Just The Nibs

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[christof]

 

Conklin Endura OS

[Tom Kellie]

~ zaddick:

 

You shared such a wealth of fascinating nib images.

Such a treasure, all received at once.

It looks like 22 posts with 32 nibs — Great!

Thank you so much for patiently photographing and sharing such a rich variety of highly interesting nibs.

Today this thread has become a fountain pen exhibition.

What's most remarkable is the number of different approaches to presenting the beauty of each nib.

This is a joy to see.

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

Pomegranate Bloom and Bespoke Small Signature Nib

[cunim]

What a great bunch of photos, nibs and photographers.

 

I’m soon to embark on a project to begin to photograph some of the highlights of my dip nib collection. Here are some challenges I’ve had in the past in trying to casually photograph these nibs and thought I’d get some suggestions from this great group.

 

1. The imprints on the heels of the nibs. The heels often are small and have a tighter diameter than the nibs themselves. The challenge is getting both focus and light right so that the whole imprint is readable from top to bottom. Would a more diffuse light work better, or should I try for up, down and middle lights?

 

2. Bright silver nibs. Some nibs are coated wih a very bright silver alloy. These play havoc with lights, ending up with bright spots and dark spots. Would a dark background be better than a white one or would it tend to create too much contrast? I keep imaging a histogram like a sharp “V.” But I’m also thinking dark would give me better latitude in post processing curves in Photoshop, but not sure.

 

3. Reducing curvature over the length of the pen. Is it better to move out a bit and zoom in? I know that will help with flattening the image a bit, but not sure about avoiding lens distortion. My lens theory is greatly lacking.

 

Any suggestions on where to start are appreciated. I’m sure this will take some experimentation, but anything to cut the learning curve a bit is helpful.

 

Thanks,

Andrew

 

It's not rocket science. Documentary pictures may be a bit boring, but show the nib in as much detail as possible. Use very diffuse light to limit specular reflections (bright spots) as much as possible. A cheap light cube will do the job. If you want to make character shots, however, you want some variation in light and shadow and will need to fool about with lighting.

 

The key is post processing. Once you go to a macro lens (you need to), there is no way to have all of a nib in focus at once. You need to do what is called "focus stacking". Good software for that is available:

 

https://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconsoft-products/helicon-focus/

 

It can also really help to take multiple exposures at different light levels and then fuse them. You get your dark areas from the brighter images and your light areas from the dimmer ones. Photoshop is great for that.

 

Or just point your cell phone and shoot. Depends on who your audience will be.

[geodesigner]

 

Still one of my favorite nibs. To me, most nibs look better dirty!