Hi all,
I just finished a wine cellar (1000 bottle) and can’t get good pictures because it’s so small. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get better pics? The room is 7 x 10 and floorspace is under 35ft sq.
Some of the better pic’s attached, but you miss a lot. This is my first cellar, an apprentiship of sorts, and hopefully more to follow. That’s over 3000 pieces of cedar, a lot of nails and a whole lot of sawdust. Not a bad first attempt. Oh the things I’ll do different next time……. but isn’t that always the way?
BB
Replies
Couple of things. If you are using digital, you need to get your hands on a very wide angle lens, and they aren't that common in digital due to the realities of lens design--it's harder to build a good WA lens for digital than it is for film. For example, I have a Nikon D40 camera and the wide end of my standard zoom lens is 18mm. That's about the same as 28mm on film. At some point I'll buy a wider lens for the camera but it will cost the better part of a thousand bucks.
A good solution might be to use film for your shots. You can pick up a used film SLR body and a wide angle lens (i.e. 20mm) for under $500 and it will take great shots in a space like you have there.
Alternative would be to rent gear. There are rental houses in every major city and a lot of them will UPS the gear overnight to you. Use it and send it back.
I've done a lot of small rooms like yours by putting the camera in a corner on a tripod. Put the camera *right* in the corner and aim it by feel. If there's room to get your head behind it you're losing valuable image area.
David,
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David,
thanks for the tips. I found a 35MM with panoramic and wide angle that I am going to try after the guy fills the room. They look better with bottles in them so I will post more after.
BB
If he'll let you in after it's full... that's a sign the job went well and you are trusted!
They were fantastic to work for. Quick with the money, let me do all the design and they gave me a couple of very nice (read expen$ive) bottles from his collection as a wedding gift. If he doesn't let me back in, I'll give his kid a copy of the key!
BB
You could try a fish eye lens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisheye_lens
I have one for a Nikon and it's great for certain situations.
Nice job on the cellar. I'm curious to hear more about it. What did you use to regulate the temp / humidity?
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Sweet! Your pix, along with the article in this JLC about putting a basement under an existing house, make me want to finish mine out this winter - mostly done, but just a big hole under the kitchen now . . .
Love the racks.
Forrest
Thanks for the complement Forrest. The racking is all "home grown". A friend of mine built a jig for making them and now it's time for me to upgrade it a bit. The side and corner racks are 19 bottle with the 12th one for display. The centers are 20 bottles, no displays and the side x-racks are made from the left overs from one operation. Time consuming but efficient. That display table and 2 rows deep were firsts. The guy I did the room for got hung up on having 1000 bottles in the space. The only way I could accomidate was to go 2 deep there and in the back of the corners. I ended up with a bunch of extra filler in the front but I think it came out ok. In the end he should be able to rack 1018 bottles give or take.
FatRoman - first, nice quote. Had to look it up to translate but I like that one..... The room is ~ R-40 walls and ceiling with a 10 mil vapor barrier and a windowless outswing exterior door that I cut down to fit under the steel beams they had in the house. It's away from the exterior walls so it should be less effected by winter temp swings. For room air conditioning, I used a whisperkool 3000. I've heard mixed reviews on them but I have a feeling that most peoples bad experiences come from having an undersized unit. Everyone likes to show off the space with glass and they forget to upsize the unit to compensate for the lost R value.
BB
Thanks Bob,I'm curious if you had to make up for the loss of humidity. I've toyed with the idea of making a room like that for myself, but started to come to the conclusion that while the cool temps were great for the wine, the resulting lack of dampness wasn't. Love to hear that I'm wrong and should just build one :)Best,
Steve'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb
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Steve,
unfortunately dry is no good. You can add moisture with a water feature in the room if you are in a dry area, or hide a humidifier. Unglazed clay pots work well; it's easy to see the water level in them but probably not so esthetically pleasing. From everything I've read you want to be 50-70 degrees and 50-70RH. The big thing is no drastic changes in temp or humidity.
BB
I typically use a tripod with a panoramic setting on my digital camera. You take a pic far right or left and in the display it will show you a shadow of the previous pic. After you reach the end, you save the pic and the camera will combine all of the images into one pic.
"It is what it is."
Might be hard to believe, but my I-Phone takes remarkablely good pics. The new ones are only $200 now, and it's something (phone) which most of us have in our pockets ALL the time. Been working GREAT for me.
Another tip is stand on a ladder and get yourself or the camera way up into the corner of the ceiling and snap a picture. Sometimes you can get a pretty decent overall in a small room.
<Sometimes you can get a pretty decent overall in a small room.>
Yeah, BossHog'll show up sometimes.
Forrest
You and me are the only ones that got that one.
jt8
"Yeah, BossHog'll show up sometimes."
You're just jealous because you can't make the look work like I do.
One of the Penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors [Plato]
Very, very nice. Wish I had one, and enough hooch to fill it. : )
As for the camera...I sell houses, and use a Canon SD870. It's got a wide-angle lens (28mm equivalent). There are some digital cameras that have even wider-angle lenses on them. For laughs, I just took a shot from the same place of my dining room with the Canon and my old Olympus C740UZ (38mm equivalent, which is what many cams have). You can really see the difference.
Jason
Check out microsofts new "photo seaming" software
http://photosynth.net/about.aspx