Thanks Marc, I appreciate the complement. I'll tell you it was a real Beahtch to get those shots. I took somewhere around 40 shots to get those 4.
I used an 18" cube light tent with a light on either side and a light just above the camera (pointed at and extreme angle parallel to the pen so it gave that tiny sliver of reflection). In the cube was a brand new 18" piece of black acrylic that I had just purchased for these photographs because all my other pieces of acrylic were too small so left a line showing through the middle of the cap in the opened photo. Aimed the camera very carefully so that the reflection showed only one wall of the tent so there were no seams in the reflection either.
As for dust... SWMBO can tell you I was cussing up a storm. After removing the protective wrap from the acrylic it attracted dust all the way from WorkinForWood's shop. I tried a used drier sheet like I read about on someone's post but it left streaks so I retreated the acrylic with Novus 1, which has an anti-static factor to it. I created a new pen stand out of acrylic and treated it the same way so it wouldn't attract any dust either (and it hides really well in the pictures).
THEN I changed into a clean, long-sleeved shirt and put on a lint-free white glove that came with my tent. I would wipe down the pen with a micro-fiber cloth and then set the pen in place. Wait a minute or so to see what dust settled then wipe that up very carefully and very slowly (so I don't stir up any other dust). Wait a minute and check again. If I think it is clean shoot the picture at full resolution of the camera and use the zoom function to check the entire frame for dust. Curse a lot and wipe up the specs that got in there and shoot again. Repeat until I would get one shot that was dust free in the area I knew would be left after cropping. Yes, there was still dust in the full-sized picture but not in the cropped area.
I also would use the zoom to look for any missed finger prints. Yet I still missed some. Look at the side of the clip in the last photo and the end-cap in the 3rd photo. I can see hints of fingerprints.
Now, start over with the pen in the next position.
Oh, did I mention that I wiped down the pen with an automotive wax that has anti-static capabilities too? I did.
I have never put this much effort into taking a pen picture before and may never do it again (until next year's pen contest). But I knew that the photography was part of the judging criteria and knew that I had an advantage in that area because of my experience and I knew that I would need every advantage I could get because the pen isn't perfect and the photos show that. Lastly, I knew that after the contest I was going to post these same pictures to eBay to sell the pen to try to raise money for JDRF so wanted to show the pen in the best light possible. If nothing else, THAT is worth the extra work.
You can ask my wife, when I saw all the pens posted I told her I didn't think we would win. I was surprised, happily so, when we did. Now I can put "Prize winning pen" in the JDRF fund raising ad. That should be good for a couple of extra bucks!! :wink:
GK
I would like to know the details of the photography, especially that of our winner. It's not often that one sees a direct image on black that is absolutely spotless.
Marc