Knife Photos, Someone Please Post a How To Take Good Pics of Your Blades

Y

youfoundnemo

Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Messages
74
I have a few quality knives but I can not for the life of me take any decent shots of them, these are the best I can manage to take, and uploading them has always been something I couldnt figure out...:grumpy:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/youfoundnemo/4161144431/in/set-72157622819315729/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/youfoundnemo/4161896806/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/youfoundnemo/4161896428/

Im sorry for the links, I cant figure out how to post flickr pics to the forum and them show up, Ive even tried the
thing, and Its just not working
 
You need light. Your flash is making things too harsh and shadowy. Best light is daylight during an overcast day, not bright sunlight. Otherwise use a light box and take your pics inside of it sans flash. Use a tripod.

Try not to make your compositions so busy. Your pictures have a good idea for composition, but there is just a bit too much going on. For example, with the bed of bullets, try to fill the entire frame with the bullets, as your eye immediately gets attracted to the boundary of bullets and surface and detracts from your main objects. The tin is a bit too prominent and you end up looking at that rather than the knife, but by your title you want the knife to be noticed more.

These are just some friendly suggestions. My pics aren't the worlds greatest, but I find simplifying helps.

good luck!
 
I've noticed a lot of "nice" looking shots of knives are taken from a really low angle, to emphasize the curve and grind of the blade. Try to pick a simple background that doesn't distract the eyes from the knife. A simple white table works well, or a piece of paper. Polish the knife and use a warm light. I'm no photography expert, but these are just trends I've noticed in nice looking photos.
 
One part is the composition and it is something that can be aquired by studying other's photography and taking note of what works and what doesn't. The other is lighting and shiny things are just hard to take pictures of and what has been posted by Guyon and kdg is good advice.

The best part is that with digital camera practice is free and the best way to learn.
 
Its all about lighting, you want to get as soft and natural as possible for the picture, Heres one i took the other day when it was snowing so it was over cast...my Emerson CQC-8 BTW

Oh and i took this with my 3.2 mega pixel iPhone 3gs camera, if you were wondering.



Then i just touched it up in photoshop just a bit. I think it came out pretty nice...

As far as posting them, shoot me an email and ill walk you through it, if you want to.
 
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These tips were quite helpfull (and the links were the most usefull that Ive found) Thank you guys, and I will be back soon to show some improvements Ive made (well will make hopefully)
 
Are you taking picts of the copenhagen or the knife ? yeah I know , us Cope addicts are like that ( long cut ).

I don't have a light tent , but I use a silver shop light with a 5000K bulb , as well as a off camera flash firing towards the ceiling ( canon 430 EXII ).

Lighting makes all the difference in the world , as does being able to adjust your white balance if your lighting isn't purfect.

Since your Fuji S9000 doesnt have a hot shoe , if you are shooting in a room with white walls / ceiling , try holding an index card ( white ) in front of the flash and angling it so the flash hits the card and bounces up to the ceiling , you will have much better results that firing it direct on. You have S9000 in macro mode ?
 
I'm lazy, so I don't have a fancy lighting setup. I also don't want to have to wait for overcast weather.

My solution is to use window light. Remember, it's not the quantity of light that matters, it's the quality. Indirect light from a window makes an entire room a lightbox.

The problem with window light is that it's fairly low intensity. There are three solutions to the problem of low light. Aperture, sensitivity, and shutter speed. A wide open aperture with a fast lens will allow you to get enough light to the sensor, but it will decrease depth-of-focus. Increasing sensor sensitivity (ISO) will lower the light requirements, but at the cost of a lower signal/noise ratio resulting in grainy noise. I usually try to keep my aperture tight (to keep everything in focus), and my ISO low. I do this by increasing exposure time. My exposures are usually around one second so I have to use a tripod to keep the camera steady. I find that this is an acceptable inconvenience (because this way I don't need a bunch of lights on stands).

A long exposure at relatively tight aperture, tripod supported. Some sequoia as background.
3923656331_4af311a2ed_o.jpg


Hand-held with a wide aperture. Notice that much of the box is out-of-focus, drawing the eye to the more interesting parts.
4114999855_4c01e7600c_o.jpg


Another important thing is white balance. Because you cannot shoot RAW and adjust later (I think), you will have to custom set WB every time you shoot. Check your instructions on how to do this for your camera. A proper WB will make the difference between natural-looking colors and strange color-casts.

Keep it simple.

Phillip
 
Youfoundnemo , as Phillip mentioned set your white balance in Camera , or shot in RAW ( the S9000 supports RAW ) and you can adjust it after in something like Adobe Lightroom 2. Keep in mind each image in raw is going to be 18.8 meg on your camera.

Window light is great , just be wary of strange color casts from curtains or things reflecting in the window. You can also use something white to bounce more window light into the shadow areas , let nature do the work. :)

Were you shooting those in AUTO mode of Aperture priority mode ? Your F stop was 2.8 and shutter speed was 1/4.

If you don't have the luxury of a window , try the cheap silver clip on light from Lowe's with a 5000K (daylight) bulb.

Shot this the other day just goofing off with the Fuji S5000 and the above light. I had already put the D-SLR away and always enjoy messing around with the much cheaper Fuji. It takes pretty darn decent picts for under $180 and only 3.1 MP. :)


DSCF5554x.jpg
 
John T Wylie Jr said:
Youfoundnemo , as Phillip mentioned set your white balance in Camera , or shot in RAW ( the S9000 supports RAW ) and you can adjust it after in something like Adobe Lightroom 2. Keep in mind each image in raw is going to be 18.8 meg on your camera.

Window light is great , just be wary of strange color casts from curtains or things reflecting in the window. You can also use something white to bounce more window light into the shadow areas , let nature do the work. :)

Were you shooting those in AUTO mode of Aperture priority mode ? Your F stop was 2.8 and shutter speed was 1/4.

If you don't have the luxury of a window , try the cheap silver clip on light from Lowe's with a 5000K (daylight) bulb.

Shot this the other day just goofing off with the Fuji S5000 and the above light. I had already put the D-SLR away and always enjoy messing around with the much cheaper Fuji. It takes pretty darn decent picts for under $180 and only 3.1 MP. :)
Click to expand...

John brings up many good points.

(If you already have a RAW workflow ignore this.)
Seeing that your camera does support RAW, there's no reason, ever, to shoot jpeg (I know many will disagree). I haven't shot a jpeg in four years. Cards and hard-drives are cheap (Are the files really 18Mb? That's more than twice the size of mine.), and the benefits are high. A library program capable of editing the RAW data quickly and efficiently is your most important tool after your camera. Lightroom is very good at this.

John's right about color casts. My walls are a subtle yellow color that actually helps warm up the shadows. Just be aware of it. A large white reflector card can go a long way toward opening up shadows and controlling reflections.

I recommend you shoot in Manual mode (or AP) and know exactly why you have everything set the way you do. If using a tripod (it looks like you are) then give priority to the aperture. The aperture not only effects DOF, but also the performance of the lens itself. The shutter speed has no effect (within reason) if your camera is properly stabilized, and ISO should be at base for best signal.

Phillip
 
A great read for those interested in taking better pictures is :
Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-Photographs-Digital-Updated/dp/0817463003

Also , if your point and shot has a macro mode , give it a try , you might be impressed.

also check out these threads here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=455896

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=452121

Another thing to be aware of , the clothing you wear can reflect color casts on your object , a nice neutral gray shirt works better than a yellow or red shirt
 
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I prefer outside shots in the shade personally as the Sun isn't your friend when taking photos.
 
With all due respect and to the OP - There's nothing wrong with your pics except you're sticking evrything else (can of Skoal i.e.) in the center of you picture instead of your knife!

This isn't rocket science. Just keep shooting pics with various backgrounds and remember when you bury it in a bunch of brass for instance, it's going to pick up a lot of the hue of the brass color.

Black knives look great on a light gray countertop or like that picture in the snow that was posted. Nice contrast.

You'll get it just the way you're shooting now. Put the subject in the center and keep your chaw in your pocket..lol!

Shooting in outdoor light is very nice too if it's not too cold out. ;)
 
I like getting my knives up on something like this fencepost. I used digital macro to take this shot. It turned out very clear and sharp. What I do is experiment, sometimes one setting will work on a one location other times it fails. Don't be afraid to try something else if a shot is ruined.
r1mmh2.jpg
 
There's a LOT of good tips in this. I'm up to over 8000 shots of knives and I still haven't decided to surround a bunch of props around knives to make them appear in a 'natural' setting. ;)

Window light, plainish background, reflecting diffuser inwards = Clear photo. Done. There is mastery in simple and clear.

Coop
 
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