# Working on Pictures



## jd99 (Aug 18, 2012)

Been putting this off long enough and I need to get the web site done, so I'm trying this picture thing again.

What do you see wrong or right with the pictures of this pen?
Other then the fact I didn't clean or polish it before I tried this sequence of shots.

Thanks in advance.


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## George417 (Aug 18, 2012)

Very nice looking pen.


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## Sylvanite (Aug 18, 2012)

First of all, your white balance is off.  Check your camera instructions on how to manually set the white balance.  Secondly, the depth-of-field is extremely shallow.  Use a smaller aperture (higher f-stop) with a longer exposure (and possibly move the camera farther away).  The software that resized the images may also be making them softer.  Sharpening would help some, but will not correct the depth-of-field.  Third, you could use some fill light from the lower right.  More lights and/or reflectors may be better.

Once those technical issues are resolved, you can work on composition.

I hope that helps,
Eric


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## jd99 (Aug 18, 2012)

what about this one, I'm not sure on the white ballance, but this one matches what the pen looks like and I didn't merge this one like the others.


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## Ruby pen turning (Aug 18, 2012)

I aint no photo pro but they look nice to me other then the first 2 being a little out of focus. Picasa is what I use and it is free for adjusting. My wife hates it I love it.


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## Sylvanite (Aug 18, 2012)

jd99 said:


> what about this one.



That's better.  The white balance is closer, and the depth-of-field isn't quite so shallow.  It's still quite soft though.  A couple of minutes in Photoshop yielded this:






Colors vary quite a bit from one monitor to another, but does this look better to you?


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## 76winger (Aug 18, 2012)

I agree with Eric, the original photos are way off on the color balance. Even the corrected versions look a little pinkish. 

Also agree with his recommendations for increasing Depth of Field. 

I'd also recommend, if you goal is to highlight the pen, to go with a simpler prop. What you've used is larger than the pen and draws attention away from it. Important to consider if you're going to set up a website to sell the pens.


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## azamiryou (Aug 19, 2012)

Sylvanite said:


> jd99 said:
> 
> 
> > what about this one.
> ...



In my opinion (and on my monitor), jd99's looked better.

It's really hard to tell, though, since we don't know what the original background color was. *jd99*, what's the background color you're using? If you can tweak the photo (either with the camera or post-processing) so that the background is the right color, then you'll have found the right color balance.


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## scotian12 (Aug 19, 2012)

The prop is competing with the pen. Eliminate the wood prop and go with a neutral one.


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## jd99 (Aug 19, 2012)

The background is a black cloth, and a white cloth on top of that, if I try to use just the white, it's so thin that it shows everything behind  it, Ill play around with it some more today, and post what I get.

Thanks for all the advice, I'm no photo wiz, If ya need something made to close tollerances that I can do, but pictures arent my thing, plus the fact i'm color deficient doesn't help.

I'll take a picture of my set up so you guys can tell me if it looks right to you.

Thanks again.


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## oneptbuk (Aug 19, 2012)

The second one does look better, I agree with Eric on getting some additional light on the lower half of the pen.  Reflectors should help with that.  Getting the whole pen sharp can be a challenge depending on the camera and lens you're using.  

I would suggest, like others have, to remove the prop.  The wood adds a lot of yellow to the shot which takes away from the pen.  

Regardless of the shot, that pen's a real beaut!


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## azamiryou (Aug 19, 2012)

jd99 said:


> The background is a black cloth, and a white cloth on top of that



In that case, in your photo the color is a little off, the background is a little bit pink/yellow.



jd99 said:


> the fact i'm color deficient doesn't help.



If you have trouble seeing whether the background looks right, software can help. Most paint/photo programs will have some sort of "eyedropper" tool that lets you find out exactly what color each pixel is. In some programs, it's displayed somewhere in the status bar whenever the mouse cursor is over an image. It may be displayed as red/green/blue, in which case you are looking for the three numbers to be about the same. Or it may be displayed as hue/saturation/brightness (HSB), in which case you are looking for saturation (S) to be near zero (1 or 2 is probably more realistic.)


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## jd99 (Aug 19, 2012)

Here is the setup I have, maybe one of my problems is that I didn't turn off the lights in the room, they are all high intentisy (sp) track lights, that could be a problem also correct?

The two big lights are CFL that I got with my larger tent and the two smaller ones are the ones that came with this smaller tent. I think I got both of them from Cowboy studios or something like that..

Thanks Guys


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## jd99 (Aug 19, 2012)

*More pictures.*

just took these, and use the bracket function of the camera.
 
Also the background is not pure white.


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## jd99 (Aug 19, 2012)

*took a couple more*

lets see how they look on here, they look good on my monitor??  Hmmm they don't look as sharp after I upload.


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## Haynie (Aug 19, 2012)

Are you doing any post shot manipulation?  A little sharpening would work.  Colors of the pen look great.  I would choose a different color for the background.  Raid the linen closet and play.  Brown is a muddy orange so maybe purple.:biggrin:


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## jd99 (Aug 19, 2012)

Haynie said:


> Are you doing any post shot manipulation? A little sharpening would work. Colors of the pen look great. I would choose a different color for the background. Raid the linen closet and play. Brown is a muddy orange so maybe purple.:biggrin:


I think the pictures get modified on the upload, the orignal pictures on my pc are sharp, on this thread they are softer.


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## ironman123 (Aug 19, 2012)

JD, those last couple look real nice on the pen but there is something with the background that holds back the "pop".  The pen itself is great to me.
(My cent and a half)

Ray


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## Ed McDonnell (Aug 19, 2012)

My opinion (and it's just an opinion, everyone has one) is that the color of your prop is overwhelming your pen.  

Here's a photoshopped version of one of your pictures with your your prop desaturated (and some background tweaking).  This allows the pen to really stand out and be the center of attention.  Whether this is better or not will be  matter of personal opinion.    

Ed


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## jd99 (Aug 19, 2012)

Haynie said:


> Are you doing any post shot manipulation? A little sharpening would work. Colors of the pen look great. I would choose a different color for the background. Raid the linen closet and play. Brown is a muddy orange so maybe purple.:biggrin:


Yea but I'd like to get a netural background and setting I can use for all the shots, I have over 200 pens I need to shoot and get on the web site, and changing for colors and such will take me forever...:frown:

At least with my other two sites the wholesale guy or the manufacture sends me the photos for their products to put on my sites and they are taken by profesionals. I just resale the stuff. 

Don't have that with this. :wink:


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