Black or White?

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neurotictim

neurotictim

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Joined
Apr 20, 2009
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Location
Virginia Beach
I'm trying to decide if I want to use black or white in my photo box. The lighting is still off, still waiting on the girlfriend (who has some experience in photography) to help me out there, but I'd like to get your opinions.

I like the reflections in the black, but the white looks "cleaner". I also realize there is some dust, a few fingerprints, and whatnot, but I'm looking specifically for content opinions.

Also I'm looking for a good display stand - for some reason, I just don't care for the pen by itself, I would like to have a couple of good displays. Is plastic a good medium for this, do you think, or should I go with something else?

Again, I'm just looking for comments and pointers, many thanks.

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I like the white background but I'd also like to see it carried on up to the top. The white table with black in in the back makes the upper left end of the pen disappear slightly.

I really like the stand the pen is on.
 
Back in the day when I was trying my hand at commercial photography, I would use white for most products as it would show off the product better, leaving the black backgrounds for still-lifes to help set a mood. Great pen by the way. I have not even attempted to set up anything for my pens yet, but hopefully as my pens improve and I transition to a digital SLR, I might be making a small pen studio.
 
In those shots at least, I definitely have to give the nod to white: The pen kinda-sorta disappears into the dark background.... It loses something where it rests on the table.

Maybe an all-white box with a couple contrasting stands (light for dark pens and dark for light pens)?

Cheers!

Gary
 
I'm working something up right now - rather than have the dividing line, I'm shaping some plexi to have a smooth transition from vertical to horizontal.

And Gary, I had the very same idea earlier today. Great minds and all that? :D
 
I have found it depends on the pen. Some of the lighter woods and silver hardware doesn't show very well on white, so I use black. If I'm not sure what will look the best, I will take it both ways. One of the advantages of digital photography. It will also depend on how good you are at getting good detail. If you are you can take an all black pen on a black background and make it pop. But be sure, if you do use black. Get yourself some antistatic spray/polish and scrub the black acrylic with a lint-less cloth. Otherwise every spec of dust will show. I use Novus Plastic polish No.1.
 
I used to use a white background and I switched to a black. White is MUCH easier and less time consuming than black, mainly b/c of dust. I had to practically make my picture booth a clean room, and it still pics up tons of dust, stuff I can't even see with my naked eye (this is in macro mode, which doesn't help!). Black can look really slick, but honestly, I spend at least as much time if not more taking pictures of a given pen with my black background than I do actually making the pen. Just keep that in mind when deciding what to do.
 
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