suggestions?

[ahoiberg]

i posted this picture over in SOYP but am curious to see if any of the photo gurus can give me some pointers. i feel like i'm at a standstill with my photos. i feel it's OK but also feel like i could do a little better... any comments & suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

FYI, i've got a Canon Power Shot S1 IS, 2 5000k lights that i shine in from the side and a 6500k that i use for the over the shoulder shine light. (i know it's probably not a good idea to combine the temps but that's what i've got and can't spend any more on light bulbs ) and i use a box made of poster board with some sides cut out. i spread a sheet over it and diffuse the two 5000k in the side and a piece of nice paper as a background... i have a UV filter (if that's good for anything? i think i might have used it in this picture actually) and a 1.7x telephoto lens (would that be helpful at all? - i have to zoom it to get out of the vignetting stage)...

anyway, here's the picture:

 

[gketell]

The pen itself looks really good to me. The only two things I would say would improve it is a better background and less background. That one is bland and it is the majority of the picture. Think "color wheel" and pick a contrasting color so the pen pops more. Then lay it down to almost flat and crop to size.

For instance, brown and blue are good contrasts and if this were cropped a little tighter and had a background more like yours but blue it would be really nice:

ditto and even more so here

I haven't found good backgrounds yet so these were a couple of my wife's blouses when I was shooting for my friend Jay. That uncapped one needed to be shot from a lower angle...

But, again, your focus, color, brightness, all look dead on!
GK

 

[Dave_M]

I'm not familiar with your specific camera, but if you can turn up the saturation and sharpness a bit, that would help. I took your pic and turned up the saturation a small amount and increased the sharpness. Without seeing the actual pen, it's hard to tell if this version is over exaggerated compared to the original.

Also a warmer background might help. I think there is too much contrast between your background and the warm / dark tones in the pen.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[gketell]

Contrast looks good but that is over sharpened. Look at the back of the clip and the bottom of the reflection, they've developed jaggies.

GK

 

[stevers]

Originally posted by gketell
<br />Contrast looks good but that is over sharpened. Look at the back of the clip and the bottom of the reflection, they've developed jaggies.

GK

jaggies? Is that a tech term. I'm not trying to pick on you Greg. You just make it so easy.[}][}][][]
I'm sorry, I'll stop now.

 

[Dave_M]

That's because I'm working with a lowres copy of the image. Not enough pixels in the posted image to really clean it up properly. Just trying to give a general idea.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Normally, with your background, the contrast would be excessive. But your lighting makes the pen stand out just fine. I agree, tighter cropping would help. Background color is (usually) just a matter of taste although sometimes the wrong choice can make yucky color casts. I find the glare on the finish detracting. Those of us here like to see some glare to help brag on a nice finish but this is too much. BTW, a UV filter is more helpful to a photo for outdoors shots. OTOH, it is often called an invisible lens cap and helps protect your expensive glass.