No, you don't need expensive equipment....

[underdog]

No you don't need expensive equipment to take decent photographs of your pens.

All you need is a point and shoot camera, some light, maybe a tripod, and a little knowledge.

My wife bought a Canon A410 for my birthday a few years back, and I've loved this camera. I've taken thousands of pictures with it by now, and most of them surprisingly good.

I bought a $45 tripod from Wolf Camera a couple years later, and that's just about all the equipment I have.

Yet I took these pictures with it:

 

[PenMan1]

Nice looking pens, Jim. I see a European in there! AND acrylic. How does it feel, walking on the wild side

Good job, amigo!

 

[underdog]

So heres' the setup. Yep. Right on the kitchen counter!

Here's the key thing. Keep the focus of your picture the focus of your picture. Declutter your background. Get good light. Focus and steady the camera. And keep the focus of your picture the focus of your picture. Don't put anything in the picture that will detract...

I put a black bound book on the counter with a piece of tinfoil between the pages. You can use The Lord Of The Rings trilogy of you like, it works for me, but I don't think it makes any difference.... I bend the tinfoil to bounce light under the pen. And I used a black encased calculator to prop up the pen. Simple but effective.

I used the kitchen lights which are flourescent, and close the blinds to get rid of the sunlight, and turn off the dining room light since it's incandescent. I do this so the light is all the same. I've got the light behind the valance, and the overhead light.
Then I turn off the flash. I don't need that much light. I could use a diffuser in front of the flash by taping something on, but I've never bothered. And that's it for lighting.

I place my camera on the tripod, and set it at an appropriate angle.

Then I set up the camera with custom settings. I use a piece of plain typing paper for setting the white balance for this specific light and spot. (What do you think that manual is for? Get it out and read it.)

Then I set the camera on macro. Again, get that manual out...

Next I set up ISO for the lowest setting I can get. Mine can go down to 50. Don't ask me why, I've not quite figured it out...

Then I set the exposure to a neutral "zero" setting. It's working for this amount of light for me. You may want to take a few pictures at different exposure settings to see how your photos turn out.

I also set the resolution to the highest it will go, because you can always reduce the size of the file, but you can't make it bigger or increase the resolution if it starts out small.

Then I have another custom setting, and I set that on "Vivid". Why? because it just looks better that way.

Anyway, the three or four biggest mistakes I see people make is to take a picture with flash, on a cluttered background, and no macro, then they either move the camera so the picture is blurred, or they don't get the camera focused on the right thing.

But you don't have to have a $2,000 camera rig to take decent photos...

All four pictures in the first post were taken with my point and shoot, tripod, right there on the counter with the two florescent lights, the book, calculator and tin foil... and a... PEN of course!

 

[underdog]

Yeah Andy... I've had that Euro kit from CSUSA (Dayacom kit) for quite some time...I got it several years back. Recently, I used up the one comfort band from the first slimline order from Exotic with the Purple MadrePerlato. So I was waiting for another order (with plenty of comfort bands this time) before turning that red blank, and came across the Euro, so I said... "why not" and turned the dang thing in that red acrylic.

And I have to say, I'm hooked on Exotics drugs.... I mean acrylics... Dang that Ed!

Just to prove it, I've just got back from teh shop after turning another one.

I'm getting better. Took an hour and a half to run up to the shop, unlock, turn the fans on, turn the lathe on, set up between centers, turn, micromesh, polish, and assemble the pen, run back down, set up the camera, and take pictures...

Better than the several hours it took the first dang time!

 

[azamiryou]

The book makes a great background! I'll have to remember that one.

Next I set up ISO for the lowest setting I can get. Mine can go down to 50. Don't ask me why, I've not quite figured it out...

Low ISO numbers give you a better image, but require a longer exposure. If you don't use a tripod, you'll need a high ISO to prevent motion blurring (although some cameras are very good at compensating for camera shake with "image stabilization"). High ISO makes for a grainy photo.

Anyway, the three or four biggest mistakes I see people make is to take a picture with flash, on a cluttered background, and no macro, then they either move the camera so the picture is blurred, or they don't get the camera focused on the right thing.

Getting away from the flash is very important. And you need a LOT of light or a tripod or a camera with image stabilization to get away from the flash - otherwise, you'll get motion blur.

Even with a tripod, you can get motion blur just from shaking the camera when you press the shutter button. To avoid moving the camera, you can use a remote or the camera's built-in timer (this is what the 3-second timer is for). You may also be able to use the camera's shutter delay (usually an annoyance): quickly press the button and get your hands off so the camera stops moving by the time it's ready to take the photo.

Focus can be very tricky - I know my camera seems pretty random about what it chooses to focus on, and with the narrow depth of field, even focusing on the background a quarter inch beyond the pen results in a poor photo. I've had better luck with manual focus, although it's much harder with a point-and-shoot than an SLR camera.

More light is pretty much always better - you get more depth of field, less noise, and less risk of movement.

 

[underdog]

Thanks for the ISO explain-ashun. I kinda figgered it was like film speed or something like that...

And what can you say about Auto-Focus? There's not a whole lot you can do except move the camera until it's in focus. It's hard to tell when you are in focus by the LCD screen... I noticed this evening when I was editing the photos, that the book was in focus but the pen was not...

I guess that's what "sharpen" is for in the editing program, eh?

 

[azamiryou]

Thanks for the ISO explain-ashun. I kinda figgered it was like film speed or something like that...

Actually, ISO is film speed. In digital cameras, there's a similar effect from adjusting the sensitivity of the CCD (light sensor), so engineers early on figured out they could correlate a given sensitivity to an "equivalent" film ISO. So when you choose the "ISO 50" setting on your camera, you are really setting CCD sensitivity to be somewhat similar to ISO 50 film.

I guess that's what "sharpen" is for in the editing program, eh?

"Sharpen" or "Focus" in postprocessing is very limited. Reducing the image size can also help sharpen a photo, or at least make the blur less noticeable. Really, the best way to fix an out-of-focus shot is to re-take it.

Focus is hard to get perfect on an LCD screen. A trick that works with my camera on manual focus is to do a maximum zoom in, focus, then zoom out to the shot I actually want to take. The camera automatically corrects to keep the same focus as you zoom in and out, so I can see better while focusing. An annoying side-effect, though, is that it sometimes changes the aperture when I zoom in, then doesn't change it back when I zoom out, and my exposure ends up way off if I don't notice it. I'm pretty sure that's just a quirk of my camera though.

 

[ghostrider]

Thanks for this thread.

I have some armature experience with photography, but pens present a different challenge that I've yet to address.

This thread will save me some time.

Never thought about the tin foil, and have yet to do anything other than full auto on any of my pics.

Looks like I need to break out that manual.

 

[vallealbert]

Nice photos and pens...ah, and nice cabinets too!!

 

[underdog]

Funny you should say that about the cabinets. They are circa early 1980s, and I've been after my wife to let me build her some nicer ones with solid cherry doors, and cherry veneer ply, instead of veneered and scored MDF.

I did do a major clean up of them last year...

 

[underdog]

Actually, ISO is film speed.

Oh good, I did understand it correctly then...

Really, the best way to fix an out-of-focus shot is to re-take it.

Yep. I have to agree. Get the best shot you can, then edit. Don't edit to get the best shot...

A trick that works with my camera on manual focus is to do a maximum zoom in, focus, then zoom out to the shot I actually want to take.

Awesome! I'll have to try that... No telling how many macro shots I've taken that I just couldn't get the camera to co-operate...

 

[moke]

Using this method, make sure to either use a remote trigger or the self timer. The action of firing the shutter at a slow shutter speed as you have, can, and probably will cause motion. The tripod will help, but is certainly not the total cure. There are basically two causes that you can control that will cause a photograph to have to be sharpened....motion...and not controlling your focus spot on the pen. AND for all the photo-guys that want to scream," depth of field" ...he has no control of that.

Self timers are a free--easy answer to stopping any motion---give it a shot!!!