Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

Artisans share their Teaware Art.


User avatar
Oct 18th, '09, 14:37
Posts: 1796
Joined: Sep 15th, '09, 16:11
Location: Wilton, New Hampshire USA
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by JBaymore » Oct 18th, '09, 14:37

Geekgirl,

Best of luck on the new venture.

best,

................john

User avatar
Oct 18th, '09, 15:14
Posts: 2625
Joined: May 31st, '08, 02:44
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Portland, OR
Contact: Geekgirl

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by Geekgirl » Oct 18th, '09, 15:14

Thanks so much for the encouragement! I'm also thinking it's time to take a few classes, to push things along to the next level. At this point, I still feel like most of my good photos are happy accidents, and I'd like to have a little more control and repeatable results.

Also, it would be lovely to get back into film, just for the experience and the reality check. I love digital, but sometimes I fear it's too easy to become artistically lazy - taking 100s of thoughtless shots on the chance that one or two will be "good." There's something to be said for a fully manual film camera with a fixed 50mm lens (or 35mm!) and no "chimping."

Film: Superia
Camera: Minolta SRT-101
Lens: Rokkor 50mm 1.4
Settings: No idea. No EXIF with film. HA!

Image

Wait! No tea in this photo? Nah. Louie is French. He prefers wine.

User avatar
Oct 29th, '09, 14:04
Posts: 2625
Joined: May 31st, '08, 02:44
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Portland, OR
Contact: Geekgirl

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by Geekgirl » Oct 29th, '09, 14:04

One of my favorite cups from the wonderful Fred Parker Pottery:


are you willing to wait for the miracle
Image

I feel like this photo would be better with an old-timey fade and texture. Hmmm... experimentation is good for the soul.
Last edited by Geekgirl on Oct 29th, '09, 14:33, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Oct 29th, '09, 14:20
Posts: 1796
Joined: Sep 15th, '09, 16:11
Location: Wilton, New Hampshire USA
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by JBaymore » Oct 29th, '09, 14:20

Your use of depth-of-field generally is wonderful.

best,

............john

User avatar
Oct 29th, '09, 14:32
Posts: 2625
Joined: May 31st, '08, 02:44
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Portland, OR
Contact: Geekgirl

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by Geekgirl » Oct 29th, '09, 14:32

Thanks John! I've got scads of shots where it's set wide-open, and I find myself wondering where the heck the in-focus point is. Ha! This was shot at f2.8

User avatar
Oct 30th, '09, 00:10
Posts: 129
Joined: Jul 24th, '09, 06:23
Location: In front of one kiln or other
Contact: Littlepig2

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by Littlepig2 » Oct 30th, '09, 00:10

Geekgirl wrote:Thanks John! I've got scads of shots where it's set wide-open, and I find myself wondering where the heck the in-focus point is. Ha! This was shot at f2.8
Ah! You are in many ways my teacher.

User avatar
Oct 30th, '09, 00:39
Posts: 2625
Joined: May 31st, '08, 02:44
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Portland, OR
Contact: Geekgirl

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by Geekgirl » Oct 30th, '09, 00:39

Another Parker cup, this time with a more "useful" aperture: F7.1

Image

More detail of the cup is retained, although the dreamy fuzzy background isn't there anymore. Still, nice bokeh is possible with a smaller aperture and more depth of field.

On another note, isn't the cup wonderful? Completely unglazed, this clay is produced from a collection of scraps of different kinds, then carefully rehydrated, wedged(?), and turned into this cup to maintain the striated look. Truly one of a kind!

User avatar
Oct 30th, '09, 00:57
Posts: 20891
Joined: Apr 22nd, '06, 20:52
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by Chip » Oct 30th, '09, 00:57

Beautiful photos as always, Geek. And so full of ... mood?

User avatar
Oct 30th, '09, 00:59
Posts: 2625
Joined: May 31st, '08, 02:44
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Portland, OR
Contact: Geekgirl

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by Geekgirl » Oct 30th, '09, 00:59

Mostly a change of light. Fall has arrived with a vengeance. But I do have to say that these cups make me feel somewhat contemplative.

User avatar
Oct 30th, '09, 08:47
Posts: 47
Joined: Oct 26th, '09, 09:27
Location: village of Haydenville, Massachusetts

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by lucienkoonce » Oct 30th, '09, 08:47

hi geekgirl...thanks for your comment on my work. the crackle shino piece was a test to see what kind of crackle i could get. judith duff(brevard, nc) has a great crackle shino...check her website out sometime, she has awesome chawans www.judithduff.com i shoot my work and have used, in the past, tungsten light when i was shooting slide film, and daylight now that i have switched to digital (nikon d-40). but i am interested in switching over to fluorescent lighting. do you have any experience photographing ceramic pieces with cf? ~lucien

User avatar
Oct 30th, '09, 16:17
Posts: 2625
Joined: May 31st, '08, 02:44
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Portland, OR
Contact: Geekgirl

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by Geekgirl » Oct 30th, '09, 16:17

Fluorescent is probably the easiest way to get straight "product" shots. It's very easy to control, color corrected, doesn't create harsh shadows, and you can use simple white boards for fill light. Plus it doesn't get hot, and you can easily break it down and store it.

If you really want to get fancy, you can get a one piece molded background "studio," that makes it very easy to showcase your ceramics. You won't get much mood out of the shots, but it's virtually foolproof for shots that you mean to post on vendor sites.

This is shot with fl. lighting and a molded light cube:

It's right behind you!!!
Image

User avatar
Oct 30th, '09, 22:36
Posts: 47
Joined: Oct 26th, '09, 09:27
Location: village of Haydenville, Massachusetts

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by lucienkoonce » Oct 30th, '09, 22:36

when i set up and photo my ceamics, esp. the tea bowls, i use a tent and have a graduated backdrop, white to jet black, as background. i have a reflector on either side, with barn doors, and a 500 w daylight bulb in each. as a fill in light, i have a reflector shining on the backside with a 250 watt bulb. in looking at fluorescent lighting, i could not find a recommendation for suggested wattage amount. i noticed that some reflectors utilized one or three bulbs, and some went to as much as eight or nine bulbs in a single fixture. what is your perspective as to the amount of needed wattage? i know that the camera settings can be set to accomodate what available light there is, but with the daylight bulbs, as bright as they are, i tend to shoot (digital) with the lowest noise seting and smallest aperature setting in order to get the most depth of field. even with the daylight bulbs, as bright as they are, i don't believe i get the back rim of tea bowls, etc, totally in focus.

User avatar
Oct 31st, '09, 01:10
Posts: 2625
Joined: May 31st, '08, 02:44
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Portland, OR
Contact: Geekgirl

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by Geekgirl » Oct 31st, '09, 01:10

What focal length are you using? If you have to zoom in, you will (usually) need more light and have less DOF, as opposed to using a wider angle, getting a little closer and stopping down a touch.

I have no idea of the wattage, but your dark background is probably absorbing some of the available light in your set-up. I would imagine that you can create some of the graduated background by repositioning your lights and taking advantage of the slight light fall-off.

TBH, my lighting is not nearly as complicated as what you are describing. There are some really good suggestions though, in the Pro-Lighting series edition: Food Shots. Some of it is beyond my ability and the equipment I currently have available, but I'm getting ready to dive into more complicated lighting scenarios.

User avatar
Nov 2nd, '09, 19:45
Posts: 47
Joined: Oct 26th, '09, 09:27
Location: village of Haydenville, Massachusetts

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by lucienkoonce » Nov 2nd, '09, 19:45

thanks for all of this insightful information on photographing work. ~lucien

User avatar
Nov 21st, '09, 16:11
Posts: 2625
Joined: May 31st, '08, 02:44
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Portland, OR
Contact: Geekgirl

Re: Geekgirl Photo: The Art of Tea

by Geekgirl » Nov 21st, '09, 16:11

I probably should be working more on learning all the bells and whistles of my NEW CAMERA!!! (there should be a little smiley who jumps up and down!) instead I had asked my niece to work on developing a nice watermark for my stuff. Heh.

Anyways, I'm using my new little sansai cup today. It's such nice size and shape, and to think, I almost passed this one up. The horror!

snowberry and sansai
Image

+ Post Reply