New pictures, let me know what u think

[wizical]

hey everyone,

I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice on how to take better pen pictures. here is what i got, any advice would be great to improve these. Thanks

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[gketell]

Color looks great.

On the first and third pics the center band is perfectly clear but each end is out of focus.
On the second and fourth pics it looks like the top of the clip is in focus but it blurs out from there.

This is caused because your pen is not parallel to your camera back. Ie the setup looks kinda like this: / | where the pen is angled to the camera back. This makes it so that the focus distance is different for each spot on the pen.

To fix this you need to increase the Depth of Field (how far front to back is "in focus") from the fraction of an inch to several inches. To increase your DoF you want to go to a higher numbered f-stop. Say from f4 to f8 or f11. Then you should get more of the pen in focus.

While correcting the DoF is the better solution, if you can't change the depth of field then you need to change the alignment of the pen so that it is closer to parallel to the camera. This will fix the focus problem but will make the picture look more "static" and a lot less interesting.

GK

 

[keapople]

What kind of lighting are you using? and what camera?

Agreed on the depth of field, but try to maximize it...go as high as you can on the DOF...

http://www.pbase.com/kepople/pen_turning

These were shot with an F22-F25. these are at more of an angle to the camera, but I wanted to show more of the pen.

kirby

 

[keapople]

Oh, also, shooting down more helps eleiminate background problems. In the one photo you can see wrinkles in the background which looks pretty far away. Are you shooting with a wide anlge lens?

Kirby

 

[wizical]

I use 60 watt reveal blubs from GE, a light tent, and my camera is a K10 Pentax DSLR. thanks for all of the advice

 

[gketell]

My only disagreement with what Kirby said is that using maximum fstop depends on the lens. Some lenses (most of the "kit" lenses) aren't at their best at either max or minimum f-stop. So if you can get your pen in focus at a mid-range fstop you will likely get a better picture.

For lots of details and lens comparisons go to the Popular Photography and Imaging site. http://www.popphoto.com/ They do awesome analysis of cameras and lenses.

GK

 

[skiprat]

Greg, I really like the way you explain things 'photographic'
You manage to put things in laymans terms and make them easy for us to understand. [] Cheers
How about doing a 'Pics for Dummies' I'm sure I won't be the only one to gain from it.[]

 

[gerryr]

There are actually very few lenses that are any good at the minimum aperture. In technical terms, it's called reciprocity failure. No matter what the minimum aperture, Every lens I've ever used and that includes some of Canon's and Nikon's best, were sharper one full stop below the smallest aperture. If the minimum on your camera is f/32 or thereabouts, use f/22.

 

[gerryr]

I suddenly realized last night that reciprocity failure has nothing to do with how sharp a lens is at a given aperture. It's been so long since I taught photography I forgot what it really means. [:I]

 

[gketell]

oh no, the dreaded mentalpause!! Been there, doing that and I'm only 43. []

What you were possibly thinking of was vignetting (the darkening of the corners of the photo) and/or pincushioning (the warping of the photo). But that is a guess from someone who definitely has not taught any photography classes.

GK

 

[gerryr]

I think the actual technical term was something like "it ain't sharp no more."[]