My Tak

Harlequin565

Harlequin565

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Ian
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I've been wanting to photograph my guitar for a while, because I took a photo of it a long time ago at night school and I really liked the effect.

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It's a Takamine TF241DLX and I'm a weekend hacker with it and not very good. It's black though which made it quite tricky to light, and I spent a LOT of time with a digital camera trying to get the lighting right. My digital shots, I deleted before developing the film. Go me.

Typically, of the ten frames, only 4 came out. I have no idea why. None of the full length body shots came out which makes me wonder if there's an issue with the 90mm lens as the 180mm was used for the last few shots which were fine.

The composition above is slightly off on the (camera) RH edge. Instead of either including the edge, or cropping it, I kinda went halfway which isn't ideal and leaves the RH side looking a little sloppy. I also wanted to include the rebate but because I didn't get the image straight, it had to go in post.. The second shot (below) includes the rebate and deals with the RH edge a little better but doesn't have the strength of composition I was looking for.

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And man... the dust...

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I really like this - if there was one tiny suggestion it'd be a very, very slight amount of dodging to the pick-guard, just to bring out the figuring/swirling (i'm guessing its "tortoishell") in the guard a little more - make it very clear it's actually a feature of the guard, and not just a lack of the polishing cloth... Possibly also a little burning to the fingerboard, just to emphasise the grain in the rosewood...
 
Thanks Mark. Good catch on the fingerboard. Totally didn't think of that.
 
TheBigYin said:
possibly just the perspective of someone who loves rosewood fingerboards appearance wise
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[story-you're-probably-not-intereested-in]

It's weird. My 1st guitar was an EN-10C bought with my 1st pay packet when I was 18 after "learning" on a knackered jumble sale spanish guitar with nylon strings. I had that guitar until about twelve or fifteen years ago when it was sadly broken when my wife tripped on the stairs and fell into it. Fortunately she was fine (twisted ankle) but the guitar wasn't. The insurance paid out and I went to a guitar store in Liverpool to get a replacement.

The Martin guitar I tried was stunning to hold, play, and look at and probably the closest in appearance to the original Tak. However when I picked this up the sound was closest. I knew, being black, it would get scratched with my belt buckle, and would show up fingerprints and all sorts, but I wanted the sound. To my chargin, I have no clue what wood is used in any part of it! It was cheaper than the Martin too.

Then in about 2010 I was doing a college course and as part of it, I took some studio shots of the guitar. It was a music themed project, and this felt appropriate. That was when I noticed the look, and the contrast between the black body and the white (pearl?) inlays. It was the first time I'd concentrated on shape and form and made me see the guitar in a whole 'nother light (no pun intended). tat's the reason I'm a little dissappointed in the image as there are things I could have improved.

Maybe next time!

[/story]
 
Harlequin565 said:
[story-you're-probably-not-intereested-in]
Click to expand...

on the contrary - it's the kind of thing I love to see in posts - if there's a story behind it, there's an emotion. If there's emotion, then the picture has a soul, a life of its own, and is instantly more worthy - at least in my eyes...

I'll be honest, I cringed at the damage to the original instrument - I chipped the finish on my Telecaster bass about 6 months after I got it when I put the wrong Strap on it - my "gig" strap that had straplocks, and the locking bit just caught the cream paintwork at the upper strap button. Damned guitar had been unmarked since 1969, I get it 22 years later and 6 months in put the first blemish on it. I was near to tears. I know it's an instrument, and its there to be played, but dammit, the old dear is only 6 years younger than me, and deserves looking after better. From there on in, the Tele became a "studio/practice only" instrument and barely left the house, whereas the modern p-bass got thrashed around the country and very much used and abused...

I love the look of Acoustic guitars, but, as I mentioned in another thread, I have issues with tendonitis, so don't really play much anymore, and it would be a shame and a complete extravagance to buy myself one - though I am slightly tempted to get a 12 string, just to sit and play Wish You Were Here and maybe try and get Closer to the Heart somewhere near right...



Harlequin565 said:
Actually Mark, coming from you, that's quite a compliment... Still Life expert that you are :)
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I'm just patient, and too bloody minded to stop when i've got an image in my head, I need to get it in a shot...
 
Some of my still life shots were upwards of 3 weeks in the making... if you look at this flickr album, you can see the evolution of a single image, in there, from the 3rd to 20th, changing as I got a different prop, built a table, plastered a wall for a backdrop, bought a skull, printed out some wierd old Tarot Cards, learned how to peel a Lemon into a spiral (hint, it's easy if you use a surgical scalpel, rather than a fruit knife...)

it's not really photography, it's obsession mixed with borderline OCD if i'm honest.
 
TheBigYin said:
it's not really photography,
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I think I'm allowed to derail my own thread, but it absolutely is photography (IM very HO). Very very occasionally, I'll get a student who turns in a still life project for their course. And without fail, it blows me away. Absolutely nothing can be excused with still life. You can't moan about not having the right light, or x lens, or y weather, or (filmies only) z camera. And it's all about trying to convey something. People who care about still life are trying to make something, and whilst it's easy to do averagely, it's very tricky to do well. Both you and Andy (not tagging him because ego!) do this really well (again IM very humble O)

It's much easier to be walking along and see something pretty then point a camera at it. Harder by far to create something from nothing.
 
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