First attempt at a photo

[CREID]

Any negative comments on my photography will be thoroughly enjoyed, I spent my life in the p rinting ink business, not photography, I'm amazed I can even take a picture.
Ok, phoenix Rising, Box Elder Burl.

 

[CREID]

Ok, that didn't work out well. ROFL

 

[CREID]

I think I'll go back to bed now.

 

[WriteON]

Hey nice pen.....

 

[mark james]

Come on Curt!, no guts no glory...

Lets figure this out!

The pics so far... In my "not so sophisticacted manner... Looks "dull". By this I mean it is a "not so bright" picture... Work on the lighting. The reflections. The time of day (which impacts the natural light). All reflections. Do Repeated pictures with different settings.

If you see a "better" image, save the settings and continue from there. I have very few pictures that are "good," but I also have a very few that are "acceptable."

This is a pawn game! Have FUN!

 

[CREID]

Come on Curt!, no guts no glory...

Lets figure this out!

The pics so far... In my "not so sophisticacted manner... Looks "dull". By this I mean it is a "not so bright" picture... Work on the lighting. The reflections. The time of day (which impacts the natural light). All reflections. Do Repeated pictures with different settings.

If you see a "better" image, save the settings and continue from there. I have very few pictures that are "good," but I also have a very few that are "acceptable."

This is a pawn game! Have FUN!

Didn't feel like dealing with the camera and downloading the image, so I used the IPhone. :smile-big:
All those pics were the same one, no idea why they are all there. The photo was turned somehow, the original is up and down, not upside down, and the text was input before the picture, but came out all over the place.
I just wanted to post a pic because everyone else does, now I'm traumatized.:biggrin:
Actually if you look close at the tip end of the blank, it looks like I must have trimmed the blank too much, couldn't get it pressed in all the way.

 

[rconrad]

Here is the kit I use it doesn't take up much space and works well

Photo Studio Table Top Lighting Kit, with 16", 20" or 24" Tent, square tent kit

 

[farmer]

Pictures

Ok, that didn't work out well. ROFL

(Commercial or Product Photography on a SMOOTH nonmetallic surface)

Your pictures didn't have enough light or they are under exposed.

It takes light to see colors .....................................................

Photographing pens can be done several different ways.
There is also different ways to approach photographing pens .
One way is just to start taking mass pictures under different lighting and see if you cant get a couple good photos .
Pretty much the way you took the photos above.


Other way is to read and study and go about this in a way that you understand why your photographs are coming out the way they are.

I have no idea what camera and lens you are using? ( or cell phone )

One or two LED flash lights will work, But us one flash light to start off with because each light is going to make your pen have a glare line or reflection line in the photograph.

If the flashlight lite is to bright or to much on the hard light side ( over exposed )you can rubber ban white cloth over the light but you know or understand that you are now creating light waves that contain polarized electromagnetic waves that when the light come in contact with any smooth non metallic surface will create electromagnetic reflection .
OR in layman terms (Polarized Glare )

You might get a few people who will chime in to help you with your photography.
This can be confusing because you will be dealing with extremely different technics to photographing your pens, and the different problems that come with each light source.


Tungsten lighting creates allot of heat and normally the light needs to be softened so I don't ever suggest continuous tungsten lighting because of its safety hazards .

If your pens are going to be listed for sale online then your pictures need to be as good as your other competitors.....................................
The person who has the pen that looks like the buyer wants and has the best images of that pen is most likely to get the sale.

Your pens images is just as important as the pen if they are going to be sold online or listed in a catalog......

So the question is do you have small LED flash lite and some one to hold it for you :wink:

 

[randyrls]

All those pics were the same one, no idea why they are all there. The photo was turned somehow, the original is up and down, not upside down, and the text was input before the picture, but came out all over the place.

Curt; Many photos have a rotation flag in the EXIF data saved with the photo. Many software packages (including Windows ) do not look at the rotation flag, so photos you take may be sideways, or upside down. You can rotate the photo with any good photo program. Some programs will even ask if you want to auto-rotate the photo and make it permanent.

 

[Radiowave911]

Lighting, Exposure, and post-processing all can help

Lighting - I like to shoot all my shots with no flash and well-lit using a couple of diffused flood lights. Diffusion is a great way of avoiding hot spots on the subject you are shooting (I.E. spots where you can see the light illuminating the object). I would recommend that all your lighting be the same type and temperature of bulb. I.E. if you are using 'warm white' compact flourescent bulbs, they should all be warm white CFLs. I used to use halogens, I am switching to LED bulbs with a 6500k temperature. This looks to the eye as a blue-white color. It also happens to be closer to true daylight color. The color temperature of your bulbs is important as it can affect your processing (however you are doing it).

I shoot with a DSLR, although great results can also been achieved with a typical point-and-shoot camera. I will take pictures with mobiles, although they are more of a quick 'look what I just made' shot and not an actual product shot. The reason I like my DSLR is that it allows me to save pictures in RAW mode. RAW mode is a mode where the image data from the sensor chip inthe camera is written to storage exactly as it is. The camera does no processing. This does make for huge files, but gives you the ability to correct a multitude of errors. Exposure a bit off? You can fix that. White balance wrong? You can fix it. What a digital camera does when you have it set for a certain type of shooting is to process the raw data on it's own then write the processed image to storage, usually as a JPEG (or JPG) image file. Wht may camera allows me to do is save BOTH the raw and the JPEG image. I use the JPEG to determine which shot I liked the best, then work with the RAW image.

Working with the raw image, you need a program that understands your particular camera's raw image. The data format can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, as there are not any real standards. I use UFRaw myself for working with the images from my Nikon camera, or I use a program called Darktable (I run Linux, not sure if Darktable is available for Windows or MAC). I first adjust the color temperature (white balance) of the image. I then adjust the levels. I want all my images to appear uniform, so I have a saved profile that I can use with the program to get what I want. The resulting image is saved to disk in the portable network graphics (PNG) format for further editing. While you CAN alter colors and light levels using the JPEG file, it is important to know that a) there is already image data lost by the JPEG compression and b) the camera has already made alterations to the image color and exposure data and thrown away the original information.

After I have created a PNG image, I open it in GIMP (an open-source Photoshop analog that is available on Linux, Windows and MAC platforms). In GIMP, I crop and resize the image to get it to it's final size for publishing. All of my published images are 600 x 600 pixels - a long way from the massive image file they started as. I do no color or lighting work in GIMP (although the capabilities are there) as I want to be able to do that on the original image. The PNG is a compressed, processed image. This means that, just like JPEG files, there is lost information and the colors and lighting have already been altered and the original levels lost (in a manner of speaking).

Being the pack rat that I am, I do keep every image file I use - including the original RAW image file, the original JPEG file, and the intermediate PNG file along with, of course, the final edited PNG file.

Why PNG? Somewhat personal preference. I feel that PNG strikes the right balance between compression, quality, and file size while minimizing artifacts. To cover the nature of artifacts would be another post and would go into what compression is, how it works, and how compressed images are formatted for display (which I will gladly provide, should anyone feel the need for some computer science :biggrin

 

[SDB777]

he information is mostly there....here is what I could get out of it in a few moments playing around.




Go with something less 'line filled' on the background. Have you considered HDR? It just works, without a bunch of gimmicky stuff....



Scott (South Park has gone really badly) B

 

[CREID]

he information is mostly there....here is what I could get out of it in a few moments playing around.




Go with something less 'line filled' on the background. Have you considered HDR? It just works, without a bunch of gimmicky stuff....



Scott (South Park has gone really badly) B

Actually, it is just sitting on a tablet of pink graph paper I use for calculus. I could play around with it in photoshop express. Pictures are just not my thing right now, but thanks for cleaning it up.
Curt

 

[CREID]

Ok, that didn't work out well. ROFL

(Commercial or Product Photography on a SMOOTH nonmetallic surface)

Your pictures didn't have enough light or they are under exposed.

It takes light to see colors .....................................................

Photographing pens can be done several different ways.
There is also different ways to approach photographing pens .
One way is just to start taking mass pictures under different lighting and see if you cant get a couple good photos .
Pretty much the way you took the photos above.


Other way is to read and study and go about this in a way that you understand why your photographs are coming out the way they are.

I have no idea what camera and lens you are using? ( or cell phone )

One or two LED flash lights will work, But us one flash light to start off with because each light is going to make your pen have a glare line or reflection line in the photograph.

If the flashlight lite is to bright or to much on the hard light side ( over exposed )you can rubber ban white cloth over the light but you know or understand that you are now creating light waves that contain polarized electromagnetic waves that when the light come in contact with any smooth non metallic surface will create electromagnetic reflection .
OR in layman terms (Polarized Glare )

You might get a few people who will chime in to help you with your photography.
This can be confusing because you will be dealing with extremely different technics to photographing your pens, and the different problems that come with each light source.


Tungsten lighting creates allot of heat and normally the light needs to be softened so I don't ever suggest continuous tungsten lighting because of its safety hazards .

If your pens are going to be listed for sale online then your pictures need to be as good as your other competitors.....................................
The person who has the pen that looks like the buyer wants and has the best images of that pen is most likely to get the sale.

Your pens images is just as important as the pen if they are going to be sold online or listed in a catalog......

So the question is do you have small LED flash lite and some one to hold it for you :wink:

Yea, I'm well aware of how to see colors, spent a good part of my adult life staring at stuff in a Macbeth light booth.
I appreciate all the advice, I just posted a picture because I felt bad that a lot of people do and I never had. When I get the itch to do it again, rest assured I will be getting advice.
Curt

 

[CREID]

I can't answer all the responses, but I want to say thanks to all who have responded. You're advice did not fall on deaf ears.
Curt