trying my hand at knife photography... critique and advice welcome

[SoonerBJJ]

Among other things, I collect knives. I particularly like the rare vintage balisong. After admiring the fine knife photography at some of the forums I frequent, I thought I'd try my hand.

I made a lightbox from a packing box. Cut out the sides and covered with white sheet. Then used 60w 5000k lamp x2. Shot with 50D from tripod.


I'm generally satisfied with the lighting but not with the depth of field. I can't seem to get both ends in tight focus. Would I be best served stopping down even further or backing up and zooming? Most of my shots were f8-9 as I was trying to keep it in the "sweet spot."



First knife is a Jody Samson custom Weehawk Tanto (ca. 1985).

Next is a Pacific Cutlery model 69.

Critique or advice is welcome.

 

[Derrel]

The background material is very,very distracting. Something smoother and with a subdued pattern would look better.

 

[tirediron]

That's a good start; I'm not sure the background is really adding anything though. As far as the DoF goes, I would say a combination of moving slightly further back and stopping down a little more (and of course, adding more light) should do the trick. I would Add another diffusion layer to your soft-box and try and get it closer to the knives to soften the light even further.

 

[SoonerBJJ]

I chose the background because it's similar to something I've seen another collector use to great effect, but I guess mine doesn't do the trick. I hoped it would give a good contrast to highlight the knife and that the pattern was homogenous enough to not attract attention. I'll find something more subdued.

I'll also add more powerful lights. I had to place one of my lights at camera left in a direct line to the knife, just to effectively light the scene. So that light wasn't diffused at all. I shot at night so I didn't have the benefit of any natural light, so I'll give that a try as well.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

The background material is very,very distracting. Something smoother and with a subdued pattern would look better.

+1 to this... ^^^

 

[SoonerBJJ]

The biggest critique I got on the knife boards was that the background was too boring, too monotonous.

I suppose this first go around was more of a technical challenge. Next time I'll try to balance the aesthetic a little better.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

The biggest critique I got on the knife boards was that the background was too boring, too monotonous...

I don't know about boring... But the background really draws my attention away from the knife. Its a cool knife. I want my eyes to be drawn to it: They are not.

 

[RichardsTPF]

Have you tried place your knife stand on a texture wood block and keep little distance from the background?
Nice knife. I like benchmade, good quality and long lasting blade. I have a benchmade Barrage,

 

[andrewleephoto]

The background material is very,very distracting. Something smoother and with a subdued pattern would look better.

I think the background is the first thing I looked at... Then the knife xD

How bout u stick a knife vertically into a cutting board or something and take a pic? The background will have lots of bokeh

 

[Forkie]

As everyone else said, the background is awful. This kind of material (which I guess is steel) almost always looks best on a plain white or black background.

 

[hydkaran420]

Yeah I would say black or white as back ground

 

[SoonerBJJ]

Okay, background feedback duly noted. That is the easy part.The context and intent of these type of photos is to display the knife for documentary or sales purposes. There is nothing artistic or expressive about it. Are there any more technical pointers? It has been recommended that I sharpen the images. As a general principal from my other personal work I try to avoid sharpening, except in very specific circumstances. I abhor the oversharped look in any image and would rather try to nail it in camera. In the original images the point of focus, the Benchmade symbol or lettering, is perfectly sharp but the extremes of the fore and background are just ever so soft. Leading me to conclude I just need more DOF.As stated above, I suppose my options are stopping down even further, backing up or moving up over the knife at a higher angle. Problem I see with backing up is that currently my largest zoom is 70mm and I was trying to fill the frame with the knife to minimize need for cropping. If I back up I'm going to be cropping a good deal. But I suppose if it is a high quality RAW image that might still turn out?Thanks again.

 

[SoonerBJJ]

Here is my Benchmade 47. I'm trying out a new lightbox and some different technical approaches. This one f/13 @ 0.8sec, iso 200. Shot from tripod with remote.

I'm not trying to win any awards with the composition. The idea is to showcase the knife and I'm trying to get the lighting and technical aspects where I want them. Downsizing the file for Photobucket has of course taken its toll.

 

[SoonerBJJ]

Okay, these look like $hit going through Photobucket and I can't figure out how to salvage any reasonable resolution. So we'll see if Flickr does any better.

 

[Vtec44]

IMHO, the knife stands out more with the dark gray background.