All Poster Forum
Movie Posters => Show Us Your Collection! => Topic started by: paul waines on June 23, 2014, 03:46:25 PM
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I'm after a few suggestions.. When Looking through a website at posters, would you prefer by decade, genre, size...?
Also how many pages to get to the posters, do the images need to be clickable for a larger pic, and should it have info with it also? or just reasonable size images to just scroll through.
In fact any suggestions would be of great help.
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If this is in the wrong section, Jeff do the honours..
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I like type (e.g. movie, political) followed by country/foreign, follwoed by sub-genre (war, horror etc) I also like to be able to see old versus new for example, 1960 and below/up I think the best is to have as many options as possible, so you can sort your material, for example, posters under $100, 1 sheets, half sheets etc.
Re the image, i like to see as much info as possible without having to click further - so ideally moving your cursor over a thumbnail which provides an info bubble with price, dimensions etc.
Are ye building urself a poster database lad?
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Tis My goal for the year, but it's Jolly confusing.... I was thinking for looking through by Genre, but it seems easier to post/list them by decade...Yikes :-\
I like the many options way, so you could do British, or 70's, etc...
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Is the site meant to be for pleasure or for profit?
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It's to display what I have, and hopefully help educate a few about British posters. That said everything I have will be going on inc Panto, Circus, Commercials, Video, etc
Eventually the books, mags, stills and other ephemera. I may at some point put some of my doubles on it to sell off... ;)
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Very cool Paul!
I always like clicking on an image to get a larger one but if they are big enough to begin with Im happy.
I am a genre guy. Size doesnt matter to me :P
As for Info with? It is always welcome. Poster knowledge is always good.
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It's to display what I have, and hopefully help educate a few about British posters. That said everything I have will be going on inc Panto, Circus, Commercials, Video, etc
I sure hope you make a point of stopping up north... :)
Would love to see the show!
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Awesome posters on page 1. Delete all other pages.
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Awesome posters on page 1. Delete all other pages.
We're talking about Paul here. That page 1 will have an infinite scroll. ;)
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By decade, director and cast and poster artist. :P
I'd love to see what you have on your Web Paul. Keep it up..looking forward to the grand opening :)
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Genre then decade. Genre is hard though as so many cross genres.
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Or how you catalogue in your brain. It's a personal site after all.
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Or how you catalogue in your brain. It's a personal site after all.
The catalogue in my brain is most recent to oldest. Might explain innate need to keep buying... poor brain :P
Actually, a "what's new" section will likely please your regular visitors....looove those 'whats new' sections!
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We're talking about Paul here. That page 1 will have an infinite scroll. ;)
Truth!
(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/infinite_scrolling.png)
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It's to display what I have, and hopefully help educate a few about British posters. That said everything I have will be going on inc Panto, Circus, Commercials, Video, etc
Eventually the books, mags, stills and other ephemera. I may at some point put some of my doubles on it to sell off... ;)
How is your website coming along, Paul?
Did you get the topics and "order of search" all decided and sorted?
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I've paid for the domain name and a guy to set it up, Jeff. I have now to start photographing everything, which is quite daunting. :-\
I need to get my Garage in some kind of order, as I'm going to set up a Photography area. I've bought all the flashes, Magnet board and stuff, so need to
get the place sorted out and tidied. I've a big enough table in there now to lay out the posters. As with all these things time is the killer...
My plan is to get a bunch of stuff on the site to get it going, and then keep adding as I get time to photograph it all. I'll keep you posted as to
when it launches.
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thumbsup.gif
Awesome Paul. Best wishes on your site and all the photographing!
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Agree. Looking forward to seeing it Paul
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q737/Hope_Emerson/0_9a6d6_86c87cc0_M_zpsrrymaaag.gif)
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Agree. Looking forward to seeing it Paul
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q737/Hope_Emerson/0_9a6d6_86c87cc0_M_zpsrrymaaag.gif)
Same here!....Looking forward to it Paul.
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I've paid for the domain name and a guy to set it up, Jeff. I have now to start photographing everything, which is quite daunting. :-\
I need to get my Garage in some kind of order, as I'm going to set up a Photography area. I've bought all the flashes, Magnet board and stuff, so need to
get the place sorted out and tidied. I've a big enough table in there now to lay out the posters. As with all these things time is the killer...
My plan is to get a bunch of stuff on the site to get it going, and then keep adding as I get time to photograph it all. I'll keep you posted as to
when it launches.
Sounds great, Paul. Im sure it will look smashing!
thumbsup.gif
woohoo
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Good luck Paul, this will be one huge project! I one to look forward to seeing thumbsup.gif
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I'm excited...this is going to be great!
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I'm excited...this is going to be great!
Agreed - looking forward to it Paul. I hope you will be able to give a bit of narrative on each poster.
Mark
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(http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu12/brude2000/GIFS/bstabloodvessel.gif) (http://s629.photobucket.com/user/brude2000/media/GIFS/bstabloodvessel.gif.html)
I can't wait. I can't wait.
I can't wait. I can't wait.
I can't wait. I can't wait.
cheers
Really looking forward to seeing the site, Paul.
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I hope you will be able to give a bit of narrative on each poster.
Mark
That would be cool... all 26,000 posters... I'll grab me a box of crisps and start the reading ;D
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I'm not French Steve, but there will be a fair few... ;)
And yes Mark, I'll be adding any relevant info as I'd like to think the site will help people interested in British posters.
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.02, something to keep in mind here.
People will browse everything once, then you want to hit what has been added since you last looked. Not look through 50 pages again to see 2 posters added.
Thierry and Ed implement this perfectly in their own ways.
When you are selling you have pretty much have the same audience, but they are coming to the site for different reasons.
I really think this is the absolute best organization method for a collector site. Just have search/sort facilities that can be added as time allows.
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Thanks Dale, I'll make sure he has that facility added.
My plan just to get it up and running is to put a couple of hundred posters on, and then keep adding in blocks of 50-100 as I work my way through all the ones I have.
We have another bank holiday coming up in a few weeks, I hope to get the garage sorted out by then....fingers crossed.
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How many posters do you have, in total, Paul? (even a ballpark number?).
;)
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I wish I knew Jeff....
If I count in everything, around 3000-4000?? not all Quads, but mostly..
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I wish I knew Jeff....
If I count in everything, around 3000-4000?? not all Quads, but mostly..
Nice, Paul!
clap clap clap
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My plan just to get it up and running is to put a couple of hundred posters on, and then keep adding in blocks of 50-100 as I work my way through all the ones I have.
:)
Trending on twitter
#go_paul_go
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:)
Trending on twitter
#go_paul_go
I'm not sure what that means........I'm old you know... ;)
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Here's a tip Mr. Waines - do not take polaroid photos
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Polaroid!!..... I don't have the money for those new fangled things..
Though I am stock piling magnesium for the shoot...
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(http://www.drwatsonsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/ARC-FLSH-MAGNESIUM-1.jpg)
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(http://www.drwatsonsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/ARC-FLSH-MAGNESIUM-1.jpg)
Finally a photo of the illusive Mr Waines! ;D
Thanks, Steve!
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laugh1 laugh1 laugh1 laugh1
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I've shaved my Tash off since that pic... :)
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Amazing fact... did you know Paul started what we now call... selfies
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I've shaved my Tash off since that pic... :)
I'm afraid to ask where your "tash" is, Mr Waines.
;D ;D
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Don't worry Jeff, it's under my nose.... ;D
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Somewhere...
Good to know, Paul. ;)
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Three to four thousand posters Paul?! Dear god, if I'd have collected that many, two things would have happened by now.
1. My house would have been repossessed and I would be living in a tent made of linen-backed Victoriana.
2. My wife would have had me disposed of and my posters burnt - or she would have had me burnt and my posters disposed of.
You either have a very understanding wife or a very understanding bank manager...or both. Unless of course you married your bank manager?
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I don't fancy my Bank Manager.... Tis a good idea though.. hmmm.gif
Yvonne is very encouraging of my affliction... as it helps her get what she wants.... eyeroll
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OK, messing around with my photography set up. Are these good enough, image-wise to use on the website?
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0914_zpszkpldxqa.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0914_zpszkpldxqa.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0918_zpsc0z0oq9k.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0918_zpsc0z0oq9k.jpg.html)
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Looking good, Paul. thumbup
What kind of flash or lighting setup are you using?
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Thanks Jeff,
I'm using two flashes, one each side, and well back. I need to get the Garage tidier, as it will give me more room to try different angles etc..
New posters are a sod, which is why I need the room... I'll post some pics shortly.
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Thanks Jeff,
I'm using two flashes, one each side, and well back. I need to get the Garage tidier, as it will give me more room to try different angles etc..
New posters are a sod, which is why I need the room... I'll post some pics shortly.
Sounds good, Paul and really nice shots!
Have you also done the camera white balance? The last thing you want are images that all could have a very slightly blue (outdoor) cast to them, if either the white balance or flash setting wasn't quite right.
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I'm open to views on them, all I've adjusted is the sharpness slightly, as I'm just using Auto-focus for now..
Sorry for the quality of the posters here, just trying stuff from the scrap pile. Here's new/shiny one's.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0920_zpstrckzg9r.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0920_zpstrckzg9r.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0921_zpseg6jcxcu.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0921_zpseg6jcxcu.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0924_zps4a0mykty.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0924_zps4a0mykty.jpg.html)
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If you look to the right there's a glare off one of the flashes as the poster is not completely flat on that edge...
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Nice, Paul. For example, the A Royal Night Out quad...
If i may-- all the flesh tones/faces have a very slight bluish tone to them. (or does it look that way in person, also?)
I wouldnt think so, tho, as any portrait imagery on a piece like this would want to show the actors as pink, lively and fresh (vs a horror or dark genre film that might alter the imagery specifically, to a certain degree).
(Hope you dont mind the input, Paul). :)
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That's why they are here Jeff, I want lots of criticism/input.. :D
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That's why they are here Jeff, I want lots of criticism/input.. :D
Just making double sure, Paul. ;)
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I'm off to check that Royal night out now.
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Great... looking again, both the Duff (again, the skin tones makes it more evident here) and Fairytale images also have that same, slight bluish cast to them (imho), too, Paul.
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Just looked at all 3, the second two are quite close, but the RNO is very noticeable up close.....More twiddling needed. Well spotted Jeff.
I'm not sure weather where I have the metal board is helping as I don't have too many options in there at the moment. It's right against two windows....I may have to black them out!!
Here's a pic.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0919_zpsd6xuxoe4.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0919_zpsd6xuxoe4.jpg.html)
It may well be too much direct light into the lens.....
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Paul..that last pic tells me EXACTLY why your digital images are more bluish...natural daylight photographs blue. So with your camera pointed that way, towards the windows, it is picking up what is coming thru the windows. And Yes.. the easiest would be to black them out with a drape.
That will correct your issue and keep your camera happy and adjust for the indoor setting an give you the proper white balance, too. :D
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I'm off to check that Royal night out now.
Have fun Paul. I heard it is a good one.
And congratulations on what is looking like an excellent piece of work. I am looking forward to admiring your collection. I hope you can spare few minutes to add some narrative and write few words about your posters.
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Hi Paul! You are off to a great start! A few things -- and fair warning, I'm nit-picking as you asked :)
WHITE BALANCE -- Get an 18% grey card (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Accessotech-Digital-Photography-Exposure-Balance/dp/B00JFS4KW2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1433016050&sr=8-2&keywords=white+balance+card) to calibrate your shots. Depending on what software you are using for post-production, you only need to adjust this once and then you can batch apply it to your whole session. I leave calibration cards up on my shooting environment for the whole session (along with rulers), which makes it easy to dial this in quickly. If you have a grey card visible in your shot, it's a one-click fix to dial in white balance in most software programs.
WHITE BALANCE -- Another white balance tip, use the same kind of light. Meaning don't mix strobes with daylight, fluorescents, incandescents, etc... stick to one kind of light source. Given you have strobes, you should try to eliminate all other light sources. That means cover those windows, and only use a few other lights in the room (placed to the sides) to work by. If you strobes can over power them, you are good to go. To test this, dial in your setup with the strobes, ensuring the poster is properly lit (do you have a light meter?). Then turn them off and shoot another test shot. If it comes out all black your dim room lights shouldn't affecting your lighting setup, but they will still give you some light to work with while shooting and changing posters. If you are shooting in some sort of "auto" mode this test will probably not work. Just record the settings from the auto mode (ISO, aperture, shutter speed), switch to manual (M) mode and enter those settings. Take a test shot to ensure the lighting is still correct, then proceed with turning off the strobes and testing your room lighting/reflections.
REFLECTIONS -- Again, cover those windows! You don't want any stray light reaching your lens. Anything behind the poster is a definite no-no, as are light sources behind the camera -- those will reflect off the poster (your metal board, the white wall, etc...) on to the lens as well.
REFLECTIONS -- You can also get a cheap lens hood to kill stray light coming from the sides -- including the light coming from the strobes. You want to poster to be lit, not the lens.
REFLECTIONS -- Reverse roll your posters for a few days before shooting. This will help eliminate those pesky curls that cast shadows and add reflections. Basically, you only want to be shooting pre-flatted posters. I try to group posters by size -- meaning I will shoot a session of only B2s. Then another session I'll only do 1-sheets. That makes your setup and post production more straight-forward, but it also allows me to establish a kind of queue. I always prep for the next session by pre-flattening.
DISTORTION -- I could be seeing things, but it looks like you might have a bit of barrel distortion (http://www.dpreview.com/glossary/optical/barrel-distortion). What focal length are you using? It looks like you might be using a wider lens, which can lead to slight distortion in the image. The farther back you can get the camera the less distortion you'll see and, as a bonus, the more it will help with combating stray light and reflections. If you are using an camera with an APS-C sized sensor (I think you are) I would use something at least 35mm (50mm equiv. to full-frame), or if possible 60mm (90mm equivalent).
SHARPNESS -- Entry level lenses are usually not known for the optical precision. Better/costlier lenses should be sharp all the way into the extreme corners. You can help your sharpness by using a higher F-stop -- for APS-C I would recommend F8. If you are still getting blurry corners, you can just move your camera back a bit more and then crop out the extra space. For the web, your photos will likely only be 2-3000 pixels on the long side. If you choose 3000x2250 that works out to about a 7mp image. If you are shooting with a 12-16mp camera that means you can setup your shooting environment with the expectation of cropping down to 7mp -- and also cropping out those soft corners from entry-level lenses.
That's probably enough for now... I'll try to contribute more tips as I think of them. Great work!
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Very much appreciated Matt, I'll be giving some of your advice a go. And no I don't have a light meter...Do you recommend one? I was visiting a Camera shop today, but the closest was 50 miles away.... Seems like I'll need another trip up, Grey scale too..
I'm just using the standard Lens at the moment, but can back up a fair bit so will try that also. I have Yvonne primed to make some black out curtains. I did have the lights on in there, but realised they were causing problems so the last few shots were with them out. I was puzzled about the slight distortion, so will hopefully remedy that now. More soon.
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If you are using your Canon kit lens, it's probably something like this 18-55 lens. I actually found this review of what is likely your exact lens. It shows considerable distortion at 18mm (where you are quite close to the poster), but it is almost completely gone as you zoom out to 55mm (this will back you up a bit if you have the room).
http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/404-canon_1855_3556is_50d?start=1
When shooting at 55mm f8 vignetting is also almost gone. And while the peak center sharpness seems to be at 18mm f5.6, you are actually looking for the most consistent sharpness across the frame. Who cares if your center is really sharp if you edges aren't? In that case I'd say, again, 55mm f8 is probably where you want to be shooting at for best all-around performance. F11 looks like it may even be slightly more consistent across the frame, but at that small of an aperture something called diffraction starts to kick in -- which results in lower sharpness.
Hope this helps!
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Helps immensely Matt, many Thanks.
I am only about 2m away from the screen, and can go back another 4-5m.....when I get some of the stuff removed from the garage..
Your quite right, I'm just using the standard 18-55 lens. More to come soon.
Just need to find storage for this lot.... Anyone want a Chappie Standee???
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/PICT0008_zpsx8mj1tgp.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/PICT0008_zpsx8mj1tgp.jpg.html)
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(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0926_zpspcbb0dnd.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0926_zpspcbb0dnd.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0930_zps1jg91cgk.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0930_zps1jg91cgk.jpg.html)
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0.K. Due to a foot injury I've a bit of time to have another go at this..
Changed lens, partial block out of light, moved the camera back to about 6m, one of these is using a Gray scale card...
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0937_zpsbziusqua.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0937_zpsbziusqua.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0936_zpsdnsdnwqt.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0936_zpsdnsdnwqt.jpg.html)
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Nice, Paul.
The bottom shot captured the warmer color of the overall quad as well as the critters in the boat. And the small text above the title reads much better and is shown with better clarity and contrast, too. clap
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Wow this is a huge task. I've taken 2000 photos of my collection and I'm officially sick of doing it. My last several batches were sloppy on the lighting but at this point I have let it slide a bit. But I have learned a couple things as others have already stated:
Blackened out room.
FLAT FIELD LENS - the most important part of the whole process. Mine is a Nikon 60mm. After taking a boatload of pictures on all of the f-stops, I found f10 to be the sharpest and I now stick with that. My camera setting is on aperture mode, so camera adjusts for shutter speed. I set the iso to 100 or 200. A sturdy tripod is a must, even the smallest movement will affect sharpness.
The second most import part is lighting and this is where I could have done much better. I posted before what i use and it's almost embarrassing but that's what I had budget wise when I started. I'm still really happy with how my photos come out.
I use a vacuum table I created myself.
Good luck with this, I really wish you the best with it. It's a lot of work but in the end it's well worth it. The photos come out great, and there are times I find myself staring at all the JPEGS for hours upon end.
Oh yes, that reminds me always shoot in RAW format of your camera, but have it create a JPEG at the same time. It saves a lot of time.
Here's a final trick you will not regret...make sure the posters are stacked in the order you take the photos of them. When you put them in the sleeves i hope you will be using, write the number of the picture on the sleeve in chronological order. You can do this with your photos by using a re-naming software like Automator for Mac. I also start my numbering process with letters that tell me what it is. MLC0156 is my Mexican lobby card #156. TMP0078 is my Thai movie poster #78. I give a different bunch of letters for each country. JLC = Japanese lobby card. IMP = Italian movie poster and so on. So when I see a photo I can locate the poster quickly. Thank god I don't keep them at home, it's too much.
Sorry if I've repeated information. I appreciate that you are doing this. With the quality of the photos you can eventually put together a nice printed book of your collection.
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And i would add that the color and/or contrast levels of an image shouldn't be overly "pushed." Light it well and evenly and allow the poster, as it truly looks, to shine thru. thumbsup.gif
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And i would add that the color and/or contrast levels of an image shouldn't be overly "pushed." Light it well and evenly and allow the poster, as it truly looks, to shine thru. thumbsup.gif
I agree, an image should be captured in a "low contrast" flat mode. This makes it much easier to digitally adjust later, especially with the RAW format. Great point.
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Yes, Mike...and I was also meaning that even after a poster is photographed, the digital image file should not then be "enhanced" to make the color or contrast be "more" than it truly is. :D
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sm1
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Wow this is a huge task. I've taken 2000 photos of my collection and I'm officially sick of doing it. My last several batches were sloppy on the lighting but at this point I have let it slide a bit. But I have learned a couple things as others have already stated:
Blackened out room.
FLAT FIELD LENS - the most important part of the whole process. Mine is a Nikon 60mm. After taking a boatload of pictures on all of the f-stops, I found f10 to be the sharpest and I now stick with that. My camera setting is on aperture mode, so camera adjusts for shutter speed. I set the iso to 100 or 200. A sturdy tripod is a must, even the smallest movement will affect sharpness.
The second most import part is lighting and this is where I could have done much better. I posted before what i use and it's almost embarrassing but that's what I had budget wise when I started. I'm still really happy with how my photos come out.
I use a vacuum table I created myself.
Good luck with this, I really wish you the best with it. It's a lot of work but in the end it's well worth it. The photos come out great, and there are times I find myself staring at all the JPEGS for hours upon end.
Oh yes, that reminds me always shoot in RAW format of your camera, but have it create a JPEG at the same time. It saves a lot of time.
Here's a final trick you will not regret...make sure the posters are stacked in the order you take the photos of them. When you put them in the sleeves i hope you will be using, write the number of the picture on the sleeve in chronological order. You can do this with your photos by using a re-naming software like Automator for Mac. I also start my numbering process with letters that tell me what it is. MLC0156 is my Mexican lobby card #156. TMP0078 is my Thai movie poster #78. I give a different bunch of letters for each country. JLC = Japanese lobby card. IMP = Italian movie poster and so on. So when I see a photo I can locate the poster quickly. Thank god I don't keep them at home, it's too much.
Sorry if I've repeated information. I appreciate that you are doing this. With the quality of the photos you can eventually put together a nice printed book of your collection.
Super helpful dude. I suck arse and some of these tidbits I will follow to a t. by the by where DO you keep your stuff (if not at home)?
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Super helpful dude. I suck arse and some of these tidbits I will follow to a t. by the by where DO you keep your stuff (if not at home)?
A climate controlled storage facility.
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Sounds expensive.
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Sounds expensive.
Not too bad, regular storage facility. It's the climate control that I think is important.
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Thanks for the input guys, one of the main problems is I'm having to do this in my Garage, and as I worked on cars, the walls ceiling etc are white to reflect light so I could see better when under, or in a car. So not very ideal for taking photos. Also there's quite a few windows...
I'm thinking I need a "cover" over the lens to help stop some of the stray light getting to the lens, as since I've moved the camera right back, it seems even more of a problem.
I'm trying on modern posters as they seem much harder to get right. The last two above were not altered, bar tweeking the sharpness, and using the grey scale card on the bottom one.
I'll make some window blocks and see where I get then..
Thanks again all criticism gratefully received.
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#2 all the way
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Thanks for starting this thread Paul. It has become really informative particularly with Matt and Mike's tips on photographing posters.
Mark
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They have been most helpful, I thought it was just going to be stick posters up and take a photo, until I had a go...
Turns out photography is very complicated... :-\
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Very impressive discussion. Personally I'm just happy if it's in focus and doesn't have my shadow looming over the image. I rather like the fact that I own a camera which is considerably capable of doing more than I am...
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(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0946_zpsgcdxxw3y.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0946_zpsgcdxxw3y.jpg.html)
Just seeing how this looks on the site, I think I'm nearly there..
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Maybe not...
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0951_zpseddatssm.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0951_zpseddatssm.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0954_zpsqp7jzrlq.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0954_zpsqp7jzrlq.jpg.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p501/PaulWaines/IMG_0957_zpskdxha5hi.jpg) (http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/PaulWaines/media/IMG_0957_zpskdxha5hi.jpg.html)
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Looking good, Paul. I'm excited to see the site!
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Thanks Tob,
I thought the actual photographing and write-up would be the chew, but getting good pics is a nightmare.. I may have to use black-out sheets everywhere in there, I'm still getting mixed results.
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Something that might help is a light meter. It helps to understand how light is being dispersed on a poster. I notice the right side of your pics are a little more hot than the left. I am CONSTANTLY struggling with this. If I had a light meter I know this would be so much easier to deal with in terms of light placement.
Note to myself: follow your own suggestions
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Two notes:
1) Light meter -- Yes! Before I start shooting I pop the strobes and measure the light in 9 places around the poster (Top-Left, Top-Middle, Top-Right, Middle-Left, Middle-Middle, etc... down to Bottom-Right). If you even out the light ahead of time it saves you lots of problems in post. To get better distribution of light try moving the lights further way, angling them slightly away from the poster or tweaking other directions. I do know you do not want your lights pointed right at the poster as you are using the most directional, least diffuse part. My vacuum board is mounted to the wall, while my strobes are about 12' to either side and 3' away from the wall --- the point directly towards each other (parallel to the wall) or even slightly way from the wall. That way you are using the side part of the light which is naturally more diffuse and even.
That all said, these look to be lit much more evenly than your previous attempts. I only really notice it on the Golden Mistress (left white border compared to right white border). Even then it's probably less than 1/2 stop difference... you are very close, any lighting tweaks at this point are for masochists only!
2) Sharpness -- The pics you posted are a bit blurry (see text edges). Are the originals that way too? If not it's probably due to the program you are using to reduce the size for web-suitable resolutions. Find out the exact resolution and dimensions (in pixels) your web dev will be putting them up on the site, then use a good program (lightroom?) to output the files at that res. Otherwise you are likely inadvertently doubling your compression artifacts -- once when you resize from full camera output to the size you provide your web dev, then again when they resize to actual output resolution. If your files are this blurry on your original camera shots then your focus is probably off. My camera and vac board never change positions during a shooting session. As such I autofocus on the first poster and then change it to manual after confirming it's spot on -- for all posters afterwards they will be perfect unless you bump your setup or something.
You are getting there Paul!!!
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Thanks Guys, food for thought..
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Impressive results, Paul.
Really looking forward to opening day!
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Thanks Ted, I'll only be opening with maybe a hundred or so, to get it up and running, and then add as I go through the pile...