Official Luthiers Forum!

Man, I see some great guitars look like crap on the net. Yep, some of you guys. You spend all that time building a stunning guitar then take a $2.00 picture of it!
I can make any guitar stunning. Easy and cheap. Although, the better the gear the better the picture. I can show you how to use tin foil and $30 on shop lights to create Guitar Portraits that you can send to magazines or better yet, make them look yummy to clients and their friends!
I will be teaching a Basic Product Photography Improvement class at A.S.I.A, maybe an Advanced class also; June of 2011.
I have been a busy Pro Photographer 21 years. 7 years of Guitar Photographs all over the net. Also, published from Acoustic Guitar to Fingerstyle. Sometimes they remembered a Byline, never saw a dime for shooting the images though.
A.S.I.A will be my first non 1 on 1, teaching large class, teaching of Great Guitar Portraits.
I would love to put together a group of 5-10 Luthiers wanting to learn great Guitar Portraits at low to no expense in gear. Maybe a 4 hour class? Make it worth the trip! ASIA will have a much shorter time frame to explain better pictures to Portraits and I would love to have experienced questions from the Participants so I can better serve within the time constraints provided
If you are interested contact me at (fill in the gap!!!!) ibisimon @hotmail.com
SW Pa. Some time in the Spring. Anyone here interested in the class? Drop me a note or
ibisimon@ hotmail

Well John,

My photos look like crap because you never went past Photography 101 on your post here. They do look better with the advice you gave in that thread, so thanks for the work you did with the starter course.
I would love to be in your class at ASIA but funds will not allow time off of work. Have fun teaching the other guys.

Steve

I am hoping for someone to video to share with all. Photo101 covered a lot why do your photos still look like crap? Staring out the window were you

John...Could you show us some of your best portraits please.

I'd kinda like to compare my crappy pics against a 20 + year pro and see how much improvement I can expect. If I like your work and I think your seminar can help, I'll be the first to sign up.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

You should make a tutorial and post it in the tutorial section - there was a guy (maybe you?) that did that a couple years ago and his advice helped me out a lot. I've searched for the post but I can't find it right now.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

It's a little far away for me to make your course. Like Andy said, a little tutorial for the archives here would be most welcome. Sounds like you've already posted something here. If anyone knows where it is how about re posting the link.

Thanks,
Danny

Here is John's thread on photography.
http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=22356&hilit=photography+101

Question for ya John. Is a Canon Powershot G6 capable of the kind of quality I'd need for "Glamor Shots" of my guitars, or must I upgrade to an SLR type unit? I know very little about RAW, but I've heard it's a beneficial route to take.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Hi John,

I'll echo the others here...if you'll post a couple of your photos so I could compare where I am now to where I could expect to be after your class and if I didn't have to take out a loan to cover the fee I'd sign up!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

Thanks for that link, Stephen. That was from a year and a half ago and it was great to get re-familiarized with John's tips & techniques. I'm not sure if any subsequent chapters ever happened but it's obvious the interest is there. In the spirit of so many other OLFers who have given freely, I too would like to further encourage John to add more to the tutorial. Again...I'd love to see some of your best and a discussion of what lighting, compositional and exposure techniques separated it from mere point & shoot techniques.

Many from the forum will never have the time nor funds to attend ASIA and its workshops. The many that can't will benefit here from a standard tutorial. Those that do attend will have already gotten a sense of how valuable such a seminar would be...if it's received well here, I'm sure it will get high attendance and rave reviews at ASIA.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Bill, RAW format is only beneficial if you want to do major editing of your image, and not required unless you plan on photoshopping your images a fare amount.

The Powershot G6 should be adequate for your photo needs.

Here's a link to a photography101 tutorial that was done on the TLC. I mention it because IMO it's one of the best photo tutorials on the net!

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Thanks a million Rod! This will be TRUEly helpful. (pun intended ) Don't have a lot of time for PhotoShop and I don't believe PhotoShop would be an honest way to portray my work (except for maybe eliminating the occasional dust specs or excessive glare that can happen. I appreciate the link greatly.

And John, thanks for re-visiting this subject. The old one never got completed.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

I am sure if nothing else I will have video to share from the ASIA class. I just (can't open till Christmas) got THE event camera! A Nikon P7000. I also liked the Canon G12. The closer was I already have the Flash (SB900) and TTL cords that would have set me back another $500 if I went Canon. Part of the package is a HD 720 Video camera built in.

I saw that other Photo 101 link a while back. I think it was better than mine!

To JJ Donohue - Sure I will post some photo's. If you go to iSimonPHOTOGRAPHY.com I am he. My day job is snapping thousands and thousands of Preschool portraits. Don't cringe, I love it. 20 thousand kids a year think I am the funniest guy on earth. Then I come home to my kids. "Whats fer dinner" is what I get Lol.
There is a section on my guitars portraits. If you go over to AGF and search Kitchen Guitars, my posts are riddled with guitar photo's. I love what I do.
BUT! The point to my class will be how to create studio quality on a shoestring budget. 4' Shop lights adapted to Commercial Photography, I just scored a 70 watt daylight bulb with an output of 350 watts, Man it lights up a room and you can use an old lamp or a clamp light from Sears, fancy reflectors made out of cardboard and foil....... stuff like that. Its real easy to show off in the studio. I have light panels as large as 7', endless sources of reflection and lights...... nothing that will help the average Luthier that has a $99 camera. Which is what I shot all my photo101 photo's with.
So, right now I am building stuff for on the cheap to teach it. Me? I am spoiled

To Bill Hodges- yes the Canon will do great. I never shoot in RAW.

Hey John,

Sorry if you felt like I was upstaging your offer with the TLC photo 101 link. That was not my intention at all (not that you've said anything). Just wanting to keep the air clear

Sounds like you have a fun job..... Good on ya for your efforts! I'm sure I'd go crazy at times with uncooperative kids.....I'm sure it happens.

Cheers.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Artsy


Folks ya might know.......

this one was in Martins Soundboard Magazine

Here's 441 photo's I shot and resized for ASIA09' YIKES did that suck up a week of afternoons. I hate resizing photo's
http://s112.photobucket.com/albums/n163 ... MPOSIUM09/

No problem at all. There's room for all. The link was a great effort that should be commended.

Yes! That's the one. The trick with the black blanket reflected in the finish is brilliant! That post needs to be stickied.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com