Hi all,

I have been palying a little more with the new equipment, getting to know the stuff and playing with the light tent. Not perfect yet, but I am having a lot of fun!

These two sets are rather similar, but with different lighting. Please tell me which ones you like best, and why, I'd really appreciate that. I've included links to the full size pics too (careful, huge files).

Some pics of the Etruria d'Inverno:

Link to full size pic


Link to full size pic

And the Etruria Indian Nights:

Link to full size pic


Link to full size pic

BTW, the halo you may see in the pics is not caused by photoshopping, but by a back-light I had set up. Makes it stand out more, and I like the effect . The first pic has been treated for dust , but the rest is presented as is, except for some cropping and resizing, of course.

Thanks in advance for your comments, and I hope you have at least half as much fun as I had doing this .

Warm regards, Wim

Lovely pics, Wim. I think nos 1 and 4 show off the colours best.

Ray

I've got to agree with Ray about the photos. Just out of interest, what camera are you using? Also, what settings? I'm always interested to hear how people have taken a photo. I really need to get a decent Macro lens for my Nikon, it's rather silly that I've been getting better pen photo results with a little 90 quid camera when with my D70.

Maybe once you've got some more responses you'll tell us which photos have the most accurate colour representation and which you prefer.

Hi Wim,

I love the pics! Very nice camera work on those. The one of the Indian Nights looks very lovely indeed. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Carrie,

I am using a Canon 350D, and in this case with a macro lens (60 mm, which amounts to 96 on this camera when converted to 35 mm format) and a TS-E 90 mm (144 mm converted), 3 flashes, a main one to the side, 2 small slave units, one at the back, one to the top right, or right back, depending on the result I want to achieve.

Manual focus and settings, 1/160 s and F11 in all cases, to get enough DOF (depth of field), camera mounted on a big sturdy tripod, remote release cable, angle finder with magnification of 1.25 and 2.5 X for accurate focusing.

The pens etc. were placed on a plate of perspex, very carefully cleaned of grime and dust (very difficult and time consuming ), a blue one for the d'Inverno, a dark grey one for the Indian Nights. Oh, I had some black velvet on top of the light tent (light cube) to prevent reflections of the top side in the perspex. Any non-transparnt not too heavy material will do for that, though.

I experimented a lot with the light setup, a bit higher, a bit lower, at the sides, at the back, to the right, etc., just to get the results I was looking for. I took about 150 pictures, and threw away a lot, mostly because of dust and over- or under-exposure (the cam doesn't take the small flash guns into account, they're not coupled).

You could do the same with a few day-light bulbs, btw, but you need a few stands for those. I have the bulbs, but didn't build the stands yet. It certainly is a very much cheaper solution than a bundle of flash-guns. You could use normal bulbs as well, but most cameras don't deal well with normal bulbs when it comes to white balance.

Regarding lenses: I'd recommend a 100 mm lens or thereabouts, or a TS or PC lens if you can afford one. The Nikon ones are very good, so that shouldn't be a problem. You could also think of buying a few extension rings, to allow closer focusing, and as a cheaper solution, a close-up lens, at least a 3.00 D or 5.00 D (B&W makes excellent ones). But you do have to focus manually. I find the camera has a fair amount of problems picking the right focus point. The point it focuses on is sharp, but because it can't think like a human, it doesn't necessarily pick a point where all comes into focus. With the cosumer cams, you have focal distances and lens openings that are very small, which means virtually everything is in focus all the time anyway. This is probably why the results with the cheaper cam look so good, especially at the lower resolution used on the internet.

HTH, warm regards, Wim

Wim, great photos. I like #2 and #4 best - had to go against the grain. I prefer #2 over #1 because there is less glare and the details of the nib and barrel stand out more. I must say, however, the idea of the reflections is super !

Thank you Ray!

Ok, the colours, I relate to that .

Warm regards, Wim

Hi Harold,

Thank you for your kind words!

Now, which ones do you prefer, and why?

Warm regards, Wim

Hi Southpaw,

Thanks! Ther eis no going against the grain here, I am just trying to have the pro and cons of different approaches discussed here . So I like your comments .

Of course, considering who my idol is in pen photography, reflections were the obvious way to go .

Warm regards, Wim

gorgeous pens and pictures, wim. the reflections and composition are incredible.

i like #4 the best. best combination of color and contrast. initially i thought it might be too dark, but everywhere you look, you can still see so much detail.

i like #1>#2 overall, b/c it shows the luminescence and color of the pen better, despite being slightly overcontrasty as c/w #2. i think, usually given a choice of two photos side by side, most will pick the brighter one. sort of similar to a showroom floor, where people are wrongly drawn to brighter tvs and louder stereos.

(all this criticism from a guy who can't even take a focused picture)

Hi Wim,

I like #4 the best as well. Lots of detail and contrast. I love the setup of the photo too (being propped up on the ink bottle, nice dark reflections). It makes me think of a time long and where writing was an art (seems like most people these days are doing everything digitally). In that photo I can imagine the setting as being in a tent somewhere in the Middle East with that pen and bottle on a small wood desk.

Actually... I just like darker, high contrast photos.

I like #4. It's the first shot I've ever seen that comes close to capturing the beauty of that pen. I prefer the cap in that photo because it's not blocking the rest of the pen. The shadows are fantastic.

What Dave said

Oh and that Etruria "Indian Nights" pen looks good enough to eat

Hi Wim
Great pics from you again Etruria d'Iverno is incredible looking pen.#1 and #4 best ones for my eyes

Hi Wim, great pics. No 4 is my favorite, but if you did one with exposure between 1 and 2, that would be pretty good too! (Pro photographers are always being asked that one! )


Edit: spelling (doh)

Hi Davy, dslknight, Elaine, Maja, emrecan, Richard,

Thank you for compliments, and for your encouraging comments! I'm not there yet, but going in the right direction, I think .

Number 1 and 2 were meant to get comments on the amount of light, and how it shows off pens. Personally I think #2 is the better picture, but #1 shows the colours of the pen a lot better. It also shows dust a lot better, though, disturbingly so .

For number 3 and 4 I was wondering about composition. Both really show all the detail you can imagine, I think. #3 shows the striping a little better than #4, but personally I think the compostion of 4 is better. I am still not satisfied with the colours though, as the blue stripes don't really show off as very dark blue. I am still rethinking the lighting and exposure. I'll get there, eventually .

Davy:
Did you check the larger pics? I was really impressed by the detail in those. The little squashed hexagon on the nib, that has 750 imprinted, says it all... I had the same quandary, as noted above, regarding bright vs understated and detail regardless.

dslknight:
Very nice imagery, I think, especially as it was in a tent. Ok, a light tent, but a tent nonetheless...

Elaine:
It is just a pity you can't really see the dark blue in the stripes, I am working on that one. And yes, isn't it beautiful? I just love it .

Maja:
Remind me never to get close to you with that pen .

emrecan:
I agree, on colour and composition. Thanks!

Richard:
The exposure on the two was the same . The difference was in the positioning of the pen cap, and the position of the third flash. It was held slightly higher in picture 4, to get better detail in the reflection .

BTW, did any of you guess who my idol of pen photography is?

Warm regards, Wim

:
"Ooh! An Etruria Indian Nights pen...."

Warm regards, Wim