# Watch Parts Pen - Photo Comments?



## mike4066

This is straight out of the camera, no color corrections/editing other than re-sizing.

Metallic Blue watch parts pen on a white paper background.


Comments / critiques on the photo?  

How does the color look?  It looks good on the camera and my monitor sucks so its hard to tell.


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## mark james

Hi Mike.

On my screen the black section is a bit dark.  If I alter the angle of my screen (MacBook Pro) it does come in lighter and clearer.

As to the pen/cast...  Looks mighty fine.  The divisions in the sections are clear, and all looks like a good cast.  The face is straight and clean.

Have Fun!


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## mike4066

Huh.... the whole thing looks a lot darker on my phone.  On the camera the background was a bright white and i couldnt see the bottom/back of the pen stand.


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## mark james

The pen stand is clearly visable.  And the picture is pretty good - just helping you to tweak it!

Can it be cropped to bring the picture in closer?

...Where is our Metal Telluride Mineral Buddy:  _(Ag, Au)Te2_  - when you need him (Sylvanite) :tongue:


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## wob50

Same here looks a little dark....crop mite work...
but I love the style ....blue with the black....nice


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## magpens

I like it very much just the way it is ... beautiful pen !!! The blue seems to be Royal Blue!


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## jttheclockman

Hello Mike

I know you mentioned you would like critique on the photo. It looks fine once you enlarge it. Click on the thumbnail and then click the photo and it looks good. 

Now if you don't mind a comment on the blank itself. Ignore if you prefer. Not sure if this is your first and you are just starting on these but It needs gold colored hands to break up the face. I hate watch part pens without hands on the face. If you are not going to put them on the face then put them in the blank somehow. Never do you see a watch sold without hands and that goes for high priced watches. yes you have to choose them but they do come with every watch out there. 

Another point. If doing a sierra blank, leave the small parts out if you are using a large face like that. Just use gears and fill them in doing a pattern of some sort. Those little brackets and screws are not for a pen like that. You use them on a 2 piece pen where you fill the blank up. Your blank the parts are too spread out and sparse. 

I like the color background. It breaks up the parts well and is a change from carbon fiber that is overplayed already. 

Now these are constructive points but as I said you can ignore them completely and forgive me for posting them. meant no harm by them. Just trying to help you take this to the next level. have fun.


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## farmer

*I hope you dont mind ?*

I photo shopped your photo, I hope you don't mind.
I zoomed  it in allot and other normal photo chop stuff.

Personally I think your slightly out of focus.
Because you cannot manually focus your camera, you have a couple choices.
If you are using a tripod to could tether your camera to your lap top 
so you can zoom the picture in so you can get the sharpest photo possible.
your Lap top can zoom in then just move the pen toward the camera or away from the camera to fine tune your focus.





Or use live view and zoom in with the button that zooms in in the screen of your camera and then move the camera toward or away from the pen.

Because your camera has fixed focus positions its very easy to have your cameras focal length in between one focus setting to the next focus setting.


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## Sylvanite

farmer said:


> Personally I think your slightly out of focus.


I agree that the camera appears to have focused on the nosecone, or even the front of the stand.  It isn't bad overall, but it would have been better to focus closer to the middle of the pen.


> Because you cannot manually focus your camera, you have a couple choices.


The Canon Powershot G15 _does_ have manual focus.  The process, however, is rather cumbersome.  It's very simple, however, to focus on the desired spot by holding the shutter release button partway down, then recompose, and shoot.  The G15 will draw a box around the point of focus when press the shutter release button partway down, so you can easily tell where the camera is focusing.


> If you are using a tripod to could tether your camera to your lap top so you can zoom the picture in so you can get the sharpest photo possible.  your Lap top can zoom in then just move the pen toward the camera or away from the camera to fine tune your focus.


The G15 does not support tethered shooting.  The G10 did, but Canon removed that feature from subsequent G-series cameras. 


> Or use live view and zoom in with the button that zooms in in the screen of your camera and then move the camera toward or away from the pen.


That's basically how manual focus works on the G15, except that you don't have to physically move anything.  You zoom in on the camera's display, and then fine-tune the focus.


> Because your camera has fixed focus positions its very easy to have your cameras focal length in between one focus setting to the next focus setting.


The camera _does not_ have "fixed focus positions".  Don't confuse lens focal length with focus.  They are two different things.  The G15 does have an option to choose fixed focal lengths (a feature looking for a purpose), but that is completely independent from focusing.

Regards,
Eric


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## Magicbob

Very nice


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## mike4066

I appreciate all of the input.  Ill get out the tripod and nice camera and see what i can come up with next.

Jt thank you for the advice on the blank.  It isthe first one ive made and im always willing to take any advice offered.

Thanks ill post a new picture in the next couple days.


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## farmer

*Slightly out of focus*

I was comparing the G15 to the G10. the G10 didn't have a manual focus.
My mistake .

Even on my canon 5Dmk II some times I will move the camera away or toward the subject to get a fine focus...

Why Canon would remove the ability to shoot tethered makes no sense to me .
I shoot tethered on most of my product shots, it is a important tool and can make the difference of getting a sharper image..

And I am assuming that the op was using a tripod to begin with.
The slightly blurry photo could be due to the fact the op wasn't using a tripod at all.


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## Dalecamino

Your focus problem is from the way the pen stand is oriented to the camera. The top of the pen is tilted away from the lens. If you turn the stand and shoot from the side, you'll fix that, but part of the pen will be obsured by the stand. I was told years ago to eliminate the stand. Which I did. Just my little piece of input.


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## Sylvanite

farmer said:


> I was comparing the G15 to the G10. the G10 didn't have a manual focus.
> My mistake .


See page 130 in the Canon Powershot G10 manual for instructions on the G10 manual focus.



> Even on my canon 5Dmk II some times I will move the camera away or toward the subject to get a fine focus...


Do whatever works for you, but the only time I ever move the camera to achieve focus is when I'm taking macro shots (typically with an extension tube).  In that circumstance, I'll use a geared focus rail mounted on the tripod to achieve the fine adjustments needed.  Sliding the tripod around results in too gross an adjustment.  I never move the camera to focus on a pen.



> Why Canon would remove the ability to shoot tethered makes no sense to me .
> I shoot tethered on most of my product shots, it is a important tool and can make the difference of getting a sharper image..


I agree.  Tethered shooting (especially with live view) is incredibly useful for small product photography.  It is much easier to see (and therefore correct) problems in a photo when displayed on a computer monitor than when viewed through the viewfinder or on a camera's display screen.  Shooting tethered with my current camera, focusing is as simple as moving the mouse pointer to and clicking on the spot where I want to focus.



> And I am assuming that the op was using a tripod to begin with.
> The slightly blurry photo could be due to the fact the op wasn't using a tripod at all.


Maybe, but doubtful.  The photo was shot with a shutter speed of 1/170 sec at a focal length of 18mm.  That should be plenty fast enough to prevent camera shake (especially with image stabilization on).  The aperture of f/4 and a distance of roughly 1.5ft yields a depth-of-field of about 1.3 inches, which is visible in the photo - The nosecone (and the front edge of the stand) is sharp, but the finial is slightly blurred.  Focusing closer to the centerband would help, as would a smaller aperture.  F/5.6 would yield a DoF of about 1.8 in and f/8 would extend that to 2.6 in.  A 35mm camera (such as the 5D series) using an 85mm lens at f/22 would produce roughly the same field-of-view and depth-of-field as the G15 at f/4.  A 5D at f/32 would yield similar DoF as the G15 at f/5.6.

I suspect that the overall softness is more likely due to the algorithm used to resize the image.  The IAP "upload manager" automatic resize (last I checked) softens photos quite a bit.  If you are resizing images before uploading (which I highly recommend), and have a choice of algorithms, try "bicubic sharper", and you may want to sharpen the image again (try "unsharp mask") before saving.

Sincerely, 
Eric


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## farmer

*manual focus the canon G15*

I sold my  G10 a few years ago, and trying to remember everything about how I used it .
If you want to call it manual focus that's fine with me.
But you cannot manual focus the camera or the lens by turning a ring on the lens or camera body. 
The camera is considered a power shot camera.
Manual focus is adjusted electrical, thru the cameras electronic which is slightly touchy for product photography.
Because of that it was easier for me to just move the camera slightly toward or away from the subject to get fine focus or a sharpest  image possible .

To me it seemed like the manual focus had stops or was done in steps and sometimes it seemed like the sharpest image was in between the stops or steps that was built in the electronic manual focusing system...

That is the only reason I suggested moving the camera back and forth.
To me its about getting a sharp image.
Moving the camera back and forth is not a big deal on certain tripods .

LOL its just a D@m shame I didn't have that certain tripod when I used the canon G 10 for product photography..
Posting this picture to show the style of tripod I use for table top product photography.


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