Guitar -- Gibson Les Paul Custom Maple CLOSE-UPS

[Mike Buckley]

A single photo displaying the entire guitar along with an explanation of its history can be found in my first thread. The photos displayed below are my close-up images of the same guitar.

I recognize that the last photo doesn't fit well with any of the other photos. I'm displaying it only because it was fun to make and because the outcome was reasonably successful.

Please click an image to examine the details of all of them at a larger size in the Lytebox.

Photo 1 Setup
The background is black velvet. A small continuous-light lamp immediately below the camera lights the subject. A medium continuous-light lamp on the right side of the subject lights the three strings on that side. A white reflector above the subject brightens the top edge of the subject and the name, Gibson.




Photo 2 Setup
The tabletop is black velvet. A medium continuous-light lamp above the scene on the right side is the main light. A small continuous-light lamp laid on the tabletop in the upper right area lights the three strings on the right side. It is flagged to prevent the tabletop from being brightly lit. A white reflector above the subject brightens the top surface of the gold hardware.




Photo 3 Setup
The tabletop is black velvet. A small continuous-light lamp above the scene on the left side is the main light. A second small continuous-light lamp in the bottom right corner lights the bright side of the frets. The blue background along the sides of the neck was created during post-processing.



Photo 4 Setup
The tabletop is black velvet. Two small continuous-light lamps, one fitted with a blue gel and the other one fitted with a red gel, are immediately next to each other on the right side. A white reflector is on the left side. Two flash lights are shining on it and their light is redirected onto the dials' numeric indicators. Cropped substantially to allow sufficient depth of field.

[bje07]

You are a master of light.

[Dave Humphries]

#4 reminds me of a pin ball machine Mike, so glad you included it!

#1 - great, I guess my only thought is that while the 'tuning knobs' (I'm sure there's a better word for them) look photogenic all lined up, that's probably not how they'd be when played (?) - but knowing you, you'll have considered this and shown us the best option.

#2 - the pick up selector toggle in the bg looks artificially dimmed in PP, but the composition works, this is one angle I certainly had in mind when I suggested close ups.

#3 - Those silver/aluminium/pearl inlays look tricky to capture

#4 - The knobs are 'all lined up' again!

As usual, you are a master of the black point and dark detail that may appear to be crushed out in casual observation isn't, if checked in LyteBox on a well set up monitor and good browser.

Any more?

Dave

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[ionian]

Nice photos Mike, and what a beauty of a guitar. I hope it gets played from time to time - it looks so clean! I own a sunburst Les Paul but it is in need of some TLC as it's always out on a stand. I don't play as often as I'd like since my daughter came along, but she has a musical mind so I'm sure I'll be teaching her one day...

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone! Blame Dave on this long post.

#4 reminds me of a pin ball machine

My wife says the scene looks like dials at the control board of a nuclear power plant that has gone awry.

#1 - great, I guess my only thought is that while the 'tuning knobs' (I'm sure there's a better word for them) look photogenic all lined up, that's probably not how they'd be when played (?) - but knowing you, you'll have considered this and shown us the best option.

Wikipedia indicates that it's fine to call them machine heads, pegheads, tuning keys, tuning machines or tuners. They are knobs and they are used for tuning, so my vote goes for making it okay to also call them tuning knobs.

I tried photographing those knobs in their original position and didn't like the look. For me, it's all about making an attractive photo, not making a photo of an instrument only exactly as it would be used. Similarly, I changed the position of the dials in the last photo to make post-processing easier.

#2 - the pick up selector toggle in the bg looks artificially dimmed in PP

My guess is that you would probably say that it looks artificially dimmed because of the way I lit it, though if you did I wouldn't understand what that would mean. Indeed, at least 75% of the look was the effect of being lit that way; I used a gradient during post-processing to enhance the effect of the lighting ever so slightly.

#3 - Those silver/aluminium/pearl inlays look tricky to capture

The inlays are mother of pearl, though I don't know if they are made of the natural material or a synthetic material. They will never look that way in anything other than a photograph unless a particular kind of light source I'm not aware of will enhance the iridescent colors in mother of pearl. I used an extreme amount of increased saturation to get this look that, despite going to such an extreme, still reveals only subtle coloration in the inlays.

Any more?

My friend who owns the guitar told me long ago that his daughter was taught in a painting class that if you can get a painting to the point that there are only six things that are not as desired, that's the time to call it a completed work. Similarly, there are several things in every photo that I wish I could have fixed.

[Mike Buckley]

it looks so clean!

That's partly because of how I lit the scenes and partly because of how I post-processed the images.

[madcrow]

+1 for Jean comment.

[Wavelength]

Excellent

[KimC]

Stunning and very enjoyable Mike.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Very nice. These show off the craftsmanship that went into making the guitar.

[bnnrcn]

Super set Mike, great!

[cichlid]

Very cool.
My eye naturally travels the images.
Greta use of color.
Nice work.

[Donald]

I've enjoyed the discussion in here (as well as the images), particularly Dave's and Mike's exchange in which the subject of making a high quality image versus showing it 'as it is/was' is aired. I think the points made are well worth studying and considering. It reminds us that unless our purpose is photo-journalism or social documentary then our job is to make an aesthetically pleasing image.

[Dave Humphries]

The inlays are mother of pearl, though I don't know if they are made of the natural material or a synthetic material. They will never look that way in anything other than a photograph unless a particular kind of light source I'm not aware of will enhance the iridescent colors in mother of pearl. I used an extreme amount of increased saturation to get this look that, despite going to such an extreme, still reveals only subtle coloration in the inlays.

My thought would be to find a very small 'point source' and to try light painting with it - then composite that shot with a normally exposed one, as you used to do for the wine bottles and glass shots.

Don't ask me to define 'very small' though

My thinking was that I assume the iridescent colours of mother of pearl (m.o.p) arise due to refraction, so a small beam width might be useful?

I have an old pen knife somewhere, but IIRC its m.o.p handle is curved, so not likely to respond as those flat surfaces would - also very likely it is real m.o.p, not manufactured - because it is way older than I am!

[Mike Buckley]

My thought would be to find a very small 'point source' and to try light painting with it - then composite that shot with a normally exposed one

I tried three different flash lights in sizes that I can best describe as tiny, small and medium. All of them had the same effect on the iridescent colors, which was no effect.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, everyone!