Pencil Party
I'm not sure if getting sharpened is great fun for a pencil but... I think it depends on the pencil's character. I assume there are pencils out there that prefer to be blunt and others that insist on being razor sharp and therefore see their daily workout in the sharpener as an absolute necessity. Why should pencils be any different from us humans who use them, after all... ;)
I've been after this idea of photographing the inside of a pencil sharpener for quite a while, I think I've tried to make it work on three or four occasions, not all of them "Stationery"-related MM themes. So far, there always had been something off, odd focusing, unsatisfying sharpness, weird POV... you name it, I've unsuccessfully tried it.
Now this photo isn't perfect, either, the framing is still a little weird, but I think this time it works as an image; I like the bokeh, and there also is enough sharpness in the right places. I think what finally made it work was the addition of a slim pencil. Strange as it seems, until now I had never even thought about adding a pencil, although a pencil is a natural (and as clear as mud) addition to a sharpener... While it would have made sense to add the pencil where it belongs, right in the sharpener, it wouldn't have worked as an image, at least not as I had envisioned it. So I stuck the tiny point of a very slim pencil into the small opening next to the blade on the sharpener's top, just so it would be visible when focusing on the inside of the hole where the pencil normally goes in.
As for the colours, they looked different in every single image. I've illuminated the scene with two LEDs and the usual makeshift colour filter suspects: red from the left, green from the right, and blue from the semi-transparent snack can lid that I'd placed behind the sharpener. There also was some sunshine from the living room window involved, and I'd used my small LED flashlight, set to spotlight, to illuminate the pencil point. I held the flashlight as far away from the setup as possible because otherwise, the highlights would have been blown out.
HMM, Everyone, and have a nice spring/autumn week ahead!
Pencil Party
I'm not sure if getting sharpened is great fun for a pencil but... I think it depends on the pencil's character. I assume there are pencils out there that prefer to be blunt and others that insist on being razor sharp and therefore see their daily workout in the sharpener as an absolute necessity. Why should pencils be any different from us humans who use them, after all... ;)
I've been after this idea of photographing the inside of a pencil sharpener for quite a while, I think I've tried to make it work on three or four occasions, not all of them "Stationery"-related MM themes. So far, there always had been something off, odd focusing, unsatisfying sharpness, weird POV... you name it, I've unsuccessfully tried it.
Now this photo isn't perfect, either, the framing is still a little weird, but I think this time it works as an image; I like the bokeh, and there also is enough sharpness in the right places. I think what finally made it work was the addition of a slim pencil. Strange as it seems, until now I had never even thought about adding a pencil, although a pencil is a natural (and as clear as mud) addition to a sharpener... While it would have made sense to add the pencil where it belongs, right in the sharpener, it wouldn't have worked as an image, at least not as I had envisioned it. So I stuck the tiny point of a very slim pencil into the small opening next to the blade on the sharpener's top, just so it would be visible when focusing on the inside of the hole where the pencil normally goes in.
As for the colours, they looked different in every single image. I've illuminated the scene with two LEDs and the usual makeshift colour filter suspects: red from the left, green from the right, and blue from the semi-transparent snack can lid that I'd placed behind the sharpener. There also was some sunshine from the living room window involved, and I'd used my small LED flashlight, set to spotlight, to illuminate the pencil point. I held the flashlight as far away from the setup as possible because otherwise, the highlights would have been blown out.
HMM, Everyone, and have a nice spring/autumn week ahead!