Hello All,

I am wondering if we could start a message here on tips and tricks to enable us estie lovers to photograph our pens with style(us)

I have not yet been able to photograph a nib well, and I used to be a professional...any suggestions on taking pics of these beauties is sincerely appreciated.

Best to all,

Ellis

I guess beyond the obvious of using a good Macro lense & light tent the best I have been able to do is shoot a bunch of pictures with my setup and then review the pics to find out what works best.

K

I have done exactly one really good nib shot in my life -- got lucky shooting an Esterbrook and even the imprint was legible.

I think I used a close-up lens, but since my digital camera is a point-and-shoot and my film camera, while an SLR, doesn't have a zoom, it's essentially a rolling of the die to get anyting right.

This is what I've been doing lately, with some success. Maybe it'll work for you - or maybe it will teach you bad habits.

- Put your camera in manual mode.

- Use the lowest ISO setting your camera has.

- Use a tripod.

- Use macro mode. NB different cameras have weird restrictions. For example, my camera (Sony DSC-P10) will not zoom (optical or digital) in macro mode. You have to take macro shots at full wide angle. Really this primarily affects the working distance from your subject, I think. And results will vary depending on the resolution of your camera.

- Adjust your camera for the lighting.

- Use a timer, if your camera has one, or otherwise avoid jostling the camera when your photo is taken.

- Try adjusting the exposure manually, or use bracketing if your camera supports it, to get the right amount of light.

I still don't know how to do good lighting, so I can't help you there. Here's the best nib shot I've been able to do yet:

And, that one was a beauty, Inky! So, you know that both you and the camera CAN do it. Any way you can go back and reconstruct the conditions under which you took that one?

I know absolutely nothing about cameras, but have had need to take close-ups on occasion. My method is crude, but it works for me and my simple point-and-shoot digital camera. I set the camera to max zoom and hold a 3x magnifier glass over the lens.... hey, it gets up close and pretty clear.

Thank you all for these great suggestions! Please keep them coming! The more the better, and seeing these great pens in "their best light" is a joy.

Ellis

How about photographing them as eye candy:



It was time to change my avatar but i was too lazy to decide which one. I'll use this for a bit.

great job Elaine!!!

Hi,

Beautiful, Elaine! Are any of the pens inked?

Dillon

Not at the time of the photo. I took it a while ago for the Pentrace photo contest. The pens were taken from my Esterbrook display case. I bought most of the pens at a low cost ($9.00 to $20) to practice pen repair and to fill the case. I usually have a few inked, but I'm going through a "one pen at a time" phase and the current pen is not an Estie.

Elaine, Is that the full J, SJ color set (except for an extra grey)? I have no focus in my collecting (heck, I hardly even have a collection) but I occasionally toy with the idea of trying to accumulate the full spectrum of regular Esties: J, LJ and SJ in black, red, blue, green, brown and grey. Have you got it there in the picture?

Elaine, can I get the info for the pentrace photo contest?

nmb, I don't have a focus for my collection either. I do have J's SJ's some dollar pens, transitionals, a ballpoint and a few pencils, but they were all "collected" somewhat randomly. The pens you see in the photo are only a few of my accumulation.

Nib-0, The Pentrace photo contest was held last year. You were supposed to post a photo and email it to someone (I forget who, maybe Len Provisor?). After a long long while they were judged by a few people and prizes awarded. It was supposed to be an ongoing thing, with winners announced each year or something like that. I think it fizzled out.

Great photo, Elaine! Glad you're using it as your avatar---those Esterbrooks look yummy!