Violin Forum/Message Board

actonern · Super Member Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 444

I expect a lot of us study the "Strad" magazine posters for inspiration when it comes to refining the color of our instruments.

My question is about the color accuracy of these photographs. The few times I've actually looked at a Cremonese instrument the color pallete seemed more subdued than what is typcially seen in the "photos."

So I wonder if the link from capture to publishing tends to crank the saturation levels.

I know there are some very experienced photographers/makers that lurk about (Darnton???) who may be able to comment on how reliable the colors are as presented in the typical published photograph.

Michael Darnton · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:48 am Post subject:

Violin photos are almost always too saturated (brightly colored) and too contrasty. Old violins have neither strong color nor solid black areas, and also are much darker than the photos would indicate. In addition, reds are accentuated quite a bit. It's rare to see any violin with as much red in it as you see in photos.

This is because photography is "designed" for making pretty pictures, especially of people (the reason for accentuated reds--to counter the green tint in accurately-reproduced skin tones), not accurate ones. I can usually tell when someone has been working from photos, rather than real violins.

Just to get an inaccurate rendition consistent with the look in most books, I have to pull saturation around 15 points to the left and push hue three or four to the right, in Photoshop, and even then that doesn't make things literally correct.

Most violins have a slight green tinge in the bare areas, not lemon yellow as is normal in photos, and don't really have large bright yellow areas. "Red" varnish of old Cremonese violins is usually a dark orange-brown tending towards warm ruddiness--on close examination you'd be hard-pressed to find any real red in most of them. The "golden" ground that is so apparent in photos is something you have to look hard for on the real thing, and may not even see under certain lights.

actonern · Super Member Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 444

Michael that is SO helpful... I will certainly be guided by that advice in the future.

With today's nth degree of precision afforded by digital capture and post processing I wonder why the Strad people don't give us the "unvarnished" truth in the feature centre folds?

All the measurements to the fraction of a millimetre are provided and so one feels entitled to believe that the color photography is similarly accurate.

Thanks again.

Michael Darnton · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:51 pm Post subject:

Accuracy is a floating thing with violins. I can find light that makes the violins look like the posters, so that possibility is contained within the violin. For instance, we have a violin being restored in my shop. The other day I took it into the front room and put it on the sofa there. Suddenly it looked completely different--darker, duller color, less like a photo of it under bright lights. And that's how most players will see it.

Barry Dudley · Member Joined: 01 Jan 2008 Posts: 64 Location: Monroe, GA

Photographing violins is an art form in itself!! Michael, after enjoying at all the "art" quality photos you have posted through the years, I set about trying to learn some photography. It is not as simple as point and shoot! I agree with actoner, why would Strad process the photos to the point that what you see is not what you get?

Michael Darnton · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:30 am Post subject:

It's one thing when you can have the violin there in your hand while you're printing, but another when you have to go by memory, or in the case of STRAD--the people all along the way haven't even seen the violin and have no idea what it looks like.

I have someone in my shop doing the printing now, and he does a much better job when I can hand him the violin while he's working, even though he certainly knows what a violin looks like, in general. The tendency is to pump them up a bit so that they look good, not accurate, and it doesn't help that every other violin photo in the world you can compare yours with has also been pumped up.

Barry Dudley · Member Joined: 01 Jan 2008 Posts: 64 Location: Monroe, GA

After reading this thread I took some photos of a 5-sting I completed this week without changing the saturation or contrast in Photo Shop. The only thing I did was alter the exposure about 1/2 stop. Michael C&C please.
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Barry Dudley · Member Joined: 01 Jan 2008 Posts: 64 Location: Monroe, GA

WOW...I was able to get the photo to post. Here is one more shot.
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actonern · Super Member Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 444

how does one post pictures... can I copy from my hard drive or do I have to have a web site URL to link to?

Michael Darnton · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:39 pm Post subject:

You need to have the picture on an external site that allows linking. Then when you post, you put the address of the photo within img tags that you can get by punching the img button on the posting dialog page. For instance, and I'm going to alter the type of parentheses on the tag so that it's visible, so don't do exactly what I do:
(img)http://pictures.com/image.jpg(/img) would show the picture at that address, if there was one.