Photos of my HOGS and XM-18

zephy5 · Sep 16, 2007

I was inspired by the photos Dr. Lunde posted of his makeshit studio so I decided to try my own hand at it (thanks for the photos Doc!). I'm more of an animal photographer than a product photographer (see my website furtography) but I am resonably pleased with these. I used two strobes, one on camera and one shooting remotely through an umbrella, and a reflector. I think I'll try some hot lights some time and see if I like them better. I also need a better background, it's a PITA to get the white balance right using a whiteboard as a background with the shiny satin blades. Anyway, I needed something to shoot of course so enjoy:

I know there are alot of XM-18 fans here as well so I thought you might enjoy these too:

Lil' Foo · Sep 16, 2007

Nice detailed pics. :thumbup:

I think the knives may "pop" more with some sort of background.

Thanks for sharing... and great collection too!

zephy5 · Sep 16, 2007

Lil' Foo said:
I think the knives may "pop" more with some sort of background.

Agreed, I need to go to the fabric store to find some nice backdrops. :thumbup:

xaman · Sep 17, 2007

woah -- those are really nice photos! Great blades too :thumbup:

mymindisamob · Sep 17, 2007

Very, very knice!

Ken44 · Sep 17, 2007

Great looking knives and pics!

lunde · Sep 17, 2007

Very nice!!!

Jeepnut22 · Sep 17, 2007

It looks like the knives are floating! Nice pics!!

Crafft · Sep 17, 2007

Very nice pics of great knives:thumbup:

Did you also use a macrolens like dr. Lunde?

Would also love to own one of the HOGFSHLE's.....

zephy5 · Sep 17, 2007

Crafft said:
Did you also use a macrolens like dr. Lunde?

Sort of. I used an older Nikkor 35-70mm 2.8 AFD lens. This particular lens will macro focus when zoomed out to 35mm which if what I did. I used it on a D80which has a crop factor or 1.5 with this lens so the actual focus lens was around 50mm. I believe Dr. Lunde normally uses a 60mm macro so the focal length was close. However, the dedicated 60mm macro lens is a much better choice for this type of photography, I just don't have one. I do have a 105mm macro which is great for close up shots but a little too much for images of the whole knife (see my thread on chamfered talon holes, I used it there for the close ups).