First Post of my images

[fmw]

I have a great idea for the Bic pen. I need to go to the store to buy a prop. I promise I'll post it when it is finished. SMG, I'm still fooling around with #1. My comment was that I thought the background fought for attention with the subject. Below is my first iteration of solution but it isn't right because the purpose of your image was to show a macro shot of the nib and I didn't really do that. My idea was to put just a little line of gold in the image to coordinate with the nib but without dominating the subject. I think it does that OK but I need to spend a little more time to make the serious closeup of the nib. Here's iteration #1:

 

[fmw]

Perhaps this is what we're after.

 

[SMG]

Ohhh La La what a nice shot of the nib. The gold lines running down the image aligned with the pen are a nice counterpoint to a very nice macro shot of that nib.

You do have some good taste in pens, I have to say.

Cheers,
SG

 

[oldnavy170]

Wow, I love these. I am not usually into this type of photo but I have to say that I really enjoyed the pens and the different styles you used. Nice!

 

[fmw]

Old Navy, Commercial product advertising photography is a craft all its own. Normally, the commercial photographer has specific guidelines from an art director. The photographer has to make an image of a product fit into a preconceived and preplanned presentation. There is plenty of room for creativity but the final image has to fit a rigid layout. You might think of it as still life photography done from a storyboard.

In my case, I used SMG's photos as the storyboard and recreated them to make similar images that responded to comments I had made about his images. It is very natural for me to take a product and fit it into a preconceived layout. I've done it a jillion times. His images and mine are different even though the subjects are basically the same so there is plenty of room for creativity and personality even though the layouts are the same.

It is more challenging to do than most photographers think. I love to see print ads just because I appreciate the photography. The shots SMG and I posted here are what I would refer to as typical of catalog photography. Thousands and thousands of catalog shots are made every day by thousands and thousands of commercial photographers. It is actually the largest single part of the photographic industry. Glad to hear you appreciate the images.

SMG, I got frustrated years ago at the junky Chinese made pens I would buy at the office supply store. I could buy a dozen pens and they wouldn't last a week. So I started buying better ones. Perhaps I went a little overboard. It is a real pleasure to use a great pen - I have about 50 of them. I use all of mine and no longer buy junk pens at the office supply store. When I was a kid in school, the ball point pen hadn't even become popular yet. We all used Esterbrook or Scheaffer fountain pens and had ink wells in our school desks. I guess I never got over it.

 

[fmw]

It looks like the arrangement of the lights to the lilght tent will make for a softer light overall. Guess that it makes sense. Time to start reading up on lighting I guess. Any suggestions on where to start??

Cheers,
SG

I'm using commercial monolights and that makes a big difference. They have a nice feature that allows them to be dialed down in f stops. I can set the ratios with a dial. I can adjust depth of field with aperture and then dial the flash heads to the proper exposure for the the given aperture with any lighting ratio. It's flexible and easy compared to using hot lights. I didn't move the flash heads at all for all of the shots I did. I moved the subjects around inside the light tent and I changed the power settings on the units. That's all. That's how flexible they are. Using amateur gear to do the work is complicated and time consuming in comparison. I'm sure I didn't spend 1/2 hour combined on all the shots. Very straight forward stuff.

There are some good books on studio lighting. I read some years ago but have forgotten the titles. Just go to BN.com or Amazon and you should find some good reading.

In commercial photography, the light sources are way more important than the cameras and lenses. We have to be able to control all the light. After all, light is what we are capturing.

 

[Christie Photo]

In commercial photography, the light sources are way more important than the cameras and lenses. We have to be able to control all the light. After all, light is what we are capturing.

Amen. I think this applies to all photography.

Pete

 

[fmw]

Oddly, we didn't have any Bic pens around here. I did find a cheap plastic one that will serve the purpose. Here's my idea for shooting the Bic pen:

 

[SMG]

Neat image of the crayons. I like the counterpoint of the crayons with the somewhat more sophisticated pen stuck in there. Cool layout.

Here is the shot of the Pelikan's, direct from the camera, no PS at all. Actually looks much better this way, without the lens flares etc. Could do with some curves adjustment, crop and unsharp mask but you get the idea.

Here is another one that I did for fun. It is my daughters Bee Bank with a Skyline perched on top. I really like the lighting in this and the sense of whimsy. Doesn't really show off the pen at all, but my daughter loves to see her bee on the computer.

BTW there fmw you should check out Pentrace or FPN. Then again if you are anything like me, it could be bad for the wallet.

Cheers,
SG

 

[fmw]

I agree with you on the Pelikan shot. It is better than way. The shot of the piggy bank is fun but I wouldn't have known that was pen on top of it if you hadn't told me.