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Hello, I recently found this forum and posted for the first time asking about a pen I had that was very special to me, which, unfortunately, I lost mere weeks later, after having it in my pocket every day for over 20 years (still reeling). Anyway, this community has been very kind and insightful to me, and since I am the furthest thing from a pen expert here, I want to offer whatever expertise I can to support the community. I am a professional studio photographer, specializing in high-end watch photography, as well as jewelry, pens, and other pricey objects (I have also worked around the world on commercial and editorial sets with notable personalities, and just about every style of photography you can imagine). So, I intimately know the difficulties most people encounter when photographing their favorite items, whether for sale or personal gratification. I recently rebuilt the studio for my watch retailer client, and am shooing 20-30 watches per day, which all feature difficulties like domed crystals, mother of pearl, facets, angles, curves, different finishes, moving parts etc. - meaning nothing even the most complex pen can throw at me can trip me up. So, anyone here who has questions about photography, or other photography dilemmas, should please feel free to contact me directly or post your queries in this thread, and I'll gladly offer my expertise. I can virtually guarantee that my advice and techniques would improve your photography more than any expensive equipment purchase would (equipment is the trap many amateur photographers fall into). I can help perfect your technique, identify your problems, interpret your light, whatever you need. Next time you are photographing your pens and are struggling to capture the images you want, please just ask, If you'd like see a very small sampling of my work, you can visit my website at: http://www.jamesburger.com. I hope to be of help. Best, James

I didn’t realize how much more interesting my favorite pens could look until this afternoon when—during a long and rather boring meeting at the office—I played around with the two pens in my pocket and with my iPhone, and then applied the “noir” filter in my Camera app. Then I went home and took a few more shots of my other pens. Voila—a whole new way of looking at fine pens. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3701/11168622113_1edebf0f34_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7380/11168360655_9e43e64924_z.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3788/11168420224_5eb17ea977_z.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3769/11168402746_e268a54f1c_z.jpg A few more shots here:

Starting this purely because I'm still gloating over basking in the afterglow of receiving my new D600: http://www.pbase.com/image/152455444.jpg That's a Tokina 12-24mm DX lens on it, backed by a Kenko 1.4x converter, which has the effect of turning it into a 17-34 mm FX lens. Just as well because having bought that chunk of fun I'm skint, so my DX lenses will have to do for a while. There's a bit of vignetting under f=15 mm nominal, but even at 12 mm nominal it can be cropped out to leave a 19 Mp image rather than the camera's 10.3 Mp native DX crop. The pic, BTW, was taken with my delightful little Nikon 1 V1, also new, or rather NOS acquired for about a quarter of the original price. :bunny01: Nous sommes un 'appy campeur.