Thanks all...

[Marc Phillips]

... and especially Ron Sullivan for the tips on the pics... I now have a headache from reading the camera manual.

Ok... set the white balance by holding a piece of paper under the lights (new halogens) and let er rip...

Old pic...

New pic, same pen...

I am still going to tweak this... it doesn't seem to be in focus as much as I'd like... but it's at least an accurate pic of the color of the pen!

 

[JimGo]

Focus problem may be two-fold, depending on your settings. 1) the camera may be weighting the focus toward where there is the most contrast with the background (i.e. the stones) and 2) the pen is on an angle. If the camera isn't set up for it, it the fact that the pen is at an angle with respect to the camera can move portions of the pen into and out of the "sweet spot" for the focus.

 

[brokenbit]

Now that a koooool pen

Bernie

 

[Tea Clipper]

Aw, shucks - you're welcome. [:I]

As Jim was saying about the focus problem, it is called 'depth of field' and when the camera is in macro mode, that depth (sweet spot as Jim says) can be very small, often less than an inch. So when a pen is set at an angle, it is possible for only a portion of it to be in focus. In my photos, I'm a bit lazy and set the f-stop, which is what controls the depth of field, to it's highest value. However, when you increase the depth it becomes necessary to hold the camera absolutely still - by tripod ideally.

Anyway, you are off to a great start there Marc! Keep up the good work, and it doesn't hurt to peek at the manual from time to time too. []