# backgrounds?



## AnachitlPut (Feb 14, 2012)

what is the best backgrounds? i don't have a lot of supplies just house hold items. and any thing found in a woodshop. any ideas are welcome.


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## ctubbs (Feb 14, 2012)

Are you asking about backgrounds for photos?  If your wife sews, she most likely has a variety of material scraps to chose form.  Solid colors work best.  Go to any office supply store or Wal-Mart and pick up a pack of construction paper, the variety pack, it has a bunch of colors.  Chose something that complements your pen without out shining it.  You want the pen to be the subject, not the background.  Then light it well to kill the shadows without washing out the pen.  Try your best to get it in focus from end to end.  If your wife does not sew, the fabric shop at any sewing center ot Wal-Mart will sell you small pieces for not very much.  The variety there is nearly endless.  My $0.02 YMMV as always.  Disregard if this is off your question subject.
Charles


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## Rangertrek (Feb 20, 2012)

I have tried several colors for back grounds, black, brown, tan, etc.
Finally settled on a light gray color.  I bought some poster paper at a hobby shop in gray.  Works well in my little photo booth.

I can also suggest Picassa for photo software.  Its FREE, and does a great job.  It can also tag photos for search options.


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## Mack C. (Feb 20, 2012)

ctubbs said:


> If your wife sews, she most likely has a variety of material scraps to chose form.


 Charles; Check out his Public Profile!!:smile-big:


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## PenPal (Feb 20, 2012)

Luke,

My open pen pic set up I use 11 by 14 inch copier paper as backgtround simple , very effective,  Works for me one ream I have been using for ten years.

Kind regards Peter.

Sample pic enclosed.


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## Displaced Canadian (Feb 20, 2012)

I use T shirts to put my pens on and something to prop them up a little seems to help. Solid is best because it doesn't distract from the pen.


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## 76winger (Feb 20, 2012)

Using the same pen, in the same photo booth, using the same lights, only a different background here's the results I came up with. 

When I first set up my photo booth, I started out with a white background, but I had a hard time getting picture of the pen I was really happy with. Below is the best I was able to extract after a lot of experimentation. The problem is that when you get the light correct for the pen, the white background becomes gray. And the process of trying to get the right settings, the color of the ended up a little flat as well. 

So I ended up with a medium gray background and as you can see there's a much wider spectrum of lighting being reflected back from the pen. The dark areas are darker and highlights are lighter, without becoming washed out in the process. 



 



The material I came up with, is literally a shirt right out of my closet! It's a little darker than 18% which would be neutral gray, but it works good until I decide to experiment more. 

My photo booth, made PVC pipe a white sheet wrapped around the frame and 6500k florescent lights all around.


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## Flaturner (Feb 21, 2012)

Luke,  There are no right or wrong answers to your question. I have used a woven wood look TV tray and a white bed tray and my plywood workbench.  I have seen all manner of backgrounds, stands, and props used.  Try something.  If YOU like it, fine.  If you don't, we never need to see it.  Most of us on here are more interested in seeing your pen, not your staging.  Of course, we are not above seeing something we like and copying.  lol


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## The_Foo (Feb 21, 2012)

I've been using colored paper like they use for scrapbooking, something like 12" square or thereabouts. You can get a lot of different looks pretty cheap, less than a buck apiece.  I picked these up at Hobby Lobby.  You have to be careful that the background isn't too busy (like in the second picture) but it's a good way to get a lot of different looks for little money.


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## gbpens (Feb 21, 2012)

A light grey background, either fabric or poster board, offsets just about any color or wood shade.


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## Haynie (Feb 21, 2012)

Many will say light grey as some already have and your mom or other relative will probably have some cast off material.  A grey T-shirt works.

On the other hand you can start to get creative.  Since you don't say what this is for, start playing with different backgrounds and lighting.  Use whatever you can get your hands on.  You will learn a lot more by playing than you will by asking for suggestions on a forum.  When you find something you like post it and see what others think.  Then people's advice will be much more meaningful.  The only rule is to have fun.


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## 76winger (Feb 21, 2012)

Haynie said:


> Many will say light grey as some already have and your mom or other relative will probably have some cast off material.  A grey T-shirt works.
> 
> On the other hand you can start to get creative.  Since you don't say what this is for, start playing with different backgrounds and lighting.  Use whatever you can get your hands on.  You will learn a lot more by playing than you will by asking for suggestions on a forum.  When you find something you like post it and see what others think.  Then people's advice will be much more meaningful.  The only rule is to have fun.



I agree with the premiss of this as you want to be creative and try different things. 

What you want to keep in mind about working with a gray background is that the camera's light meter reads and tries to adjust the overall picture's exposure to what it considers a balanced lighting. That balanced lighting it's targeting is 18% gray (if I recall correctly). So if you have a lot of black in the background, the camera is going to over-expose in attempt to achieve that 18% overall exposure. And if you have a white background, it's going to under-expose to achieve it. 

What the gray background helps you do is dial in your camera to your photo taking area, where everything is controlled, i.e. same location (photo booth), same lighting, and manual settings on your camera. With all these factors controlled and the same for each photo session, you can then determine the optimal white balance, aperture setting and shutter speed for your given "picture taking spot". 

With all this stuff controlled, you can pretty easily reproduce your results time and time again and discover you're using the same white-balance settings, F-stop and shutter speed for every photo session. 
For instance: 
For my own photographing conditions and 6500k flourecant lighting, these end up being 


White balance set for Flourescant with -3 fine tuning
Aperture set at f18 and
Shutter at 1/8th second
your mileage may vary...
Now, with all these set factors set and controlled, it would pretty easy to swap backgrounds around and experiment and know the camera settings aren't going to change much because the lighting and other conditions are still the same (controlled environment) as with the gray background. Thus the pens exposure is going to remain constant and the various backgrounds will then only affect the final appearance of the photo (artistic effect). The one slight exception being that different colored backgrounds will produce some variations due to their reflected light causing some minor color shifts that may need compensating. Regardless you have the basic settings and background to fall back on for consistency. 

Sure, you want to experiment and try different things for the purpose of artistic expression, but you want to develop that "ground zero" as a starting point and the gray gives you that to work outward from. If you don't have this, you'll spend a LOT of time figuring out the optimal blend of settings that is for each photo session, especially if you do something different every time. 

And the same applies for natural lighting - Yes it's great and well balanced, but you'll have a different intensity and color balance to deal with every day based on time of day and weather conditions. And you either switch to auto settings and hope the camera figures it out, or you do a lot of quick bracketing and experimenting trying to get some good results in before the lighting conditions change on you. 

My own goal is control the photo environment for consistent results and to minimize the amount of time taking photos and cleaning them up in post-processing. Then you can branch and experiment for the artistic flair once you have your foundation. 

Good luck and happy shooting!


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## avbill (Feb 21, 2012)

go to my web page: William's Pens | Portfolio   And you will see several different backgrounds.    I photograph my pens for two different  audiences.  

1. is the story teller  creating a image that the person would want!!  [still life] 

2. is a detail image of the pen cresting details of the pen  brook does it very well with close-up images to show detail.  here is where many turners lose focus  The background is to enhance the pen  not to over-whelmed it. 


these are two different approaches  in telling the story of a pen.  

there is no right or wrong  BUT you need to have the exposure death on.  The correct exposure will either create a WOW factor  or it will be just another pen image


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