# Soapstone carving



## Don Kondra (Nov 12, 2013)

Greetings,

Let's call this a work in progress 

I'm having second thoughts on the background treatment, perhaps a little too "moody" ? 

(image removed at the request of the client)

Cheers, Don


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## tirediron (Nov 12, 2013)

Not a fan of the background here Don; I think this needs a brighter, lighter treatment to really showcase the art. As-is, the tonal range of the art and the background are close enough that for me at least, the art is almost merging with the background.


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## D-B-J (Nov 12, 2013)

tirediron said:


> Not a fan of the background here Don; I think this needs a brighter, lighter treatment to really showcase the art. As-is, the tonal range of the art and the background are close enough that for me at least, the art is almost merging with the background.



Well said.  I think a white background might do wonders for this. 

Jake


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## Don Kondra (Nov 12, 2013)

tirediron said:


> Not a fan of the background here Don; I think this needs a brighter, lighter treatment to really showcase the art. As-is, the tonal range of the art and the background are close enough that for me at least, the art is almost merging with the background.



Agreed John. Perhaps a little rebellion against cookie cutter graduated background  



D-B-J said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > Not a fan of the background here Don; I think this needs a brighter, lighter treatment to really showcase the art. As-is, the tonal range of the art and the background are close enough that for me at least, the art is almost merging with the background.
> ...



Also agreed Jake. Unfortunately her body of work (shot by another) is using a traditional graduated background.

Thanks for the comments !

.....

I don't think I'll go any further down the road with that image but it does suggest some creative lighting scenario's for the future.

Not knowing what the properties of the object would be, I set up before the client arrived with a 20" x 20" softbox from directly above, a 2' x 3' softbox camera left and a 48" octobox camera right.

The image below was my first shot. With a new Nikon D7100 and new tethering software BTW 

Anywho, that is when I lost control of the shoot. 

The client was not willing to leave the piece and in the limited time we had we then proceeded on a quest for less highlights and just the right shadows, sigh...

(image removed at the request of the client)

I really would prefer to get it right in camera but I did become more familiar with DxO/Elements 11 editing tools 

The first image is an exposure blend of two images in Elements. 

Cheers, Don


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## D-B-J (Nov 12, 2013)

I feel like it would benefit from more aggressive lighting, to show the lines more.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## tirediron (Nov 12, 2013)

D-B-J said:


> I feel like it would benefit from more aggressive lighting, to show the lines more.


It definitely needs some time spent on the lighting; I could see easily spending 3-4 hours to fine tune the lighting just the way I wanted.  You could also try more separation and then light with a series of snoots and gridded lights.


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## Don Kondra (Nov 12, 2013)

The "other" photographer uses polarizing film on his softboxes and a CP on the camera to shoot her work.

I had been meaning to find a supplier for the film but never got around to it...

It seems I come across shiny projects often enough to justify it.  

This particular client doesn't mind paying but I think "hours" of set up time is pushing it 

Cheers, Don


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## Don Kondra (Nov 15, 2013)

My apologizes for removing the images.

During a recent conversation with my client they informed me they did not wish to have their images published in any way.

Cheers, Don


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