grain on darker woods

[sorcerertd]

A pen I made recently from Bois de Rose started me on a mission for a darker background that will allow the grain and color to show up. On my usual neutral tan/ecru backgrounds, the darker woods all tend to look anywhere from dark brown to black as the light background just washes them out. Last week, I went to JoAnn Fabric and spent a while taking pictures on different fabrics with my most commonly carried pen, which happens to be bog oak. The pictures are pretty bad, as is the lighting, but I wanted something to compare. I took a lot of pictures, but narrowed it down to a few choices. Again, the pictures are rough, very rough. They are completely untouched other than cropping. Thought I'd ask opinions of them here as far as how they compare to each other. Not looking for picture taking tips, just background choices. What do you like best and why?




I bought some of the plain stuff (broadcloth, I believe) and tried it on a couple pens. Here's what those look like. They do show up better than the lighter background, but I'm still not 100% happy. I'll have to adjust the lighting for sure. The cloth is actually much darker than it looks in the pictures.

bog oak:


bois de rose


katalox (this is actually a pretty dark piece of wood, but you can't tell it from this picture)


hybrid

 

[1080Wayne]

I like the broadcloth pictures . Minimal distracting detail , other than a few folds . I would make sure that the cloth is dead flat and the weave isn`t skewed by the pen support . Note , I am NOT a photographer .

 

[jttheclockman]

I like white or light grey. But I have used blue before. Also tried the gradient look too. Gave black a try too but too much dust to worry about. I am going to stick with light grey or white. It is the lighting that brings the pen out and light colors lets the light bounce around as the dark color swallow the light.

In your case I would pick the one with the white stone as a prop for background.

.

 

[TDahl]

I like the back grounds with the Bois De Rose and the Hybrid.

 

[sorcerertd]

I like white or light grey. But I have used blue before. Also tried the gradient look too. Gave black a try too but too much dust to worry about. I am going to stick with light grey or white. It is the lighting that brings the pen out and light colors lets the light bounce around as the dark color swallow the light.

In your case I would pick the one with the white stone as a prop for background.

That blue works surprisingly well for the malachite. I'd still go with neutral, but it does look better than I'd expect. Also, I really like that "watch".

The dust and fuzz struggle is real with the darker backgrounds, but I keep a lint roller close by even for the light backgrounds. This is my usual go-to that works great for most things. I need to work on the photography as you noted with the lighting and white balancing for the colors. That, or maybe figure out how to focus the light more directly on the pen so the backdrop isn't so bright.

This is the same bois de rose on the natural colored background.

It seems the plain gray broadcloth has been the popular choice among those I have shown, even when I asked a couple strangers at Joann which would most appeal to them as a potential buyer. We know that sales online is all about the pictures.