photo opinion help

B . Buxton

B . Buxton

Joined
Jul 8, 2001
Messages
3,623
Taking knife photos is the part of knifemaking that I hate. I can take shot after shot, changeing lighting,angles and back grounds and still not get but a fair photo. I was trying to get a few pics taken when no mater what I did, the blade or the handle would come out looking alright but neither would come out together, seemed like the back ground would enhance one but take away from the other. SO I decided to split the back ground. Here's where I would like your opinions, if you was looking to buy this knife would the pic with the solid back ground appeal to you more or the split back ground.

I hate to spend a bunch of time on photos and then wished I had done them differently, so I figured I would get outside opinions, after all its the customers eye I need to please not mine.

Thanks,

Bill
 
That's the way it's done Bill. You can, of course, experiment with materials, like a piece of black velvet with a chamois, etc. Looks good.
:D
 
I,ll vote of the second photo also..I got to like doing the photo work and found it to be very interesting and quite challenging.Both your photos are very clear and show the pattern very well..
 
neither....:confused:

Bill - hate to be the sour-puss here. Put that beauty against a cool magenta/gray background to bring out the orange/red in the handle. Sharpen up the focus on the damascus too.


The split in the first picture is very distracting. I spent more time looking at it than I did at the knife.

The orange background on the 2nd one overpowered the whole picture. Kinda like wearing an orange shirt with pink pants...:eek:


Try something more like this:

inlay-ladder2.jpg


(not intended to be perfect, but hopefully in the right direction)


It puts the focus on the knife and makes you forget about the background. (hope you don't mind me messing around with your image a little...)

Dan
 
all in a row:

attachment.php


attachment.php


inlay-ladder2.jpg


See the difference in clarity?
Overall tone?

I know what you were trying to do with the first pic. You wanted a neutral background, but that made the damascus wash out, right? However a black background makes the picture too "contrasty".

Photographing knives is a tough business. At least with this one you don't have to deal too much with reflections.

Anyway, the point is, find a background that does not distract from the knife.

#1 distracts because of the strong diagonal.
#2 distracts because of the overt orange tone to the whole photo.

Keep up the good work. You've got the right idea... you'll get it.

Dan
 
Forget the split background - it's very distracting. I'd try a very light colored background, maybe even white to make the blade & handle stand out more. I like the shot with leather as the background but it could be lighter still. Pen's shot looks good also, but my own preference would be lighter than that. For texture, try using a 'bunched' up light colored towel as the background.
 
Nothing wrong with either of those photos, except being way too small. Nice knife, too!

After a couple years of sub-standadrd photos I finally gave up and bought a decent 3.2 pixel digital. Didn't help much. I next contacted the maker whose photos I liked best and asked how he did his. He told me he ONLY shot outdoors in natural light, and that the best photos [of his] were taken on slightly overcast days.

I now take all my photos outdoors in natural light, and the best ones on overcast days.

They are as good as I see around without all the fancy backgrounds [those are fun, too!] and certainly servicable for my web site and previews.

I now LIKE taking the photos, and I also LIKE the results.

Keep fooling with it- you will find a way that fits you and then it will all be easy and give good results.

You didn't [at least I didn't] get great grinds the first few knives; you hung in there and started learning the craft until you could do it well. Same deal with the pictures :) Plus you don't start wanting to cut off your left hand with those pesky opff-side grind differences.

Dave
 
Nice job Pendentive!
I pulled the image onto my desktop, to fiddle with it, before I got down to your post.
That is a great looking knife BTW, I really like the wire inlay. It is that design 'kiss' that makes the overall package just right.
 
Yep. I think Dan is onto something here. His background allows me to focus on the subtle details of the knife sans background distractions.
BTW, that's one sweet knife.
 
Thanks guys I agree, split background is very distractive, I tried a few shots with the whole knife on that light tile background, but the blade seemed to disappear in it, so I slid the the black leather under the blade for more contrast.
Dan, guys like you make me sick, :D , I'm just kidding, but you do make me awfully jealous. I could work on that photo for 2 days and it wouldn't come out looking that good. I guess some got it and some just wish they did, I'm wishin.

Thanks ,

Bill
 
Bill,

With knives as good looking as yours, it makes photo-editing easy as pie. Anytime you need some editing or clean-up on a pic - drop me a line. I will do it gladly and for nada - consider it selfish on my part (I love that knife!)

Dan
 
Bill what a beautiful knife! Dan, good job, you really did sharpen that up. May I ask, how'd you do it? "Sharpen" filter? And how'd you select out the knife so cleanly? I have a lot of trouble with selections, maybe more than anything else...

One thing I think would help, at least that is very distracting for me, is the reflection on the handle. Could you tone that down?

Dave
 
I think your photos looked good. However if you use something like adobe photo shop you can put the knife on any background you like.

Swandi from www.Valiantco.com Gave me some lessons it does not take long to pick up a couple of tips. He removes the background all together and puts in fancy lighting effects. The program should have some tutorials built in. He made up a nice business card for another friend which has a line of knifes graduated up in size.

I am a bit lazy these days and I also tend to use the natureal light
just as the sun is cost to setting or still comming up. Anything special I use the photo shop.

I was luky enough to get to the end before I got working on your knife. It is very nice.

edit look at the specialty blade link it shows one of the basic effects. There are many more in the photo shop program.
 
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