joerobson Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Looking for suggestions... I am near the end of the varnishing on 3 violins. I would like to take some pictures that actually LOOK LIKE the instruments. I have a digital camera with a tripod. Any suggestions for taking some [low-tech] shots of these? Thanks in advance. on we go, Joe
Addie Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Looking for suggestions... I am near the end of the varnishing on 3 violins. I would like to take some pictures that actually LOOK LIKE the instruments. I have a digital camera with a tripod. Any suggestions for taking some [low-tech] shots of these? Thanks in advance. on we go, Joe Low tech? Lots of indirect lighting, from different directions, and NO flash.
Bill Yacey Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Try and use a low angle light source (less than 45 degrees to the violin surface) to minimize reflections, or at the very least, a diffused flash reflected away from the instrument. I'm nothing close to a professional, but that's what I remember from high school photography. Michael Darnton would be a good source of advice; he has some incredible photos on his website.
Dorje Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Looking for suggestions... I am near the end of the varnishing on 3 violins. I would like to take some pictures that actually LOOK LIKE the instruments. I have a digital camera with a tripod. Any suggestions for taking some [low-tech] shots of these? Thanks in advance. on we go, Joe I recall seeing photography links in the Reference Threads, but have not examined those. There may be some good ideas there... Look forward to the pics!
Geoff-UK Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Looking for suggestions... I am near the end of the varnishing on 3 violins. I would like to take some pictures that actually LOOK LIKE the instruments. I have a digital camera with a tripod. Any suggestions for taking some [low-tech] shots of these? Thanks in advance. on we go, Joe self timer at 10 secs - f.5.6 to f.8 - 100 iso - no flash. Good indoor available daylight. Take a couple of shots - if too dark, + EV adjustment. If too light, - Ev adjustment. Make sure you know where the camera is autofocusing and exposing - generally in the centre of the frame. Just keep blasting away until you get it right. If you cannot set f stop or iso manually, change you camera Geoff
duane88 Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 What's on MY bench right now? A really, really hot brunette! I am logging off now. I can read later...
lyndon Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 violin makers can be such good liars, especially when it comes to labels, how do we know if youre telling the truth duane?? are you sure youre not talking about a dark brown stainer on your bench
lyndon Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 ok in all honesty ive got a brunette on my bench too, shes italian and about 200yrs old but still looks great
joerobson Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 ok in all honesty ive got a brunette on my bench too, shes italian and about 200yrs old but still looks great Share?
lyndon Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 joe, well i picked up a violin on ebay for 700 about four years ago, the seller was a violin shop in germany, he thought it was italian and seemed totally legit, he said he had a lot of violins and needed to raise some quick cash, needless to say he was very dissapointed he didnt get more for it, people just instantly label all the german sellers on ebay as crooks. well i didnt have the money to buy it and when the violin came a friend payed for it and sat on it for 4 years, my initial impression, non expert, was that it was eastern european not italian, flash to last week i had a nice josef bitterer cello the same friend wanted a cello and i said i might trade it for that violin, well when i saw it i started thinking it might be italian, and made the trade, the appraiser looked at it for ages and kept looking up makers in books, all italian and said in might be italian, definetly wasnt german or eastern european, which were the only other options IMO, and as a 200 yr old good condition grafted italian anonomous would be worth 20-30,000usd, so im selling it for 10,000 and letting the customer get their own appraisal, all the features are italian the body looking similar to carcassi, but the scroll is really odd and one of a kind with the volute all lopsided pushing out the top not gracefully looping down like a standard scroll.
duane88 Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Not a Stainer! Oh well, back to German violins with fake Italiante labels in them... I, sometimes, actually prefer the 200 year old Italian Brunettes. They are much easier to adjust, they don't need therapy (although the owners might!), and they don't mind if I take pictures of them with their tops off! Alright, back to violin shaped objects!
christian bayon Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 On my bench the cello I made 5 years ago for Michal Kanka (Prazak Quartet). In the style of Testore family.
Wm. Johnston Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Right now, today, on my bench are 9 plates. It's optimistic to think I might get these all done in one batch (well, except for the extra back plate), but it doesn't hurt to have 'em ready. Are you testing anything in particular with the four different top plates? This weekend I started carving four violin tops, two are low density Englemann spruce and two are highish density Sitka. I'm going to arch them using my normal operating procedures and graduate them to the same thicknesses. Then I'll glue them to the same ribs and back, one at a time, to see how much difference the wood makes after accounting for my working procedures. I'm not trying to do a comparison between wood carved with the same arches and graduations but rather to see how big of an influence wood is in my violins. The three tops that seem to have the most potential will be used in violins, I think I posted pictures of the roughed out back plates earlier.
Craig Tucker Posted April 19, 2011 Author Report Posted April 19, 2011 On my bench the cello I made 5 years ago for Michal Kanka (Prazak Quartet). I've got to admit - I love your varnish.
christian bayon Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 I've got to admit - I love your varnish. It´s not very "Milanese" but thanks!
Addie Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Something practical for a Newbie like myself. I'm going to make a left handed one next.
robertdo Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 It's always interesting for the beginners like me to see perfect scrolls but it can become a little bit frustrating, so it's also good sometimes to see not so perfect scrolls. Here is the one on my table at the moment
JohnCockburn Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Robert, if I could offer one piece of constructive criticism, I would say that the peg hole positions don't look like they will work very well.
robertdo Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Do you mean the spacing or the actual position on the pegbox side?
~ Ben Conover Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 When you finish that scroll ask a good player if they have enough room from nut to E peg. On new instruments you can easily move all the peg holes back 5mm to give more room for player with larger hands.
robertdo Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Like I did for the first 3 ones once this violin is finished I will bring it to my teacher so that I can get a better idea how it sounds. But she has small hands so I will have to find someone larger...
JohnCockburn Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Do you mean the spacing or the actual position on the pegbox side? I meant the position on the side. The D and A pegholes look rather low, and I suspect that the A string (possibly also the D)will not reach its peg without riding on others.
actonern Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Christian: Very classy antique work... Impressed! E
Don Noon Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Are you testing anything in particular with the four different top plates? Everything is always a test... every piece of wood is different, even just sticking with Engelmann. I don't know yet what I'll do with them, maybe make some slight variations. I'm not even sure I'll be able (or want) to use all of the four, as the processing I tried this time didn't work out so great: lots of shrinkage crossgrain, and some cracking. It might be a bit of a salvage operation... or I might just start over with more spruce. The test samples measured out OK, though, and the wood seems to be lively.
NewNewbie Posted April 19, 2011 Report Posted April 19, 2011 Do you mean the spacing or the actual position on the pegbox side? Trade Secrets Peghole placement made easy, by William Scott March issue of The Strad has an excellent 'Trade Secrets' article on just such a subject!
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