Quick photo tutorial (pics)

[RokJok]

Here are just a few tips for those looking to photograph your Rats. For more information on knife photography, you can follow the plethora of links found via the knife photography link in my signature at the bottom.

Diffusion: Shoot out of direct light!

And that includes DO NOT USE ON-CAMERA FLASH!!!
The two pictures below were taken about 10 ft apart. The difference? One was shot in direct sunlight, with the resulting sharp-edged shadows. The other was shot in the diffused light among shadows on the porch. Note that the background of both pictures is cement, so the difference noted is due strictly to the direct vs diffused lighting.

Note also that when shooting with diffused natural light the resulting slower shutter speeds may call for a tripod. I highly recommend a tripod (or other support mechanism) as a standard part of your photo setup. If you're cheap like me look for them at garage sales and thrift stores.

Composition: Fill the frame!

Below we see a shot (out in the glaring sunlight again) showing how you can lose a knife in a picture, even when it's the only thing in the frame.

Next shot is somewhat better. But the knives still look small, in spite of now taking up more of the visual real estate in the frame. Also note how the harsh-edged dark shadows play havoc with discerning the edges of the knives.

The shot below is the same two knives still out in the direct sunlight, but with the camera zoomed in close enough to crop out part of the Okuden Sharp Thing II knife and using those parts of the knives/lanyards trailing off the edges of the frame to "anchor" the image within the frame.

This shot could be improved further by zooming in even closer and placing the SAR Rat further onto the left-hand side of the frame.

Bracketing: Shoot lots of pics.

The series of pictures below are the same frame arrangement as the first two pictures shown above (direct light vs diffused light) showing how you can get a range of lighter-to-darker pictures to choose among if your camera allows +/- setting of light exposure. Most digital cameras have this ability built in and it is considered a very basic feature. Note that the range of exposure in the pictures below are from +1.0 (extra light allowed into the camera (longer exposure time)) to -1.0 (less light allowed into the camera (shorter exposure time)). That is 1/2 the range on my camera, the full range being +2.0 to -2.0.

If you can think of other basic knife photography tips I've missed (and I know there are tons), feel free to toss them out for the education of us all. TIA.

 

[Burchtree]

random tips -- If you've got a tripod, use it. Set the timer for pics so you don't have to worry about shaky pics. If you've got the ability on your camera, ramp up the aperature value so that more of the blade is in focus.

Nice pics!

 

[Josh Muller]

likewise to the tripod - if you can get a shutter switch to go with your tripod, use it.

its amazing how much camera shake can be involved in just pressing the shutter button on any shot less then 60th/second

 

[RokJok]

I'll start this post with some bad pics illustrating some of the things I advocate against.

First up is the glare from using on-camera flash on a reflective surface. The shiny surface gives a sharp-edged "hotspot" of white where the flash reflects back into the camera lens. In this shot the glare is compounded by placing a mostly-dark knife on a very light (white) surface. That white surface tricks the camera into allowing only a little light into the camera. To get the details of the dark knife to show well, there should be more light than the camera allows in. Consequently, the knife tends to become a dark/black shape on an over-lit white field.

This next picture has less distinct glare, but is still too bright from all the white in the frame. Plus it has really awful unbalanced composition lines. :barf:

The photo below has the over-lit white again, but this time with the knife occupying too little of the frame. With no anchoring to the edge of the frame, the knife "floats" awash on a sea of white (not good composition). Note how static the horizontal placement of the knife is when compared to a diagonal position in the frame. Also, the lanyard loop disappearing under the blade poses a visual/mental distraction.

Below we see what happens when you get too close to the subject and use the on-camera flash. (i.e. trying to do a "mechanical" macro close-up shot when the camera doesn't have a built-in macro focusing capability) The most noticable bad effect is that the subject is badly out of focus (fuzzy). Due to the short camera-to-subject distance, the lighting from the on-camera flash is unevenly distributed in the frame. It doesn't have enough distance or room to spread out to reach all parts of the frame. This results in the center of the shot being over-lit while the edges are under-illuminated. Also, the area of the knife being highlighted in this shot is not particularly interesting (plain colors/textures). This picture is IMHO one of the worst of this bunch by having so many things wrong with it.

The shot below also has the uneven flash lighting, but suffers even more from the background being distracting. The knife is rather drab and plain colored. It gets overwhelmed visually by the color and pattern of the background. Note how the tip of the knife "disappears" visually into the dark fabric behind it. Allowing the terminal end point(s) of a knife to be indistinct within the frame distracts the viewers brain. Subconciously they think, "Where does this knife really start/end?"

 

[RokJok]

Below are some pictures where the lighting on the knife is about right (available ambient light, no flash), but the knife is again rather swamped (pun intended ) by the color/pattern/contrast of the background.

Below is the other "worst of the bunch" picture. The distractions from the objects in the background, the brightness of the window vs the darkness of the knife, the out-of-focus areas of the knife/lanyard, the dimness of the lighting on the knife (supposedly the subject of the shot), and especially the extreme distortion of the knife from the shot's perspective make this a truly terrible shot. :barf: :barf: :thumbdn:

 

[RokJok]

Finally, a few "not so bad" shots. The three pictures below show how changing the background can change how a knife is perceived (context). Unfortunately, there isn't as much variance in this set of three as I had hoped. I'll rethink how to better illustrate this and hopefully post some better shots of it. The speckling on the background of the shot on black fabric illustrates how important it is to *thoroughly* clean your photo setup area.