# Test Shots



## tjv (May 29, 2016)

I've been away for quite awhile.  I've been suffering badly from RSI and haven't touched my lathe for roughly 3 months.  The RSI hasn't gotten any better so I'll now spend the time turning and doing the best to try and ignore it.

So today, I have decided to get back into photographing some pens.

I'm looking for any and all comments, good and bad.  I'm playing around with a different way of photographing my pens for etsy and/or my website.

The pen is a reject Roman Harvest that I haven't put in for a remake so it was happy to volunteer as test subject.  The original photo was taken in a light tent using a Fuji XT-1, 18-55mm and has been processed in Photoshop. The background was made in Photoshop with the pen as a cut/paste and resize, added the reflection and vignette.


View in Gallery



Cheers
Tony


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## randyrls (May 29, 2016)

Wow!  That doesn't look like a remake!


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## Ed McDonnell (May 29, 2016)

Hi Tony - I'll offer some opinions, but that's all they are...opinions.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Also, my monitor calibration may differ from yours and we may not be looking at the same thing.  That's one of the challenges of sharing photos on the internet.  With that said:

The pen looks a bit washed out to me and it seems overwhelmed by the background you dropped it on top of.  A few adjustments to your curves (or levels) for the pen might help it really pop.  

I also think the sharp transition in the background is distracting.  Try a soft gradient and see what you think.  

I've never seen the pen in the real world, and a risk with photoshopping is creating an image that looks nothing like the real pen.  But, since we are talking photography and photoshopping I took the liberty of playing with the image you posted.  Here's a 60 second edit to illustrate my points above.  (Hope you don't mind).  I think the pen is much more the focus of attention....but that's just me.

Ed


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## tjv (May 29, 2016)

Ed,

Always happy for the comments and thanks.

Tony


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## farmer (May 30, 2016)

*Photography*

Hi

I have done a few reflective product photography photos .
I have sheets of black smoked glass I bought at a yard sale .
The reflection is allot sharper or clearer  .

Your black back drop would of been better if in the photo it would of all been black.

Over all your picture made me feel like it was 100 feet away.
My best example, 
I shot this with a canon t3i with a 18 - 55 mm kit lens.




To me it seems like your focal point is to far away and you need to move the camera in allot closer ..


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