Not everything is as an image appears.......

[Rita]

This appears to be an image of an old phonograph but it is actually an image of a pencil sharpener.

The lighting of the subject was from daylight coming in through a patio door which was behind me. I did use a bit of fill flash though. I left the small marks on the subject as I felt that it was the way it was. With the exception of minor touching up there wasn't a whole lot of PP done. Oh, I did add a photo filter to the whole image.

Still life is something I have started playing with lately and I am kind of fumbling my way through. So, feel free to critique all you want.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, just needs a little dog to add authenticity.

[Steaphany]

Not just any Dog, you need Nipper

( Yes, that is the official RCA name of the Dog )

[Rita]

Thanks for commenting John and Steaphany. It would have been fun to add Nipper but, unfortunately, I don't have a dog and all the images online of Nipper are copyright. How dare they copyright Nipper

[Steaphany]

Your lucky they didn't claim a trademark on that breed of Dog

[Dave A]

That's a well done image....had me going for a second there.

Dave

[Loose Canon]

Very nice Rita!

Love the patina and you nailed that.

Some of the upper BG and highlighting on the Victrola sharpener is verging on blown. Not necessarily a huge biggie, but either way a bit of toning them and a little vignette here I think might be good. Not necessarily a good thing having the BG going to brighter as it leaves the frame.

While a photo of Nipper might be copyrighted and not usable here, a statue of the pup would be cool to shoot for personal as long as you don’t go commercial and try to sell it.

Cool subject! I’ve heard these plenty in my lifetime and looking at this shot I’m digging hearing (in my head) an original direct cut vinyl at 78 rpm! And some cool jazz!

[Rita]

Your lucky they didn't claim a trademark on that breed of Dog

Good one

[Rita]

Thanks for commenting Dave. But really, it is a pencil sharpener.

[JBW]

Love it. I am hinting to SWMBO that lots of little things for Christmas that i could photograph would be neat.

[Rita]

Thank you very much Terry. Thanks for pointing out the brightness. It's funny how sometimes I miss the obvious, I never even thought of putting a vignette on this one but I will do that.

When I was a kid we had an old gramaphone (I think that's what it was called) that had a crank on the side and played records that were 1.4" thick. I still remember having to run across the living room to crank the handle when the music would slow down.

[Rita]

Thanks Brian. I know I had a lot of fun doing this one, even though it turned out to be somewhat more difficult than I thought it would be. Needless to say this afternoon I was looking for some more things to play with

[IzzieK]

Needless to say this afternoon I was looking for some more things to play with

Why? Is it already winter on your side of the world?

Moving on...I like the overall colour effect you put there, Rita, I love the composition very much...!! Although I have not seen one of this growing up, I have seen pictures of them...so I cannot contribute much here..

[davidedric]

Very nicely done.

Did you folks over the pond know that Nipper was an English dog? The original label was HMV (still exists as a brand) and stood for His Master's Voice. Awwwww.

Dave

[Wavelength]

That is fine

[Rita]

Thanks Izzie. Not really winter but we have had a lot of rain lately so staying inside more than usual

[Rita]

Hi Dave. Thanks for commenting. I did know the part of 'His Maste's Voice" but I did not know
that Nipper was an English dog.

[Mike Buckley]

A man who made millions buying and selling collectibles about a mile from where I live used to have an outdoor display of Nipper and the Grammaphone that was about 20 feet tall. I was told that he bought it for $1 so long that he hauled it away from the seller.

How tall is your pencil sharpener? Is the crank used to sharpen the pencil? Where does one insert the pencil?

I really like the concept of the tabletop and background, though there are some vertical lines in the tabletop to the left of the subject that appear to be the results of post-processing. Notice that the lighting is so even that the three-dimensional look is lacking. Try lighting it so the shape of the curves is more apparent and so the left side at the base is a bit darker or brighter than the front side. Doing so will make the subject appear more three-dimensional.

[xpatUSA]

When I was a kid we had an old gramaphone (I think that's what it was called) that had a crank on the side and played records that were 1.4" thick. I still remember having to run across the living room to crank the handle when the music would slow down.

Me too.

Our records were quite a bit thinner than yours (gentle dig, no offense intended)

It's "gramophone", BTW. Pardon my pedantry

Love the image and agree with others that a vignette would do it justice. Perhaps crop it square and put a vertical oval vignette.

[Kris V]

When I was a kid we had an old gramaphone (I think that's what it was called) that had a crank on the side and played records that were 1.4" thick. I still remember having to run across the living room to crank the handle when the music would slow down.

We did too - my brother still has the one that used to belong to my grand mother. It plays 78's, but needs to be cranked up about halfway. And it sounds awful!