Advice About Photographing Fountain Pens

September 16, 2017

many thanks, old salt! in that case, here's a few more pics to keep you interested

September 16, 2017

Thanks for the additional photos of the Oscar Wilde...you do realize that you are ruining my self control.😇

June 13, 2019

Many thanks again, Bobje. I wish I could do such a mini-tutorial, but I'm as much an amateur as most others here. I just shoot a lot of pics because I write a weekly arts column for a newspaper, and shifted to using just an iPhone a long time ago because I got tired lugging a DSLR around.

What i make sure of as far as shooting pens is concerned is to make sure I have a nice flat surface like a table, then good ambient lighting (muted daylight, as through a window or a curtain, not in direct sunlight, never flash unless it's an emergency). Then I compose the shot, framing it in my head, sometimes deciding whether I'll be focusing on the nib or the clip (when you get too close, you might have to choose a focal point because it will shift). I take a few shots, then choose.

Take this shot, for example, which I took with an iPhone 5 four years ago. (I remember shooting this one idle afternoon in Hong Kong while waiting for a lecture to finish.)

If it helps, here's the technical data that Flickr provides on it (of course I didn't know any of this until I had taken and posted the shot):

The good thing about a regular camera is that you can do close-ups like this and blur the background (took this ten years ago with a Canon PowerShot G7--still just a point-and-shoot). The iPhone 7-plus, by the way, now has this capability, to some extent.

Wow, I wish I found this topic earlier. You have a great sense of taking photo penmalina!

I were struggle for a month when I first tried taking pictures of pens.

I used Canon EOS Kiss X5 with a soft box which I made by myself to make softer light set up for my photo.

I think I should try with my iphone after seeing your photo.

Here is one of my picture with Canon EOS Kiss X5