# How to show off the shine?



## ossaguy

Hi all,

When I take pictures of my pens,they almost always do not look shiny.I Ca finsh them so they look great with a glass-like look.

If I don't have the flash on,I can get them to shine but the background colors change.( The tableclotch is teal,but with the flash off it's beige.)

Also,If I try using white as a background,the white comes out pink in the final photo....

 Is there a way to adjust my camera to not do that? 

  It's a Canon sx120


    Thanks for any thoughts!

       Steve


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## bigevilgrape

To fix the colors when you don't use the flash you can adjust the white balance.  Your manual should tell you how to adjust it. On my cannon cameras I could get there by pushing the function button and scrolling though the options.  You can either manually white balance off a piece of paper, or choose from a bunch of options like sunlight, florescent, or tungsten.   On my cannon cameras


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## walshjp17

In the library there is a tutorial by Gerry Rhoades on how to take photos of your pens.


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## vtlli

Another thing to make your pens shiny on a photo is a few different  sources of light. Let’s say two from the top and one from the left. It may be usual bulbs , not LED ‘cause they give you blue tint. And adjust your white balance on the camera


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## ossaguy

Thanks guys for the tips!

I got the owners manual & learned how to adj the white on it,then turned off the flash and used the room lamps instead.That , and adjusting where I position myself so it picks up the reflection of the light on the barrel.

Much better,now!

Thanks,
Steve


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## mmayo

Here is a pen made yesterday and a similar one made a while ago.  I think they show a decent amount of glossy shine. If it looks good to you I'll describe or show the setup.   It was illuminated by one high intensity lamp I use while turning and the shop lights in the ceiling of my garage ( yes, mixed light sources) with the digital camera set for auto white balance.   CA on wood or acrylic are both usually shiny so I showed a couple of pens with visible reflections.


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## Tom T

Nice pen and nice shine


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## ossaguy

Wow,I wish I could take pictures like that! Your pens look great,too,love that blue color.



Steve


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## randyrls

One thing I ALWAYS DO, is to go onto the internet and download the documentation for everything I buy in PDF form.  I save the PDF file to a folder on my computer call "Manuals" natch! and I run regular backups of my system.


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## Boz

Getting the shine to show is really a reflection.  A flat light source like the lights in your shop will not get the job done.  As one said a high intensity light (point light source) is what is needed.  Move the light around to get the desired look.  Look at your subject pen from the position of the camera.


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## scotian12

Mark....I for one would appreciate seeing your set up for taking those amazing photos. Thanks   Darrell Eisner


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## mmayo

I will photograph the setup soon and post it.  I saw it on this site and have modeled my setup after his with my own ideas.  I thank him here for getting me started.  Be sure to scroll down and look on the right for the links to his photography sections.

Pen Turning Tips

Stay tuned for photos of mine...

A Bocote pen from this week


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## 76winger

*Setting white balance, exposure, and lighting*



ossaguy said:


> Hi all,
> 
> When I take pictures of my pens,they almost always do not look shiny.I Ca finsh them so they look great with a glass-like look.
> 
> If I don't have the flash on,I can get them to shine but the background colors change.( The tableclotch is teal,but with the flash off it's beige.)
> 
> Also,If I try using white as a background,the white comes out pink in the final photo....
> 
> Is there a way to adjust my camera to not do that? It's a Canon sx120
> 
> Thanks for any thoughts!
> Steve



Two years ago (almost to the day) I started a similar discussion as I was trying to figure all the photography stuff out as well. I got a lot of good help and experimented a lot to get to what I considered satisfactory results. If you're interested, you can see that discussion in this thread:
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f24/photo-booth-shakedown-opintions-welcomed-74186/

It's a learning curve but well worth the effort. 

On getting the reflection, be careful not to put too much light on the pen or the metal parts will wash out. I've come to use indirect light bounced off white panels to to provide reflected diffused light for the reflection like in these past photos I've shown here on the site.


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## mmayo

*My setup to photograph pens*

I have been using the top of my table saw until I finally made a portable frame today.  Most of the materials I bought a Lowes inexpensively.

Here is the frame it is 36" x 25" and has a riser in the back to hold a black velvet cloth as a background.  Other colors or white velvet would work great too.






To the frame I add a piece of diffuser used in fluorescent ceiling fixtures.  I think it cost around $10.  It fits into kerfs cut in the side rails.






I lay a 16" x 24" piece of "black glass" inside for nice mirrored effects.  The velvet is long enough to span from the front of the glass to the rider in the back.






I have a piece of velvet from JoAnn's my wife bought me with a coupon for $15.    You can also see my inexpensive high intensity light I use when turning pens.  This one light plus the overhead light that filters through the white diffuser from my 6 - 4' shop lights is all the light I use.  If it helps I turn off the overhead lights sometimes.






The final setup shot shows my camera and tripod.  Yes, that is not cheap, but I did not buy it to photograph pens. It has a macro lens so images are usually sharp.






Here is a photo from my setup of two "his/hers" pens in bocote






The above image was taken on manual exposure at f22 for 1.6 seconds.

If I can help in any way with your efforts or if something about the setup is unclear, please send me an email or PM.


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## Denis McCarthy

Fantastic shooting Mayo! One of the best pen pictures I've seen! Great light box build too!!


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## mmayo

*Adding a highlight easily*

This thread is about adding shine to a well turned pen so I tried a quick experiment with a purple pen today.   The first photo is my normal setup showing a smooth front lower side of the pen.






Here is the same setup with a long thin horizontal highlight near the center.






It is subtle, but shows off more shine to me.  Some may argue that it looks better or worse and they may be right.  The point is that more surface shine was added.

To do this fold a clean piece of printer paper into 1/5ths so that it becomes a slightly irregular (non-origami) rectangle.  Place is if front of the pen aligned parallel to the pen JUST FORWARD TOWARD THE CAMERA - OUT OF SIGHT. If correctly folded, one surface will touch the glass below the subject and the other will face the pen.  Move it in and out until the highlight appears.  Evaluate if it helps or not and shoot it.

No money and quick!


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## mmayo

Nice shine in this ebony Mesa.   I moved the side light forward while watching for highlight burnout.


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