Knife Photography

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VorpelSword

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I joined these forums quite a while ago (Oh dear . . .its been 15 years!) but didn't check in again fill recently. I do some old school film photography with large format view cameras and understand the basic fundamentals of exposure and focus as they apply to macro photography (close-up work).

I came to appreciate custom and fine production knives back in the early to mid 1970s. Back then and continuing to quite recently, the standard for knife photography was the imaging of Weir. A t first, he had to do it the old school way (there was no "New School") and it was always great work. In re-joining the community here, I have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of so many knife photos. In the time I have been gone from here, the state-of-the-art in digital and automatic imaging has come to the full promise of its early days.

I congratulate all who have made so many great images of fine cutlery on these forums.
 
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New school ?
Do you mean
- digital photography
or rather
- cell snapshots ?
 
VorpelSword said:
"New School": Any imaging modality other than film; digital capture in any form, automatic fucus and exposure.

"Old School" See my work at:
www.quietlightphoto.com
Click to expand...


Says the above, and refers you to a website to check out digital images with the first picture having been shot with a Nikon digital camera (exif shows D2X). LOL.

According to your logic, everything on your own page is new school.

Photography is painting with light, there is no new or old school, the fundamentals are the same. If you want to talk about digital manipulation, thats a little different, but its not like dodging and burning hasn't been used forever...
 
I had no intention to get into something with this. The cover shot was done by a friend who was, at that time, a working professional photographer. I think that digital technology is great. In the early days it was not . . .but now it is.

The images posted in the Gallery section are my work, done on film with one or the other view cameras shown on some of the other pages. In the past, I have presented my work as prints in public showings. I have been much less active in the past few years due to personal health issues and pandemic related limitations.

Macro photography of reflective subjects (close-ups of knives) is not easy with film cameras and particularly with large format gear.

The OP was intended to remark on and recognize the generally great images of knives posted on these forums by folks that I assume use digital gear.
 
Stickgunner said:
Says the above, and refers you to a website to check out digital images with the first picture having been shot with a Nikon digital camera (exif shows D2X). LOL.

According to your logic, everything on your own page is new school.

Photography is painting with light, there is no new or old school, the fundamentals are the same. If you want to talk about digital manipulation, thats a little different, but its not like dodging and burning hasn't been used forever...
Click to expand...

Are you even a photographer? LMAO
 
VorpelSword said:
The OP was intended to remark on and recognize the generally great images of knives posted on these forums by folks that I assume use digital gear.
Click to expand...
Sadly, sometimes it's hard to even give a compliment these days. Someone will take issue even at that.

As an amateur photog, I am often surprised at the quality of pictures posted here. Not only good lighting, but quality coloring, good portrait shooting, and even good composition. Pretty nice stuff for a group of knife guys! Obviously some have a great deal of experience with digital manipulation as well, but truthfully, that's part of quality photography these days.

I take a lot of pictures for the reports I write as an inspector so I take a lot of ultra wide shots down to extreme macros to show defects. It isn't always as easy to keep the pictures in context as some think. I really like it here when someone wants to make a point and takes the time and makes the effort to photograph and post a picture or two to show what they are talking about.
 
Midnight Flyer and Bunker Hill:

Thank you for that. I worked for years doing diagnostic imaging, cardiac treadmill testing with isotopes. Another sort of QC/QA inspecting. That technology became 00% digital over the years. Working in film with these very old cameras was a high-touch counterpoint to the high-tech environment of my day job.


Duck:

Am I really a photographer? That is a many faceted question.

No, I am not a working professional deriving the bulk of my income from photography.
Yes, I do create images that some folks like to hang on their walls.
I have presented my work occasionally at public showings and some who view them have paid money to take one home.

I have created a few images with digital equipment but prefer to work with film in vintage and antique view cameras. These cameras are shown on my website.

This is no different than a "bladesmith" who has a day job and works nights and weekends to craft knives that others may buy at a gun show a couple of times a year.
 
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That sucks about your eyesight, same thing happened to my dad. I'm glad he was still able to see well enough out of one eye when my son was born.
 
Unwise: "Sucks" is not the word. My life totally changed. Not only did I lose my job (long story not for here), but I lost my independence of action. Overnight I re-entered the world of a 14-year-old, with important (tome) things to do but dependent on others for the ride to get there.


But: This thread was not supposed to be about me.

It was supposed to celebrate the members here who contribute great images of good-looking knives.
 
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VorpelSword said:
This thread was not supposed to be about me.

It was supposed to celebrate the members here who contribute great images of good-looking knives.
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Got it. Might be fun to start a post in the photography section showing off your cameras and pictures though.
 
VorpelSword said:
Duck:

Am I really a photographer? That is a many faceted question.

No, I am not a working professional deriving the bulk of my income from photography.
Yes, I do create images that some folks like to hang on their walls.
I have presented my work occasionally at public showings and some who view them have paid money to take one home.

I have created a few images with digital equipment but prefer to work with film in vintage and antique view cameras. These cameras are shown on my website.

This is no different than a "bladesmith" who has a day job and works nights and weekends to craft knives that others may buy at a gun show a couple of times a year.
Click to expand...

My comment was meant towards Stickfigure, he tends to talk a big talk around here. I’d call you a Photographer. Being one doesn’t have to be a financial decision, if you enjoy it and others enjoy your work too, that’s all that matters.

I shoot film and digital as well, I totally understand the “old school/new school” thinking of each. They are completely different from each other, and any self proclaimed “photographer” who says “the fundamentals are the same” has no idea what they’re talking about.

Take what Stick dude says with a huge grain of salt. He takes generic pictures of guns that almost everyone on Instagram is doing these days. Nothing inspirational or artistic about his work (if you’d even call it that).

As for the pictures taken here, a lot of the images are taken with a phone these days. I use to set up my camera to take pics here but I just don’t enjoy taking pictures of knives. I prefer to be outdoors, wether in the woods or in the city, behind my lens capturing moments.
 
A few years ago I bought a Nikon SLR and just haven't had the time to learn how to use it.
So I use it as a point and shoot, but it's more capable than I'll ever be.

Some of the pictures here always amaze me.
 
Duck: Sometimes the substiles of communication get lost when its just words in print.

Thanks for that clarification.

When training a student or new employee, I always tried to emphasize that as long as the end result was excellent, the exact pathway to get there was less important. The same thing is true for general imaging; film or digital, as long as the image is effective the imaging modality is less important than the image itself.

I like the creative process forced by the limitations of large format photography. Yet a few of my most popular images have been some form of digital capture.
 
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JPD1998 said:
A few years ago I bought a Nikon SLR and just haven't had the time to learn how to use it.
So I use it as a point and shoot, but it's more capable than I'll ever be.

Some of the pictures here always amaze me.
Click to expand...
I got a Pentax digital SLR a while back, and have a bag full of vintage Asahi glass to go with it. They take really good pictures, and I used this for quite some time.....until I realized that the camera in my phone could do just as well, without the hassle of digging out the camera bag when I wanted to get some pictures, swapping lenses etc. My current phone can do everything the SLR can do and more with few exception (long optical zoom mostly), and I can carry it in my pocket....
 
Arathol said:
I got a Pentax digital SLR a while back, and have a bag full of vintage Asahi glass to go with it. They take really good pictures, and I used this for quite some time.....until I realized that the camera in my phone could do just as well, without the hassle of digging out the camera bag when I wanted to get some pictures, swapping lenses etc. My current phone can do everything the SLR can do and more with few exception (long optical zoom mostly), and I can carry it in my pocket....
Click to expand...
You're right, my iPhone 10 camera is pretty good and the new ones are even better. I use that for most of my picture taking. I always have it.
Took a picture yesterday of a bobcat in my yard with an iPhone, never would have been able to set up an SLR for that, unless I was wearing it:)

But shots of landscape and natural light indoor pics are better from the Nikon
 
Arathol said:
My current phone can do everything the SLR can do and more with few exception (long optical zoom mostly), and I can carry it in my pocket....
Click to expand...

Curious ..., how do you control range of depth of field (DOF), and pre-view of such, with your phone camera (distances both before and after set focal distance that are in focus).

I ask not to be controversial or put anyone on the spot ..., but that this is but one of the limitations/negatives I have with camera phones. It is one thing to say put a camera-phone into some type of Portrait Mode where the user can make rudimentary adjustments related to DOF or digitally post-edit, but a far cry from having a lens with actual aperture control & aperture range along with manual pre-view to adjust & verify pre-shot.

(My history: the Box Camera (where the world was up-side-down, LOL but true), to the 110 Instamatic & other similar(s), to Polaroid, to Twin Lens Reflex, to SLR (Nikon F3), then on to Digital SLR, and various other digitals.)

Link: DOF (Depth Of Field)
 
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