Conway Brackett Brown

[BensBespoke]

Here's a proper pic of the quick one I did on my workbench the other day.

I'm missing a spot light at the moment.... Sigma 105mm lens on the way (canon EF50 1.8 at the moment which can't get in much closer than this.

I've got a plain brown leather book on the way - I know some of you aren't fans of the book thing but there is method to the madness - you will see!!

OK QUESTION - do you prefer the top one..... or the bottom one? The top one is fairly natural I've raised the levels a bit on the colour balance with the bottom one.

IMG_2907 by Ben Cook, on Flickr


IMG_2907 by Ben Cook, on Flickr

 

[Penpal]

Absolutely the bottom one when you can see the nib in detail. In both cases the background rules.

Peter.

 

[sammy]

The bottom one for me too.
George

 

[Paul hd]

Another amazing looking blank.

I prefer the look of the blank in the bottom pic as the acrylic seems to be sharper and a little more pop, but the gold end parts are better in the top picture.
In the bottom picture the detail in the bottom part of the gold caps is lost, blown out.

If there wasn't a choice then both pics look great. ;-)

 

[yorkshireman]

Bottom one, nice pen too

 

[Terry]

Nice pen. The top photo for me as the bottom one is blown out especially at the ends !!!

 

[wm460]

Great looking pen Ben.

 

[Vic Perrin]

The top one for me but the book does really distract you from focusing on the pen

 

[fortress]

It's a beautiful creation Ben, I am drawn to the bottom photo because the acrylic seems more defined
IMHO, I think the book needs to go back to the library, you cannot see the pen properly.

 

[Bucks]

Very nice pen Ben

 

[Les ELm]

The prop makes the nib hard to see and takes the eye away from the subject.
A plain white back ground would really show off the subject.

Les

 

[fingwe]

Ben, if you don't want to bother with proper lighting, I just use an A3 light panel (like this A3 Light Box Light pad With Free carry / Storage Bag. Touch Dimmer 11W Super Bright 96 Daylight LEDS 2 year Guarantee: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home) placed on some wooden blocks about 8 inches above the pen and at a slight angle (lower at the front, higher at back). It gives quite a nice even light. I do also have proper studio flash lights, but they never get used as they take up so much room. You'll probably also need to set the camera to either over expose by a couple of stops, or use manual metering mode.

 

[21William]

Looks good. I think the idea of a book as a prop is a good one although it is a bit "busy". Looking forward to seeing more pen pictures with the new prop!

 

[BensBespoke]

Ben, if you don't want to bother with proper lighting, I just use an A3 light panel (like this A3 Light Box Light pad With Free carry / Storage Bag. Touch Dimmer 11W Super Bright 96 Daylight LEDS 2 year Guarantee: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home) placed on some wooden blocks about 8 inches above the pen and at a slight angle (lower at the front, higher at back). It gives quite a nice even light. I do also have proper studio flash lights, but they never get used as they take up so much room. You'll probably also need to set the camera to either over expose by a couple of stops, or use manual metering mode.

Thanks that's really useful not seen those before - although I do have panel lights like it in my workshop and the studio where I shoot.

I've just ordered another two stand lights so I'll have about 600W halogen in total to play with.

I'm trying to push the ISO rating down as much as I can to get rid of graininess... but I am really liking that light idea - could be really good to hand over it or put near it... I might get one in addition to the other lights.

Of course I could just get a modern SLR but dont really want to fork out £500 plus for a proper second hand Canon EOS!

 

[fingwe]

If you have enough light, you shouldn't have to push the ISO up. The issue with most cameras, is that they will meter for mid grey, so if you're shooting a small-ish item on a white background, will always end up underexposed (ie mid grey, rather than white). There's generally not a whole lot you can do on a compact camera, but as you have an SLR, you can either use exposure compensation to overexpose by a couple of stops, meter manually and over expose it, or use spot metering (if your camera has it) to take an exposure reading off the object in the middle of the photo, rather than off all of the white background surrounding it.

Sorry if you already know all of this, but I know a lot of people get stuck on photography...including me, but that's because I'm lazy and don't always follow my own advice!

 

[Graham_C]

Second one for me too. Interestingly, I made the same kit/blank combination and the brown is much more "golden" than appears in these shots

Lovely pen again Ben