Product - light tent vs backdrop/reflectors

Don Kondra

Greetings,

I recently purchased a hand turned ebony pen from Brooklin Pen Works.

With all the shiny parts and dark wood I figured it was the perfect candidate for a comparison shoot :wink

I removed the ink cartridge and mounted the pen on a piece of wire stuck in a block of wood.

First I shot it in a 28" light tent on a gray paper backdrop with two B1600's and 2' x 3' soft boxes from the sides. F13 and ~ 1/4 power.



For the next shot I used two 24" black paper reflectors and a black paper background. Strobes with stock 7" reflectors. f10 and ~ 1/8 power.



This is the set up for the above shot...



For illustration purposes I created three OOC generic shots.

The pen on a black background with the strobes from the sides.



Added two black paper reflectors on the sides, strobes in the middle of the reflectors.



Reflectors turned 30 degrees to the pen and lights at the back about 45 degrees to the camera.



And for the heck of it, white reflectors



FYI the color in the ebony is barely discernible in daylight.

Conclusion, if I was providing an image to Brooklin Pen Works for a web site I would choose the reflector shot, if the image was for him to present to a potential client I would suggest the soft box shot. Otherwise the client may be disappointed when they unwrapped the pen and couldn't see the "color"..

Cheers, Don

Richard

Very interesting. The reflector shot certainly looks more appealing to me, but then, I don't don't use pens much any more . Professional looking results in both cases. Thanks for sharing the inside look.

Don Kondra

Thanks for your post Richard,

I've certainly been finding the more difficult pieces to shoot are the most rewarding

Perhaps it needs to be said, I am open to any C & C or questions....

One thing I would still like to try with this piece is make a black paper circle about two feet across and two feet high with a hole for the camera lens.... ???

Cheers, Don