A Pipe Photography Tip

[WCannoy]

Consider these two images of the same pipe shot at the same angle. The first was shot with the camera close to the pipe and the lens zoomed out to 6mm. The second was shot with the camera set back away from the pipe and the lens zoomed in to 60mm (If I had a longer lens, I'd certainly use it!)
The first image shows a more distorted view of the pipe. It looks like the top of the bowl is flared out and tapers down to the bottom. The shank appears longer than it actually is, and the stem looks like it is on crooked.
The second image is much more representative of what the true shape of the pipe would look like if you were holding it in your hand in person. The walls of the bowl are straight up and down, the proportion of the shank is true to the actual product, and the stem does not look wonky!

If your camera has a zoom lens, move it back, away from the pipe, and then zoom in to avoid distorting the shape of the pipe in the image!

(PS: Please disregard all the dust on the surfaces in the photos. I just set these pics up as a quick demonstration and did not bother to clean... )

[d.huber]

Excellent illustration! Thanks, Walt!

[taharris]

Excellent illustration! Thanks, Walt!

+1

Todd

[caskwith]

Good tip. Another, as long as your camera can shoot at a high enough resolution, is to shoot a little farther out and then crop in, helps with depth of field problems.

[WCannoy]

Jut seems to me that with all the very specific critique concerning lines, shapes, and proportions given on this board, it would be in the best interest of those posting their work for critique to represent the shape as accurately as possible.

You don't want to go fixing something that isn't messed up!

[WCannoy]

Good tip. Another, as long as your camera can shoot at a high enough resolution, is to shoot a little farther out and then crop in, helps with depth of field problems.

Yep, if you don't have a long lens, this will achieve the same result. If your camera is capable of manual settings, take some time to do a little research and prime yourself on, at least, shutter speed and f-stop, and how these affect your photos. Experiment on different settings. You've invested so much time and resources in making your pipes, don't you think it would be a good idea to invest a little time in learning how to represent them well in photos?

[DMI]

Where you have pulled back and changed angle, you can see more of the area for marking in one shot for example, it has changed the lighting which your camera reads differently and changes the aperture (f) and exposure giving a different effect.

Using a hard shiny surface as the background will cause problems as the light is not reflected evenly, you will get 'hot spots' which will throw the camera's light meter off.

David.

[WCannoy]

Where you have pulled back and changed angle, you can see more of the area for marking in one shot for example, it has changed the lighting which your camera reads differently and changes the aperture (f) and exposure giving a different effect.

Using a hard shiny surface as the background will cause problems as the light is not reflected evenly, you will get 'hot spots' which will throw the camera's light meter off.

The point of this illustration is more about how focal length and perspective in photos can have a negative influence on the critique of lines and shapes in this forum. The camera angle did not change between the two photos, but the angles from which the lens "sees" different parts of the pipe changes. That is the rub. The closer you are to the object, the more radical the difference in these angles. As you pull back, the lens sees starts to see every part of the object from something closer and closer to the same angle. This also applies to the reflection of the white background on the surface, accounting for the lighting difference, as no lighting was changed and both shots were taken in manual at f4.3, 1/2 sec., ISO 80.

[Cory]

Very neat. Well explained. Thanks!

[caskwith]

Since we are talking about pipe photography what about f-stop settings? I have a lens which goes down to F32 which is lovely as I can get a whole pipes in focus at close range, but I lose detail due to diffraction. Shooting at lower numbers means less of the pipe is in focus but the detail is better. So what do others use?

[WCannoy]

Since we are talking about pipe photography what about f-stop settings? I have a lens which goes down to F32 which is lovely as I can get a whole pipes in focus at close range, but I lose detail due to diffraction.
(snip)
So what do others use?

PS CS6 - Smart Sharpen...

No, I kid...
Yeah, I don't think there's a good answer here. It's a trade off. Do you want a broader DOF, or do you want crisp details? Or do you want to buy a better lens? (Which will only help so much if any)

If you want to put a little more post work into it, you can do some focus stacking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_stacking

Maybe you should shoot the basic profile, top and bottom angles at f32, then stop-up for closeups at other angles? I don't really know. Personally, I've found that my current lens (Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR) is pretty acceptable down to about f14 for shooting pipes, but I'm also impatient and my white-trash lighting rig puts the exposure around 13s. Who wants to hold their breath that long??? (Nah, I've got a tripod...)

Before I stopped making pipes in 2006, I only had an average layman's knowledge of photography and was taking crappy pipe photos with an HP point & shoot. In the years after that, I became more and more involved in photography to the point where I actually knew what I was doing and had some decent gear

But I have since sold my gear and strayed from the path of the photographer.

When I started making pipes again, all I had was a Canon PowerShot point & shoot. Now, as point & shoots go, it's a great camera with an above average lens, capable of manual settings. It's what I shot the two photos at the start of this thread with. I managed to pick up a used Nikon D60 with the afore mentioned kit lens for a song a few weeks ago, but the battery was charging when I wanted to shoot those photos.

Point being (OMG, finally!), I've been concentrating more on making pipes, and not so much on photographing them. Aside from the tip that started this thread, I've put very little thought into photographing pipes. I need to work on this... I need to get a good pipe photography workflow going on!

Sorry for building up to an anticlimactic ending.

[caskwith]

Yeah it's a pretty difficult subject really. Make sure you update us as you go along!

I have a Canon 30D with 3 good lenses including a real macro lens. I can get really great shots with the macro lens, so good they don't even need editing, only problem is I can't get the whole pipe in the frame without being so far away that I lose all the detail. My compromise is to use a tamron af 17-50mm f2.8 xr as I can get the whole pipe in shot but still be close enough for good detail.

After your post last night I had a bit of a trial, I did the same shots at f32, f16 and f8. The f8 gave me the best detail but it did mean most of the pipe would be out of focus if it wasn't parallel to the lens. I think I might just have to adjust the f stop depending on the angle I am shooting.

[Leus]

Yeah, at the end you just need a ghetto lightbox (white canvas using some form of frame, I've used wire hangers for it), a lot of light (el cheapo home depot "construction" lights come to mind), a tripod and a good enough camera. White balance can be done in-camera in most cameras, and if it is not possible, a free photo manipulation program can also do it for you.

I'm not really good at photography, but I managed to take this with the above setup.

[WCannoy]

Yeah, at the end you just need a ghetto lightbox (white canvas using some form of frame, I've used wire hangers for it), a lot of light (el cheapo home depot "construction" lights come to mind)

I use indirect sunlight (coming through the window) for directional lighting, then bounce it off of a piece of white card stock folded in half as a reflector for fill...

[Leus]

I use indirect sunlight (coming through the window) for directional lighting, then bounce it off of a piece of white card stock folded in half as a reflector for fill...

Hah, that's what I end up doing most of the time. I wish I had a permanent place to put a lightbox, thought.

[WCannoy]

Here's how the pros do it:

http://youtu.be/-fDVdUecGA0

[oklahoma red]

I have several digital cameras but my favorite for taking pipe pics is a Pentax K5 with their 40mm "pancake" lens. I have their 100mm macro lens but I don't use it much for the reasons Chris mentioned. I'm not fond of light boxes or tents as I feel they are restrictive and a pain to work with. Just my personal preference. I have a table set up so that I can easily change backgrounds if desired. Mostly shoot on white.
For lights I have a pair of Alien Bees 320 watt/sec. strobes with 22 inch white beauty dishes and diffusion socks. I use a direct-light blocker so that all the light is bounced out of the dishes. The end result is a very soft light. Exposure-wise I set at ISO 100 or 200 and use 1/60 or 1/125 at f22 with a 2 second delay timer. I use the RAW format then run everything thru PhotoShop to crop and clean up then convert to JPG. PhotoShop is massive and I've barely scratched the surface on what it can do. I need to take a class.
I'm certainly no expert at product photography but I'm pleased with the results I've gotten and I credit Carsten Fischer for helping me wade thru it all. There is a pretty steep learning curve especially with all the bells and whistles today's digital camera have built in.
As someone here mentioned there is a fine line you have to walk so that you don't get obsessed with the photography side and let the making skills fall to the wayside.
But I'm convinced that good pictures help sell the product. So does Smokingpipes.com when you look at what they have invested.
Chas.

[andrew]

I use indirect sunlight (coming through the window) for directional lighting, then bounce it off of a piece of white card stock folded in half as a reflector for fill...

Hah, that's what I end up doing most of the time. I wish I had a permanent place to put a lightbox, thought.

You would laugh if you saw my light box. I made it from one of those big plastic storage tubs with the clip on lids. When I'm done with it all the lights go inside and it all snaps shut. Very stackable .