements.

recent_red_sox2.jpg (25.81 KiB) Viewed 7790 times

[Roboframer]

Time out!

The vertical red stripes aren't central with the title aperture - sort it!

[Bagpuss]

I've turned a corner, I no longer strive for perfection, the customer gets wonky stripes

[Gesso&Bole]

I couldn't live with those stripes off centre. But then again, I've never found a framer that I'm entirely happy with!

[Bagpuss]

There you go, sorted !

recent_red_sox3.jpg (25.79 KiB) Viewed 7784 times

[MITREMAN]

Red stripes

"watch out, Watch out theirs a Humpry about"

Anyone remember the old adverts and for what....???

Back on subject I like to take my photo's from above,not above the bed thou
I am learning photoshop Elements 9 I have a good book and watch a few Youtube clips, but can any one recommend a good free website learning source.

Mitreman

[mikeysaling]

Time out!

The vertical red stripes aren't central with the title aperture - sort it!

listen up robo - your cred is going - not in the army now



If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

[Roboframer]

"watch out, Watch out theirs a Humpry about"

Anyone remember the old adverts and for what....???

Unigate milk

[MITREMAN]

Good find Robo, those where the days

As John wayne said "Get of your horse and drink your milk"

I'll Drink to that, Make mine a milkshake

[Framerpicture]

We often photograph framed pictures glazed with normal 2mm float. Two cheap studio strobe units are positioned to illuminate the subject obliquely, and the camera is positioned at a point mid way between.

The glazed picture is placed directly below the camera.

CameraSetup.jpg

This is the photograph that you see being taken in the above image. Resized, but not re-touched.

GlazedPic.jpg

I like the look of this set up to capture images for our website- The results seem brilliant.

I realise John is using Pre View here to capture the image remotely and was wondering if http://www.breezesys.com/PSRemote/index.htm would do the same thing

This piece of software is $95.00 but does use (nearly) obselete Cannon models, but they are available on ebay.. They do offer software for DSLR but both the camera and software are dearer.

Anybody have any views on this software or perhaps know of others?

I would also be grateful as to what sort of lights would be best for this set up?

Thanks in anticipation

Will

[stcstc]

canon dslr cameras come with free software to remote control, but dont control zoom

eosutility


i use it quite a bit. i also use it to shoot tethered with my wireless grip for the 7d to tranfer to pc live

[JohnMcafee]

Yes Will, BreezeSys will remotely control lots of Canon cameras. But I think, for the average user, probably the only advantage over the software supplied with the camera is its ability to shoot time lapse sequences.

Up until quite recently, Canon supported remote capture in its compact cameras. The last compact models to have this ability being the G10 and the SX110 IS. Plenty of these to be found on eBay.

When looking for a compact camera ensure that it supports what Canon refers to as Remote Capture, note that not all early Canon compact cameras support remote control. Contact me if you have any doubts about a model's suitability.

The very early cameras were supplied with an application called RemoteCapture, but latterly this was incorporated into a multi-function app called Zoombrowser. Only the more recent versions of the Canon software supplied with their compact cameras will run natively on Windows7, though in most cases, you can download an update from the Canon Site. When buying a Canon compact make sure that you get the CD with the driver software as this is not available on-line, only the update.

If you are sticking a camera on your ceiling either permanently or semi-permanently, you will have to use a power adaptor, otherwise you will be constantly replacing batteries. Some of the early G-model cameras were supplied with this accessory, but with the help of eBay it should not be difficult to obtain one for other models for not a lot of money, but be aware that the adaptors for the Ixus range are more expensive and more fiddly to use than those for the Powershots.

Cameras being operated remotely will probably require one or more USB repeater (rather than extension) cables to transfer the image from camera to computer as the USB signal degrades quite rapidly as cable length increases.

If you want to go the EOS route there will be no software driver problems and the latest models support remote capture. However the camera will have to be operated at a fixed focal length.

[stcstc]

a really easy way to do the usb thing is

usb over cat5

they cost around 40 euros and then you can use a cat5 cable up to about 80ft with most of them. which is genrally more than enough

[JohnMcafee]

A 10m USB repeater is only around £7 or £8 - and if that's not enough two or more can be linked.

The Canon A620 camera that we currently use was introduced by Canon in 2005. Ours was used for general family snapping before being attached to the ceiling above our counter nearly three years ago where it has been left permanently swiched on ever since. It is used many times a day, and has never let us down. However we have a spare SX100, which has a much faster response time, a greater optical zoom range, and more pixels, waiting in the wings, but for our purpose, even this is overkill.

[Framerpicture]

Thanks for that John, just to clarify, are you saying that I can operate a Canon powershot remotely without this software? I want to be able to zoom in and out etc etc

The other thing is what sort of lighting are you using in your set up?

[JohnMcafee]

Canon cameras with the Remote Capture capability are supplied with software that lets you control them from your computer keyboard. Most, but not all, of the camera’s functions are supported, but certainly zoom, white balance, flash, Auto/manual exposure, aperture, shutter speed, and most importantly the shutter release itself.

The strobe units that I use were bought new on eBay, possibly out of China – I don’t remember the details but I think about £20 each. They are too powerful so masks were made from mountboard (with a half inch hole cut out) that fit behind the screw-on lenses.

The camera that I use has no external flash connector, so the strobes are triggered by deflecting the light from the camera’s on-board flash using a piece of tinfoil. This also prevents the light from the camera’s flash from falling on the subject.

[silvercleave]

I seem to remember our good friend Mike Welshframer posting on here his simple method of photographing frames without getting glass reflection....

Get a full sheet of black mountboard and cut a hole in the middle for the camera lens.
Poke the camera lens through the hole and take the picture.

I’ve not tried this myself, but I can see the theory behind it. Don’t think it would work with the flash on though.

How did you cut the hole in the lense?, have tried but the drill keeps slipping