No Frills Lighting

Greg, if that's a bowie...
Then it's a big frikkin leaf
:eek:
Excellent photo!


PhilL said:
Pick up any three year olds crayon drawing and look how their simple lines and squiggels take up full use of their drawing area. And how the smoke from the house will balance with the tree.It's in us all. We know what looks right and inbalance to us. We know it when we see it, sometimes we don't spend enough time studying our own compositions.
Click to expand...

I was watching a Discovery Science show about what makes a good looking person. 1 of the 3 necessary traits was Symmetry....
Balance is deeply ingrained in all of us. On many levels.
I left the next sentence of PhilL's post out because that is where I'm guilty.
It's that darn advertising "done is good" mentality. I should slow down and enjoy the doing, instead of rushing forward to the result.

One more good tip to check your composition.
Turn the whole thing upside down.
Sounds hokey, the content will be out of context but you'll still be able to get that pleasing/not pleasing feeling from it.

Balance and symmetry

:cool:
 
Here ya go Ed. This one is a bit small and I suggest getting as large a one as you can to avoid the reflections of the corners on your blades. Like I mentioned earlier, sometimes laying the box on its side works pretty good as well. I don't think that you need to drill out the hole but can pretty much just cut it out with a small saw and cutters.
Greg
 
Alright here's a Schrade Tennesee River Trapper with jigged bone scales.

I took the picture in automatic no tripod no flashwith a 75 watt lightbulb for lighting.

The camera info on shutterspeed 1/30 and f-stop 2.8 2.2 mega pixel 1800X1200 resized to 650 X 433.

Creatively critizize please, be blunt. :eek:

attachment.php
 
Right off the bat I can see I need multiple light sourses to eliminate shadows and highlight the bone scale.
 
Greg,
Great pictures, thanks! That's one beautiful bowie! Great work, Ed! :)
David
 
T. Erdelyi said:
Alright here's a Schrade Tennesee River Trapper with jigged bone scales.

I took the picture in automatic no tripod no flashwith a 75 watt lightbulb for lighting.


Creatively critizize please, be blunt. :eek:
Click to expand...

First of all you're using direct light on the knife, what you want is a broad light source, I use a window, Murray uses a tent, Greg uses a plastic container, they all work. Direct light like an oncamera flash is almost impossible to get decent results.

Please refer to my first post on this thread, that's my lighting setup. Is there anything there that you can't duplicate? It's really as simple as that. Why make it more complicated?
 
I've been taking some outside knife pictures w/ just a non-digital 35mm camera, using both early morning and late afternoon light. For me, the best results happened when I waited for the sun to begin to cast long shadows before it set. At this time of day, I was able to get good pictures without so much worry of the glare of the blade or the direct light.
Has anyone been using filters on their lenses? I haven't, but it might add something to the color or take away haze. Still, that probably wouldn't help too much with the glare of direct sunlight on a blade.

Ed, I'm looking forward to seeing the collection of pictures that you've taken of your knives... either to post here, or publish as a part of a book. My dream is to someday see a retrospective of as many of your knives as possible..
David
 
2knife said:
Has anyone been using filters on their lenses? I haven't, but it might add something to the color or take away haze. Still, that probably wouldn't help too much with the glare of direct sunlight on a blade.
Click to expand...

I haven't been using any filters when taking pics. I'd much rather make my corrections in Photoshop.

A Polarizing filter while help reduce reflections on glass or water, but it won't help one bit with metal. In landscapes a polarizing filter will help cut haze, and help increase color saturation and can give dramatic skies when there is blue skies and clouds. A UV or Ultra Violet filter may also help.

You can of course use a tent or diffuser with the Sun as the lighting source at any time of day. Just let the Sun shine through the diffuser onto your subject.
 
I'd love to try a polarizing filter sometime. I just haven't been willing to part with the $50 for the experiment.

I just went back and found this 'Lighting Setup' older thread with (5) pages of similar talk. If you are getting something out of this, then I would spend the time (re)reading it.

I am unimpressed with my past work, but that's what trial and error is all about. :p

Coop
 
What do you think of this?

I heard about that clear plastic container idea and ran outside to try it....here's the result. I only took three shots, so here's what I got.

lw.jpg


Nitin
 
Hard to argue with success! That is a perfectly clear shot. I'll assume no other lighting than natural sunlight? Direct sun on the container? Looks good no matter what.

Now if I took that shot, I would have gone back and propped up the back just a *tad* with some masking tape. Doing so would give more definition to the blade's grind, making the lower grind darker and the upper lighter, which might define it better. That is *really* fine tuning. But... that's an enviable place to be. Overall that photo is a champ.

Now lose the towel.... :barf: ;) :D

Coop
 
David, the big photo book may not happen for a while, I don't have the time to put it together - yet. Greg, I found the plastic box, but no spray bottle with the birdhead like handle yellow and green, but I will keep looking.
 
Thanks Coop.

Yeah, it was just natural sunlight @ around 5pm, right on the box. I will experiment this week and try to find some other background materials...the towel is crap of course.

Success!!

Nitin



SharpByCoop said:
Hard to argue with success! That is a perfectly clear shot. I'll assume no other lighting than natural sunlight? Direct sun on the container? Looks good no matter what.

Now if I took that shot, I would have gone back and propped up the back just a *tad* with some masking tape. Doing so would give more definition to the blade's grind, making the lower grind darker and the upper lighter, which might define it better. That is *really* fine tuning. But... that's an enviable place to be. Overall that photo is a champ.

Now lose the towel.... :barf: ;) :D

Coop
Click to expand...
 
What is the largesI size file that we can post in the Gallery? I was just waiting to see who would mention the spray bottle. Ed, you ol' rascal!
Greg
 
When I've seen the pro's at Point Seven taking pictures they use a white screen to block the direct light. Has anyone here used just a normal white bed sheet for blocking direct sunlight like a tent? ...or maybe draped over a clear plastic box such as Greg describes, as an experiment.

Ed, I'm looking forward to the picture book someday...
David
 
you can use a bed sheet if you like but either you waste the sheet by cutting it or have too much material. Keep the diffusion material taut. I use white Spandex held to the frame with velcro.
 
You may also be able to see the weave of the fabric reflected in a mirror polished blade. You'll probably be better off using a material that has no pattern to is. One of my favorites would be tranlucent white Plexiglass. It's rigid so you don't need to build a frame for it and if you don't scratch it, it will last forever.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top