Guardians of The Lambsfoot!

birdsbeaks said:
There are some Guardians I'd nominate ahead of myself but I've been happy with some of my recent captures.

I put light first, knife second. I'm always looking for thick, chunky, buttery light - light that looks so tangible, I imagine I could spread it on toast. When I find it, I try to remember when and where. Light, while often uncooperative, is relatively predictable. Once I know where and when the good light is, I FART - which stands for Feel, Ask, Refine, Take.

Feel: Everything good comes down to feeling. Good piano players play "with feeling." Good photographers do too. What are you feeling that made you want to take a picture - like deep down? If you know that, you're off to a good start.

Ask: You had a feeling to take a picture - now ask yourself "why?." Who is the audience? Why the particular subject? Asking questions leads to getting answers and the more answers you have about your picture, the easier it is to refine it.

Refine: You now have a pretty good idea of what the picture is about. Now is the time to do that more. "Is this picture about the knife on the branch, or the branch itself?" Maybe it's about the whole tree. Who knows? Only you. Whatever its about, emphasize that to the exclusion of all other unnecessary distractions.

Take: Take the picture. Phone, DSLR, one of those big wood things with the built-in cape - whatever you will. This is the easiest step of all. The equipment need not be expensive or complex, you just need to know its limitations and work with them. If you've done the previous steps, taking the picture is cake.

That's what I think is the important part of my process in a nutshell. It's fun playing around with all the technical stuff about photography, and post processing and all that, but it won't fix a picture that was taken without intention.

Hope some of that helps!
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Thanks for the tips, Will, very detailed and helpful. I agree, light is the most important factor. There are a lot of great photographers on the Guardians thread. I specifically mentioned David's echoscout echoscout because he seems to be able to consistently get the handle colors of his FC lambfoot to really pop. I have been having a very difficult time getting mine to be anywhere close. I have tried all kinds of light and backgrounds, but, still cannot get the colors to show properly.
And a couple of pics in two different lights. Not too unhappy with these.

RIMG3572.JPGRIMG3573.JPG
 
danno50 said:
Thanks for the tips, Will, very detailed and helpful. I agree, light is the most important factor. There are a lot of great photographers on the Guardians thread. I specifically mentioned David's echoscout echoscout because he seems to be able to consistently get the handle colors of his FC lambfoot to really pop. I have been having a very difficult time getting mine to be anywhere close. I have tried all kinds of light and backgrounds, but, still cannot get the colors to show properly.
And a couple of pics in two different lights. Not too unhappy with these.

View attachment 2827995View attachment 2827996
Click to expand...

To me, the colors look closer in the top picture and a bit washed out in the one below. What kind of device are you using to take your pics and are you doing any post-processing or uploading the picture straight out of the device?
 
birdsbeaks said:
To me, the colors look closer in the top picture and a bit washed out in the one below. What kind of device are you using to take your pics and are you doing any post-processing or uploading the picture straight out of the device?
Click to expand...
I am using a Ricoh WG-4 point and shoot digital camera. I am posting from a 2011 iMac and just use the photo editing software that is on the computer. I mostly use the exposure, shadow and contrast adjustments. Looking at the knife in hand, both of the pics are a bit washed out, I probably overused the shadow adjustment.
Here are the pics as they came off my camera. They have been cropped, but, not adjusted in any other way.

RIMG3571.JPGRIMG3573 2.JPG
 
Funny, I can highlight text but I can't quote it.
Just wanted to say that the Marie Sharp's habanero sauce should kill a few cooties.

Old Toffee Wings with my Republic of Ireland Second. Maybe I assumed it was a Peterson, or maybe Mr. Edwards told me it was.
KOTNfnc.jpg
 
Jack Black said:
Thanks for the kind words Guardians. There have been a lot of strange bugs going round the past few years. As I no longer have skool-age children, and work from home, I've missed all of them until now, but I've had a busy week, and been in contact with a lot of people. Sweating it out with a spicy Jamaica patty and some Marie Sharp's 😉

View attachment 2827807
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Hope that you wake up tomorrow feeling right as rain again Jack! Spicy food is always my go-to when I don't feel well. But that may be my NM/Tex-Mex upbringing lol! In any case hope you find the sauce to be a nice "enhancer".

Have a great finish to your weekend, Guardians!
 
danno50 said:
I am using a Ricoh WG-4 point and shoot digital camera. I am posting from a 2011 iMac and just use the photo editing software that is on the computer. I mostly use the exposure, shadow and contrast adjustments. Looking at the knife in hand, both of the pics are a bit washed out, I probably overused the shadow adjustment.
Here are the pics as they came off my camera. They have been cropped, but, not adjusted in any other way.

View attachment 2828039View attachment 2828040
Click to expand...

I take a very conservative approach to exposure, often preferring slightly underexposed to overexposed as it gives me more color and shadow to play around with when I'm adjusting the saturation or color curves directly. The chestnut color of this particular knife can be tricky as too much saturation produces unnaturally or artificially vibrant reds.

If you have a "highlights" slider, try bringing that up to compensate for the reduced exposure and emphasize the lighter, brighter tones in the bone. Also, while I'm usually trying for deeper, darker shadows, it can be interesting at times to brighten up the shadows and see how it changes the color of the bone. I'll take rich, creamy bone to black shadows any day.

One more thought - yellow is a rough background color if you're shooting for vibrancy. Yellow light has the interesting effect of sapping color. Fill a room with nothing but yellow lights and you can't see any color - everything in the room will appear monochromatic. To a lesser extent, the yellow light reflected from your background is sapping a lot of the vibrancy from the available palette. Using a darker, neutral, and cooler background may assist in getting the light and bright features of the bone to "pop."

I'd love to continue the conversation, but I'm afraid I'm boring the Guardians to tears for the second time this week! First with punk rock and now photographic theory - if you'd like to continue investigating this, please don't hesitate to shoot me a DM!

PaXPFtw.jpeg


fN3plMD.jpeg
 
danno50 said:
I am using a Ricoh WG-4 point and shoot digital camera. I am posting from a 2011 iMac and just use the photo editing software that is on the computer. I mostly use the exposure, shadow and contrast adjustments. Looking at the knife in hand, both of the pics are a bit washed out, I probably overused the shadow adjustment.
Here are the pics as they came off my camera. They have been cropped, but, not adjusted in any other way.

View attachment 2828039View attachment 2828040
Click to expand...


I find the FC Lamb is very prone to changing it's look when shot different light.
 
birdsbeaks said:
I take a very conservative approach to exposure, often preferring slightly underexposed to overexposed as it gives me more color and shadow to play around with when I'm adjusting the saturation or color curves directly. The chestnut color of this particular knife can be tricky as too much saturation produces unnaturally or artificially vibrant reds.

If you have a "highlights" slider, try bringing that up to compensate for the reduced exposure and emphasize the lighter, brighter tones in the bone. Also, while I'm usually trying for deeper, darker shadows, it can be interesting at times to brighten up the shadows and see how it changes the color of the bone. I'll take rich, creamy bone to black shadows any day.

One more thought - yellow is a rough background color if you're shooting for vibrancy. Yellow light has the interesting effect of sapping color. Fill a room with nothing but yellow lights and you can't see any color - everything in the room will appear monochromatic. To a lesser extent, the yellow light reflected from your background is sapping a lot of the vibrancy from the available palette. Using a darker, neutral, and cooler background may assist in getting the light and bright features of the bone to "pop."

I'd love to continue the conversation, but I'm afraid I'm boring the Guardians to tears for the second time this week! First with punk rock and now photographic theory - if you'd like to continue investigating this, please don't hesitate to shoot me a DM!

PaXPFtw.jpeg


fN3plMD.jpeg
Click to expand...
Love the wood on the Taylor's. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
Jack Black said:
We are heading out of Leeds, through the Harewood Estate, onto Bolton Abbey, stopping at an incredibly old pub, the Craven Arms, at a place called Appletreewick. On, through a series of villages, to stop at a place called Grassington for lunch. A visit to the local falls, then on across the Yorkshire Dales to a market town called Hawes, where I shall aim to buy Matt and Wolfie flat-capd. Next, to another old pub, used in one of those films about little men with big feet, I'm not fond of. Driving on through the scenic Buttertubs Pass, to our destination for the night, England's highest pub, The Tan Hill Inn.
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Sounds like a good time, Jack! Hope all goes well and the weather is good! :thumbsup:

“Buttertubs” sounds like a nickname for a Leeds market regular. 😁

Jakeywax31 said:
Eating at the only authentic Mexican place I have found while being up north.
View attachment 2827074
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Looks delicious! 😋

Jack Black said:
Good morning Guardians, I hope everyone is having an enjoyable weekend. Shortly after I posted last night night, I realised that I fell very cold, but was also burning up, and figured I'd come down with flu. I felt dreadful, so took some paracetamol, and went to bed. Today, I feel really sleepy and knocked-out, but my temperature is gone, and I don't have any other flu-like symptoms. I don't know what it was. I did have some nausea, and an unsettled stomach, so I'm wondering if it could have been food-poisoning? Lots of bugs going round here, so who knows! Whatever it is, I'm taking it easy today, and might even cancel my work meeting tonight. Have a great Sunday Guardians 👍
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Oh no! Hope you’re feeling better soon, Jack.

SteveC said:
I find the FC Lamb is very prone to changing it's look when shot different light.
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I have a few knives that are like that.
 
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