I'm going to get this if it kills me

[OKLAHOMAN]

Forgive the finger prints. I'm trying my damnest to get pictures of good quality. All suggestion more than welcome.

 

[Gary Max]

Roy the best trick I have for pics-----Good lighting
The best shot I have taken of pens where in the sunlight
Light box sitting on porch in the sun----
Anywho----nice pen

 

[toolcrazy]

That is a very good pic. I think you have it. You might consider getting some white and black acrylic sheets to take your photos on.

 

[Fred]

Consider getting yourself a large piece of white poster board and cutting a hole in the near center that barely fits over the lens. This will allow you to 'kill' the dark line that reflects along the length of the metal parts.

I believe in this particular shot that you have the metal as best as you could ask for, however, the wood is a bit dark and fails to show up the beauty of the material. Try a couple of shots using the current set-up as the beginning and then bracket your exposures by varying the aperature openings. You may have to lose a bit of the metal to get the wood since both are no where near the same type of reflective surfaces.

Be sure to post your new shots along with the camera settings, i.e., shutter speeds, aperature, and types of lights used.

 

[Dario]

Picture looks fine, I think your problem is just the background choice (cloth). Try using gradient paper.

 

[Daniel]

Roy, If you have to apologize for the finger prints, you have a pretty detailed photo. The picture looks really good to me. All the bright Platinum may be causing the red to come out a bit dark. But that is a matter of which one you want to have come out better or working for a good trade off of both. Maybe elevate the pen a bit to give a better indication of shadow under the pen, again a parsonal choice according to your likes. but that is about the only thing I see in this that I would even think about changing.
I do notice a sharpness issue. I see this a lot adn do not think it is a photographing issue. It is more of an editing issue. basically it is that a picture that is nice and sharp when you take it has started to get fuzzy edges by the time it is cropped, color corrected, resized and posted here. Since I also have this problem I would love to see some comments regarding correctly editing photos so as not to loose picture quality.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Thanks all who posted, I've been updateing my Zapplication site with new pictures the last two days(couldn't get out to the shop been fighting a cold) and have taken 40-50 new pictures between sniffels and really think I'm learning as they all came out as good as this one, some even better.Thanks all.

 

[avbill]

1.) your camera and the subject matter are not parallel. Look at the top of the pen lending to the left line up the camera back parallel to the subject in vertical and horizon alignment. or you can adjust this in photoshop.
2.) the photograph is under exposed by 3/4 of a stop to 1 stop. there is very little detail in the pen body. (blank)
3.) Almost every digital camera today has auto focus and auto exposure. The camera takes in all the light and makes a average exposure from the light area and then the dark areas. The chrome area of the pen does not help the photographer, you, because your exposure is 3/4 stops under -- if you exposed the subject correctly the detail in the chrome area would be over-exposed. Losing the detail in the clip area. A better way of exposing the photograph is by bracketing the shot. Either increase the exposure time or decrease. DO NOT adjust the F-stop. F-stop function has every thing to do with the depth of field of the photograph.
In your photograph, you the pen in focus barely. The back of the top of the pen is starting to lose it sharpness. You can see it by looking at the cloth weave of the background. It goes soft at the back of the pen.
4.) your light pattern is slight a miss look at the two shadows of the top of the pen is showing. you have your rigth side light at about 60 degrees from the camera and is farer away from the subject the pen than the left sided light. which is only 15 to 20 from the camera and closer to the subject. (How do I known this is the inverse square law of light. ) To solve the problem make sure the two lights are equal distance to the subject your light. on the left side is a good distance to the subject it highlights the dark acrylic blank with detail and does not lose the detail in the chrome. It would be better if the light were 4 to 8 inches closer. What is lost is your placement of the right sided light bring it closer the the subject and bring it closer to the camera. At the same time project the beam of the light just in front of the subject. this will increase exposure to the front of the horizon pen body giving you more detail in the blank.

By bringing your lights in closer (distance wise you increase your intensity of light ) altering the automate exposure: increasing better detail in the darker areas of your photograph.

hope this helps you!


Bill Daniels

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Wow...if I only understood. I'll try what you said one step at a time. 1st I need to line up the subject with the camera "back?" parallel to the subject. Right?
2nd, increase the exposure setting by 3/4 to 1 . Are we talking about the EV adjustment? on my camera its from -2.1 to =1.5 ths picture was taken @-0.3
3rd and here is where I get lost or maybe I was lost at #2 My camera has settings for EV(exposure settings)as discussed above and Aperture-priority F2.8,F4.8 and F8.2, this picture was taken with F8.2 is this not the shutter speed?
4th lighting ,You are partly right as on the left side I also had a light coming from outside the tent pointing on the subject and both the left and right lights were the same distance do I need to get rid of the 3rd. light?

Originally posted by avbill

1.) your camera and the subject matter are not parallel. Look at the top of the pen lending to the left line up the camera back parallel to the subject in vertical and horizon alignment. or you can adjust this in photoshop.
2.) the photograph is under exposed by 3/4 of a stop to 1 stop. there is very little detail in the pen body. (blank)
3.) Almost every digital camera today has auto focus and auto exposure. The camera takes in all the light and makes a average exposure from the light area and then the dark areas. The chrome area of the pen does not help the photographer, you, because your exposure is 3/4 stops under -- if you exposed the subject correctly the detail in the chrome area would be over-exposed. Losing the detail in the clip area. A better way of exposing the photograph is by bracketing the shot. Either increase the exposure time or decrease. DO NOT adjust the F-stop. F-stop function has every thing to do with the depth of field of the photograph.
In your photograph, you the pen in focus barely. The back of the top of the pen is starting to lose it sharpness. You can see it by looking at the cloth weave of the background. It goes soft at the back of the pen.
4.) your light pattern is slight a miss look at the two shadows of the top of the pen is showing. you have your rigth side light at about 60 degrees from the camera and is farer away from the subject the pen than the left sided light. which is only 15 to 20 from the camera and closer to the subject. (How do I known this is the inverse square law of light. ) To solve the problem make sure the two lights are equal distance to the subject your light. on the left side is a good distance to the subject it highlights the dark acrylic blank with detail and does not lose the detail in the chrome. It would be better if the light were 4 to 8 inches closer. What is lost is your placement of the right sided light bring it closer the the subject and bring it closer to the camera. At the same time project the beam of the light just in front of the subject. this will increase exposure to the front of the horizon pen body giving you more detail in the blank.

By bringing your lights in closer (distance wise you increase your intensity of light ) altering the automate exposure: increasing better detail in the darker areas of your photograph.

hope this helps you!


Bill Daniels

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Using suggestions from Bill Daniels,I guess I'llo keep my day job:

Originally posted by OKLAHOMAN

Forgive the finger prints. I'm trying my damnest to get pictures of good quality. All suggestion more than welcome.

 

[R2]

Can't be too bad a photo if I can pick up the fingerprint![}]
Nice pens too!