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

AMBP · Nov 29, 2011

I'm not a pro, just a really really new newbie photographer.. But I did some "commercial" photography with some knives using a lightbox.. The position you have for that last photo is pretty sweet

For my photos, we tried about 5 different positions, but then again, it was in a light box so everything around the knives was white.. I did take a photo with a black boxed in and it did pretty good..

Anywho, I like that last one you posted

Derrel · Nov 29, 2011

Check put Darrell Ralph's web site. I tutored him via e-mail for several months back in the mid-2000's, as he was transitioning from payed photographers, to shooting his own knives all by himself. I helped him pick out cameras, lenses,lights, and taught him how to position his lights to get good reflections on the blades, blade edges, and handles. As a thank-you, he sent me a small selection of his Darrell Ralph knifes, which he designed for manufacture by the Smith & Wesson company. Lovely designs! As well as first-rate tools!

Darrel Ralph Designs :: Hand Made :: Custom Knives :: Butterfly Knives :: Gunhammer :: Automatics

SoonerBJJ · Nov 29, 2011

Derrel, that's a really interesting anecdote re: Darrell Ralph. I really like his work, particularly the custom balisongs.

BuS_RiDeR · Nov 29, 2011

I agree that the gray background is better.

kundalini · Nov 29, 2011

The grey background is much better than the green. My suggestions are to go to your local Lowes or Home Depot and get some 12x12" ceramic floor tiles for the background. They're not that expensive and will give you some reflective properties on the knives. Next I would try to get some distance between the knife and the background. Even an inch or three will help, but you'll have to watch the quality of the shadows...... subtle is the watchword here. Enough to create a visual anchor, but light enough to avoid harsh, sharp edged ones at the same time. This lift from the background can be anything that doesn't throw a color cast, think clear plastic spindles and blue tack. If you choose a profile shot, fishing line works wonders, just place the background vertically. Clip out the fishing line in post processing.

For getting the entire product in focus, obviously you'll want to stop down your lens. I'm thinking the f/8 to f/16 range (will require the appropriate increase in luminance). Other options are to focus stack (front to back in oblique shots) and merge in post or using a focusing rail and again merge in post (tip to hilt in straight on shots).

I noticed the various backgrounds in the Darrel Ralph site the Derrel linked. Makes a difference.

xnoirox · Nov 29, 2011

From what i've learned you want you're "product" to stand out more. A solid color background would be better in helping the product(since this seems to fall under product photography) pop out. Try using a solid dark kind of color. I'd suggest black or a dark sage. Maybe even navy blue. Maybe you could even try a 10-30 degree angle. But the above shots are nice.
Hope this helps.

AgentDrex · Nov 30, 2011

That version with the gray background is now the type of photo that would help sell that knife, great job!

SoonerBJJ · Dec 4, 2011

Experimenting with different backgrounds. This one is actually going up for sale.

Canon 50d with EF 28-70 L @38mm
f/11 @ 1/4sec, iso 100
lightbox with 2 side 65w lamps

Derrel · Dec 4, 2011

SoonerBJJ said:
Derrel, that's a really interesting anecdote re: Darrell Ralph. I really like his work, particularly the custom balisongs.

Yeah, it was an unusual correspondence and tutoring relationship we struck up, back at a time when the d-slr revolution was JUST starting to make it practical to buy a $1,500 to $1899 priced camera, and not a $3,000, or $3,500, or $5800 d-slr...at the time, there just were NOT that many camera choices, and software was also much LESS user-friendly back then....there was no Aperture, no Lightroom, and Adobe Camera RAW was just getting underway as a new part of Photoshop.

He went through like three different camera systems over about six months, each time looking for something that would work better for him. At one point, he sold me his Nikon 60mm f/2.8 AF-D Micro-Nikkor when he moved to another system...it was like 3 weeks old...he's a real class act and a straight shooter...and his knife designs are just so,so incredible!!! It's kind of hard to appreciate, but back then in 2002-2003, the d-slr market was VERY immature, and there really were not that many "affordable" cameras, and software conversion of RAW image files still had a long,long way to go. RAW files at that time were handled by very FEW programs--the SOP was (for most people) to open RAW images in manufacturer-specific software like Nikon Capture, or Canon's or Fuji's RAW converters, and then to make a 16-bit TIFF file, and then work on that in Photoshop.

xzqzq · Dec 12, 2011

I loved the pics, and thought the background just fine... My eye was instantly drawn to the knife, to drink in the details, and the back-round was only that. But then again, I am a knife guy, and think few things more pleasing than a well-polished piece of good steel.

SoonerBJJ · Dec 17, 2011

Thanks, xzqzq.

This is my hand ground, titanium handle Basilisk #96 from Jerry Hom. This thread has been interesting for me to follow the progression of my own images. The first do appear rather amateurish, so I'd like to think they're getting better.