Display setup

Taking good photo's of your tree's can be challenging. Discuss your ideas and tips here.
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PeterH
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Display setup

Post by PeterH »

I went to a Bonsai display recently and as Bonsai hobbyist was impressed with a lot of the trees displayed, especially the natives BUT as an amateur photographer I was disappointed with the setup.
It was cramped and many of the trees did not have there own space, plus the trees were lost in the amount of black which surrounded them. Also the vertical aluminum channel on the rear partitions detracted from the tree which also reflected the down lighting.
I did take some test photos and from that I decided to take some outside.

With that said it was still a great display.

Kind Regards,

Peter
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CraigM
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Re: Display setup

Post by CraigM »

Thanks Peter, sometime less is more. Suppose clubs thinking about members and trying to encourage to display at times fit in more than they should, also need to work with materials and space available, so at times is a balancing act. As you say the display was still great so was in no way a criticism. Looking at the pictures the vertical lines really do break the view.

Love that natural group, the top tree is great as well.

The outside pictures of the harbour really capture the scene. Nice one.
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Re: Display setup

Post by KIRKY »

It would be good if they had a species tag instead of a number tag :lost:
Its always nice to know what you are looking at. Great shots of the Harbour.
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JaseH
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Re: Display setup

Post by JaseH »

KIRKY wrote:It would be good if they had a species tag instead of a number tag :lost:
You are given a printed exhibition guide when you enter, the tree numbers correspond to a species description and brief history or story of the tree in the guide. The method works very well I think.

I agree that we tend to pack the trees in a bit tight here in oz but our exhibits are getting better. The promotion and attendance for this exhibit was something to take note of, they did an exceptional job there!

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Last edited by JaseH on June 11th, 2016, 8:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Display setup

Post by sreeve »

Hi Peter,
I really like that tree / setting (number 64) .

I think bonsai should reflect a tree in its natural form and this tree / setting goes one step further...
I felt like I was walking through the Australian bush.....congratulations to the artist.

Absolutely love it.

Regards
Steve
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Re: Display setup

Post by legoman_iac »

Hey PeterH,

I was curious to see how far one could improve on the shot, so I've done QUICK fix in photoshop (hope that's ok?!?).

I'm an advocate for "fix it in frame, not in post" but wanted to see how it'd go with a touch up. Guess in future, perhaps try taking a black cloth around and drop it behind the trees, if possible, hehe.

I don't think editing the pic improves it that much or does the tree justice, apart from removing the aluminum bars and some of the background gradient which you mentioned. As the image was a low res version, could probably do a bit better with the raw uncompressed image, and more than 10min in photoshop, as separating the background from the leaves was tricky with the jpg (as lifted from this thread).

Anyway, pic below ... keen to hear what you (and others) think?



- Daniel
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PeterH
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Re: Display setup

Post by PeterH »

legoman_iac wrote:Hey PeterH,

I was curious to see how far one could improve on the shot, so I've done QUICK fix in photoshop (hope that's ok?!?).

I'm an advocate for "fix it in frame, not in post" but wanted to see how it'd go with a touch up. Guess in future, perhaps try taking a black cloth around and drop it behind the trees, if possible, hehe.

I don't think editing the pic improves it that much or does the tree justice, apart from removing the aluminum bars and some of the background gradient which you mentioned. As the image was a low res version, could probably do a bit better with the raw uncompressed image, and more than 10min in photoshop, as separating the background from the leaves was tricky with the jpg (as lifted from this thread).

Anyway, pic below ... keen to hear what you (and others) think?



- Daniel
Nice job Daniel,

It does isolate the tree and has no distractions in the image. Unfortunately all the trees had similar problems and to me (being a hobbiest)wasn't worth the time in Photoshop to correct.


Kind Regards,

Peter
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Re: Display setup

Post by legoman_iac »

Thanks Peter, and I understand. Though for a small fee, few hundred year old bonsai, I could photoshop them all for you, bahaha.

Your photos are nice captures, so yes, probably not worth touching up.

Do you have more pics online somewhere? Always keen to see local grown bonsai!
PeterH
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Re: Display setup

Post by PeterH »

Hi Daniel,

I am on FB.

Regards Peter Hanrahan
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