Knife Photography

Which direction do you prefer,?

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joeradza

joeradza

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It’s no secret that I’m fairly obsessed with knife photography. A while back I read an article in Knife Magazine that said that the proper direction when photographing a knife was to face the point towards the SW. I had never seen that before, so that’s what I’ve been doing lately. Here are two examples. What do you think?4890DAC2-2E82-4B3D-8813-13D042DC8751.jpeg425002AA-BFA4-4E77-AF9D-2A5B61FE6C11.jpeg40416F07-595B-4641-B203-D39303CF9DE1.jpeg789428B3-B44F-46B2-A946-870A04EB3576.jpeg
 
Go with the light.....
mk4Hcr7.gif

If you place the knife diagonally, you get a larger view in the same frame......
 
For me, photo 2 with the tip pointed to the 10 o'clock position and in color looks best of those photos.

B&W rarely is better than color to my eye.
 
joeradza said:
It’s no secret that I’m fairly obsessed with knife photography. A while back I read an article in Knife Magazine that said that the proper direction when photographing a knife was to face the point towards the SW. I had never seen that before, so that’s what I’ve been doing lately. Here are two examples. What do you think?View attachment 2061260View attachment 2061261View attachment 2061262View attachment 2061271
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They‘re all great, Alan. The second with the dream catcher is my favorite. I like the main feature of the knife to be somewhere in the center top third. It could just be me, but when I look at the image, my eyes are drawn there.
 
Am a NW kind of photog ... almost all my shots are NW. Upside down text messes with my OCD and straight lines are boring. Agree with Harvey cigarrodog cigarrodog the dream catcher in the background is great. Lots of angles and intersecting lines move my eyes around.
 
cigarrodog cigarrodog and Chief Chief Thanks Harvey and John. I was hoping to hear from you guys. Before reading the article and being influenced by an “expert” I don’t think I had a preference. Your mention of text is a very compelling argument John. In the future I’ll shoot them both ways and pick out the best. A politician’s answer. Lol!
 
For a catalog or commercial web site, the blade pointing SW is usually preferred. If it is a left-hand knife, point the blade to the NE. For example , go to Google Images and search for "site:knifecenter.com knives". But if you search for just "knives", they will be pointing every which way.
 
cigarrodog said:
They‘re all great, Alan. The second with the dream catcher is my favorite. I like the main feature of the knife to be somewhere in the center top third. It could just be me, but when I look at the image, my eyes are drawn there.
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NW, SW,...

its about the angle at which you photograph the knife and what effect you want to achieve. it also plays a role which lens you use, wide angle or telephoto zoom.

If the tip of the blade is pointing away from the camera and in the opposite direction, the blade will appear shorter as the camera angle decreases.

1. Table Top: no angle, no distortion, (if you use a standard 50mm lens on a full frame camera)
2. 45°: natural look, similar to how our eyes perceive the object (if you use a standard 50mm lens on a full frame camera)
2. 90° frontal, no distortion (if you use a standard 50mm lens on a full frame camera)
 
I just looked.. a few are in nw or sw. The Vast majority are Due North or Due West. 6639047C-449C-40A2-9CBD-0B597D78EB5E.jpeg9F9637FC-2D65-4525-B33F-A3215D0A7BA0.jpeg
 

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My real answer is "depends on the lighting"

This orientation worked best for the lighting to illuminate the blade and the abalone as the main lighting source was coming from N/NE
i0fWGh4.jpg


Same thing with this one
TgPFcsM.jpg



But here it worked best in this orientation because the main light source was coming from the bottom right and I was using a bounce to reflect light in from the top left to illuminate the blade and bolsters.
V7Lskju.jpg



Then you have the like "in-use" or "in a scene" shots where it also depends on how the knife sits in the overall composition, like this one
h7Wgusq.jpg
 
As a Pulitzer Prize winner for photographic art and (retired) staff photographer for National Geographic Magazine you can see that I take great care in posting photos here on the Forum. I pay intense attention to the following: exposure, brilliance, highlights, shadows, contrast, saturation, sharpness and vignettes. Whew, that’s all my iPhone listed! I promise to keep the Porch informed about any upcoming exhibitions at the MOMA. 😜 Oh yeah, I called this one “Knife on a dirty carpet”.
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I guess most of my pics of knives have the blade tips pointed at the 10 O'Clock position, but I don't put a whole lot of thought into it.. That's because, I'm right handed & that's just how I put the knife on a surface for a pic. Any other way, I'd have to twist my wrist unnaturally. If I was left handed, the tip would point to the 2 O'Clock.
 
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