Dark Side - Mata Ortiz Pottery
 

This was a tough challenge to find the right object that would work. I have this Mata Ortiz, black on black clay pot that has beautiful carvings on the surface. I tried illuminating it with a pin light of my book reading light. Here are some results that appealed to me... It may be too dark, but I kinda ran out of time.....:(

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-r.../P1040433a.jpg



https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w.../P1040435a.jpg

A little too dark perhaps, but I really like the idea. Might have had a slightly brighter light (maybe? or perhaps a bit more diffused?) to add a bit more detail. But if my experience is any indication, it's very easy to over-do it and end up losing the low-key aspect. I'd love to see more of the pot, it looks like a very nice one.

I agree with mtngal, its a bit dark at least on my screen and thus it loses quite a bit of I act.
That being said, the vase based on what I can make out looks marvelous.

Aloha

How much of the pot I see depends on how I angle my monitor.

Bernice

They came out darker than what I saw on my screen originally. I lightened them a bit, should I go lighter?


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-m.../P1040435b.jpg


and this is what it looks like in bright light. It's only about 5" tall.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-D.../P1040364a.jpg

I really like the second version. It adds enough detail to make it clear but it's still really low-key. And thanks for posting the whole pot, it's lovely. But then, I've always loved that type of pottery.

Thank you mtngal, these are very thin-walled pot made of black clay, with extremely fine lines scratched on the surface to make the patterns. It was a bit expensive but I had to have it.

Saly,

I'm the reverse of Mtgal, I really like the first shot . Although quite true the second gives all of the details but from just appeal, I vote for the first. The lightening does really help.

Thanks selvin - I assume you are referring to the first shot in my second post? I think that's what mtngal meant, also. This was very tricky, played around with shutter speed a bit. The problem was, if I picked the shutter speed too slow, stuff in the background showed that was not desirable. It would have helped if I had a plain black background like a drop cloth, but didn't have anything.

I like the lightened version best.

IMO, I don't think you need to lighten the image any more than you have, if you want experiment I would try going slightly darker