Your Best Photo of 2022

Had the idea for this during the recent events happening in Eastern Europe. That old line of 'the pen is mightier than the sword' kept coming to thought as the sanctions and aid rushed to the scene. This shot I wanted to illustrate both the light and the dark -- for every action or solution there is always reaction or consequence. Events aside, this was done with balancing two lighting techniques staying in camera. The pen is on a piece black card trimmed fairly close to the pen and set on a piece translucent plexiglass. One light is under the plexiglass giving the rim-lighting effect for the left / dark side. The right side is done with a soft box and large piece of scrim film positioned just so the gradient hits the middle vertical line of the pen. Bit of white card get the highlight on edge the pen nib. Post--Background was painted all black, and of course dust removal in the PSD. Image was shot using 105mm Macro, is a stack of 100 images from the Z7.