>I do hope that you are keeping a notebook with good notes on your >different lighting setups. Once you get things dialed in, you should >have some base settings that are very close to perfect, and will >probably be good enough for most of your subjects.
Larry, I've not kept a notebook, but I am maintaining a clear strategy. Putting in on paper is always a good idea. My "first principle" is always keeping the lights at the same distance to the subject, no matter the angle. That means a consistent exposure setting on the camera. >I was just wondering about the edge case, literally. If you have a >rounded brushed metal part (eg a valve-stem), that surface will appear >very white and appear to fade smoothly into the white background. That >would cause jaggy and ill-defined boundaries when attempting the >cutout. Of course one could/should use the pen tool to define the >path, but the CS5 "refine edge" tool is just so incredibly nice for >that. Bruce, That feature is also in Elements 10. I make regular use of it. >Thats when you use a shim or prop underneath to raise it off the paper >and use your lighting to separate the item from the background. Dave, That's the plan. Here is a reason for it: http://www.brendemuehl.net/49528b.jpg And here is another improved exposure http://www.brendemuehl.net/49529b.jpg Sincerely, Collin Brendemuehl "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" -- Jim Elliott -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
