I finally broke out the good camera

[sschering]

It would seem that lately I have been lazy by only using my cell phone to take pictures. The results as you can imagine have been less than stellar.

So today I aimed to do a little better so I dusted off the Pentax K10 and retrieved my trusty Manfroto tri pod from the closet.

I didn't set up any lighting and the overhead light was casting some nasty shadows so I took an alternate route.. dim light from a floor lamp, F stop to maximum and stupid long exposure times..

Yes I have noticed my lens was dirty.. I solemnly swear to clean it next time.

My background is just a sheet I got form the linen closet with a screwdriver under it for a pen prop.

Shutter priority mode +1 on the exposure bias
f/38 ( I didn't know it went that high)
6 second exposure shot with 2 sec delay w mirror up to reduce shake
ISO-400
55mm
A little cropping was done.

2nd has the same settings but a little longer exposure time.
Shutter priority mode +1 on the exposure bias
f/38 ( I didn't know it went that high)
4 second exposure shot with 2 sec delay w mirror up to reduce shake
ISO-400
55mm
Again a little cropping was done.

 

[randyrls]

The depth of field is pretty good! Good photos!

 

[Mack C.]

A tent may get rid of the glare line. Try moving your lights around to lessen or eliminate the glare.

I find the glare very distracting.

Nice pen pic. One other suggestion is to get rid of the black finial and replace it with the red acrylic you used for the pen. Look in the library for instructions to do this.
http://content.penturners.org/library/techniques/custom_finial.pdf
This isn't the only one, there are a few more!

All in the name of helping!

 

[sschering]

A tent may get rid of the glare line. Try moving your lights around to lessen or eliminate the glare.

I find the glare very distracting.

Nice pen pic. One other suggestion is to get rid of the black finial and replace it with the red acrylic you used for the pen. Look in the library for instructions to do this.
http://content.penturners.org/library/techniques/custom_finial.pdf
This isn't the only one, there are a few more!

All in the name of helping!

Good point.. something to help diffuse the light would tone down the glare.

I do have a small piece of the dyed hackberry left I could try making a finial with if I'm feeling brave

 

[farmer]

how

A tent may get rid of the glare line. Try moving your lights around to lessen or eliminate the glare.

I find the glare very distracting.

Nice pen pic. One other suggestion is to get rid of the black finial and replace it with the red acrylic you used for the pen. Look in the library for instructions to do this.
http://content.penturners.org/library/techniques/custom_finial.pdf
This isn't the only one, there are a few more!

All in the name of helping!

Good point.. something to help diffuse the light would tone down the glare.

I do have a small piece of the dyed hackberry left I could try making a finial with if I'm feeling brave

Photo or light Tents don't get ride of glare or reflection, It is 100% impossible to stop UV or Polarized reflection with a photo tent...................
The only thing a tent does to lessen reflection is it makes light dimer.

The only way to control reflection is Family of angle, color of back drop and subject, the texture of the surface, and polarized filters , as in CPL and linear polarized film. Uv Filters and ND filters.

The only thing a Photo tent does is defuse light................................

Read the book Light Science and Magic. Page 62 to 65...
Farmer

 

[farmer]

dime

It would seem that lately I have been lazy by only using my cell phone to take pictures. The results as you can imagine have been less than stellar.

So today I aimed to do a little better so I dusted off the Pentax K10 and retrieved my trusty Manfroto tri pod from the closet.

I didn't set up any lighting and the overhead light was casting some nasty shadows so I took an alternate route.. dim light from a floor lamp, F stop to maximum and stupid long exposure times..

Yes I have noticed my lens was dirty.. I solemnly swear to clean it next time.

My background is just a sheet I got form the linen closet with a screwdriver under it for a pen prop.

Shutter priority mode +1 on the exposure bias
f/38 ( I didn't know it went that high)
6 second exposure shot with 2 sec delay w mirror up to reduce shake
ISO-400
55mm
A little cropping was done.

2nd has the same settings but a little longer exposure time.
Shutter priority mode +1 on the exposure bias
f/38 ( I didn't know it went that high)
4 second exposure shot with 2 sec delay w mirror up to reduce shake
ISO-400
55mm
Again a little cropping was done.

Not enough light. your Back drop should be either white.
or change it to black.
Continuous lighting has this soft effect, your underexposed to control glare. Making a white backdrop look some what dingy.

Farmer

 

[edstreet]

Try this, rotate the pen body 90 degrees from the camera and leave the cap where it is at.

 

[edstreet]

I did a sample shot yesterday on this subject. I took 5 caps and put them in a circular shape to reflect various object angles, while the light source remained the same you can easily see how a very simple change in where you stand and what angle you approach the shot with will adversely affect glare and reflections.

Also worth noting is the reduced glare angle for my setup is not the same as your setup. It really depends greatly on the 4 light qualities and how effectively you deal with them.

In this example I shot this on the kitchen counter outside of a light tent.

 

[BigE]

What did you use for a background, Ed? Whatever it is, it's a perfect color match to the background of the web page. Or did you clean that up in a software program?

-Steve
(Still trying to improve my photography skills)

 

[sschering]

Ed thanks for the tips and examples.. I haven't had time to take another swing at it.. Work has been hell the last week thanks to Microsoft and unpublished bugs.

 

[edstreet]

What did you use for a background, Ed? Whatever it is, it's a perfect color match to the background of the web page. Or did you clean that up in a software program?

-Steve
(Still trying to improve my photography skills)

standard white printer paper.

 

[mark james]

I love the exchange and the suggestions! The pics are great to start from - even better after suggestions! Newbies LOVE this conversation... Thank You! Thanks Ed.

 

[RickLong]

Nice job!

 

[sschering]

OK here is try #2 on plain white paper.

I spun it around till I got the glare lines to go away.
I'm not happy about the shadows. I may go borrow my fathers light box.

Different lens on the K10..

This is a Pentax 50mm 1:1.7 manual focus
f:22
4 sec exposure
ISO 100