Showcase pics vs. naked eye

[CarteBlanche]

Just got my quilt-top hardtail from warmoth.  Excellent work from the paint shop, she's beautiful! However noticeably darker than the picture from the showcase. Anyone out there have similar experiences?

This is important to me because I want to pick a neck with a board from unique choice.
Thanks in advance ccasion14:

 

[simple]

You could get yes and no answers. Truth is, everyone's monitor looks different and all think their's is accurate.

 

[lafromla1]

When I got my VIP, I thought it was a bit lighter then what the showcase pic had, which turned out to be even nicer.  The fingerboard was spot on with the pic, but the pic did no justice to the ebony vaneer on pegboard which was better then the pic.

 

[tfarny]

Pics and monitors always change the look of stuff. There's really nothing Warmoth could do about this, though it would be nice if they did the photos outdoors with natural light and reference colors like grass - I feel more confident about the colors then. Most of the stuff I've bought has been much nicer in person than on the showcase.

 

[Galaxy_Stranger]

Yeah, it's important to understand that a digital image is only going to be so accurate to begin with.  THEN, the guy who took it has to know what he's doing.  THEN, you have to calibrate your monitor.  And THEN - there's no guarantee.

There are even a few posts of pics here I've seen that look like completely different guitars in one post - color and all.

 

[Edin]

Monitor's gama, brightness, contrast, and RGB settings often change the real world...

 

[simple]

We did just recently find a new photographer that is really getting a handle on our picture taking process for the first time. Over the next year you should be able to see a definite improvement in photos for the Showcase.

 

[Edin]

Put ICC profile for download :icon_thumright:

 

[Sinistar]

As someone with about 15 years as a production artist, I can tell you that you'll never get perfect color reproduction.  The best you can do is get in the ballpark.  And if you're talking internet, you're lucky to even get in the parking lot.

I can't tell you how many times I've had to stop myself from fork-stabbing someone in the neck when they complained that what came off of a $50,000 printer I had just calibrated didn't look like what they saw on their P.O.S. cheapy special monitor at home.

The time of day and even the color of the shirt you're wearing can affect how you perceive color.  And unless you're in a closed-loop environment with people who really know what they're doing, color management is a lie.

 

[dbw]

Still, the white-balance varies widely among Warmoth's pictures.  Check out a few different bodies with light backgrounds.  They could at least get it consistent!  Plus anyone who owns a car or guitar in one of the Fender colors can calibrate their monitor. 

Edit: I'm not criticizing... I'm a terrible photographer, my pictures always look crappy and the colors and light are way off.

 

[Mark W]

I have purchased several items from the site.
Some pics are dead on, some are not. This includes the special wood section.
Good news is that everything has looked great once I received it and all surprises have been positive.

It would be nice if they would include a gray card or a white card in the photo so you could adjust each photo to know exactly what you were getting. This is how test photos are done.
Maybe just shoot the items on a white or black background with a gray card by the item.

Thanks for all the cool stuff!!

 

[Kostas]

We did just recently find a new photographer that is really getting a handle on our picture taking process for the first time. Over the next year you should be able to see a definite improvement in photos for the Showcase.

It would be good to put new pics (samples) in the "paint" section too.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

I keep thinking that it would be a good idea to include a standard color chart in each picture. They include several densities of grey plus some mixes of the primary colors. In the era of non-digital photography (gasp!) a lot of us used them. One use was to have a reference when making our own prints, another was the notion that if your roll was lost the picture with the color card (with your address added) gave you some hope of recovering it. Something like putting a file named 'how to assassinate the president.xls' on your laptop. If it gets lost chances are the Secret Service will contact you.