Photos

You're right....those are bad bass pics!

You're not alone, Doc. I can't take a decent pic of a bass to save my life. I even went out and spent a ton of money on an expensive camera, thinking that would solve my problems. Nope. Still took bad pics.

wow, those are some of the worst pics i've ever seen short of cellphone pics, it's really quite impressive

One of my favorite "compliments":

"Wow, that camera takes great pictures!"

My reply:

"It takes real bad ones too!"

El-Bob said:

... wow, those are some of the worst pics i've ever seen short of cellphone pics ...

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Hmmmmm ... you'd probably do better with a cellphone.

That said, the basses are so nice, you get a pass. (That G&L is smokin'!)

Doc,

Direct sunlight or using a flash is a no no. The best time to take bass pics is at dawn or on an overcast day. Frame your shots with some space around the subject and your veiwfinder, then crop and center them using a photo processing program. Also, take separate pics of the headstock and body as well as some full shots. I'll be glad crop and enhance pics for you if you Email them to me..............but the bottom of the body and the headstock needs to be in the photo

IotaNet said:

Hmmmmm ... you'd probably do better with a cellphone.

That said, the basses are so nice, you get a pass. (That G&L is smokin'!)

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yeah, i guess you're right

We should do a thread on the various methods for shooting good bass porn.

I've shot some decent pictures of one or two basses, but not much luck with group shots.

Nice G&L, Cheese!

I found not using a flash makes the pics look better..are at least it seems that way when I take pics of my bass..

Ahhh the old my camera takes good pictures but I don't question.

First let me say I take a LOT of pictures ... virtually all of the pictures on my Ebay listings, and as a discalimer none of the examples I'm gonna show here are for sale ...

Direct sunlight is a real NO NO it washes out the color, I know that seems opposite of what it should be but it's just a fact. Yes use some over cast if you want to shoot outside, those days with high cirrus clouds (not the low dark ones) are the best, it's like using a professional bounce light.

Bass pic number one is just that, my old YAMAHA shot on just such a day ... point two use a netural background, I use that willow tree all the time, brick walls work too. Keep ANY distractions out of the picture (your kids sponge Bob toy should not be in the picture)

Picture two is a casual shot using side lighting ... it can be done under an awning or in this case right next to a window.
This is an old tecnique and it gives nice natural texture, you see this used a lot with models (the human kind).

Last is a commercial type shot, as I use in a listing ... no artsy stuff here, I just want my shot to jump out at you.
This is done using full blown studio lighting, a combination of a bounce light fired backwards into an umbrella and two spots used to add more natural color and diffuse the shadows plus flash. The intense brightness comes from a special paper background that reflects light and a photo shop whiteness corrector.

The first two shots were hand held the last on a tripod.







And to answer a question I get asked alot YES I do the model shots too ... this one was shot just under a porch to get the soft lighting.



... I use her all the time in my Ebay listings ... and get a fair number of positive comments on her.

...and if you're fortunate enough to have a commercial photographer buddy who owes you a favor, you get shots like this (hard to do without a studio and multiple strobes):

kenny, love your pics and objects inside too....

Kenny,

I love that Yamaha!! I need one of those and an old SBV!!!!

IMHO, you really have to know what you're doing to use lights or flash. In my experience ANY lighting must go through a difuser and not direct. I take pics of knives almost every day. Like a bass, they have shiney parts on them and any direct lighting or sunlight causes glare and reflections. For knives, I use a lightbox. Unfortunately my basses won't fit inside it To get the images I want, I use less light but with a longer exposure time. My knife shots and some bass pics are shot at 1-20 second exposures. Another plus to doing it this way is increased depth of focus, everything in the pic ends up very clear and sharp.

Here's a few bass pics where I tried to mimick the lightbox conditions. I used two photo lights, not a flash, going through difusers. My goal with shiney obejects is to get a soft shine but not glare, if that makes sense.. Notice, no full shots I can't tie up my workplace with a lightbox large enough for bass pics





A gratuitus knife pic. The lightbox allows me to have total control of difused lighting. You can get similar control and results using photographic defusers and and lighting. A cheaper way out is buying flourescent lighting difuser and work lights at Home Depot



If I shoot basses outdoors, it MUST be very early in the morning or overcast, if not, I don't bother.

Knife Maker is correct about the diffused light ... even my listing shots bright as they are use light from many angles 3 and sometimes 4 angles. I had considered the multi strobe lighting but I like the light tree I use and sometimes a little assist flash from the camaras onboard flash.

Here is a shot using diffused side light ... just from the light coming through a glass door ... and again as Knife Maker states a relativly long exposure in this case a shutter speed of 30 and a 2.2 lens apature. Which brings me to the next thing you need to really do it right ... a tripod, they don't need to be expensive a $20.00 one from Wally World will do fine. WHY because most digi cams have a short lag from when you press the shutter until it actually takes the picture (you can't hold that steady).

Most cameras today do all of the work for you as far as the shutter speed and apature but even so when you turn the flash off it calulates a slow speed to get the shot ... use a tripod!

Another nifty (and free service) is at www.photobucket.com that is how you see all of the big nice pictures here on TB your photo bucket album stores the photo and you link to it from the TB "advanced" console ... saves TB bandwidth.




... I wanna see more Bass Porn ... go take some pictures!

FL Knifemaker said:

IMHO, you really have to know what you're doing to use lights or flash. In my experience ANY lighting must go through a difuser and not direct. I take pics of knives almost every day. Like a bass, they have shiney parts on them and any direct lighting or sunlight causes glare and reflections. For knives, I use a lightbox. Unfortunately my basses won't fit inside it To get the images I want, I use less light but with a longer exposure time. My knife shots and some bass pics are shot at 1-20 second exposures. Another plus to doing it this way is increased depth of focus, everything in the pic ends up very clear and sharp.

Here's a few bass pics where I tried to mimick the lightbox conditions. I used two photo lights, not a flash, going through difusers. My goal with shiney obejects is to get a soft shine but not glare, if that makes sense.. Notice, no full shots I can't tie up my workplace with a lightbox large enough for bass pics

A gratuitus knife pic. The lightbox allows me to have total control of difused lighting. You can get similar control and results using photographic defusers and and lighting. A cheaper way out is buying flourescent lighting difuser and work lights at Home Depot

If I shoot basses outdoors, it MUST be very early in the morning or overcast, if not, I don't bother.

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what is that bass on the bottom?