Photography Forum/Sub-Forum?

E

Evolute

Joined
Mar 19, 2001
Messages
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If you want to make one, I'd be open to moderating it.

Let me know.

Happy holidays,

Mike
 
It'd have to go under the community center section... and if I added this I'd have no excuse not to add kitchen knives.
 
I like the idea except for one thing. Photography is something that goes so naturally in support of other forums that we're still going to see most of it in Knife Reviews and the Gallery and Wilderness & Survival.

We do seem to have a good amount of photo gear up for sale so maybe there is room for a technical photography forum.

(I think we have enough interest for kitchen, though. Someone posted a good list of previous threads in the kitchen forum request.)
 
I already bought a membership upgrade in honour of Spark creating the CDN exchange forum, for which we rarely seem to use :D

Still, I think a photography forum could have some merit and Evolute would be a good guy to moderate. There are a lot of photo forums on the internet, but we all know this is a special place with a lot of talent. It would really be great to see expansion of photography from the healthy minds of BF'ers. Something beyond taking shots of knives in trees and on a studio ground. Some good urban photography, people shots and abstract art. I'd love to drink my cup of coffee in the morning to some of that!
 
Evolute would definitely be a good moderator. You can see from his blog that he's a great teacher.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I like the idea except for one thing. Photography is something that goes so naturally in support of other forums that we're still going to see most of it in Knife Reviews and the Gallery and Wilderness & Survival.
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As I see it -- and it's just my vision and my not be what Mr. Evolute has in mind -- this would NOT be a forum in which to post knife pictures (though there would doubtlessly be some), but a forum about HOW to take good knife pictures, the technical details (cameras, lights, etc.) and the art of it (composition, lighting, etc.).

The photography of knives is something I've studied a bit and tried to do. At the risk of appearing immodest, I think I do ok. But I would like to improve, to have a place to share ideas, etc. I'm also hopeful that such a forum could help the whole community break free of what I call the "knife mug shot" version of photography wherein the knife is placed on a flat surface oriented perfectly diagonally across the middle of the frame and then photographed flat. There certainly is a place for the "knife mug shot" just as there is a place for "mug shots" of people. But I want to see more three-dimensional, more angular, more interesting knife photography which I hope we could explore and develop and encourage as one function of such a forum.

My hope would be that this would be a forum wherein I could take an interesting, composed, lit photograph of a K-Mart steak knife and nobody would complain about the crappy knife but would compliment my creative lighting while suggesting a few improvements in the composition. In other words, this place would be about the photography -- the equipment, the technique, the artistry of it -- and not so much about the knife.
 
kgd said:
There are a lot of photo forums on the internet...
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Yeah... yeah....

But photographing knives is esoteric. Knives have unique challenges. Consider, for example, this:

kris2S.jpg

This is one of those "mug shots" that I spoke of. It's just a flat picture without much composition at all. But look at that blade. That is a mirror-polished kris. How to light it, without any glare, any reflections, and yet give a sense of the grind and the three-dimensionality of it is not entirely unique to knives but certainly is uncommon in photography. And this photograph, while I think it came out well considering the challenges, is imperfect; the tang stamp, for example, isn't really visible and I could have/should have done better.

The Photography section of any bookstore is filled with books on wedding photography, animal/pet photography, fashion photography, photographing children, architecture, travel, nature, naked women, naked men, etc, etc, etc. But not one book am I aware of on how to photograph knives. I am aware of just a few older books on how to photograph small, shiny objects.

So, I think there certainly is a unique opportunity to discuss this subject and advance the state of the art.
 
I have in mind for it to be a very inclusive photography forum. Photo technique? Yes. Photography as art? Yes. What photo gear to get? Yes. Showing off your pics? Yup. Criticism? Sure.

Knife photography? Of course. Wildlife? Weddings? Landscapes? Models? Architecture? Travel? Your kids? Sports? Yes to all of it. Anything and everything that people want to discuss about photography.

Beginner? Expert? Both.

I'd like to welcome it all.
 
Of course I'm interested. I might even be able to advise on how to take better knife 'mug shots'. ;) That style of photography is the basis for capture. Most can't even get that right, so we can include that as well. (I fully understand Chuck's point.)

I got my start in photographing knives with an informal contest on the Knife Network (when it was Custom Knife Directory). That approach would serve well, not just for the occasional knife photo contest, but for other non-knife themes. Friendly competition makes us work harder at our task.

Just a thought, and I mentioned this years ago when I was pointing towards a specific photo forum: I think a Digital Forum would be smart. It's inescapable that computers, websites, cameras, cell phones, software to run them all are all part of our experiences in our knife lives and personal lives. BF is a community, and we tend to ask our closer freinds what to do first when encountering a problem or query.

That said, Photography alone has many aspects and can probably sustain enough interest to be a standalone, but I wouldn't be adverse to have photo specific threads intermingled with website production techniques or computer queries. I find Gadgets and Gear not completely appropriate in this. But, that's just me.

Staying tuned. Lets discuss. Thanks, Mike. :thumbup:

Coop
 
SharpByCoop said:
Just a thought, and I mentioned this years ago when I was pointing towards a specific photo forum: I think a Digital Forum would be smart. It's inescapable that computers, websites, cameras, cell phones, software to run them all are all part of our experiences in our knife lives and personal lives. BF is a community, and we tend to ask our closer freinds what to do first when encountering a problem or query.

That said, Photography alone has many aspects and can probably sustain enough interest to be a standalone, but I wouldn't be adverse to have photo specific threads intermingled with website production techniques or computer queries. I find Gadgets and Gear not completely appropriate in this. But, that's just me.
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Because Ken C. is good at dealing with it, people had been turning to Community Center for advice on infected computers, rather than Gadgets and Gear. But I don't know that that goes all that well with Photography.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Because Ken C. is good at dealing with it, people had been turning to Community Center for advice on infected computers, rather than Gadgets and Gear. But I don't know that that goes all that well with Photography.
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Ken's incredibly savvy on this stuff, I agree. That said, is Community better for these queries? I think not.

My point is, the Digital World is large and Photography is actually a sub-category of this. Computers are part of our Community, as much as Photography is a part of Digital.

Photography is MUCH inclusive, though. Like I mentioned, it may very well have enough substance of it's own forum. But, I am tossing out mental notes as provocation to think closely at all aspects.

Clear as mud..... ;)

Coop
 
I think computer stuff should go in Gadgets & Gear myself.

Photography is a separate subject, even if there is overlap.
Computers overlap with everything these days. :)
 
I appreciate Evolute's vision and fully accept Gollnick's comments. Its the kind of thing I would enjoy reading regularly. I think having a place for technical pointers such as the above, and those by the pro's like Coop would help raise the game of photos posted all through the forum.

I guess what we wouldn't want the creation to be is something that detracts from Knife Gallery or W&SS by being to exclusive to knife content. Its one of the reasons why I like the Evolute's comments about scope. One, where constructive critique and commentary on photos are provided while keeping an encouraging slant which can often bring out the best of BF. Sure, I'd like to read about technical, how to type threads. But, I'd absolutely love to read about the joy of photography and the passion and emotion drawn from readers viewing a special composition. Not something pretentious, just a fun place to hang out where the egos (or virtual egos) can be set aside at the door on the way in :D

P.S. Esav - thank you for your comment, but certainly not deserving in present company of the posters to this thread ;)
 
I'm not sure where computer stuff should go. It is an interesting point that there could be a valid place for computer and digital stuff, on its own.

I do not see photography as a sub-category of digital, except in the very stretched sense that everything is a subcategory of digital (i.e., on a quantum level). Photography has some overlap with digital, because the current popular medium for photography is a digital medium, but that doesn't make photography fundamentally a sub-category of digital. If someone wants to discuss how to compose for meaning, or how to diffuse lights to remove the spectral highlights on a knife, or how to coat paper for platinum prints, or which lens would suit best for photographing your kid's little league, or how s/he could have shot this picture better – none of that is within a digital sub-category, but all of it fits for a photography forum.
 
^^^ Well said. By all.

OK, I'll flip that around and state that I think *some aspects* of photography are digital. As Mike allowed.

Esav, you're right: EVERYTHING has overlap. I just want to make sure we are all comfortable with any new options and discuss the possibilities. (Ever create a folder structure on the fly in your computer, and then wish YEARS later you did it another way? :) That's all I'm bringing up.)

Staying posted.

Coop
 
Historically, at bf.c, we have resisted "over-fragmentation" of the site. Sites with hundreds of tiny, fragmented, forums each with a very tightly-defined subject, very compartmentalized, etc., tend to not do well. They tend to fall into inactivity.

You can, for example, organize a knife discussion site as Fixerd Blade Knives and Folding Knives, or you can get really picky and divide it up into Fixed-Blade knives with red micarta, fixed-blade knives with green micarta, fixed blade knives with black micarta, fixed-blade knives with red G10, fixed-blade knives with green G10, fixed-blade knives with blue G10, fixed-blade knives with black G10, folding knives with red carbon fiber, folding knives with green carbon fiber.... etc. etc. etc. The later option may be more organized, but none of those microforums is likely to acieve a "critical mass" and succeed. The first example may be less compartmentalized, but each of those two forums has a better chance.
 
If this photography sub forum becomes a reality, I would like to see Jim Cooper (Sharp by Coop) co moderate it.
 
Jim Cooper definitely has more experience than I do with the specific niche of studio photography of knives. He also seems like an upstanding guy.

I don't know his level of experience with photography, more generally.

I have no objection to Jim as Co-Moderator. He may not want to (responsibility, time investment, etc.). If Jim doesn't want to, another good candidate is Ted Wilson. Ted is already a moderator of the Himalayan Imports forum here at BF, and he is a splendid studio photographer (knives, guns, commercial products, portraits, nude women, etc.) with decades of professional experience.

Either or both would be great co-moderators.
 
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