Jovial

Nah, just for giggles as its part of my father's workshop. I pulled an odd job doing computer work for his boss and he had two big ones that weren't being used so I got paid for the job + a lathe. It was a pain to move though my father and I had to take the top off to move it because the thing weighs 300+ lbs. Ill be out in my workshop getting some photos together for a guide in the photography section that I am working on, I'll go check what kind it is then.

Ah, cool! That makes alot of sense. I suppose for me the speed that it breaks down isn't a big deal since I have an industrial lathe in my garage but perhaps I'll put the rosewood in the garage to use from when I was building guitars with my father. Thanks for the info!

I saw the cocobolo burnishers earlier, but couldn't figure out why such an expensive wood was used. Does anyone know if theres a specific benefit from the cocobolo? I called my father (he is a cabinet maker and knows his woods) and he didn't really have anything to say about cocobolo other than to tell me the price. If I can't find any information on it I'll probably just go finish up swapping out the motor on my lathe and make a bunch of burnishers out of maple.

Hivemind pointed out a very solid piece of software in Zone Alarm. If you do go the software route you really should disable the built in firewall of windows. This would help prevent any possible problems from redundancy. Although as hivemind did point out a router is one of the best options because of the hardware firewall and the obfuscation of your computer's identity via the personal network.

I just figured that I'd add a little something to your great response Chuck. 2) Tripods are a must for that "tack" sharp photo that you want in my opinion. Just be aware that if you are using the tripod the Vibration Reduction functions can sometimes introduce shake to the photo. For normal use this isn't a problem but be warned that if you are using a tripod to get a nice tight close up shot of carvings or fine detail that you really should turn it off when using a tripod. 4) Another possibility is a softbox light setup too. It will let you get a nice diffused light source for softer shadows, and unless you wan't truly "professional" shots most people are fine with the sets you can get at reasonable prices off of Amazon. 5) If you have the software capability the absolute best way to set your white balance is to actually get a pure white card and set a custom white balance for the series of photos. If you place the card in front of your items and photograph it you can use it to set your white balance. Software wise the methods will be different but as a generality when setting custom white balance in the most simple form you are telling the program what in your picture is pure white and it corrects the scene's light color. After selecting this you can apply that correction value to pictures taken at the same time/light setup/scene. 6)Don't forget that Gimp offers the similar if not the same power as Photoshop. Be warned of the learning curve however. 7)An addendum to the resolution size that Chuck pointed out is to also be aware of your ISO settings. The higher this is set the more noise you get in the picture. Noise removal can only go so far on the software side before you start to lose some serious image quality. 10) Digital zoom is a big no-no if you want quality photos. One never needs more zoom unless working with a macro shot. Maintain photo quality by positioning the camera closer. If getting closer sacrifices your "ideal" perspective of your product then fall back to optical zoom. 11) For photo albums a great option that also offers you the ability to do almost all of the necessary editing non-pros need Adobe Lightroom 3 is a powerful option that is less expensive than its bigger brother Photoshop. It can also generate full featured photo albums in multiple mediums (php, html, flash) Just remember the best camera is the one you have with you. All it takes is knowing your equipment so that you can make it work for you.

So I have been lurking around on the forums for a long time now and contributed a year or two ago showing my work but never really spoke up about anything. I have been laid off for awhile now and finally got my workshop setup again for my leather and have been reading the forums far more obsessively. I have been doing a bunch of video tutorials and write-up for friends and figured I would poll around here to see if anyone would be interested in what meager knowledge I can share. I have been using a digital SLR camera and Adobe creative suites for years now and while I am not a pro I figure I could share something. Would anyone like a tutorial on anything particular concerning the photography of your leather and/or the software? I use the Adobe programs exclusively but as far as the photo editing (Photoshop) is concerned the knowledge is easily transfered to the open source (free) equivalent software Gimp. Just let me know if anyone would like me to give it a shot and I'll whip something together according to what everyone would like to see. If the tutorials wind up blowing chunks and not help anyone then let me know when we come to that and I can just let someone else more qualified do it. Time to grab some more coffee! -Jesse