No Frills Lighting

[PhilL]

Lighting is from the window in my office, open North light.
Camera is a Nikon Coolpix 4300, auto exposure, auto focus, handheld.
The knife is a Tommy Lee Boot.
Image edited in Adobe Photoshop CS.

 

[neetones]

holy crap. I have a 4300 as well...I need to be doing some more work with my lighting. Thanks for that pic, it helps me get an idea as to what I can do.

Nitin

 

[Ed Fowler]

Wow Phill, absolutely beautiful, you definately have the talent to put it all together. Thanks for sharing!
Take Care

 

[shappa]

Great pic...really nicely done.

I saw that Lee but it had been sold before I could get to it. My first thought was " I bet PhilL got that...he loves stag as much as I do."
I'm glad to see I was right. If you ever want to sell it give me a call...seriously.
you lucky sob.

 

[SharpByCoop]

Phil is still MY hero on photography!

Wonderful presentation and clarity.

Does CS allow you to work that shadow outside of parallel? That's a feature I hadn't known about. Nice.

Coop

####

Oh yeah,

Fantastic score on that beauty. That one gave me pause, too.

 

[PhilL]

Does CS allow you to work that shadow outside of parallel? That's a feature I hadn't known about. Nice.

Coop, I assume you're talking about the cast shadow of the knife, that can be done with most versions of Photoshop, I know I used to do it with PS6. Here's a link to a tutorial using Photoshop Elements for a similar effect.
http://www.graphics-central.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=43

Do a Google search of Photoshop Tutorials Cast Shadow and you'll probably find a dozen more.

 

[cockroachfarm]

Nice job, PhiL!

(from the size of the cars parked by the curb in your photo, I take it you're NOT on the second or third floor of your building? )

 

[dredd8]

If the pics of the knives that I have for sale looked that good, maybe I would get more sales. Great job Phil and glad that you are please with your purchase.

 

[PhilL]

If the pics of the knives that I have for sale looked that good, maybe I would get more sales. Great job Phil and glad that you are please with your purchase.

I love the knife Steven.
I don't care if you're a knife maker, collector or selling knives, I think everyone should be able to take good pictures of their knives.

I’ve been thinking about writing a tutorial on photographing knives ever since I got back from Blade Show. I bought my first digital camera about a week before the show. I read the manual and took some practice pics and it all seemed rather simple.

I took this shot in the lobby of the Waverly Hotel, hand held with just available light. I’ll be the first to admit it’s not perfectly sharp, but it does have a nice feel to it, and I think it captures the moment.

When I first showed this picture in BFC Chat I asked, “Why do people make it seem that it’s so hard to photograph knives?” Three of the top knife makers in the world replied, “Because it is!”

The reason for my post here is to prove that it isn’t hard at all. If you have a working camera and a window you can match what I’ve done. I would suggest to anyone that has a tripod to use it, but I didn’t use one here just in case you don’t. My camera has a Macro setting, but I didn’t use that either. I just used Auto-focus and auto-exposure (without Flash). I stayed within the focus range of the camera.

Of course I played around with Photoshop, but that was just to get your attention. A straight shot on a clean background also looks good.

You will need an Image editing program to correct, crop and size your pics. Adobe Photoshop Elements came with my scanner as well as my camera. It’s probably all that most people will ever need.

My advice, learn the Basics and K.I.S.S.

 

[golok]

Definitely up there with the true professionals.

 

[Ebbtide]

Nice work PhilL!
I just figured out how to turn the flash *off* on my digicam!
(I really should read that book)

Since I'm not high enough on the corporate ladder to warrant a window, I used my drawing board and desk light. Aimed the light up so it reflected off a sheet of white board and this is what I got...

Shooting at 1/30 of a second should really be off a tripod, but I didn't have it with me.

 

[kamkazmoto]

Really some nice shots phil

 

[PhilL]

Wally, it doesn't look like you're getting enough coverage on the blade, Maybe tilting the board more or try shining the light through some paper or frosted Mylar. Or if you can build a tent like Murray White uses. I don't really like using tungsten lights for pics, too much color correcting. Of course you did a good job with it.

Nice knife BTW, let me guess BE?

 

[Ebbtide]

Nope. Not BE.
Bark River Knife & Tool. 7" of convex ground A2 with "Antique Ivory" micarta.
Bruce would kick my butte if I asked him for micarta

Back to photography
My halogen desk lamp is small and spotty. I really should've put something on there to diffuse it, but I was way too excited with my new knife
I had the fomecore balanced (like a roof) over the top of my cube. Good thing everyone else went home!
I really should take my time, but I get caught up in the moment

 

[PhilL]

I would say that's better, but Wally I've seen even better pics from you. I remember one of a BE dagger with a rusted horseshoe in the background.

Bark River huh...nice knife.

 

[Ebbtide]

I would say that's better, but Wally I've seen even better pics from you. I remember one of a BE dagger with a rusted horseshoe in the background.

Bark River huh...nice knife.

Now that one I took my time with...
and used the kitchen window for light

 

[Robert Marotz]

I was in my living room using waxpaper to diffuse the very direct sunlight coming through the window.

I just got this camera (Canon Powershot A80) and have not really dug into the manual settings with it yet (just trying to get a feel for the camera), and snapped these up right-quick. Pretty much auto settings, and I resaved the jpg after editing, reducing the quality a little. Still seems to get the job done, though I'm sure with some more control it would be better.

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~maro0049/LCC4.jpg (to conserve some bandwidth, view if you want to see whether or not my photography improved since this early pic)

 

[Gollnick]

Artists have long preferred northern light. It's not so harsh. A glass window is a remarkably good UV filter. And most digital cameras have a white-balance setting for daylight. So, the light streaming in through a north-facing window is a great choice.



The thing that bothers me in the composit picture is the big white rectangle in the upper right-hand corner. That just looks weird to me. It makes me think the thing's not done yet. I think, "I wonder what he's going to put in that space?"

 

[PhilL]

Bob, congratz on the new camera, I think your first shots look great.

The thing that bothers me in the composit picture is the big white rectangle in the upper right-hand corner. That just looks weird to me. It makes me think the thing's not done yet. I think, "I wonder what he's going to put in that space?"

Chuck, I'd love to keep you wondering, but the top pic isn't a composition, it's just two seperate pics one showing what the final shot looked like and the one in front just to show the setup. So, I'm not going to put anything in that big white rectangle in the upper right-hand corner.

 

[dredd8]

This is my first try with the digital camera and my cheap software.