Black back ground

[OKLAHOMAN]

Attempting to get photos close to Lou's black background one's. Here is a pen that has a black body in my attempt.

 

[Pioneerpens]

Beautiful Pen! Pic looks great too!

 

[mbroberg]

To me, at first glance it looks like you have a shadow that you need to get rid of. But I see at the finial you actually have a reflection. Maybe you should elevate one end slightly so that the reflection is more defined, if that is the look you are going for.

Nice pen!

 

[jaywood1207]

The pen looks great and the pic is very clear but there is too much shadow on the bottom edge and the definition of the bottom edge of the pen gets lost.

 

[DCBluesman]

Roy - While no one appreciates a compliment any more than I, your photos (and pens) are already better than mine. As far as the foreground shadow, you can get rid of it by moving your lights just a few inches closer to the camera and aiming them back at the pen just a hair.

 

[PenMan1]

Roy:
I really like this set up! Plenty of light, even with a black pen. I agree with Mike that it might be interesting to elevate one end just to see if the pen gains more definition. Overall, a very nice setup that should highlight any pen well.

 

[jbmauser]

I asked Oaklahoman permission to use his great shot to demonstrate something

I really liked his shot but I felt it was under illuminated. I actually see a lot of pen pics that could use a bit more light. I think some keep lighting low to try and control glare on the highly polished finishes. I pulled down Roy's picture and ran it through Picasa3 which is a great simple photo management tool from Google. Did I mention it is free? I went into it's edit mode and just added a little tuning and gave it a touch of highlights and smidgen of fill light. As you can see the colors in the top really popped and the bottom now has just the hint of a contour line to contrast with the shadow. The reflection line seems just a bit wider but I think you will agree the pen shows off better with just a little after shot tuning. All of these were very minor tweaks. They just brought out what was there in the original shot. Thanks again Roy. Great Pen. JB

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Thanks John, I have Picasa 3 and just did the same thing you did,worked great thanks.
Lou that will be the day when My wood pens are as good as your "Pretty Wood Pens" I'm more of a man made material type of guy or in this case man made and alligator'
The background used for those that asked is a piece of glass painted on the underside flat black.

 

[toolcrazy]

I think certain color pens cannot be properly photographed on a black surface. I would of put that pen on white background. But, that is me.

The darker woods and acrylics have a tendency to blend too much with black. Not to say it can't be done. Proper lighting and camera setup can make it possible. But, I'm lazy, I want things easy and repeatable.

 

[PenMan1]

The background used for those that asked is a piece of glass painted on the underside flat black.

I wonder what would happen if you used a clear piece of glass with that car window tint film stuff on the bottom and a tiny, tiny little light under it.....Humm... I may have to play, soon.....