Photo engraving color

Is this the only color photos will engrave in? I’m brand new to laser engraving.

Some very slight variations - mostly due to how charred the wood gets, and each type of wood engraves a little differently. If you want a darker engrave color, use the HD photo setting. (High Def).

But yeah, I like to say there are two colors - burned and not burned. The best you can get will look like a black and white photo. (Basswood engraves nice and dark, and the creamy white makes a nice contrast.)

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Thank you Jules. I started the HD option but it didnt seem to be engraving anything after 4 minutes. Is that normal?

Check your settings - they might have defaulted to 1% power. (Which is what will happen if you are not using Proofgrade material or if it doesn’t recognize the Proofgrade sheet.)

The HD default speed is 500 and power 11. Do you know what it should be?

Well, that default value actually changes for different materials, and different model machines. So it might be different for my machine.

You should probably be able to see that being engraved on the masking…is it burning through the masking?

Gottch. It was not burning the masking at all. I have the pro and was burning on medium draft wood. We cleaned the lenses tonight and will give it a go tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for all your help and speedy response!

That’s the suggested setting for the HD Photo for the Pro, but I think it might be in error. I’d suggest changing the speed to 300. That should give a darker result. (I’ve been meaning to mention that to the GF team, but it rarely comes up…I don’t engrave that many photos.)

By the way…scratch that completely…for Photos, the Draft Photo setting gives the best results, for reasons that are kind of lengthy to describe. Just try the Draft Photo setting. (It provides the best contrast.)

Will do! Thanks again for all the tips!

I had needed to test an image for something I’m working on, so I decided to try all the settings and post the results - see here: Just sharing some engrave tests

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Thanks Eflyguy! This is very helpful. Will the results with these settings come out about the same on PG Medium draftwood?

I doubt it. Those are the settings for PG Maple Ply. I only included them on the piece to be able to compare what difference they make.

It’s just an example to show the differences you can get with different settings. The combinations are virtually infinite.

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Gottcha! Thanks for the advice!