I got to the end of today, and have to confess that I was at the stage where I really couldn’t be arsed (I find that packing your belongings into boxes tends to do that to you, well me at least).

I tried several different angles and compositions, but in the end decided to opt for the pencils on a diagonal and use a wide aperture to keep only ght tip of the front pencil in focus, progressively blurring the rest, as I far too frequently opt for maximum depth of field.

The shot was lit using a daylight balanced desk lamp on the RHS, and my speedlite on the left to lift the shadows slightly.