No Frills Lighting

I'm cryin' 'UNCLE' on this one. :( Back to basics..!

What did that setup cost you Phil? Uhh, maybe $.05?? He he he!

Coop
 
Just to bring this BTTT, and to see if anyone else has gotten anything out of this thread I thought I'd post this pic. It's just to show that even a simple knife can photograph well. Same window setup, just a piece of cardboard as the background.

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Let's see what you got?
 
This is a Broadwell I got recently from Les. Still trying Phil, critique me!

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dredd8 said:
This is a Broadwell I got recently from Les. Still trying Phil, critique me!

First things first, beautiful knife.

Steven, I see the pic from post #20 is gone, but I would say this new pic is way better. First of all the color balance is so much better, I'm going to assume that you did use window light. You got nice coverage on the blade and the knife is in focus. Well done!

What I would do to improve the shot is; turn the knife on a diagonal to make better use of the space, add a small reflector to bounce some light back into the handle. To get real picky I would select a background with no lines going through it.

All in all I would say a huge improvenment.
What do you think?
 
Phil: You are a great coach, this is a very informative thread. I put my photo booth to work, you can see the first shots in the new Blade. Not great, but showed what I needed to show. Now have photo lamps and it is finally all comming together. Many of us thank you for your teaching.
Now if I can figure the computer stuff I will try to chip in.
All in all What I want to say is Thanks
 
Excellent information from the experts. And the great pictures are truly a bonus!
 
nice picture, by the way, I have the exact same tile in the bathroom of my new shop, may put some in the office also.
 
Thanks for the comments Ed and Phil. Yep, That is what I use, tile samples, light tent w/ daylight flourescent bulbs and Nikon 4300 Digital camera.
 
Ed, you have to know you're one of the main people I was thinking of when I started this thread.

Steven, you've come a long way Baby!
This last knife looks a bit warmer than the Broadwell, but everything else is much improved....congratz

Any chance of photographing that Broadwell again?

Please.
 
Nice continuing thread about knife images. Many of my knives were photographed with natural "window" light but unfortunately, none are of a "northlight" variety. The reason for using "northlight" is because the sun is never in the north in our hemisphere and so soft indirect light is always available.

With natural light, time of day can have an effect upon the image due to the change in color temperature of light and of course ones time for photographing is based upon the daylight hours and as Coop has said, he often is only available when there is no "available natural light".

What I do is to use a light tent to prevent color affecting the blade and with daylight flourescents, allow me to use cool, soft, diffused indirect continuous lighting at anytime of day.

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when I first created the setup, I did this Schuyler Lovestrand Subhilt Fighter with the setup using Natural "Window" Light thru patio doors and then with the Daylight Flourescents lights (4 15 W=50W). Both images are essentially the same and are straight from the camera with no image editing.

Phil has a small image on one of his posts showing the current setup which I and Roger P use. I use a Nikon 995 and he uses the CP Nikon 5000. We do use a tripod as the exposures generally are about 1/4 sec at f 3.1. I prefer a background of a neutral "gray" tone which does not mean gray but a background that reflects light of that tone so that the auto exposure does not get unduly affected by the background. I'm a firm believer in the "kiss" principle.

While I don't have Coops and Phil's image editing skills, these are some of many similar images of knives that I own.

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I spent 7 hours last night looking thru several thousand photos I took of my knives from the beginning. I was amazed how great some of them were when I simply used sunlight and cloudy days. Then I started getting sophisticated and took them to higher levels, some better a lot worse.
Now I have room in my new shop where a home made (with a lot of good advice) photo shop is going to wait for my knives. Today if time allows my Nikon 995 will get a chance to work with I hope the right stuff.

You folks have provided great guidance. If I get so far as the computer stuff, you will see it here and I hope you won't be gentle but get me on the new horse in style.
Thanks and Taked Care
 
Well, Ed it will be nice to have another topic of conversation at Blade West. We had a great time chatting for a few hours in 2001 BW and I look forward to chatting knives and photography this year too.

Here is a folder by Frank Niro with a different background but one I use quite frequently.

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an an image of Brian Lyttle's work with a damascus blade and 1600 layers D2/L6 with carved Ebony handle, Nickle Silver fittings and a citrine stone in the butt.

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I'm not a photographer creating art images of knives but prefer to create an image of a knife which shows the beauty of the knife as it appears when viewed in person. WYSIWYG
 
Hey GREAT!!!! Murray is HERE!!!!
Long time no see, I hope all is good with you. I knew you wouldn't mind me showing the pic of your setup, it is simple genius. I have to tell you though 50 watts sure doesn't sound like much candle power, but obviously it's enough to get the job done.

Ed, you have my email and if you ever need to know how to post pics here I'm at your service. If you've got the pics I know you have Photoshop and you can load the pics to BFC right from your desktop. In fact check back and see if I didn't already send you instructions on how to post pics here.

Steven, I'm so proud of you, just look at that last picture....it's GREAT!!!!
No kidding you could put it next to anything that's been posted in this thread and measure up. Just think if you ever sell knives again how much better they're going to look.

Nice work!

I'm really starting to enjoy this thread. ;)
 
Phil--each bulb is 15w = 50 and i use 4 in a movie light bar which I happened to save from many years ago when I started photography as a light man with Gilbert's studio. I also periodically use another bulb thru diffusion material as a fill on the handle side of the knife.

Stephen--very nice shot. you are getting the idea now with the lighting and the diagonal composition. Will be looking forward to seeing more posted.

Here is another image using a totally different background.

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This piece is by Josef Rusnak of the Czech Republic. Damascus with Ivory, sterling silver frame with sterling and gold embellished with Abalone.
 
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