Blog Post About Photographing Fountain Pens

[johnboz]

Although I wrote this article a while back, I just realized I never shared it here. If you've been troubled when photographing your pens, hopefully this will offer a few tips that you'll find helpful:

 

How To Photograph A Fountain Pen

 

The topic of this article is light and mainly discusses hard versus soft light and how these types of light can affect your final image. I'm currently working on more articles in this series and would love to hear any topics you'd like to see discussed.

 

Thanks for reading and keep up the great photos! It's always a pleasure to see the different pens everyone has.

 

Finally, since this is all about photography, here's a photo of some of my favorite Parker Duofold Pencils! Now if I could only come up with the matching pens...

[Astronymus]

I think these are just the basics about product photography, aren't they.

[johnboz]

I think these are just the basics about product photography, aren't they.

 

Yes, for the most part. Regardless, not everyone knows the basics.

[Astronymus]

True.

[carlos.q]

I think it was cool.

[mana]

Good, high quality blog post that doesn't go too technical, nice basic stuff that is actually very helpful well explained. So yeah, please keep at it, I know there are plenty of folks who can appreciate what you do (and find it useful).

[JonSzanto]

Hey, you had me when you choose a Moore 94-A as one of your subjects! Seriously, this is the kind of stuff right up my alley, as it speaks to issues a photographer will deal with without assuming the audience contains photographers. Like all of the 'skills' I've had to attempt that fall outside of my actual profession/talents, I've just tried to read and visit a lot of information and then try to grasp the basics and find a way to make them work for me. Pretty much all I have is a phone (5 years old, to boot) though I'm considering some manner of digital SLR for macro shots, as I can't do any manual focussing or extreme close-ups. Being that pens are small and nibs are sexy, it would be nice for you to have a chapter on your views of pen/macro work.

Ok, I'll throw caution to the wind - here's an available light shot I did to spotlight finding the fourth of these four fine pens:

 

[Karmachanic]

Hey, you had me when you choose a Moore 94-A as one of your subjects! Seriously, this is the kind of stuff right up my alley, as it speaks to issues a photographer will deal with without assuming the audience contains photographers. Like all of the 'skills' I've had to attempt that fall outside of my actual profession/talents, I've just tried to read and visit a lot of information and then try to grasp the basics and find a way to make them work for me. Pretty much all I have is a phone (5 years old, to boot) though I'm considering some manner of digital SLR for macro shots, as I can't do any manual focussing or extreme close-ups. Being that pens are small and nibs are sexy, it would be nice for you to have a chapter on your views of pen/macro work.

 

Ok, I'll throw caution to the wind - here's an available light shot I did to spotlight finding the fourth of these four fine pens:

 

 

 

There are phone apps that allow for manual focus, Camera+ for instance. An Olloclip 4in1 lens set will give you macro.

[JonSzanto]

There are phone apps that allow for manual focus, Camera+ for instance. An Olloclip 4in1 lens set will give you macro.

 

My phone was old enough that the version of Android OS would not allow manual focus (believe me, I looked). New phone about a month ago, will check again. I did purchase a clip-on macro so maybe will try with new phone. C+ doesn't get the best ratings, but maybe worth a shot.

[da vinci]

Thanks very helpful indeed.

 

Was your picture of the Parker pencils taken using flat light?

 

In your blog post you show a picture of a pilot metropolitan (I think) and a bottle of ink taken with an iPhone. Is there any chance you could post a picture of the set up including phone and light position?

[johnboz]

Thanks everyone for reading and for the kind words.

 

Jon, that's a great shot! I almost always prefer available light to any type of lighting setup. I'll definitely work on a post about closeup/macro photography for both DSLRs and phones. I've got at least one more post regarding light and then I'll be moving on to more technical info. For what it's worth, I think Camera+ is a great app and it's about the only third-party app I use.

[johnboz]

Thanks very helpful indeed.

 

Was your picture of the Parker pencils taken using flat light?

 

In your blog post you show a picture of a pilot metropolitan (I think) and a bottle of ink taken with an iPhone. Is there any chance you could post a picture of the set up including phone and light position?

You're very welcome! The pencil photo was taken with flat light. There was a big window on camera-left and the sun was on the other side of the building, so lots of indirect light was coming in.

 

The photo with the Metropolitan actually had two light sources. If you look at the pen, you can see faint shadows on either side. I don't have a photo of the setup, but essentially aimed lights at the wall on either side of the pen. This gave me some nice, indirect light that didn't create very intense shadows and provided even lighting. Hope that helps!

[akrohn2010]

Informative post - very educational and easy to follow. Thanks for the effort and for sharing.

 

JonS, you have me envying those Vacumatics...where did you find the Parker ad?

Edited May 12, 2018 by flyingpenman

[JonSzanto]

JonS, you have me envying those Vacumatics...where did you find the Parker ad?

 

Those are 3 individual magazine pages - I think possibly National Geographic - that I found on eBay. All were from the same marketing campaign for the Vac and I couldn't pass them up. I'll find some time and post them individually... somewhere around here.

[da vinci]

You're very welcome! The pencil photo was taken with flat light. There was a big window on camera-left and the sun was on the other side of the building, so lots of indirect light was coming in.

 

The photo with the Metropolitan actually had two light sources. If you look at the pen, you can see faint shadows on either side. I don't have a photo of the setup, but essentially aimed lights at the wall on either side of the pen. This gave me some nice, indirect light that didn't create very intense shadows and provided even lighting. Hope that helps!

Ok thanks again

[truphae_inc]

Great article and images!!

[christof]

Hi John

 

Since I discovered your pen pictures on Flickr, almost 10 years ago, I always wanted to make pictures like yours. It was a long and somtimes bumpy way, but I think I got close to the goal...

 

picture of my favourite Duofold set:

 

composed group shot of Parker "51" Mk II/III:

 

Thanks for the inspiration I got from you!

 

C.M.Z (Flickr name)

Edited July 5, 2018 by christof

[alexwi]

From one photographer to another, great post!

 

I especially like the inclusion of other objects in the image for presentation purposes, which I also did for the Aurora's I listed recently - https://www.ebay.com/itm/132685905040?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649 , except that I used another pen. But the idea of a book as a backdrop is especially appealing to me (of course, given my [very] dark sense of humor, it would likely be something like The Decameron or something written by Poe.

 

alex

Edited July 5, 2018 by alexwi

[johnboz]

Hi John

 

Since I discovered your pen pictures on Flickr, almost 10 years ago, I always wanted to make pictures like yours. It was a long and somtimes bumpy way, but I think I got close to the goal...

Wow, thanks for the compliment. Your photos look great! It looks like you know what you're doing. Congrats on the great pens! Those Jade Duofolds are beautiful!

[johnboz]

From one photographer to another, great post!

 

I especially like the inclusion of other objects in the image for presentation purposes, which I also did for the Aurora's I listed recently - https://www.ebay.com/itm/132685905040?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649 , except that I used another pen. But the idea of a book as a backdrop is especially appealing to me (of course, given my [very] dark sense of humor, it would likely be something like The Decameron or something written by Poe.

 

alex

Thank you! I'm still trying to learn how to make a really appealing layout, so I'm glad that my attempts helped. Happy shooting!