Thread: Photographing pens

Brad that article is so informative, so much to learn there but just adding a few suggestions will help improve my photos.

Originally Posted by george mavridis

More playing around this time with white balance. There is a menu item for that and all photos taken so far have been on auto. I also did adjust the custom setting. The first is with the setting at aut and the next is when white balance was set at custom and adjusted. The third one is auto setting but with a different background.

The first photo has the WB on the cool side, it has the blue hue, the 2nd one looks much better to my eye.
The third one is a bit hard to tell, but the chrome doesn't look quite right to me.
From what I can tell, your custom setting does a better job of it than auto.

Originally Posted by george mavridis

Brad that article is so informative, so much to learn there but just adding a few suggestions will help improve my photos.

Yes, a lot to take in there all at once. Best to concentrate on one thing at a time.

I bought one of these $40 shooting tables off ebay to give it a try.
s-l500 (1).jpg

Here is my first test shot, same pen as I showed in one of the above posts.
I used a speedlight flash underneath pointing straight up, and another speedlight in a 24" softbox on the left and a white cardboard reflector on the right.
I am happy with the initial results, but I will need to experiment with the white reflector to get rid of the black patches on top of the pen and at the nib end.
I will post my results when I get a chance to experiment.
DSC_8261-850P.jpg

I had a couple of chances to play with this since I last posted. For these shots I have continued to use the 600mm soft box for lighting, and used white cardboard or white packing foam to reflect light back onto the pen.

The soft box I am using is similar to this one , mine has a better speedlight mount than this one, they are about $50 on ebay.
sofbox.jpg

Here are my attempts, each photo has the reflectors positioned a little differently to try and eliminate the voids of light (which shows as black) on the shiny metal parts.

This first one has the softbox positioned directly overhead.
DSC_8321.jpg

The rest have the softbox on the LHS, and reflectors on the RHS. The first 3 have the white sheet of cardboard (300mm X 350mm) with the black stripe, and the sheet of white foam held above the cardboard.
DSC_8327-850.jpg

DSC_8335.jpg

DSC_8337.jpg

This one has only the white foam flexed into a curve, one edge is on the front edge of the table and the other side of the foam is flexed over to the back of the upright of the table.
DSC_8343.jpg

Any feedback is welcome. Even if you just say which one you prefer the best.

I know I am using gear here that most people would never buy to just take photos of their pens, but you could probably get similar results with a sheet of white paper on your kitchen table for the pen to sit on, a desk lamp with some sort of diffuser in front of the light ( white paper, tracing paper, old white T-shirt etc, etc) and another sheet of white paper for the reflector. Put your camera on a tripod ( or a small beanbag on the table) and set the delay timer, this gives you time to hold the reflector in place.

Brad, bit hard to do a direct comparison as the exposure isn't equal between the photos resulting in a different colour of the background, eg first photo the background is a definite grey, second photo it is an overexposed white resulting in a loss of delineation between pen and background on top.

Brad, I'd be happy with any of those but I feel the third one down is my favourite although the blanks colours look a bit washed out.

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Brad, bit hard to do a direct comparison as the exposure isn't equal between the photos resulting in a different colour of the background, eg first photo the background is a definite grey, second photo it is an overexposed white resulting in a loss of delineation between pen and background on top.

Thanks Fred. Helpful comments.
These are all results from different sessions, I have gone from 55mm, to 150mm, to 105mm, I feel the 105 is the handiest focal length for me with this setup in the space I have available. I have also changed flash settings along the way, as well as camera settings, and they all have some post-processing applied. I have picked out what I consider to be the better photos from each session and displayed them here, so unfortunately the exposure has varied quite a bit as I go.
I probably should be keeping notes so I know what flash settings I have used, I can get the camera settings easily enough from the exif data.

What my goal is here, is to figure out what works best, and if it is easy enough to replicate each time I want to photograph a pen, I will use this setup instead of my lightbox that I have been using down in my shed. Although the lightbox is quick and easy ( takes about 2 minutes to get a few photos ) it gives me a rather flat looking pen, because of the light being reflected so evenly from all directions.

Cylindrical chrome pens are a difficult thing to photograph, non-reflective pens would be so much easier .
I remember an ex-proffessional photographer telling me about a job he had once to photograph a shiny chrome kettle that was dome shaped, he said it drove him nuts. He ended up building a tee-pee out of some white bedsheets and photographed the kettle inside it, he poked the lens through a flap on the side.

Originally Posted by george mavridis

Brad, I'd be happy with any of those but I feel the third one down is my favourite although the blanks colours look a bit washed out.

Thanks for your thoughts George, I don't mind that one too, but I find the second black line on the nib-end a bit distracting.

Here is the third one again, with the second black line removed, and a bit more processing to hopefully enhance the colours a bit.
DSC_8335-re.jpg

Originally Posted by Ironwood

Cylindrical chrome pens are a difficult thing to photograph, non-reflective pens would be so much easier .
I remember an ex-proffessional photographer telling me about a job he had once to photograph a shiny chrome kettle that was dome shaped, he said it drove him nuts. He ended up building a tee-pee out of some white bedsheets and photographed the kettle inside it, he poked the lens through a flap on the side.

Brad, I use a light tent I bought off Ebay and that works very well, they don't cost a lot, come with a platform with both white and black perspex and 3 different colour backgrounds (which I don't use). Also, I don't use flash as it is harder to see what effect the different lighting has so I use 3 daylight fluoro lights and can move them around at will to see how the lighting works. It came with 2 light stands and I added a third with a boom arm so I could use a top light. I can leave the front open and use a handheld white reflectoror to change the lighting and see what I am doing.

Photography Photo Cube Tent Soft Box Light Lighting Stand Backdrop Studio Kit | eBay

Can I add my 2 cents worth in?? I feel that the first shot of post 35 is close to the mark. The soft box needs to go a little to the right so the highlight that is on the front chrome follows through to the rear chrome. Having the black in it adds to the fact that it is chrome and not satin chrome.

In setting up for the shot, use the histogram (part of the playback menu, check your cameras manual) to find the white points and black points within the exposure. This will help in getting the exposure "correct" and avoid clipping highlights and shadows along with the white background.

I would place a white card at the front right to add a kick of light to the bottom of the pen too.

The biggest part of lighting the same each time is making sure that not only is you flash power the same but the distance the flash to subject must be exactly the same (use a tape measure). That way the camera setting won't need changing nor will the flash.

I have a background in photography (25 years) and have shot a lot of still life among many other things. Hope this helps, cheers Cal.

Cheers Cal, thanks for chiming in, some good suggestions there, I will get a tape measure and notebook for future reference.
I don't really understand what you are saying about the white card, I already have a white card with a black stripe that you should be able to see in the pics. Do you mean another white card to reflect onto the gold nib section to fill that black void ?

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Brad, I use a light tent I bought off Ebay and that works very well, they don't cost a lot, come with a platform with both white and black perspex and 3 different colour backgrounds (which I don't use). Also, I don't use flash as it is harder to see what effect the different lighting has so I use 3 daylight fluoro lights and can move them around at will to see how the lighting works. It came with 2 light stands and I added a third with a boom arm so I could use a top light. I can leave the front open and use a handheld white reflectoror to change the lighting and see what I am doing.

Photography Photo Cube Tent Soft Box Light Lighting Stand Backdrop Studio Kit | eBay

I agree that a light tent like you have linked there is a very good option, my homemade lightbox that I have been using for the last 4 or 5 years works on much the same principal, except mine is all self contained with the lights inside and a tent inside as well.
The thing that I struggle with mine is getting a 3 dimension look to my pens, inside a light tent gives a bit of a flat look to my pens, though your mileage might vary.

Have you got any photos you can show us Fred, I searched back through a few years of threads in the pen forum and can't find any.

Originally Posted by Ironwood

Cheers Cal, thanks for chiming in, some good suggestions there, I will get a tape measure and notebook for future reference.
I don't really understand what you are saying about the white card, I already have a white card with a black stripe that you should be able to see in the pics. Do you mean another white card to reflect onto the gold nib section to fill that black void ?

Is the white card with the black strip off the table somewhat? And to the right of the camera? If so, drop it down onto the table and tilt it so the top tilts back a little. It may help get a little more light on the underside of the pen. It just needs a little more light under there. It's very good at the moment though. Not so much for the gold nib, more for the length of the pen and towards the back. Try and get the card to run parallel to the pen if you aren't already.

Getting all of these little things right in the camera takes lots of effort, I understand completely. It's easier to replicate again each time though, compared to messing with each one in the computer later (that is harder to reproduce the same effect each time)

Have you tried using alfoil glued to a card? That can reflect more light than the white card in some cases.