Let's Do Some Portraits

[Dirtydan]

Portraits are something I'm into. They are Great Family gifts for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Birthdays and just because. They do require a lot of preparation as well as cleanup afterwards, but there is also a lot of satisfaction after all the work is done.

Keys to getting a good portrait carving:

1. High quality picture - Toothie smiles and glasses really add a lot of time to the cleanup.
2. Crop the picture and remove all the background.
3. Save as a .png. If you have done a good job up to this point, Color or Grayscale will come out the same. Grayscale seems to be the most forgiving.
4. Upload the picture into designer. Raise or lower the picture until all the background is gone. If you see any little dimples, you didn’t remove all the un-wanted background.
5. Some times I’ll do a small version on a piece of pine… just to make sure I didn’t miss something. In the mean time, you can see some of my portriats at the link below.

Ok, lets see some portrait carvings… I’ll upload some of mine soon.

[rjp736]

Awesome explanation of how to do it. Thanks.

[Gman_Ind]

Using the pattern editor is a good way to cleanup speckles and smooth out bumpy spots.

[oldjoe]

dirtydan
Was just at your website great looking work. May have to snatch a couple of those mpc files from you.
Thank for sharing

[oldjoe]

Oh and I forgot to add your are so right about toothy smiles was experimenting with a carving of a Hooters waitress ( okay I'm bad) but she had a really bright smile after carving her into wood she could have eaten corn on the cob thru a picket fence. Everything came out great except for that. Then when I cleaned up the carving I chipped her tooth. Oh well I will try again another day.

[rjustice]

teeth?... what teeth? LOL

Ron

[Dirtydan]

Joe, not a problem... Just let me know which ones you want. I still have most of them.

Luv those Hooter's Girls.... ;) They have the best Breast (Chicken) sandwiches around...

[Dave-Carve]

Nice explanation Of Portrats....... Like To Add 1 Thing ive found over the years of cleaning them up!!!!!!!!!!!!

While cleaning picture up if on a laptop (Think Your Done editing????)
Try this-- Push youre screen down apx 45-60 degree angle, now see all the darker (or Lighter) spots you missed around the edges etc, clean them up while angled and you WILL have a CLEAN picture!!

If on a desk top just look down upon screen at 45-60 degree angle you WILL see the same darker spots do same as above!!!!


TIP Only angle screen one way Up or Down "NOT BOTH"


Above Works on any carve not just portraits

Darker spots come out as higher BUMPS when carved ( unless inverted)
Then come out as deeper BUMPS. Either way if they are there they will be noticeable in your carve!!!!

Good Luck!! Happy Carving !!! Let me know if this helps (or works For You)
Posted before with no comments ????

[Dirtydan]

Never thought of that... Good Idea...

This is what I do....

1. Crop out the area I want to use.
2. Copy that object
3. Paste it into a new file with a transparent background.
4. Zoom in at 300 to 400 x. In this case, bigger is always better;)
5. Use a large size eraser to knock-out all the big stuff you don't want, but also getting as close to what you want to keep as possible.
6. Use a small size eraser to pick up the details...
7. Save the file as a .png
8. Upload it into Designer... No additional cropping or editing should be needed.

The Large eraser makes the clean up go faster and you are less likely to leave any of those little pixels laying around. The package I use is 'Ulead - Photo Impact' which will show you all those missed items as flashing pixels. At 300 to 400 x their pretty hard to miss.

[Dave-Carve]

Tryed that but there Always Something or Somebody That needs to be erased Tilting Screen work Excelent Give it a try works in any program!!!
Take one youve already done ZOOM and tilt screen you will see missed Pixels of Gray etc ..
Try it Let me Know .. Been editing photos apx ,Well done it on Packardbell 33mhz. 400 meg hard drive w/16 megs of ram.....
That was a MONSTER at the time I think Moden was 14.4 Phone line ( TEXT ONLY!!!)What a POWERHOUSE:p !!!!!!!!!!!!! Technolagy ???? And Spelling Has come a long way!!!!Amazing!!!!

[gcwilson]

Gunny,
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I had begun to try some pictures but had not reached where you are. Your post helped. I will try again later today.

[gcwilson]

[QUOTE=gcwilson;29380]
Haven't been a junior anything for a long time.

[Dirtydan]

I've been playing around a long time also... I use to run a BBS called "Dirtydan's Softiewaire Factory" many years ago. Long before the Internet became the thing. The site main areas were devoted to Databases, Graphics and Photo. First Modem was a 300 Baud, and the last one was a 14,400 HST by US Robotics... Boy, that was a zoomer in it's day. Ofcourse, file sizes were a lot smaller then.

"Guess this should have been a private message... Sorry all"

[Dave-Carve]

Junior Member
Soon You will become a MEMBER :p Think its around 50 post
And Then A SEINOR MEMBER :D at around 100 Post
But Then I dont Know What Happens ????????????
IM Almost There thanks for the help 89 This is 1 more post for me next 90 ????
Sorry PKUNK Wont happen Again !!!

[Dirtydan]

This took some time. I had to cut off the routed edge because when I routed the holes on the back to hang it, I punched though... Oh well, that was one lesson learned... Pre-planning is not one of my strong points...well for that matter planning period... Why waste time planning, RIGHT???

[mtylerfl]

Hello Dirtydan,

That is one of the best looking photo carvings on wood I have seen yet!

Great work!

[b.sumner47]

Gunny,Real fine work.Semper Fi.
Barry

[911guy]

Real nice work there Dan.....Turned out very well!

[Dirtydan]

Had to get this out today... Started at 0830 this morning... It's a birthday present for this young lady...turns 23 tomorrow... Last coats of clear drying now...:)

[Dirtydan]

Thanks Mike.... Did a lot of sanding on that one...

[Dirtydan]

Grandkids - Chloe and Abby

[DocWheeler]

Gunny,
Those look great - now can you teach me how to do that?

[Dirtydan]

Gunny,
Those look great - now can you teach me how to do that?

Well Ken, if you lived closer I'd come over and give you a hand. It's really not that hard, just takes a little more time than most people want to spend doing it. I learn something new on every project...some good and some not so good But that's life... I just try to remember the things that work.

Things to remember:
- Use High Quality Pictures that are not real busy
- Remove all the background from the subject
- Use only hard wood. Oak is OK, but a close grain wood like Purple Heart is Great, and cleans up in about 1/50th the time it would take using Oak. But some people like the look of Oak better..
- Set the picture/pattern as shallow as possible with out losing the subjects definition.

Hope this helps... :p

[Dirtydan]

Four small carvings 6" x 6", 2 in Oak and 2 in Purple Heart.

1 12" x 24" Pine -Whitewashed...

As you can see, the smaller one didn't come out as nice as the larger 12" x 12" ones posted eariler.

[Dirtydan]

Hello Dirtydan,

That is one of the best looking photo carvings on wood I have seen yet!

Great work!

Thanks, that one was a bear to get done. I had to force myself to work on it... Actual labor time was about 10-12 hours, but it took me almost 2 months from start to finish. Did many other project in that same period, just didn't like working on it. I have another one, just ther daughter that I started the same time, and it's still in work.... I hate sanding...:D

[911guy]

This took some time. I had to cut off the routed edge because when I routed the holes on the back to hang it, I punched though... Oh well, that was one lesson learned... Pre-planning is not one of my strong points...well for that matter planning period... Why waste time planning, RIGHT???

Dan,
Just out of curiousity, how did you get the faces to stand out? Looks like a walnut type stain. Are the faces a different stain than the surrounding board? Nice work by the way.

[Dirtydan]

Dan,
Just out of curiousity, how did you get the faces to stand out? Looks like a walnut type stain. Are the faces a different stain than the surrounding board? Nice work by the way.

Craig, I used "Early American" stain. I flood the entire project and then quickly wipe off the areas I want to be lighter.. and then repeat as needed until I get the effect I want. On the Purple Heart, all I did was clear coat them about 4 times...

Thanks for the comments...

Dan

[Dirtydan]

This took a while, but didn't come out to bad...:cool:

[DocWheeler]

Dan,

Yeah, I'd say it didn't turned out bad (by a long shot).

[911guy]

Dan,

Very good work. You have some good talent there! Thanks for the tip about the staining!

[Dirtydan]

Thanks guys...

I'll be posting my oldest daughters wedding picture in a couple of days. Just finished the clean-up, staining and first coat of clear coat. Should be ready by Friday...or sooner...;)

[Dirtydan]

Well, its not Friday yet, and still need several coats of clear, but here's the project and .png:D

[Dave-Carve]

Hi Dan
Heres a easy one for you,
This was a freind of mine gave for wedding present !!!
THE EASY WAY OUT ????

The Bright spot on litho is camera FLASH not Litho!!!:rolleyes:
3 pics = ON , OFF ,Org Picture

[Dirtydan]

Dave,

Email me the full sized picture... .jpg or .bmp

TheGunny@ddsf-ent.com

I'll see what I can do with it... OK

[Dave-Carve]

Dave,

Email me the full sized picture... .jpg or .bmp

TheGunny@ddsf-ent.com

I'll see what I can do with it... OK


????????????????? No help needed ??
I think we miss understood this is one ive already done just thought you might like these instead of wood ??
For Your carvings ??

Sorry

[Dirtydan]

That looks GREAT!!! What did you use???

[Sawdust607]

What program are you using to save it as a pnt? I have Corel and do not know which of the programs to use,

Great work







Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it!

[Dirtydan]

I use a package by Ulead called Photo Impact. You might still be able to find it under that name, but Adobe bought them out so I'm not sure if its still available. It's a very easy package to use.... I'm the evidence of that...:p

[mtylerfl]

Hello Dirtydan,

Corel bought Ulead, not Adobe. PhotoImpact is still available.

[Dirtydan]

Well I forgot to take a picture before it was packaged and sent off, but here's a picture from the event. Guess they liked it...

[jspringertx]

Outstanding job! Did you use oak?

You have inspired me to try portraits again. Thanks for the techniques.

[Dirtydan]

Have a retirement Plaque:)

[911guy]

Nice work Dan. I'm guessing for the letters, you must let the stain soak through longer than the rest of the surface?

[Dirtydan]

Yes, although Oak requires the most hard work (clean-up), I like the end results. I like seeing the natural wood and playing around with the stains.

Purple Heart is also great to work with and the results are always very nice, but people are not use to seeing it and seem to like the look of good old Oak...:)

[Dirtydan]

Nice work Dan. I'm guessing for the letters, you must let the stain soak through longer than the rest of the surface?

You got that right... My next project I'm double staining with two different stains. Pre carving stain will be Ebony and post carving will be a natural/honey Oak stain...over the top.:rolleyes:

[BobHill]

Dan,

Do you use a cloth to put the stain onto the carved text area or small paint brushes, then sand prior to staining the top wood?

Bob

[Dirtydan]

Dan,

Do you use a cloth to put the stain onto the carved text area or small paint brushes, then sand prior to staining the top wood?

Bob

Bob,

Assuming I'm using the same stain for the entire project, I brush it into the area's I want darker and then the rest of the wood. Wipe off the surface leaving stain in the carved areas. If the areas I want dark, need more I just re-apply to those areas and wipe off the spots on the surface again. On Oak, this might have to be done three, four or five times...

If I what to use two different stains, I stain the wood with the darker stain first, repeat until I get the color I want. Run the wood through the CW and sand/clean up and then apply the ligher stain to the entire board and then wiping off the stain right away, leaving the excess stain in the carved areas.

If you wanted to use two different stains and use the darker one in the caved area, then your back to the same way you would normally do it, except I'd apply the darker stain to the carved areas and wipe right away, cleaning up the areas on the surface with M.E.K. or something like that, and repeat until I got the color/tone I wanted and then apply the lighter stain to the entire board and wipe off right away. Repeat until I got the color/tone I wanted.;)

[Dirtydan]

Well I've found the world of "Corian" carving... Wood looks 'Neat', but "WOW" the Corian with a back-light is simply "GREAT"... Who would have thought???? Check it out... Sorry about the small back-light...it's the best I can do for now...

[pamjmayo]

Congratulations Dan and welcome to the world of Corian. It is beautiful! Pam

[Dirtydan]

Wedding portriats are the way to go... I'll start a different version of the attached .jpg in corian tomorrow...

[TCboy]

Looks good dan. cant wait to see what it looks like in corian

[Dirtydan]

Well everything came out OK except for the Lightbox.... :( Still working on that. Haven't quit got the lighting right... :mad: I'm going to line the inside with white paper and see if that makes a difference... :confused: I've attached pictures on the project below.:)

[TurkeyBranch]

Anyway you can point the light to the back of the box and paint it white on the inside? That would diffuse the light and make it more even


Ed

[TurkeyBranch]

Anyway you can point the light to the back of the box and paint it white on the inside? That would diffuse the light and make it more even


Ed

[Dirtydan]

Anyway you can point the light to the back of the box and paint it white on the inside? That would diffuse the light and make it more even


Ed

Good idea Ed.... I'll give it a go... Tried just about everything else..

Thanks.. :)

Ok Ed, I tried it... It works, but I have to change my box design to provide a better location for the light...

Thank's again..

[rcdages]

Hello Dan,

I have been viewing your portrait work in wood_Great!!!!!.

I have a question in regards to the direction of the grain. I see it is running horizontal. Do you find with the portraits that it carves better or is it dependen upon the pattern or size of project.

I have not yet ventured in to the area of portrait/photos yet.

Thanks for the pointers you gave.

rcdages
Robert

[Dirtydan]

I have a question in regards to the direction of the grain. I see it is running horizontal. Do you find with the portraits that it carves better or is it dependen upon the pattern or size of project.

Robert

Robert,

First, thanks for the kind words...:D

It's mostly because I use Oak a lot and it always seems to come out better that way. I must confess, I've only done a couple running vertical and I didn't care for how they turned out.

Also, I don't use a sled for the wood portraits, if I did size wouldn't make to big of a difference. I do use a sled for my "Corian" portriats. So far they have all been done running vertical, but there's no grain, so the results would be the same.... I just laid out the sled that way...

Because I use the Auto-Jig, and most of my portraits are 10.5" x 10.5" or bigger, the lenght of wood I start with is at least 19" long and 11.5" wide. To carve the portrait running vertical you would have to layout the pattern in Designer on it's side. I'm older now and I don't like twisting my head to the right or left to view it. :p

[CustomWestCoast]

What are you using to light your Corain lithophanes with?
I have made a couple of lithophanes and used a CFL (compact flourecent light) that has a built-in diffuser. Works great and you don't get that "hot spot" of light behind the picture.

[Dirtydan]

What are you using to light your Corain lithophanes with?
I have made a couple of lithophanes and used a CFL (compact flourecent light) that has a built-in diffuser. Works great and you don't get that "hot spot" of light behind the picture.

Would you please pass on your box design to me... I've been struggling with various designs... and lights.. I tried a flat/round CFL and didn't get the effct I was looking for. The picture with the brownish tint was with the CFL...

Any help you can provide will be most appreciated.

[rogone]

I really like what all of you are doing with Corian. I have an opportunity to buy some Corian but its color is Bone vs the White that I see everybody using. Does anybody have any experience with using the Bone Corian? I am interested in knowing if it will work well in doing these types of projects. Thanks.

[Dirtydan]

I really like what all of you are doing with Corian. I have an opportunity to buy some Corian but its color is Bone vs the White that I see everybody using. Does anybody have any experience with using the Bone Corian? I am interested in knowing if it will work well in doing these types of projects. Thanks.

The only difference should be that the image will have that old Oxide Picture look. I was looking at doing some stuff with a marble corian. Should have and interesting look... We'll see...

[Kenm810]

rogone,

It's not a very good photo but these are the ones I carved in White and Bone Corian
that I can compare side by side.

Ps. Here's a post and thread you could look at.white corian (http://www.carvewright.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3923&highlight=lithophane)

[Dirtydan]

rogone,

It's not a very good photo but these are the ones I carved in White and Bone Corian
that I can compare side by side.

Ps. Here's a post and thread you could look at.white corian (http://www.carvewright.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3923&highlight=lithophane)

Looks Pretty good to me Ken... The Sepia (Bone) looks real good...

[rogone]

Thanks guys. I guess I'll go ahead and buy some and see how it comes out once I get my CW back.

[Joegris]

I was a fine are major in college with a minor in photography. I also worked in a few photolabs and used to reproduce photos and sculptures quite a bit. Here are some tips for shooting your projects or reproducing photographs.

Cameras are stupid- even the fancy new digital ones. Camera flashes are never a good idea unless you have a slave setup to use them..It is best to shoot the project/picture with your camera set on manual using an 18% grey card to meter the exposure (don't use a flash) Go into the shade outside on a bright day and check the exposure on something neutral (a grey card or the side of a tree) Use these settings on manual on all of the work, ignoring what your meter says. For best results use a tripod on exposures under 1/60 sec.
For 100 speed film generally F11 at 125th works great in the shade (F16 at 125th in direct sun at your back). For digital cameras where is ISO isn't known it is the same thing, check it on something grey...usually there is a way to lock the exposure...

I'm still learning the CW and can't help people much with that yet, but I hope these tips are useful :). If you need directions on setting up a slave flash setup, just let me know. All of the great work people are doing can also have high quality images to go with them!
Joe

[Dirtydan]

Well it will be Christmas time real soon, so Grand Kid Portraits are in demand... Here's this weeks project.;)

[fyrpuppy]

I don't know how well this would work, I get a sale email from harbor freight and they have a battery powered led light strip on sale. Here is the link http://ww4.harborfreight.com/zcom/product/Product.do?compid=100&itemNumber=96793. Thanks for all the info and tips you guys give, I hope to try a lithophane soon still trying to get my hands on some corian, may just have to order the stuff off of the CW store.