# Faceted Pepper Mill



## broitblat (Jun 3, 2011)

12" Oregon Myrtle Pepper Mill with facets cut on the base, top, and the ring near the top of the base.



 

I still need to figure out how to photograph pepper mills without it looking like they are leaning over :-(

  -Barry


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## Sam@CSUSA (Jun 3, 2011)

Great looking pepper mill!  Don't be too hard on the photo... I couldn't take a decent picture to save my life!


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## ed4copies (Jun 3, 2011)

Cool technique, Barry!!

It will be interesting to see how it sells.   "Different" will always attract attention---that's half the battle!!


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## sbwertz (Jun 3, 2011)

broitblat said:


> 12" Oregon Myrtle Pepper Mill with facets cut on the base, top, and the ring near the top of the base.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
If you don't already have it, download Picasa. It has a "straighten" command that will take care of the tilt.


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## mountainrocker (Jun 4, 2011)

Very cool!


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## bitshird (Jun 4, 2011)

Barry that is sweet, Nice piece of Myrtle, great idea with the faceting, it will make life easier with slightly greasy or oily hands.


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## TellicoTurning (Jun 4, 2011)

broitblat said:


> 12" Oregon Myrtle Pepper Mill with facets cut on the base, top, and the ring near the top of the base.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



My pictures look as if they are leaning also... likely culprit is a tilt to your camera and not absolutely level with  the mill when you photograph it... found that to be part of my  problem... sometimes I get good straight shots, sometimes I don't.  I've learned to use the "straighten picture" feature in my photo program... I use Microsoft Digital Image 9 myself... I have Picasa3 on my computer, but not much of a fan... prefer the MDI9 ... probably because I'm used to using it and know it better...


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## TreeBits (Jun 4, 2011)

Try tilting the camera...   That's a joke, my pepper mills seem to lean also...


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## RandyMarsh (Jun 5, 2011)

Looks great.  Picture looks fine to me but Im no photographer.


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## markgum (Jun 5, 2011)

great looking mill.


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## kludge77 (Jun 8, 2011)

Awesome.

So were the facets cut before or after the turning? Almost looks like after to me. Indexing?


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## ctubbs (Jun 8, 2011)

Beautiful work. Is the mill a segmenting or did you index to get the facets?  The axis of the camera should be plumb to the object to produce a vertical image.  Otherwise you end up with a leaner.  Much easier to fix a small lean in editing.  
Charles


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## broitblat (Jun 8, 2011)

kludge77 said:


> Awesome.
> 
> So were the facets cut before or after the turning? Almost looks like after to me. Indexing?


 
The facets were cut after rough turning  using indexing and a router.  I originally wanted to do fewer (6) facets, but then I figured out I'd have to do 4 passes for each to get the width and depth I wanted -- maybe next time.



ctubbs said:


> Beautiful work. Is the mill a segmenting or did you index to get the facets? The axis of the camera should be plumb to the object to produce a vertical image. Otherwise you end up with a leaner. Much easier to fix a small lean in editing.
> Charles


 
Thanks.  I know in principle I need to get the axes to align, but in practice it has been more difficult 

I've checked that the floor, table, and tripod are all level (and that the bottom of the mill is square), and even measured the image in the view finder, but...  I guess I just need slow down and keep trying :wink:

  -Barry


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## Haynie (Jun 8, 2011)

Camera tilt causes the leaning tower of pisa effect.  Shoot straight on.


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## neubee (Jun 8, 2011)

Nice job on the pepper mill


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## clapiana (Jul 7, 2011)

the facets are unique!

what mechanism did you decide to use?


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## broitblat (Jul 9, 2011)

clapiana said:


> the facets are unique!
> 
> what mechanism did you decide to use?


 
Thanks.

The mechanism is the Chef Specialties mechanism from ExoticBlanks: http://www.exoticblanks.com/index.p...eyword=pepper&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=60

  -Barry


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## Daniel (Jul 9, 2011)

The leaning problem may be an issue of Focal Length. Basically the camera lens can warp the image. This is obvious when lenses like a fish eye are used. It gets harder to see as you use lenses that are closer to the human eye. But a long tall object will exaggerate the effect. I am not ceratin as I am working by memory but I think the human eye sees at around a 70mm range. A 55mm or similar (Common) lens will bend the object. Noticably in some cases. The fix sorry to say is to use a lens closer to 70mm.


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