Fountain Pen Redux 1

I tried again tonight, and got... closer. I'm still not there yet, although I think this time was due to being in a rush with post.




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/2.6
Shutter Speed: 1/15
ISO: 80
Handheld


I shot against a white background, with less "yellow" lighting, and fewer warm-cast objects reflecting the warm light everywhere. This made a huge difference. I also used a Levels adjustment mask layer to set the white point as the paper. It made it too bright, but I sort of compensated with Brightness&Contrast. But then the pen looked too dark, so I did one of those careful white radial gradients in Overlay blending, with about 50% opacity. I think it was still a little too much. There are elements in the image I'm not totally satisfied with. But I'm on the right path.