One of the reasons that we started working on Tweed Case was that we love guitars and we love to see what other musicians and collectors have bought and what they’ve done to make them even better. We can talk about that all we want in forums but this is one of the best examples of the old adage “a picture is worth 1000 words” but to really convey the beauty and style of an instrument we need to make sure the pictures themselves are the best they can be. So with that in mind, this is the first in a series of posts about how to take great pictures of your guitars, basses and the rest of your gear.
The first step in taking a great picture is figuring out why you want to take the picture in the first place. You will take different shots if you’re trying to sell the guitar on ebay than if you’re trying to show off the beauty of your instrument. Buyers want to know what it looks like and what condition it is in so a number of good “clinical” shots of a guitar are good in that situation. You’ll want some closeups of things that are especially good about the guitar as well as where there may be nicks or dings in the finish so that they don’t come back later and say you didn’t tell them about those issues. If you’re shooting a guitar for Tweed Case or to show your new axe to your friends, then you’re probably not as interested in clinical shots, you want sexy shots! Something that shows off the instruments curves and natural beauty.
Common Pitfalls
Either way, there are a few pitfalls you want to avoid in your pictures. Here are a few pictures I got off of ebay (apologies if these belong to any of you out there) that show a few key things you want to avoid.
Too Dark
Both of these pictures are too dark. A picture can’t show they features of a guitar if it is too dark. In the case of the Danelectro there just isn’t enough light in the room for the camera to see much detail in the picture at all. The other guitar was shot with a flash though the flash was not strong enough and it was also aimed too high. You might not be able to tell from this shot, but the guitar is actually a nice blue color. If you’re going to take a picture, make sure there is enough light and natural light (or photography lights that resemble natural light) so that your shot will not only look like a guitar, but the color will match what you see.
Too Many Things Competing in the Shot
The lighting in these shots is a bit better than the first ones, but there is so much activity around the guitar that the user is much more likely to be looking at the carpet, the case, or the stuff on the dresser than the guitars. It’s a shame, too, because both guitars look really nice. You want to make sure that the person looking at your photo will be looking at the guitar so move all of that other stuff away and try to surround the guitar with a much more neutral background.
Wrong Color
The finish of the guitar is often one of its best selling points and is probably the thing that initially drew you to it but if the picture is taken with the wrong light and not corrected, the viewer will never see that. This picture is too dark, but on top of that, the guitar looks yellow even though it is actually white. Most photo software packages have very simple tools for correcting this problem and remove this color cast, usually with just one click. While this warm look is sometimes great for pictures of people, it is almost never good for a picture of a guitar.
How to avoid these problems
Some of these issues are easy to fix. When you are setting up your picture, make sure there aren’t other items or very busy patterns in the shot. If there are. move them or move the guitar to get them out of your shot. Lighting is generally pretty easy to fix as well – make sure there is enough by either shooting outside on a nice day or even an overcast day (the diffuse light of a cloudy day limits reflections and harsh shadows). Alternatively, you can just turn on more lights or borrow an inexpensive photography lighting system. If you see that the color of your guitar in the picture isn’t right then you can correct that using an application like iPhoto, Windows Photo Gallery or, perhaps, the software that came with your camera.
The next post will include some tips on composing the shot — positioning the guitar in the shot and some tips on how to make it more interesting for both clinical shots and artsy/sexy shots.
If you have questions or comments, please post them below.
[...] is the second in a series of posts that will help you take better pictures of your guitars. The first post covered some of the common pitfalls, including shots that are too dark, too busy or the wrong [...]