[Hisart]

The key is a digital camera and a simple paint program.

1.) Take pictures -

a) Backdrop, I have a midnight blue piece of velvet corduroy, black is preferable but any dark cloth will do.

b) Depending on carving size, drape the backdrop over a chair or a table. I laid the chair on the table, whatever works.

c) Position the carving.

d) Light it up. Never use a built in flash! The piece will look washed out and flat. I use a lamp with a 100watt bulb that I set slightly above, off to the left and forward of the carving. Just find one that is tall enough.

e) Take the picture on the same plane as the carving, head-on and use a tripod if at all possible.

f) Move the carving and take another picture. This is where a tripod comes in handy as you need to keep the camera the same approximate distance from the carving for each picture, you'll see why below in step (k).


2.) Download the image into your computer. {I am only showing 2 of the 4}

[Hisart]

3.) Cut and Paste time for multiple views of the same carving -

a) Use a simple paint program, I use PhotoFiltre. Now any program that you can cut and paste in should work just fine.

b) Choose the image you want on the left side and open it.

c) Go into resize for the picture canvas, not the picture, and double it for every view. So if the picture is 350 pixels wide and you have four views make the canvas 1400pixels wide. Make the background black, this will save time later. Set the postion all the way left. If you make a mistake just hit the Back icon, it's a blessing!

d) Save it under a new name like WCGood1 or the name of the piece. Now you can't goof up the original!

e) Open the next view without closing the first one. It will cover over the first but it's on a different canvas.

f) Using the arrow icon {selection tool} left click and drag across the image to capture the part you want. If you're doing a side by side capture as much of the whole image as you can.

g) Go into Edit and copy.

h) Close the second image.

i) In Edit click paste, the copied image will appear in the first picture.

j) Using the arrow icon, click and drag the image into position. Don't panic, in some paint programs you have to re-click the arrow icon or click the show selection icon.

k) Now if the distance to the carving changed when you took the different pictures they will be different sizes. If this is the case, Don't panic. Using the a arrow icon click and drag one corner of the dashed box towards or away from the center of the box to resize it. You have to let go to see if it is the right size so it can take a few tries.

l) Once you have it where you want it, click on something else or hit that deselect button.

m) Save it!

n) Repeat steps e-l for each view you have.

[Hisart]

o) Using the arrow icon, click and drag a box around the pictures, get real close without taking a nose off.

p) Go into Image and crop it. Resize the image to fit inside 780 x 580 pixels and 2.3 mb in size. I usually keep it under 500 pixels in either direction when posting it.

q) Save it!

[Old_Gord]

Thanks Hisart, nice informative tutorial.
Much appreciated.

.

OG

[Irish]

Excellent! And very well written.
Thank you

Susan

[MelNM]

This was great thanks for sharing this with us, I'll definately be trying it.
Mel

[Canopener]

Thanks, this may be just what I was looking for.
Jim

[Blake Lunsford]

That's great! Thanks for sharing so that others and present great pictures.

Blake

[Coffeeman]

Thank you so much, if you only knew how many attempts I've made at doing just this and failed, maybe now I can complete a four sided view. Again THANKS, Bill

[Lightningbolt]

This is greatly appreciated and one of the "few" threads I've bookmarked for reference and study. Great job!