This might be just a rant but, I wish more people would do some simple things like turning off the flash and or turn up the ISO.

The pix you see here are taken with my wife's Nikon D50. The ISO at 1600. I know most digital cameras go only to 800 which is still enough to take some super nice pics under a lamp or in natural sunlight. I am no-way a pro but it's so simple to get excellent results.

I see so many pen reviews here where people take the time to write such a nice informative review about something they love then take a picture of their pen with a result of nothing short with what looks like it could of been a phone camera in the dark!!!

Pick up the pen and go over to a window or bring it outside and put on your deck or even a tree stump who cares, get some light on it, not a flash!!!

I think there are a lot of people like me who want these nice pictures to help us connect with the review or help us with the next purchases of pens and establishing our collections.

I see people writing reviews of $300-$1000+ pens then not even going to WAL-MART and buying a $150 camera that you can get now with an excellent macro mode, to let us see what they are writing about, or taking the time to use what they have!!!

O.K. I am done. Hope to see you at the Mass. Pen Show. I will be there SUN. the 23rd.

Scott.




Artificial light with 2x60watt bulbs.
















Morning sunlight.

Wow, those are some really beautiful photos! And without the flash, too!

Thanks Slush99.

Er... what kind of Conklin is that by the way?

It's a Nozac Swisher Pen Edition. The best $100 I ever spent!!!

you and my daughter share the same pet peeve. she hates the flash and takes great pictures without it!
thank you for sharing your beautiful pics with us. you must have a very nice camera. i can only afford a cheap hp, but it's better than nothing, i guess.

The use of a flash isn't the problem. I use a flash often in Macro photography. The problem lies in not using any type of diffuser to soften the harshness of the flash you can see in some pictures. If you don't have the money, a simple cut out from a gallon of milk will do the job, just place it over the flash and just watch how soft the light is and how beautiful a shot is produced. I like my flash...

-Bryan

Nice pictures!
You are right, there is nothing like daylight, but sometimes it is not easy to control it to get an absolute even result. You may use natural difusers (cloudy day) and/or reflecting surfaces here and there... you may use a flashlight or a couple of them... but for our hobby I found that a light tent is a very good solution. Conditions remain always under control and are predictable, white balance does not change. I find it perhaps to be the easy approach. There are quite a few of them around, there are even plans to make your own setup. In my case I finally made one to my needs with PVC tubing, some white cloth and 3x150W garden lamps (white balance within D70 range). Cost of all was less than 35€, included 10 different background colour sheets , and 2 hours for cutting, gluing tubes and setting all up. Actually I have it located in a dark place and in this way I always get the same and predictable light conditions. I use low iso and, high f and long times to get enough depth of field in macro mode, always with manual settings. I find results very rewarding, you can get exactly what you want...

Where de pictures gone I can't seem 'em?

Confused, Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire

Nice Photos. I like them so much better than the sterile pictures one sees of most pens on a monotone background. I think it gives the pen more character.

Barry

Bryan said it well!!! When people use flash on their cameras, a lot of them do not use a diffuser or bounce the flash in another direction to soften the light. no one likes a hot photo but the thing is that people need to practice with their flash. Learning to be able to control the lighting to your advantage is the key!!

When I shoot at work and I need to use flash, I normally use fill flash and I set it to rear curtain sync. There are other times that even that might be a bit too much. I found that using a styrofoam cup works wonders in softening a diffusing light. I will put the cup over the flash and then depending on the subject and available light, I will direct the flash to bounce the light off of a wall or celiling to diffuse and soften the light.

Flash is a wonderful thing to use and you can come up with some fantastic images, the key is practice and learning how to use flash and lighting to your advantage. I dont see a reason why flash would be a petpeeve. If it is used correctly, your images will really stand out and you can come up with some awsome photos. Just look at some of the pen photography you see on Stylophioles and pen magazines. They are all using flash in one way or another. A lot of them are using soft boxes and aiming the light in different directions to illuminate the subject and give it detail and rich color.

I like to use natural light but you cannot always rely on natural light to use for your photography. If I am setting up a photo shoot outside, I manipulate the lighting without using flash. I use light discs to aim the light to the area I require it. There are different discs with different sizes. I like using the gold discs because it gives the subject warm tones.

Also remember that pumping up the ISO may not be the most ideal way to shoot all the time. Pumping up the ISO will give you more latitude when it comes to shooting in low light areas but also the grain becomes very noticable too!! This is where using a flash could be the better way of getting your shot. being able to shoot and bounce the flash correctly can give you much better results then just pumping up the ISO. Also if you shoot in very low light and you decide to pump up the ISO, chances are that you will have to open up your apature all the way. This will tend to decrease your depth of field and less detail.

Metering is another important thing especially if you are going to use your flash. nikon among ther camera makers probobly have different metering modes. I know that Nikon has Matrix, center weighted and spot metering. This can help you use the light to your advantage, Especially using Matrix metering. I normally use this setting for routine shots due to the fact that it will give me an average of all the lighting within the frame. As for me shooting in low light areas and the restriction of using flash in a Satellite processing room. I will boost up my ISO a bit but I will also change my metering to center weighted. If I need a macro shot and cannot use a flash, I will switch the metering to spot metering and then boost up the ISO accordingly.

I found that Lighting in photography is really a science and an art at the same time. This was the most difficult technique for me to learn when I first started in photography. This takes a while to learn how lighting affects the subject and how to manipulate it to your advantage. Once you get the hang of it, you really can grow in your photography skills. To me, I believe lighting is the most important thing in photography then followed by composure

I can see where using a flash can be a petpeeve. I differ in the fact that flash is appropriate in certain situations but not every situation!! It bugs me to see people burning the image by not bouncing the flash or diffusing it. The image or subject is extremely hot looking and you really lose the image and the attention of the people you are tring to communicate with. The main advantage with digital is that you can see what you shot right away and know that either the photo is hot and no good or that the image is correct and done the way you intended it to be. With this said, people should be very proficient in using flash and manipulating lighting. This for some reason is not the case. It has me rather stumped because digital is quite instantanious and you can make on the spot corrections rather than having to wait until your film is developed and prints made.

I guess people really do not want to experiment with lighting or they just do not have the knowledge. It takes time, patience, practice and persistance!! Following through with that, over time, your images can really become the envy of others.

On a final note, the Godfather of Modern Military Photojournalism, Ken Hackman gave me some words of wisdom that I still use on a dailiy basis when I shoot. He told me to:

"take advantage of all the technology that your camera provides, thats what its there for, to be used to your advantage".

"First and foremost, learn the fundamentals of photography to include Lighting and composition"

"All the bells and whistles on your camera wont do you a bit of good unless you know the fundamentals of photography" " If you cannot shoot worth a darn, all the bells and whistles are a huge waste of money"

"Most important, be the master of your camera and have it work for you. You should never work for your camera, ever!"

Just some food for thought!!

TNS

I was work shadowing a professional photographer earlier this year and a couple of his diffusers were semi-opaque trays that he'd picked up in Ikea for £1 each. Doesn't need to be expensive as long as it can be adapted to do the job you want it to do.

I totally agree with TNS in his emphasis on manipulating light. It's really the most important elememt in photography, yet it often gets lost among all the bells & whistles of modern technology-heavy cameras. This is understandable, as manipulating light is quite demanding, complex and time-consuming. When I worked with pro photographers on heavyweight advertising photography (of Sony hardware, amongst others), about 95% of the time was spent getting the lighting "right." This could take three or four hours, allowing for test shots. Very little technology was used ... a high-quality light/flash meter, and that was it. Because avoiding any perspective distortion was crucial, a 5x4 or 10x8 folding-back camera was used, a design that has changed little since the 1900s (and can't be emulated by any digital camera without very exotic and expensive 'shift' lenses). The lighting itself was mostly by a single, vast and powerful flash unit called a "fish-fryer" measuring about 3ft x 3ft, with all fill and shading achieved by numerous reflectors of white, silver or black card.

That's how the pros do it, so how can it be done at home?

First, light diffusion is essential; the built-in flash on amateur cameras creates a horrible 'hot' and over-contrasty image. Invest in a light tent; Ebay has them at very reasonable prices, and you can then diffuse either an outboard flash unit, daylight-balanced bulbs (Ebay again), or good old-fashioned daylight itself.

Second, use reflectors to balance the light and bounce it back into the subject. You'll be amazed what this does for nibs! A reflector can be a piece of white copier paper, some silver turkey foil glued to a card, or a piece of black leather (to create rich dark shadows on shiny objects) ... anything really. For selective areas, consider ice-lolly (popsicle?) sticks with small pieces of card attached!

Third, consider investing in a light meter. This may sound insane given all the clever metering systems built into modern digicams, but these are balanced for 'typical' happy family pics with a limited tonal range. High-contrast pen pics, with extreme highlights on nibs and dark shadow areas on barrels, confuse them utterly. Instead, use a light meter to take an incident reading (here the meter is measuring the light itself not the way the light is being reflected), set your camera to manual and transfer the settings. Cameras' meters can't take these incident readings, which is why they often get confused by extreme contrasts, and your picture ends up either too light or too dark. All this is even more important if you use multiple flash units ... to achiere a good result without hours of trial and error, get a flash meter.

Fourth, keep your aperture setting as small as possible to maximise sharpness over the whole picture. And focus on the main point of interest on the pen, switch to manual focus to lock in the setting, then recompose your picture.

Fifth, use a remote control if you are using natural light, as the small aperture will force a slow shutter speed and even touching your camera will cause blur. (Of course you have a tripod!)

The end-result of all this is that you end up taking photographs the way your grandfather would have taken them. Control the light, use reflectors, set exposure and focus manually, and don't touch the camera on long exposures. There are no short cuts despite the claims of technology, but the results are worth the effort. And of course, digital does mean you can afford to take as many pics as the pros do, because even they don't always get it right!

Richard, you hit the nail on the head!!! Lighting is the most important thing!!! There are many cheap way to diffuse and manipulate light, like I said, I use a styrofoam cup over the flash. It is practical and are easy to find especially at work.

BTW you have some wonderful examples of lighting with your pen shots. Another important thing than needs to be brought up is using a tripod. Less shake and that is essential when shooting at lower shutter speeds.

Practice practice practice!!!! As Richard said, there are no shortcuts!!! I do think the digital age has really spoiled a lot of people. Instead of learning the fundamentals of photography, people rely too heavily on Photoshop and the bells and whistles on their cameras. My biggest petpeeve is when people rely too much on photoshop. I have seem too many abuses of photoshop on the internet I normally use photoshop to achieve the same results as a darkroom would but of course there are many exceptions. At work, I am restricted in the way I can edit my images and keep the photos integrity. Because they are official, only what can be done in a darkroom is all I can do with photoshop when editing my photos at work. So enlarging, changing resolution, cropping, color correction, contrast and brightness and sharpening the image. Clone/stamping is a big "no no" at work along with removing something and then superimposing it somewhere else on the image. At home, all is game but I still try to follow that rule of thumb that I am required to do at work.

I also try to make everyshot count rather than shotgunning images. I do this to get the right shot at the right time and also less correction later on when I am editing my images for the customer. I guess it is a carry over from when I used to shoot exclusivley on film. Due to the time it takes to process my film at the end of my shoot. Anyways, that is just my opinion.

Take care and have fun Shooting!!!!

TNS