# thoughts? opinions? suggestions?



## xxShadowxx (Oct 6, 2011)

used 2 pieces of acrylic mirror, trying to get a 360 view of the pen


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## tomas (Oct 6, 2011)

Looks interesting...can you stand it up straight about 1/2" from the mirrors?

Tomas


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## randyrls (Oct 6, 2011)

I believe that is a good idea.  Just remove the ink fill and place the pen point down on a short piece of piano wire.  If you use a "front side mirror" there will be fewer unwanted reflections.


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## sbarton22 (Oct 8, 2011)

Wow, interesting idea. 

You may look into changing the angle or moving the mirrors. Frankly, right now, the composition is a bit distracting. Your image has become less about the pen and more about 3 pens and the hard lines that the end of the mirrors create. It seems if you could downplay those hard lines, and somehow improve the contrast of light on the pen, which is very nice, you might be on to something. You might set the pen on a little pedestal that hides the bottom edge of the mirrors. 

If you change the angle of the camera, you get away from a one point perspective, which tends to make a static image.

I think you have a real interesting idea. It's not quite there, and you probably don't have as much control staging the image as you would with 2 or 3 images, but it is a real intriguing idea. Keep us posted on some of your experiments.


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## xxShadowxx (Oct 8, 2011)

so.....move the mirrors outward a bit (to the sides)? would maintain the 360 view, but get rid of the tripen look and make into 3 pens, and give slightly more control over perspective while still keeping a single image for simplicity

if i block bottom edges of mirror with a pedestal, you would see the back of the pedestal, perhaps acceptable if i make a nice finished one


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## jttheclockman (Oct 8, 2011)

You can always try something like this using photoshop. I did this as an experement a couple years ago. You can control the speed of the spin and size and background and many other features.


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## xxShadowxx (Oct 8, 2011)

indeed, but need static images sadly, cant use gif :frown:


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## sbarton22 (Oct 8, 2011)

xxShadowxx said:


> so.....move the mirrors outward a bit (to the sides)? would maintain the 360 view, but get rid of the tripen look and make into 3 pens, and give slightly more control over perspective while still keeping a single image for simplicity
> 
> if i block bottom edges of mirror with a pedestal, you would see the back of the pedestal, perhaps acceptable if i make a nice finished one




Think of it like a rabbet slot for the mirror. You may actually need a gap or a higher than expected pedestal to create the illusion...depends on the angle of the camera. You would have to experiment, I suppose.

One question, what is fundamentally the difference between taking 3 shots and combining them in photoshop (or whatever)? (I assume you just want one image)


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## xxShadowxx (Oct 8, 2011)

3x more work

i was using scanner, pics had better color/detail, but could only see about 70% of the pen, clip would roll the pen to the side, so 2 scans, didnt like, and i dont have fancy acrylic stands :biggrin: besides want something less used / more unique, the pic above with 2 mirrors seems my fav at the moment, though need better lighting and fix up the lower mirror edges


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## sbarton22 (Oct 8, 2011)

Cool. I am going to start building photo tent tomorrow, and I completely understand the desire to keep the work of photography low so you can work on other stuff. I really appreciate your approach to try to find something unique.


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