100721-Write On!

100721-Write On!, originally uploaded by comatosed.

Cento isn't the kind of guy who sticks to a recipe. He's always pushing the boundaries, coming up with creative new designs for his pens and pencils. The one thing that remains constant is the fact that his new work always supersedes his old work. I feel the same way about photography, and this is why Cento and I click so well.

As these are some of Cento's finest hand made pens yet, I had to produce product shots that were better than anything I've done to date. I feel I succeeded. I got an element of detail, depth, texture and life in these photos well beyond any of my previous shots.

To see more of Cento's hand crafted wood pens and pencils check out www.cgwwoodworks.com

The Set Up:

I placed a large leaf on a sheet of glass propped up by two containers of Skippy Peanut Butter (one smooth and one crunchy). Something I've learned about working with glass and other smooth surfaces is that you should ALWAYS clean it. Even in this photo, where I anticipated there would be no glass showing, I cleaned it. The 30 seconds it takes can save hours of clone stamping later.

I then placed a DIY light-box over the set up and one SB28 strob pointing down at the upper right hand corner (2 o'clock) and another SB28 at the bottom left corner (around 7 o'clock) directed up at the leaf on the glass. Then I dialled in just the leaf back lighting strob until I was satisfied with the luminescence of the leaf (about 1/8). After that I dialled in the light box strobe as fill (about 1/32). Et voila! The shot came out almost exactly as you see here. I just made a few minor adjustments in Light Room including white balance, contrast, slight sharpening and a vignette!

--- Strobist ---
1 SB-28 @ 1/8 at about 7 o'clock
1 SB-28 @ 1/32 at about 2 o'clock
DIY Lightbox

--- Critiques Welcome ---
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- www.cgwwoodworks.com -