Outdoor knife photos (using sun as light source)?

PIndelicato · Jun 7, 2009

I live in Arizona where we have more than 300 sunny days a year. I'm about to break down and buy or build a lightbox, but I'd really like to be able to utilize all of this free natural light that I have access to for photographing my knives. I would appreciate if anyone can offer suggestions on how to go about getting good results (or if it's even possible.) I tend to either get too much light, not enough light, reflections, shadows...etc. I even built a makeshift lightbox using a cutout cardboard box with a white garbage bag diffuser to use with the sunlight, and although it's somewhat better I still have the same problems noted above.

Thanks for any tips or suggestions on how I might be able to achieve better results or if I should forgo this approach and buy some lights.

Bruce Bump · Jun 7, 2009

I take pictures on a cloudy day or in the shade on a sunny day. I'm no expert but it seems for work fine. Here is one taken in the shade;

PIndelicato · Jun 7, 2009

Thanks for the reply, Mr. Bump; that's a great photo and a gorgeous knife as well. Here are a couple of shots I took yesterday in direct sun inside my makeshift light box:

I think the color is off, there is some glare and shadows, and little detail of the blade finish.

I took these just now in the shade in full daylight:

These shots definitely look better to me all around than the first batch, but there are still problems with glare, shadows, reflections, etc. I took a lot of shots from lots of different angles as well trying to minimize these things. I'm not too sure what I need to do differently to get results comparable to yours.

Thanks in advance for any other tips or suggestions!

Bruce Bump · Jun 8, 2009

I see some shadows that would come out with an Auto-Fix. We have a Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS camera. It had the software with it.

PIndelicato · Jun 9, 2009

Thanks Bruce, the only thing close to editing I've ever tried is cropping. I guess I need to get out my camera manual and software and start playing around. I appreciate the advice.

rmc85 · Jun 9, 2009

I try to take mine on a cloudy day or a little before dusk. Seems to work for me...of course the camera does all the work because I suck at pics. My pic started to get MUCH better after I got my Panasonic Lumix.

rmc85 · Jun 9, 2009

BTW my pics are unedited. The camera has a ton of settings and after playing with it for a while I found out what works best in which situations.

Good luck!

sonman · Jun 10, 2009

rmc85, nice pics. could you tell me who makes the items in the last picture with the green cord wrap handles.

rmc85 · Jun 10, 2009

County Comm sells them.

Breacher Bar http://countycomm.com/eodrtool.htm

Pocket Widgy http://countycomm.com/widgy.htm

Shipping wasn't fast but you cant beat that price. Great tools.

PIndelicato · Jun 10, 2009

Thanks rmc, your photos look much better than mine. I had a decent Canon camera a while back that bit the dust, so this one is a compact Panasonic and I don't know how much difference that may make. I have it set to Macro with the flash OFF.

I'm having problems with getting reflections of the camera in the blade. I move the subject around, and myself around, until it seems I have a decent shot with minimal reflections and glare, and then I hold the camera up and I see glare and reflections through the viewfinder screen. I can't seem to figure out how to avoid all of these issues. I will try some earlier in the morning, or later in the day to see if it helps any...the sun is so bright and intense here, with clouds being kind of rare, and maybe I still have too much light bouncing around even in shade.

If anyone else has any tips or suggestions, I'm all ears!

rmc85 · Jun 10, 2009

P J 234 said:
Thanks rmc, your photos look much better than mine. I had a decent Canon camera a while back that bit the dust, so this one is a compact Panasonic and I don't know how much difference that may make. I have it set to Macro with the flash OFF.

I'm having problems with getting reflections of the camera in the blade. I move the subject around, and myself around, until it seems I have a decent shot with minimal reflections and glare, and then I hold the camera up and I see glare and reflections through the viewfinder screen. I can't seem to figure out how to avoid all of these issues. I will try some earlier in the morning, or later in the day to see if it helps any...the sun is so bright and intense here, with clouds being kind of rare, and maybe I still have too much light bouncing around even in shade.

If anyone else has any tips or suggestions, I'm all ears!

I do exactly what you're doing. Its much harder to take pic's of stuff thats reflective and I just move myself and the subject around until I find a shot I like. I mostly use macro but the big thing is the lighting. I found that overcast days that are still somewhat bright are the best. I guess the earth is making me its own light box by having a soft, bright light to take pics.

Another thing that seems to help is my camera will focus on stuff in macro when the lens is almost touching it.

I found out most of my stuff by trial and error and the owners manual. I never ended up buying it but I saw the "For Dummies" book series has a book on taking photo's with a point and shoot digital camera. I've bought a few of their books and they seem to be helpful...The math stuff has REALLY helped me.

Might be worth a look.

rmc85 · Jun 10, 2009

I also take 5-7 pics for each shot I want. Sometimes some will come out better than others.

PIndelicato · Jun 10, 2009

Thanks again, rmc. I probably snap a good 5 shots of each one and pick the best one of the group as well. Since I'm laying the knife down on an art paper background, that restricts the angles I'm able to get as opposed to holding it or having it stuck into a stump, etc. I'm still trying to figure out why when I get to where it looks good to my eye that I raise the camera and look through the viewfinder screen and see reflections and glare!?! I think it's partly seeing the camera in the reflection, but I guess the rest is probably due to the optics as opposed to the naked eye.

Here's a few more I did earlier in the morning in the shade. I think the blade finish detail is improved, as is the glare/reflection problem, but the color seems kind of washed out and they are a little blurry (perhaps this is my fault and need a tripod, although that would further limit my angles and positioning.) I did play around with some minimal software editing on some of these, using an Enhance button, and tweaking the shadow and sharpness adjustments. Too much shadow adjustment, and the black handles washed out and looked phony. I'd appreciate any input on these shots.

I'll keep playing around...thanks again for your suggestions.

rmc85 · Jun 10, 2009

Looks good to me.

Tai Goo · Jun 12, 2009

Hi Paul, I also live in AZ as you know. I use all natural light for my pics. I shoot indoors with the light coming through a window or door at an angle to create a more dramatic lighting effect. My ceiling is white which is reflected on the knife.

In the auto mode my camera tends to add light when shot without a flash and with a black background, but found I could compensate for that by framing the knife itself with white sheets of paper and then cropping them out afterwards. The more white that shows in the original framing the more light gets cut out and the less white that shows the more the light is added. It’s easy to achieve either effect just by zooming in or out. In other words the smaller the original framing the more light, and the larger the less light.

No direct sun light, (all reflected light indoors in the shade).

No editing other than cropping and re-sizing.

... trying to get the most out of a crappy old camera.

PIndelicato · Jun 12, 2009

Tai,

Thanks for the tips with the white paper, I'll definitely give that a try. Your photos look really cool (and that's a great knife as well.) I played around a little indoors trying to use light from a window, but I kind of had the same problems as I was having outside...either too much light with glare and reflections, or not enough and no detail. I may need to get myself a real camera for this.

300Bucks · Jun 13, 2009

Here's a trick for sunlight photography, most folks have the stuff laying around.

Light tent, for even light, made out of a white trash bag, dowel rods and duct tape.

Here is the actual photo of the knife, $99 camera, extra floor tile, rock (free), GOOD tripod (most important). Not pictured is some folded paper I used to reflect sunlight into shadow area of knife.

Another trick for the photo impaired...
300Bucks

hardheart · Jun 13, 2009

have you adjusted your white balance? you should at least be able to check the automatic setting and make sure it is set to sunlight.

PIndelicato · Jun 13, 2009

300Bucks, that is comparable to the setup I used in the first string of photos I posted above (no tripod however.) It is a skeletonized cardboard box with a plastic garbage bag diffuser. The sun was so bright, I ended up using 3 layers of garbage bag. In my opinion, these photos have problems with glare, reflections, shadows, and color balance (yellowish looking to my untrained eye.) Did I not use enough diffuser...too much...wrong material...???

hardheart, I have not adjusted white balance nor have I even looked into doing so. I will check my manual to see if it's possible with my camera (Panasonic DMC-FX30.)

Thanks for the input!

T.K.C. · Jun 13, 2009

All my shots are taken outside, and I think they come out well.
TKC's knife pix