pensmyth
Member
Well, I got a portable photo tent to take better pictures of my pens. Here are a few shots I took playing with lighting and camera placement.
Testing New Photo Tent
- Thread starter pensmyth
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rjwolfe3
Member
WOW!
Dai Sensei
Member
Nice photos of great looking pens 
randyrls
Member
Nice pens... Good composition and lighting.
You may want to add contrast by putting a light colored pen on a dark background and vice versa.
If you do any post camera photo editing, look at enhancing the photo.
Create a duplicate layer and apply a "Screen" option. You can control the strength of the "Screen" option. Then "Flatten" (merge the layers to produce a finished photo. I use Paint Shop Pro; Gimp, and Photo Shop have similar options. And Gimp is free!
You may want to add contrast by putting a light colored pen on a dark background and vice versa.
If you do any post camera photo editing, look at enhancing the photo.
Create a duplicate layer and apply a "Screen" option. You can control the strength of the "Screen" option. Then "Flatten" (merge the layers to produce a finished photo. I use Paint Shop Pro; Gimp, and Photo Shop have similar options. And Gimp is free!
Last edited:
jedgerton
Member
Nice photos but in my opinion, get rid of the burls. Some of the detail in your pens is hard to see because of the burls you are using to prop them up. I would suggest a plain prop or background so the interest is entirely in the pen itself.
John
John
traderdon55
Member
The pens look good but I have to agree with John on getting rid of the burls. I find myself looking at the burls instead of the pens. If you need help getting rid of that old burl just send it to me for proper disposal. LOL
Daniel
Member
Andy, Being that you got a light tent, Makes me think that you are now beginning to focus on the smaller details of light quality etc in your photos.
All of these photos are passable. I did not look at every photo, but the one that is the best to me is the last one in the next to last row. (The Polaris or whatever other name it goes by)
In it I can see the small dinks and scratches, even specs of dust on the pen. this is evidence to me that the exposure is able to show the very fine detail. You still have a bit of a depth of field issue on these photos but for now I encourage you to keep playing with just lighting with both a light and dark pen until you are happy.
As for the Burl. I like it. i do wish it where bigger so that the entire pen was over it and I think it would have a better effect if the burl did not contrast with the background as much. A black background might work better and brown me thinks would be even better than that. Other than that the use of burls or nothing type photos is an issue of what type of photo are you trying to take. there are photos that i call Mug Shots which are meant only to show the pen but are not all that flattering. then there are "Glamour" shots. this is like taking a portrait of the pen. you want it in it's best light, to look shiny and pretty regardless of whether you can see every grain, finger print or blemish. It will drive you crazy if you try to do both in one photo as they each require different lighting and exposures.
All of these photos are passable. I did not look at every photo, but the one that is the best to me is the last one in the next to last row. (The Polaris or whatever other name it goes by)
In it I can see the small dinks and scratches, even specs of dust on the pen. this is evidence to me that the exposure is able to show the very fine detail. You still have a bit of a depth of field issue on these photos but for now I encourage you to keep playing with just lighting with both a light and dark pen until you are happy.
As for the Burl. I like it. i do wish it where bigger so that the entire pen was over it and I think it would have a better effect if the burl did not contrast with the background as much. A black background might work better and brown me thinks would be even better than that. Other than that the use of burls or nothing type photos is an issue of what type of photo are you trying to take. there are photos that i call Mug Shots which are meant only to show the pen but are not all that flattering. then there are "Glamour" shots. this is like taking a portrait of the pen. you want it in it's best light, to look shiny and pretty regardless of whether you can see every grain, finger print or blemish. It will drive you crazy if you try to do both in one photo as they each require different lighting and exposures.
pensmyth
Member
Thanks for all the positive input. All the pictures were unedited so every nick,scratch and dust spot stands out. I'm fairly new at photography other than the point and shoot kind. I agree the back ground colors could be different to make the pen pop more and maybe some different types of props. For now I was just working on lighting and camera placement. Just as with turning the pens practice, practice, practice.......now where did my wife hide the credit card.........