The Wet Look

Black/Gray/Gold Rollerclip Ballpoint Pen
by Manta Designs (http://www.mantadesigns.com)

This is really REALLY cool. The only thing I'd change is the color of the "sky". It should be bluer.

The photo was made by taking a square of ripple glass bought at Hobby Lobby for a couple dollars and painting one side black. Painting one side black is known as making a "black mirror". (A white mirror is made by painting one side of glass white, a blue mirror... you get the idea.) I used a piece of ripple glass instead of straight glass for this shot. It makes the pen look like it's floating on moving water.

Lighting was done with a small hotshoe strobe shooting through a translucent umbrella, and a 150w studio strobe bouncing off a reflective umbrella. The backdrop is just a piece of white posterboard with a small optically triggered slave pointed up at it. The glass is resting on a couple boxes so the slave strobe is hidden behind the boxes.

Here's the setup shot:

I'm trying to get my hands on some gels (I've got a box of 'em somewhere, but I think I may have tossed them recently... Before getting my D80. Gah!) A blue gel would make a world of difference on that background. Or maybe a dark orange one. Something other than white!