Getting Accurate Photos of Subtle Figure

[t-bone2112]

Whether it's here in the Epiphone forum or the Other Single Cuts, Historics, or other Gibson Les Paul forums, I see so many great photos of Les Pauls with subtle flame/figuring where it actually is visible in the photo. But I cannot get anywhere near an accurate photo of mine.

It's a 2002 MIJ Elite, I'm sure it was sold as a Plaintop, but the figuring and mineral streaks are there for sure. Every time I open the case, I'm blown away by the figure on it. Yes, certainly it isn't super flamey by any stretch of the imagination, but it is there, believe me.

I've taken photos with my iPhone, with my Lumix camera (which I get amazing vacation photos from, BTW), but I just cannot get a photo of what it actually looks like. Even outside in the sunlight (those are the least accurate of it's color actually).

The first photo is the closest, but not great.

Ideas?

 

[smk506]

Good question, my pics don’t tend to turn out well most of the time. Every once in a while I’ll get lucky, but I sure could use some pointers too.

 

[mgenet]

Bounce flash works real well with a dark back-gound.

Just make sure your bounce is not reflecting a wall or
ceiling that is in a color other than white.

 

[NightShift88]

Experiment with different lighting and angles. This is my ‘02 Les Paul Standard, sometimes it looks pretty plain, but in other lighting situations and/or angles the top really pops.

 

[D33J]

Just try everything. Avoid sterile lighting like fluorescents. I've has luck with dimmer lighting and using the night mode on the phone camera..

 

[omm]

An external flash at 45 degrees to the top should do it.

 

[ReWind James]

Play with the angle of the lighting, the subject, and the camera.

Move all three around until you get something that brings out what you want.

 

[DrBGood]

Photoshop greatly helps

Same guitar

Before and after polishing

Detailed

 

[jaqueh]

your white balance on the non-iphone camera looks very off. never use sterile room lighting and opt for a nicely naturally lit room. your photos are either sterile lit room or outside in the sunlight which is overexposed. Nothing inbetween.

 

[moreles]

These are all good suggestions. I would emphasize the importance of trying different backgrounds, from dark through middle toned, to light, as the eye perceives everything it sees relative to other areas of the visual field. Light and dark relationships are more impactful than color, but you might explore different color backgrounds as well. I'll spare you the explanation of why this stuff is important, but it really is. Finally, no camera will "see" a top the way we do with our binocular vision and our moving point of view. We can see a top shift as our head and eyes make teeny movements. It's great that we can still oud-do our robot masters for at least a few more months...

 

[DrBGood]

These are all good suggestions. I would emphasize the importance of trying different backgrounds, from dark through middle toned, to light, as the eye perceives everything it sees relative to other areas of the visual field. Light and dark relationships are more impactful than color, but you might explore different color backgrounds as well. I'll spare you the explanation of why this stuff is important, but it really is. Finally, no camera will "see" a top the way we do with our binocular vision and our moving point of view. We can see a top shift as our head and eyes make teeny movements. It's great that we can still oud-do our robot masters for at least a few more months...

I would add that a camera is not smart, (neither is a smart phone). It makes an average exposure of what it sees. If background is too bright, it'll tone it down, but the forefront object will also be darkened. Same for the reverse, black background, camera wants to brighten the scene, thus over exposing the forefront subject.

I don't know if a phone will do that, but with a camera, you can take the reading on the subject (guitar top), lock that, zoom back and take the photo. Better, if you have a grey card, use that as your reference point (you might have to look up what is a grey card ...).

So, you basically have to trick the camera into thinking like what you're aiming for.