Whats the trick to taking good photos of slabbed books? 3 3

[jsilverjanet]

Make sure your feet show 

[lizards2]

20 minutes ago, jsilverjanet said:

Make sure your feet show 

And make sure they're ugly, hairy, jammy, etc.

[Larryw7]

Dirty socks help sales too.

[STORMSHADOW_80]

I put a desk lamp near the spot where I'm taking the picture. It will take away the reflection.

[STORMSHADOW_80]

[ThothAmon]

Lighting and wearing clothes while you take pictures. 

[Artboy99]

put your slab into a box, or a comic box lid. Hold it at an angle ( about 15 degrees) and take a picture.

You should be in a lighted room, and you don't need your camera's flash.

The angle you hold the box at should be to remove the top light in your room, the sides of the box will eliminate glare.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Artboy99

[VintageComics]

On 9/21/2017 at 9:51 PM, StarryNight said:

Tried the scanner method and the book seems to far and blurry as opposed to just a raw directly on the scanner bed. Is it my scanner, a brother printer/scanner home office combo?

It's your scanner. Some scanners can't capture a clear image of anything that is not lying directly on the scanner bed and because the plastic on a CGC case lifts the comic off the scanner bed it won't capture it properly.

[tv horror]

Tell it to sit still or else it won't get a lolly after the shoot

 

Sorry I could not resist. 

[RockMyAmadeus]

On 8/18/2017 at 10:53 AM, Ovrclck said:

HP Scanjet 8300

 

 

Ugh...I missed this when you first posted it. SOOOOO AWESOME!

[The Lions Den]

On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 11:11 AM, DocHoppus182 said:

That Adventure though! 

Agreed! That's a sweet looking copy...

[Spawnfreak]

On 8/18/2017 at 1:38 PM, FN-2199 said:

You need a light box and other lighting equipment. I have a set up for non-comic eBay items. If you are photographing glass or a slab of a black comic (i.e. ASM vol. 2 #36) you need something like black paper to deflect the glare (actually reflect the color of the paper). I stopped short of this. I enjoy amateur photography but you really need  a good set up for photographing reflective still life. You'll also have to play with the features of your camera in manual mode to find the best setting for your lighting. Best to look up blogs or YouTube tutorials for reflective photography.

Even though I have all of the photography equipment, I use a legal size scanner for slabs.

Staples has a perfect scanner for this. You can use their self-service copier/scanner(legal size) and scan to a flash drive for $.53 a scan. Works PERFECTLY. I work at Staples, and do it all the time. Here is an example;

[RockMyAmadeus]

Can I use your Staples employee discount...? 53 cents a scan gets a little spendy...

 

[BlowUpTheMoon]

On 8/18/2017 at 11:36 AM, VintageComics said:

Comic Connect and some other dealers use a photo set up specially set up to take photos of slabs.

CGC's imagining option uses a camera.

[rogue14]

Gorgeous books used for examples here and great ideas. Going to try some too! Thanks for asking this question.

[VintageComics]

15 minutes ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

On 8/18/2017 at 11:36 AM, VintageComics said:

Comic Connect and some other dealers use a photo set up specially set up to take photos of slabs.

CGC's imagining option uses a camera.

Did they always or did they start recently?

For what it's worth, I've noticed that CGC pics / scans always make whites darker than they actually are and also exaggerate tanning, foxing, etc.

 

[BlowUpTheMoon]

34 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

Did they always or did they start recently?

I learned of it back in 2010 or so.

[catman76]

Easy, crack 'em out of that plastic tomb.

[Insanity]

i a got a cheap used scanner off ebay and got some 3rd party software to run it and its awesome

Microtek ScanMaker i900 best 25 bucks ive ever spent

[DavidTheDavid]

I have a daylight lamp that I use. I took cooking wax paper and taped it over the light to diffuse it. Works reasonably well.

Edited August 5, 2018 by DavidTheDavid