Thanks Tom & Jim - Re the Anderson Valkyre picture: That one won a little knife photo contest on this forum:
http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=26 The theme for the contest was Yin/Yang. I created the background by photographing black and white posterboard side by side and distorting it using Photoshop. I then shot the knife on the white background and shot it again on the black background as if one was shot in sunlight and the other in moonlight. I superimposed the knife images and shrunk a full moon picture that I'd recently made and placed it where you see it. I had no image of the sun so I made one up. It turned out pretty neat but to me the coolest part is how different the knife looks depending on whether the background is black, or white. I didn't know that was going to happen and was surprised and delighted since it fit so well with the theme.
Regarding backgrounds - other than wallpaper samples, photo gray paper (which I like a lot) and various fabrics, the objects I often incorporate are objects from around the house that belong to me, my wife or one of my sons. I have a habit of picking up anything that I think I might be able to use in a knife photograph. It'll lay around forever until one day I re-discover it and put it to use.
I guess about half the time I start to shoot a knife with no idea of how I want it to look and the other half I try to work it out in my head first, then make it happen. Both ways work but in the end it's about lighting - all about lighting - as opposed to gear. The lighting part has been the biggest learning challenge for me and it just takes time, a lot of experimentation and a willingness to have your images honestly critiqued by others.
I learned a ton - the majority of what I know in fact - on the forum I mentioned above since it focuses strictly on knife photography. The moderators, Terrill Hoffman and Jim "Coop" Cooper, are very helpful and the community of regulars there is also terrific. The contests I mentioned are bar none the best way to learn - you have a specific photographic goal and you must figure out how to do it your way, then you get the benefit of comparing how you did it with how others did it. It's not really about winning per se, but the voting and all of that generate a critiue process that is invaluable for learning.
As an aside, I currently almost exclusively use Canon's 90mm tilt/shift lens for knife photography. It's sharp and I can shoot at longer, lower angles for an interesting perspective and still get everything in focus. (There are other ways to accomplish the same end without buying a new lens.)
Enough of that - didn't mean to get the thread off topic - that being the great photos Jim made of the knife and watch.
