Watch Parts Pen - Photo Comments - Take 2

[mike4066]

I went took some of the comments from the first post and here's my second shot at it.

I'll list how everything is setup to help answer any questions up front.
Camera:

Canon T3i w/18-135mm ef-s lens (switched from the G15 in the last post)
Got out the tripod​

Lighting:

2 of these with 5500k CFL bulbs on the Flashpoint Cool Light 1, 10.5" Reflector with One 55W Fluorescent Bulb FPCL1A (I found them at a second hand store for $20)
1 light in the front and above the camera
All 3 are covered with ripstop nylon
A silver reflector over the top
​

Settings:

Manual settings: F11 @ 1/25sec, 52mm
Custom white balance
Image stabilization off
manual focus
remote shutter release to avoid shake (any blur is a result of resizing/ and using MSPaint to do it, it was sharp before I resized it)
​

Cropped & resized to 800x600 with MSPaint ZERO exposure/color correction. Yes I could do it RAW and run it through lightroom, but its installed on my other computer and the colors on that monitor are so far gone that I make things worse. I'd like to get it as right as I can straight out of the camera before turning to post processing fixes.

Other item of note:
I'm pretty sure I hit a limitation on the lens. When I filled the frame with the pen the top & bottom were soft. I tried setting the aperture as high as F22, changing the distance, and raising the camera so that the pen and camera were on the same plane. I couldn't keep the entire thing in focus. So I ended up using about 70% of the frame and cropping it down.

 

[Sylvanite]

That's better. Trying to get things right in camera (to reduce the need for post-processing) is a good attitude. The photo looks a little overexposed to me (but that will vary with people's monitors and individual taste). I also think you'd benefit from a better editor than MS Paint. A minute in Photoshop Elements produced this:

If you like that better, all I did was open the levels and bring up the blacks some, and then did a 25% unsharp mask.

You might also want to place a reflector to eliminate the dark stripe on the pen's nosecone.

My personal opinion is that a diagonal orientation makes for a more interesting composition, but again, that's a matter of preference.

I hope that helps,
Eric

 

[farmer]

photography

I went took some of the comments from the first post and here's my second shot at it.

I'll list how everything is setup to help answer any questions up front.
Camera:

Canon T3i w/18-135mm ef-s lens (switched from the G15 in the last post)
Got out the tripod​

Lighting:

2 of these with 5500k CFL bulbs on the Flashpoint Cool Light 1, 10.5" Reflector with One 55W Fluorescent Bulb FPCL1A (I found them at a second hand store for $20)
1 light in the front and above the camera
All 3 are covered with ripstop nylon
A silver reflector over the top
​

Settings:

Manual settings: F11 @ 1/25sec, 52mm
Custom white balance
Image stabilization off
manual focus
remote shutter release to avoid shake (any blur is a result of resizing/ and using MSPaint to do it, it was sharp before I resized it)
​

Cropped & resized to 800x600 with MSPaint ZERO exposure/color correction. Yes I could do it RAW and run it through lightroom, but its installed on my other computer and the colors on that monitor are so far gone that I make things worse. I'd like to get it as right as I can straight out of the camera before turning to post processing fixes.

Other item of note:
I'm pretty sure I hit a limitation on the lens. When I filled the frame with the pen the top & bottom were soft. I tried setting the aperture as high as F22, changing the distance, and raising the camera so that the pen and camera were on the same plane. I couldn't keep the entire thing in focus. So I ended up using about 70% of the frame and cropping it down.

Too many lights, to many glare lines , reflection issues.
Because of the reflection issue the pen ( looks )over exposed and also makes the lighting ( look ) un even.


The top of the pen is jet black, bottom of the pen is washed out......with either to much light or is it really a reflection issue ?

Way cool example of the issues that using two or more light sources can cause.

This the main reason why I try to only have one light source.
For one pens are small and you really don't need more then one light.
Second is because of the smooth surface every light will cast a direct reflection line in the non metallic smooth surfaces or your pen.

I like the photo from the T3I better

 

[MartinPens]

You've got a lot of good things happening and I'm sure you'll get lots of feedback. I might agree that you have a whole lot of light happening. If the pen is shot from a slight angle, the frame can be filled from corner to corner. The eye likes to travel from corner to corner. When I do a custom white balance, I also increase the exposure a bit so that the background is bright white. Keep experimenting to decrease your reflection lines, but overall it's a great shot! p.s. Get rid of MSPaint. : )