Better photos of latest pens

[Woodchipper]

I set up the camera and played with settings to see what looked best. Settings on the first two are: f/5, 1/40 sec., ISO-100, +1 step, 39mm. Third with green blank: f/5, 1/30 sec., ISO-100, +1 step, 36mm. White balance set at tungsten; bulbs are Curly Q bulbs. Photos are jpg. Critique is welcome. I can take criticism...I'm married.

 

[mnerland]

I set up the camera and played with settings to see what looked best. Settings on the first two are: f/5, 1/40 sec., ISO-100, +1 step, 39mm. Third with green blank: f/5, 1/30 sec., ISO-100, +1 step, 36mm. White balance set at tungsten; bulbs are Curly Q bulbs. Photos are jpg. Critique is welcome. I can take criticism...I'm married.

The photos look great. One critique on the baseball pen though; I think the ballplayers on the body of the pen should have been in the same orientation as the player on the metal back end. They look great, and just my preference on that pen.

 

[Woodchipper]

Yep! The dark green one has a baseball which is on the opposite side of the photo. And the blank is upside down on the other. Remember, when writing the ball players are right side up.

 

[Curly]

Lighting and colour seems good. What I notice is the nib end on all three is out of focus. That means you need to adjust the focus more to the centre of the pen to see if both ends are in focus. If not then you need to stop down the f/stop for a greater depth of field so the entire pen is in focus.

 

[jrista]

I set up the camera and played with settings to see what looked best. Settings on the first two are: f/5, 1/40 sec., ISO-100, +1 step, 39mm. Third with green blank: f/5, 1/30 sec., ISO-100, +1 step, 36mm. White balance set at tungsten; bulbs are Curly Q bulbs. Photos are jpg. Critique is welcome. I can take criticism...I'm married.

Definite improvement over the earlier photos! Color is much better...was a notable magenta tint before. Nice progress!

The lighting still looks a bit warm to my eye. That may be your express intent, in which case perfect. If not, the color temp is slightly warm yellow, and with a bit of tweaking (which could be done in post, if you are shooting RAW) could be tuned for perfect natural 5000-5500k (sunlight) white balance. If you are shooting JPEG, you might want to choose an incandescent white balance, or if you know how to use an 18% gray card, create a custom white balance for the Curly Q bulbs you are using (with a Canon camera this can be fairly strait forward.) RAW is a lot easier, though.

I am noticing that your focus is a bit back on the pen, such that the nibs slip a bit out of focus. Probably two causes. One, you are quite close, so your DOF is going to be very thin. Backing the camera up a bit could help. Two, you are at f/5, but probably don't need to be if your camera is on a tripod. You should be able to stop down to f/8-f/16 easily enough to deepen the DOF, and get the entire pen into clear focus.

 

[Woodchipper]

Thanks for the tips. I use a tripod for such shots. Good idea for DOF. I made a slanted board to change the angle in relation to the camera lens. I was taking photos with the camera at an angle with pens on a flat surface. Might be the cause of the blurred nibs.
mnerland, I checked on the ball players. They play in Australia. G'day, mate!

 

[wizical]

I would go with a white or black background, make the pens pop more

 

[Woodchipper]

I would try white but experiment as white sometimes reflects too much light. That could be solved with proper settings and or editing RAW photos. I also have chocolate brown cloth. I like to experiment with settings. Took a shot once of a stream. Way too much light. Looked like a polar bear in a blizzard.