better pics....suggestions welcome

[N.N]

At SHOKR's suggestion not long ago, I started looking into ways of getting better photo's of my knives. In the past I just found a nice bright day and a spot outside. Sometimes that works, sometimes it just gets me by.

I finally did some research on the subject and built a light tent using pvc and a white shower curtain. I used 500w halogen worklights (yes, the real hot super bright lights) as my light source. I think It's working better. I've uploaded some pics here of my newest knife. These were taken with my stock android phone camera. I've found a better camera app that will let me control the exposure, ISO, white...etc., but when compairing the shots from the 2 camera's the stock android came out better.

I'd really like some criticism here. I've not put them through any photoshop or processing, should I? What do you think? Is there something here that I could do better that I'm not doing now? I don't think I'm fond of the green background. I think the 3rd one is probably the better, but I really like the lighting on the last one.

EDIT: and the knife is 1/8 o-1, 3.5 in cutting edge, cherry wood flooring I pulled out of an old house that's been drying for 20 years or so, simply finished with boiled linseed oil and wax.

 

[Self Made Knives]

Would your mind posting a pic of your tent setup? I want to build one, just haven't had the time. And, for outside pics, I have better luck on an overcast day, rather than a bright sunny day. Or, early in the morning or late in the evening. Don't know if that's right or wrong, just seemed to work OK for me. Your new pics are looking good though!

 

[N.N]

Thanks Anthony. I agree with the overcast, morning or evening without direct sun but still pretty bright.

I can't get a pic of the tent at the moment...should've done that already, and I'm going to be working every day and night this week. So it might be a minute, but I can do this real quick

The drawing shows the lights and the frame of the tent. It's a cube, and I use it offset, meaning that the angle I shoot into the tent is like a diamond. I shot from one corner let the the opposite back corner leg. This lets me split the worklight and put one light on each side (around the corner). I used a simple/cheap outdoor light with a regular 60w bulb on the front but not aimed directly at the knife. The shower curtain is draped over the frame to form a top and 2 sides. i tryed to draw in the the yellow "light lines" so you can see where the lights are pointing.

I hope that makes since. I also included a pic from the other android camera app I used. The resolution isn't as good.

Kinda like this guy does in this video, with a little less pvc and much more crude. I think I put it together in about 10 minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jsINpOeBAQ

 

[BossDog]

feel free to ignore any of the following.

• Generally, angle the knife from corner to corner with the tip pointing away from you. This uses the full frame and avoids the feeling the knife is going to stab you.
• More light is better than not enough.
• Don't shoot the knife straight down on top like a plumb line. Take it at a bit of angle, say 80 degrees. Straight down pictures look stiff.
• Too many people depend on software to make a picture look decent. Spend 80% of your time on getting the right light.
• After you get the light right, use digital editing software to make it look better. GIMP is free and does a really nice job. It's a bit of a bugger to learn but once you get it down, your pictures will improve a 100%.
• Don't stage the picture. No bullets, guns, patches, lollypops or cute puppies. You are selling the knife, not all the other stuff.
• Keep your hands and your feet out of the picture. Seriously. Don't hold the knife with one hand and shoot the picture with the other.
• Always shoot the face of (left side). Throw in a second picture of the back side if you want.
• If there is a sheath included, throw that in if you like or better yet, take a second picture of the sheath. (honesty time: most makers sheaths do not compare in quality to their knives. If your sheath isn't as appealing as your knife, don't include it with the knife picture. If it is just as good in fit, finish and appearance, include it.)
• Don't rely on your cell phone. They take great pictures of other things but they don't work that well with close ups. A good enough digital camera can be purchase for a $100. 5meg pixels is more than good enough.
• For the back ground, things not to use: towels, rugs, tree branches, carpet, fur pelts, grass, tree stumps, bushes, wood deck railing and other things that are fuzzy or busy or have a lot of patterns. You are not shooting an art picture, you are trying to show a knife. Even the pro's use very little staging on their pictures and would never use a busy background. Spend time on lighting and focus, not throwing bits of other junk in the picture.
• For the back ground things to use: 24"x24" plain, simple ceramic tiles from the home store (my favorite), large pastel construction papers in different colors, plain concrete, large flat anything that is bland with no lines or other distractions. The "quieter" the background, the more the knife pops.
• Focus the picture. Don't take a crappy, blurry picture and say that is the best you can do. Get someone to help if can't get it. Crappy, blurry pictures absolutely kill a knife sale. For most everyone readying this, they are making knives to sell. A guy that can put together a decent knife (and sells them on the internet) can get at least 20% more for that knife if they take great pictures. K
• Knife makers should spend as much time studying photography as they do knife making or send them off to a pro.

Personally, it frustrates me to see guys make a great knife and then try to sell it with a crappy picture when I know they could get more for the knife if they just spent some time on their photography skills. I see guys spend $15,000 on shop tools and then expect their flip phone to take a good picture. It takes a little effort to learn photography, just like it takes a little effort to learn to make knives. I would tell you that the money you spend on good photography equipment will pay you back quicker than a fancy shop tool.

I certainly invite other opinions on this. I am entitled to be wrong on all of this...
t

 

[Self Made Knives]

Wow, Boss! You just took away half of my tricks! Some of us might need a little distraction in our pics, but seriously, can you give us one more tip? When I look at pics by Ward and Coop, often the knife appears to hover a little over the background, giving a very nice shadow line around the edges. What are they using to raise the knife a little without it showing in the pic? Maybe a piece of wood dowel with double sided tape?

 

[BossDog]

With out seeing the exact image I would guess they are composite images with multiple layers and a digital drop shadow added. This is fairly easy in Photoshop. Coop and I and a few others use to have a weekly photo contest years ago over on knifenetwork. We explored many of these techniques. Coop is the master at this.

it is very common for a pro to pull the knife off the back ground, put it into another layer, tweak it in the software and give a dramatic drop shadow. It takes 15 to 30 minutes to do in Photoshop depending on the knife.

On on a difficult knife (shiney, dark detail, long, complex,etc.) it is also common to take several pictures with different light set ups and focus points with out moving the camera. The pictures are superimposed using layers that show off the best parts of each picture. This takes more work but can really make a knife picture pop.

 

[bladegrinder]

A couple tips I'll throw in that I do is always use a tripod, that way there's no movement going on, I also usually set the camera on macro and set the shutter on 10 sec. timer. that way your not touching the camera. for outdoor pictures, I hold a sheet of white construction paper over the knife and move it around some to get any shading I want.