Dark or light background? – The most common mistakes in photographing writing instruments and professional solutions in home conditions
In online writing groups, help-seeking posts regularly arrive asking community members to identify a particular writing instrument and try to estimate its value. Recently, I have seen several posts featuring photos of dark writing instruments against a light background, with the pen itself being a detail-less, pitch-black spot.
This phenomenon encouraged me to share some of my simple photography tricks with the community that help create nicer, more identifiable images that better showcase the details of pens and pencils.
This writing is by no means aimed at those peers who photograph better than I do, with more serious equipment and knowledge. I specifically focus on simple solutions, exploring the photographic possibilities of cheaper mobile phones in the world of writing instruments.
The tone of the background
Automatic cameras, including mobile phones, mostly strive to achieve an average gray tone. If we try to photograph a dark writing instrument against a too-bright foreground, the result will be that the light background turns gray, and the dark writing instrument becomes nearly a detail-less black. Therefore, we should try to photograph dark writing instruments against a darker background, so the details of the object won't get lost in the darkness. Similarly, it is worth photographing light-toned writing instruments against a lighter background. In the photo taken against a dark background, the dust particles on the pen are visible, as well as the fact that I dropped the pen during the shoot, and ink droplets got on the outer surface of the tip.
Camera settings, post-processing
It is worth taking the time to familiarize yourself with the camera app settings on your phone, and possibly trying out alternative camera apps as well. Unfortunately, there are as many camera apps on phones as there are manufacturers and versions, so everyone has to find out how to perform the individual settings themselves.
Exposure compensation
We can correct the result of the automatic light measurement to obtain a brighter or darker image as a result. By repeating the previous photo on a white background, I corrected it by a whole light value towards the brighter direction, so the white background became truly white, and the details of the pen are recognizable, even in the picture from my lower-end phone.
Among the camera app settings, the manual adjustment of ’film sensitivity’ (ISO) may be important. If we choose a higher sensitivity than the automatically recommended setting, the exposure time may shorten, thus reducing the chance of image blur and lack of sharpness. By increasing the ISO value, the aperture size automatically set by the camera may decrease, thereby increasing the depth of field: depending on the distance, we see more parts of the image in focus.
Color temperature setting
In sunlight, cloudy weather, electric light, and the light of different light sources, our image will have different color tones. To correct this, there is an automatic color temperature setting in phone cameras. However, there are cases where this function cannot cope with an unusual sight for it. In such cases, it is worth taking out a white sheet of paper, directing the camera at it, and choosing a manual color temperature setting. Once set, we can turn the camera towards our writing instrument and take a shot, just don't forget to reset it so that our later images are taken automatically.
Use of external aids
Our simplest aid can be a white sheet of paper, which can provide fill light for the image. In my case, the window is to the left of the desk, and the room is relatively dark inside, so the light only illuminates one side of the pen. By placing the fill card on the shadow side, we can project additional light onto the pen, allowing the details to emerge better, making the image more plastic.
I highlighted a detail from the image that shows the result of the fill light.
Details may be important for the precise identification of writing instruments; however, most cheap mobile phones do not have excellent macro photography functions. We can help with a simple handheld magnifier and a watchmaker's magnifier. Be careful not to use low-quality plastic lenses; good glass magnifiers are available quite cheaply in paper stores and hypermarkets.
I photographed the pen's inscription here with a school magnifier, without using the macro function. The use of the diffuser plate is also visible in the picture.
The use of a watchmaker's magnifier is recommended if our phone's camera has optical zoom, but it can also help reveal details in the absence of it. I use 3x zoom for the watchmaker's magnifier.
Use of a special magnifier. I can't recommend this to everyone because it's not easily obtainable, but I have a very strong magnifier for checking printing raster, with which I can show even the smallest details.
Indoor photos can often become blurry because longer exposure times are needed to take the picture in low light. A desktop tripod, on which we can secure the phone, can be helpful to prevent such errors.
The phone secured to the tripod will not shake, especially if we also use a remote shutter for it.
