How clueless, photography-challenged people can take good typewriter photos in three easy steps
In response to a reader’s request, here is a general outline of how I go about photographing my typewriters. By observing a few easy guidelines, I believe that anyone can achieve similar results. I don’t have any fancy equipment; my studio is the top of my basement clothes dryer, and my camera is a Nikon Coolpix point-and-shoot.
First, you need a typewriter. If you do not have a typewriter, I’m sorry, but you have more problems than I can help you with.
1. Make your typewriter look good. I don’t mean just cleaning it, although that should be done as well. Wiping down the machine with a light coat of Pledge or Old English will give it a nice shine. To eliminate background distractions and make your typewriter the focus of attention, place your typewriter on a plain white surface, like posterboard. As it turns out, this is helpful for the last step.
2. Photograph your typewriter under the best possible conditions. You should have good, bright light. I can’t emphasize enough how important good lighting is to good photographs. Either shoot outside on a sunny day or underneath a soft, white indoor light. (I shoot mine underneath daylight-replicating fluorescent lights made for reptile enclosures, available at most pet stores.) A regular, bare light bulb is both too yellow and too harsh. Avoid using camera flash. Use a tripod or some other stable surface combined with a remote release or self-timer to eliminate shake. Close down the aperture as small as it will go for the sharpest detail. Don’t worry about long exposure times; you have a tripod.
3. Adjust your photo’s colors. Ideally, you set your camera’s white balance before you took the photo, but you can rarely avoid having to do some color-correction. I use Photoshop, but most of these adjustments can be done in almost any photo editing software.
Set your white point based on the background posterboard. I prefer to use Curves over Levels because unlike Levels, Curves doesn’t destroy pixel data.
Bring out the machine’s details by lightening the shadows. About 10% works for me most of the time. Too much lightening of shadows or darkening of highlights can make your photo look like one of those crappy HDR jobs, and you don’t want that–unless you like crappy HDR jobs, in which case see my comment about not having a typewriter.
Even lighting with sunlight or using indoor lighting filters will result in a little yellow cast. Go into Color Balance and adjust the sliders until the blacks look closer to true black. Deep black reflects highlights as blue, so I shift the colors closer to the blue spectrum.
Sharpen the picture just a bit.
This isn’t absolutely everything I do in post, but these basic steps ought to be enough for anyone to take great-looking typewriter photos.
I’m going to try this. I don’t have a tripod or a reptilian light bulb, but I do have a dryer, some poster board, and a typewriter or twelve. I know how to use photoshop, so there’s that.
This will be my first project after finals are over. You’ve inspired me.
Comment by monda — May 6, 2009 @ 4:01 pm
I had sat down this morning to email my request for this same information when something distracted me. I have an unworthy camera, no photo editing software that I’m aware of, and an aquarium light.
I don’t give finals, so I’ll be mucking about as soon as I find a white background.
Thank you
Comment by faustgleich — May 6, 2009 @ 8:00 pm
AWESOMENESS. No more totally crappy typewriter photos for me… I hope.
Comment by Strikethru — May 6, 2009 @ 8:54 pm
Faustgleich, you may want to check out free Web photo editors Photoshop Express or Picnik. Photoshop Express is a little easier to use and more versatile, but then Picnik has some features that Photoshop Express doesn’t.
BTW, folks, you don’t need special light bulbs. I happen to have these daylight-replicating bulbs because they help with my seasonal depression. They happen to be good photography lights because they’re already close to white light (regular fluorescent tubes have a green cast), but by no means necessary.
Comment by olivander — May 6, 2009 @ 9:24 pm
I’d also like to throw in my vote for free image editor The Gimp (http://http://gimp.org/) I learned Photoshop ages ago from some tutorial thing, and so picked up Gimp right away. It’s free and open-source, which scores extra Cool Points with the geek contingent like yrs trly. (Not that you were fishing for my approval, mind you.)
Comment by mpclemens — May 7, 2009 @ 11:02 am
But but but my VTech Kidizoom camera (I mean, naturally, my daughter’s VTech Kidizoom camera) can put one of those funny Big-Nose-With-Mustache-and-Glasses things on the typewriter. That is so funny! Not sure I can give that up.
Thanks for the tips, Olivander. I shoulda asked a long, long time ago.
Comment by duffymoon — May 7, 2009 @ 12:31 pm
Good advice! I am about two seconds from breaking out the Pledge and my wife’s Ott-Light.
On a similar tip, have you guys seen these things?
Comment by Mike.Speegle — May 7, 2009 @ 1:55 pm
Whoops. HTML no worky. Try this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/cameras-photography/a205/
Comment by Mike.Speegle — May 7, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
They sell those things at the local Ritz. I made my own using a translucent plastic storage container, printer paper, and a table lamp.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/olivander/306068840/in/set-72057594102383239/
Actually, I have a few different ones of varying sizes. The one in the above picture is the smallest.
Comment by olivander — May 7, 2009 @ 2:01 pm
Okay, Alan. I gave it a shot. I did my best. Used my wife’s new Nikon D40 (gift from me, given with the expectation that periodically she’ll let me use it for typewriter fetish porn shots). Tried it under the lights we use to start seeds indoors (basically two “cool” and two “warm” flourescents). Also tried it outside in the sun.
Honestly? You completely rule at this. This is way harder than you make it sound. First of all, there are things the lens sees that I swear are completely invisible to the naked eye. I stayed up late the night before, putting a shine on my two glossy black typers (while, admittedly, distracted by “Red Dawn” which was being broadcast in all its Wolveriney glory). But the shoot revealed every scratch and nick, every bit of dust somehow clinging to those machines.
Plus the lighting is all funky. Granted, I haven’t tried any in-computer alterations. That’s a little beyond what I can do at this time.
But my point is: your shots are awesome, and I’m newly aware of how skilled that means you are at this.
Comment by duffymoon — June 14, 2009 @ 8:02 pm
Your camera must be too high-quality for typewriter photography. I’ll trade you.
We demand to see the evidence!
Comment by olivander — June 14, 2009 @ 8:24 pm