Greetings from Niagara!

[Freddy]

Hello everyone,

My name is Freddy and I just bought my first good camera.....a Sony a7c. I am so excited to start using it.
A bit of background.
I am a luthier (guitar maker) and I have a you tube channel in which I post vlog style videos showing the process of guitar building. I also take stills of finished guitars for my website. A couple of weeks ago I was filming in my shop with a PanasonicFZ35 (just a point and shoot) and I thought it was secure on the tripod but nope! Crashed to the concrete floor and that was the end of that camera! So I was actually kind of glad....perfect excuse to go camera shopping!
Anyway, I don't know much about photography technically, but I am eager to learn.

Freddy

 

[Nikon333]

Welcome

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Welcome!
I bet you can make some great videos and stills with that A7C. I tried to teach myself how to play guitar a few times but never kept at it. As a result, I still have an appreciation for the craftsmanship required to make (and play) a guitar. Looking forward to your content!

 

[Freddy]

Thanks Nikon333 and Fowler!

So I'm just finishing a new guitar and wondering how to shoot it. First of all, it's red. For some reason I've always had trouble shooting red guitars....especially if it's a sunburst where there is a gradient from red to yellow. Never looks right and I don't know why.

But this one is not a burst, it's a solid red.... a candy finish. So the lighting will be critical I'm sure. At least that's how it looks to my naked eye. It looks entirely different under florescent, incandescent or sunlight. Oh boy....I have a feeling that i'm staring down the opening of a rabbit hole ! lol

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Thanks Nikon333 and Fowler!

So I'm just finishing a new guitar and wondering how to shoot it. First of all, it's red. For some reason I've always had trouble shooting red guitars....especially if it's a sunburst where there is a gradient from red to yellow. Never looks right and I don't know why.

But this one is not a burst, it's a solid red.... a candy finish. So the lighting will be critical I'm sure. At least that's how it looks to my naked eye. It looks entirely different under florescent, incandescent or sunlight. Oh boy....I have a feeling that i'm staring down the opening of a rabbit hole ! lol

Freddy, I think what you're describing is a problem with white balance. Go to your settings and switch between white balance modes and you will see the hue of your photo change (actually you'll see it immediately in the viewfinder/screen). Typically you want to change the mode to match the lighting conditions you're in. To go one step further, shoot in RAW format and then when you're looking at the photo in Lightroom/Photoshop, you can adjust the temperature (Kelvin rating) of the photo to see similar effects on your final product.

Also, if you went heavy on the clear coat and have an unwanted shine in your photo, try moving the light, the guitar, your camera position, or try a polarizing filter to minimize unwanted glare.

Good luck!

PS: Acoustic or Electric?

 

[Freddy]

Great info! Cool...I'm going to try that. Yes clear coat polished to mirror shine....always.

It's an electric.

 

[Jeff A]

Welcome to the Forum Freddy. I suspect you will find your time here valuable.

Freddy, do you have experience with Lightroom or Photoshop? As Chris Fowler said, you will find help in these programs. Personally, I feel Lightroom is the best place to start, but can be daunting in the beginning. I have found much help online, notably with with a free course in Lightroom authored by Anthony Morganti. He is easy to find and his course "Mastering Lightroom Classic CC" was a very valuable tool for me as I'm sure it has by many. Good luck with your new camera.

 

[Freddy]

Welcome to the Forum Freddy. I suspect you will find your time here valuable.

Freddy, do you have experience with Lightroom or Photoshop? As Chris Fowler said, you will find help in these programs. Personally, I feel Lightroom is the best place to start, but can be daunting in the beginning. I have found much help online, notably with with a free course in Lightroom authored by Anthony Morganti. He is easy to find and his course "Mastering Lightroom Classi8c CC" was a very valuable tool for me as I'm sure it has by many. Good luck with your new camera.

Thanks for the warm welcome! No experience with Lightroom, limited experience with photoshop type programs (Corel etc.)
Lightroom eh? I hear all this talk about shooting RAW.....is that what lightroom is good for?

 

[Jane Read]

Hello everyone,

My name is Freddy and I just bought my first good camera.....a Sony a7c. I am so excited to start using it.
A bit of background.
I am a luthier (guitar maker) and I have a you tube channel in which I post vlog style videos showing the process of guitar building. I also take stills of finished guitars for my website. A couple of weeks ago I was filming in my shop with a PanasonicFZ35 (just a point and shoot) and I thought it was secure on the tripod but nope! Crashed to the concrete floor and that was the end of that camera! So I was actually kind of glad....perfect excuse to go camera shopping!
Anyway, I don't know much about photography technically, but I am eager to learn.

Freddy

Hello Freddy

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Thanks for the warm welcome! No experience with Lightroom, limited experience with photoshop type programs (Corel etc.)
Lightroom eh? I hear all this talk about shooting RAW.....is that what lightroom is good for?

RAW is a picture file format which preserves the most image data your camera can output. If you use a program like Photoshop/Lightroom/CaptureOne you can take advantage of the available data to manipulate the photo, things like: changing the white balance, changing the exposure values, brightening shadows, adjusting individual colors or color saturation, are all possible.

If you've only been taking pictures in JPEG format, ain't no shame in that game! However, you might be missing out. Note: even when you take pictures in RAW, you need to convert them to JPEG for them to be easily displayed on websites or social media.

If you have one of the photo editing programs and want to try this out, you can go to your settings on your camera and change the file format to "RAW & JPEG" so your camera will record every photo you take in both file formats. This way, you might use up the space on your memory card faster, but you have the option to play with the RAW file, or simply use the JPEG for a quick turnaround.

 

[Jeff A]

Thanks for the warm welcome! No experience with Lightroom, limited experience with photoshop type programs (Corel etc.)
Lightroom eh? I hear all this talk about shooting RAW.....is that what lightroom is good for?

Lightroom is a powerful program as is Photoshop but Lightroom's learning curve is a lot less steep than Photoshop. Shooting Raw & tweaking with Lightroom will open up many possibilities. Here is the U.S. you can lease Lightroom, Photoshop and 2 or 3 other programs from Adobe for $9.99 US per month for all of them in a package. You can no longer purchase these programs outright but trust me, it's a real value.