'No Frills' $75.00 home studio tent/lightbox

[Murray White]

This one Coop is about as much of a high polish with blade that has a hamon line that I seem to have unless I'm missing something somewhere around here.

However, as you can see, the hamon is not overly noticeable and the blade still seems to be non high polish. I'm going to play with it again and see if I can get a better result.

will post if I can.

On pearl, sometimes I'll isolate the scale and then try adjustments to it but I don't use PS.

 

[pkdmslf]

After seeing what another knife collector on another forum had done and showing how he did it, I gave it a try. I thought it came out pretty good. I wish I had seen this before I bought one of those "portable photo studios/light box", I could have saved about $60.

Basically it is a piece of white coated poster board layed on a table top with the back propped up with a box. I have a fluorescent work light clamped to the table and used one of the small lights from the portable studio. The blue colored background (photos taken with the room lights off) with the orange/yellow shapes is the reflection from the portable light and the cooling slots on the portable light cover.

 

[PhilL]

pkd, I remember you posting on either my "No Frills Lighting" or "How I Photograph Knives" thread, about that "Portable Studio" you had ordered. Neither Coop nor I thought it was a wise purchase, but I wished you well with it. I think you got fairly good results from a inappropriate lighting setup. I would think that for many products your "Portable Studio" could serve you quite well. It's not for photographing knives.

 

[pkdmslf]

This is a pic of the portable photo studio. Fine for taking pics for ebay and such but not for better quality pics. These go for around $50. The lights are 75W each. Also the one I have has the white top cover. I got better results with the cheapo homemade setup. I used one of the small lights here along with the clamp on light on my table.

Pics with the portable photo studio:

Pics with the homemade setup:

Save your money and make your own little light studio.

FYI: Pics were taken with a Canon Powershot A620 and tripod. I just recently got my hands on a Canon S3 IS that I want to try out. I just need to learn the intricasies of my camera to take better pics now. Also, it's important to have some sort of photo editing program to "clean up" the pics too. I use Photoshop CS2. I am not a professional photographer, I just wanted to take some better pics of my knives.

 

[SharpByCoop]

Nice. They are all interesting, CLEAR and colorful. Since you are working with a tripod, I would only suggest running up your aperture for even more depth of field. The shutter speed will decrease accordingly.

With enough practice and an eye that looks at the reflections ahead of time, one can be a wiz at this....

Thanks.

Coop

 

[Joss]

What do you guys use to wipe off finger prints and other "smudge" from mirror polished bolsters and blades?

 

[Murray White]

Hi Joss I use micro fibre cloths. they used to be expensive but right now Costco has a huge quantity for very little $. In fact whenever I send out a knife that I might sell or trade, I include a cloth for the collector just in case he does not have something nice.

 

[SharpByCoop]

Chamois for me. Incredibly absorbent to fingerprint oils with very little pressure needed. Auto supply dept. for drying cars. Find the thinnest you can get.

Coop

 

[Joss]

Cool - thank you folks.

 

[mckgreg]

I took this shot with the knife set to one side of the light tent so there wasn't any direct light hitting it and then filtered the light that was with a piece of semi-black plastic to bring out the color of the pearl. I think the biggest factor was the indirect light. The black background seemed to help as well. It took what seemed to be over a thousand shots to get this one.
Greg

 

[Murray White]

Looks good. not sure if there is any other color in the pears though. Here is one by Bob Crowder. think I may have done a couple of images and chose this one.

same basic usual setup.

 

[SharpByCoop]

Nicely done, Greg. Shooting white pearl with vibrance is a holy grail of photography. It is SO reflective that any other area is dark by comparison, when you get the lighting correct on the pearl. Or it's blown out when the rest of the shot is correct.

The black mask (gobo) is a smart idea.

I use two lights behind my tent, and I lower both intensity and angle when shooting white pearl on the handle side light.

That shot is great, Murray. Very clear.

Coop

 

[Murray White]

Coop I agree about the lowered angle of the lights which is why I'm glad that Booth Photographic is changing their tent structure so that one can illuminate thru the rear of the tent as well as from the top. With Pearl, it is very difficult to get the "true" look because normally when we look at pearl, we move it around and view from different angles to "see" the various colors and tones but a static image just does not relfect the true look of Pearl. BLP is even tougher. I'm looking forward to seeing the new Overeynder that you will be photographing.

 

[Joss]

What about those guys? Which one do you think is best, and is it any good?

(I've been playing with off shoe flash + diffuser + box. It's hard to get repeatable results...)

 

[SharpByCoop]

Joss,

Looks like you shielded the pearl on the lower photo? It doesn't work all the time. The upper photo is a hit, both in pearl appearance and blade bevel.

Pearl is not consistent by any measure. What works on one knife doesn't do it for another. The inner surfaces are all as different as a fingerprint.

I have often said it's only a snapshot of a motion picture...

Coop

 

[Joss]

Coop - thanks. Not really - I was just hand holding the camera, with the flash in the other hand, moving it around.

 

[Kyp Degal]

First of all, I'd just like to say thank you, Coop. I've found a wealth of information in this thread, and I finally was able to acquire the first ingredients to putting together my own setup today. I picked up three of the clamp-on lights and the appropriate GE Daylight 6500K bulbs today at Wal-Mart, and I'll be getting the PVC pipe and fittings I need tomorrow, along with a roll of draftsman's acetate tracing paper if I can find it, to finish it up.

I just couldn't wait to try out these lights, though, so as soon as I got home I rigged myself up a (very temporary) diffuser setup out of a broom handle, two white plastic trash bags, and a few pieces of paracord (as well as the ever-present duct tape ). I attached the lights to a handy shelf in my back room, which just so handily happens to be totally windowless, dragged my table over, and laid out a piece of burlap. Not having a reflector of any sort, I jury-rigged that as well, out of an (clothes) iron box and a bit of aluminum foil. Then I grabbed my camera and tripod, and got started taking shots of my EDC knife. I wound up doing better without the tripod, actually.

Here's what I managed to get out of it. I'm not terribly satisfied with it, but I think I did pretty well to be running on two hours' sleep for the day. The composition of the collage is lacking, I know, as is how I did the lower right inset, but I threw it together pretty quick in CS3 so I could get it posted. I'm definitely still a learner at Photoshop, and probably will never cease to learn new things in it. Photo collages like this are a bit outside my expertise. The only reason I used this format was so I wouldn't have to upload multiple images on my current dial-up connection.

And my setup:

Yes, that's paracord tied from two angles holding up a broomstick with trash bags taped to it. I'm a redneck and proud of it.

Thoughts? Criticism? Pointers I can make use of tomorrow, when I've had a good night's sleep? Thanks for looking!

Josh

 

[SharpByCoop]

Hey Josh,

I like your style. I'm just that way too: Git 'r done....!

Already you are producing clean shots. Black handles are ALWAYS going to give you fits. If you have CS3, then you will really be able to make it all work.

Lower the diffuser about 6" in the front. Get it closer over the table. Lower your lights down a bit ,too, when you can. I like a shot with a bit less vertical lighting.

The D.O.F will improve on your inset if you use a smaller f-stop, but you will HAVE to use a tripod if you choose to do so. Only need it for the inset blurring.

You can see why I so often use a non-linear background material. The insets blend MUCH easier.

Keep at it. You are 90% there!

Coop

 

[Jon Brand]

Is the grain in my photos cause from low levels of light? I was using weak lighting which I kept at a very close distance.

You can see in my photos that the light is very close due to some hot spots and un-even lighting areas.

This one came out ok I thought but is a bit dark and grainy. I didn't get the backgrounds completely matched either.

 

[Kyp Degal]

Hey Josh,

I like your style. I'm just that way too: Git 'r done....!

Already you are producing clean shots. Black handles are ALWAYS going to give you fits. If you have CS3, then you will really be able to make it all work.

Lower the diffuser about 6" in the front. Get it closer over the table. Lower your lights down a bit ,too, when you can. I like a shot with a bit less vertical lighting.

The D.O.F will improve on your inset if you use a smaller f-stop, but you will HAVE to use a tripod if you choose to do so. Only need it for the inset blurring.

You can see why I so often use a non-linear background material. The insets blend MUCH easier.

Keep at it. You are 90% there!

Coop

Thanks for the quick reply, the kind words, and the helpful advice! I'll try a few different knives tomorrow night, after I make the changes you suggested. Hopefully by Tuesday I'll have my more permanent diffuser put together; I'm basing it off of what you use in your studio, as you posted in your other thread here.

I forgot to mention in my earlier post, but I'm using a Canon Powershot A560 point and shoot, so no manual adjustment of the f-stop, unfortunately. I am saving up to buy myself a DSLR later in the year, though, as I've realized that I really enjoy photography in many varieties, and need something with manually adjustable f-stop and shutter speed (among the myriad of other features) to really be effective in what I use it for.

And yes, I do indeed see the difficulty inherent in blending backgrounds with more texture and depth to them. I think I seriously overused the Clone and Heal tools in CS3 on that collage!

Thanks again,

Josh