Advice on taking pictures of difficult object!

[jojo]

I have been trying to take some pics of a knife with bone handle I just fnished. I can't get better than a rather washed out blob of white! I have a small digital camera but can't afford better at the moment, so what could I do to improve the quality of the pics without having to spend a fortune?

I tried inside, and outside, in the shade of a tree but it's no better. (unless it's my monitor?) Is the background colour wrong?

thanks in advance

 

[swyn]

Can't help on camera advice but like the folder very much indeed jojo.

Swyn.

 

[Cyclingrelf]

It's possible your camera is exposing for the majority (dark) colours, so putting the knife on a pale background might help. But I'm just guessing.

 

[relfy]

Yes, or if its got one of those buttons that you press half way to focus before pressing fully, make sure you have the palest bit of the knife within the focussing ring (or right in the middle of the viewfinder).

 

[myotis]

You start with the lighting, which needs to be even and diffuse.

A bright but overcast day should give you the correct lighting, but watch for the blueness in the light, which may or may not be automatically dealt with.

A large "north" facing window will also act as a large diffused light source, and give a bit of directionality to the light, which if carefully handled will give a better contrast than a large open sky out doors.

You may need to add diffusion by hanging a net curtain or something like that over the window, but this also means you will lose light, so be careful with what happens to shutter speed and aperture. A tripod needs to be regarded as pretty well essential, or bracing yourself on a strategically based chair.

Once you get the overall lighting set up, it may well be fine. BUT in fact this is where the fun begins, because by carefully positioning white card to reflect light into the darker areas, or black card to darken areas by reducing the light being reflected, plus mirrors to focus some highlights into the image you can fine tune the lighting.

Does your camera have a bracketing facility or a manual facility. Taking a range of different exposures will give you more chance of getting one that has the right balance.

Which software are you using for the final image, many have a highlight recovery feature that can pull some detail back in.

The picture you have isn't that far away, a slight change in camera angle to reduce the direct reflections from the handle of the front knife and a little less exposure and I think this would have been OK.

Although, I used to make a living photographing shiny things (not knives) with a well kitted out studio I tend to now a days just shove things like this on a window ledge, work at getting the camera angle right to minimise reflections, and then get some kitchen foil to reflect some light back into the shadow areas. Or take it outside on an overcast day, but still use a reflector to "lift" the shadows.

You could also try making some sort of light tent, something I used to use a lot, and if I was churning out knife photos I might look at doing this. see http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent for a DIY version.

Graham

 

[robin wood]

I would agree that the prime issue there is white object on dark background. Our eyes are amazing and can cope with that sort of thing easily but cameras struggle, put it on something light coloured, a nice piece of textured linen or something. All comments above are good, diffuse light from the side is good as it helps to give the object gentle shading and shows the 3D of it, light from behind the camera tends to flatten the picture. Outside in evening or morning can be nice or indoors by the side of a window, that is with the window to the objects side and camera facing parallel to window glass.

 

[Pryderi]

If your camera supports it you could try bracketing and then using some HDR software? Bracketing means the camera takes 3 pictures one underexposed, one correctly exposed and one overexposed. You can then combine the images using a free bit of sotware called picturenaut. This merges the images so you hopefully get an image where the bright bits and the dark bits are evenly exposed. This is a lot easier than it sounds.

 

[jojo]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen!

I have tried again, and I think the pics are a bit better, I tried various backgrounds, this one is a simple sheet of white paper, better colour on the bone, but the paper looks blue. I am going to try with some fabric background, that should reflect less light?

The pics are taken on an East facing window (best I could get!) the sky is dutifully grey and my old camera is on automatic. It's quite old, in fact, I'd go as far as saying it's positively geriatric (nikon coolpix 2000) and I don't consider myself as much of a photographer! I use the Adobe Photoshop album starter.

Ahhhh.. I have just discoverd I can change the white balance and the metering...and other things too....I have had this thing years and never discovered this..doh..

 

[teflon]

The problem is mostly subject contrast. Softer lighting will help a little, but if you changed the angles of the knives themselves, so that they don't reflect so much of the light, it would help to bring the whole thing within range. Slight loss of detail, say along a fine edge of a blade, would be acceptable. And though it's hard to tell online, I'd say your original shot is slightly over exposed - about half a stop.

Good luck with it.

 

[myotis]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen!

I have tried again, and I think the pics are a bit better, I tried various backgrounds, this one is a simple sheet of white paper, better colour on the bone, but the paper looks blue. I am going to try with some fabric background, that should reflect less light?

The pics are taken on an East facing window (best I could get!) the sky is dutifully grey and my old camera is on automatic. It's quite old, in fact, I'd go as far as saying it's positively geriatric (nikon coolpix 2000) and I don't consider myself as much of a photographer! I use the Adobe Photoshop album starter.


Ahhhh.. I have just discoverd I can change the white balance and the metering...and other things too....I have had this thing years and never discovered this..doh..

You have obviously made a lot of progress in understanding how you can take control of what is going on. Its just practice now. Once you get the hang of the technical stuff, make sure you take time to think about how the picture should look. You will probably want a little bit of blown highlights to give a bit of sparkle and some pure black to give the correct feeling of punch to the image.

Try lifting the knife off the background a little bit, with blutack or something that you can hide from the camera, and you get a better defined edge between the knife and the background.

Graham

 

[jojo]

Blimey!! I have had that camera for years.. and I just found the Quick Start guide!!! How on Earth I managed to keep it this long, is nothing short of a miracle A bit of reading is in order now.

 

[robin wood]

I have tried again, and I think the pics are a bit better, I tried various backgrounds, this one is a simple sheet of white paper, better colour on the bone, but the paper looks blue. I am going to try with some fabric background, that should reflect less light?

I think these are a great improvement in actually seeing the knife though the originals obviously have a nice atmosphere and feel about them. I am sure now you understand the issues you will work out a combination that works.

They are still not really sharp, this could be a couple of things, but most likely is camera shake due to slow shutter speed chosen by the camera in low light. A tripod would sort that or you can improvise by bracing it, rest it on the back of a chair or something.

 

[brancho]

It also looks like the flash fired on the original shot and unless you know lots about flash I would avoid using it close.

A tripod and self timer or remote release as Robin say would help
The second set of shots are much better much more detail abviously no flash.

 

[jojo]

Thanks for all the advice! I will try not to bore you guys too much, but you may see some more pics of those knives for a little while.. Hopefully some improved shots!

 

[jojo]

Here are another couple of pics, I think they are better than the last lot, but still slightly blurry, I haven't got a tripod, and propped myself up, but not quite enough to prevent blurring.

What do you think? better or not??

 

[myotis]

Here are another couple of pics, I think they are better than the last lot, but still slightly blurry, I haven't got a tripod, and propped myself up, but not quite enough to prevent blurring.

What do you think? better or not??

Detail is much better, but they are looking a bit "flat"

Three things to try now:

1. Get a bit of silver cooking foil (at leas 300mm x 300mm) and reflect some light from the camera position back onto the knife. You should get a eureka moment when suddenly the whole image will "lift" before your eyes. You may need to cut a hole in it to stick the camera through.

2. try different backgrounds,

3. try re-arranging things so the shadows are a being cast along different edges of the knife. And try putting the case closest the window rather than the knife.

Gradually you will start "seeing" what works.

But its obvious you are getting the hang of this.

Graham

 

[teflon]

Not the easiest of subjects. Unlike the blade, the handle of the knife is pretty lifeless. Flat, practically white and no real texture or pattern. The sheath though has an interesting curve to it and some texture, so would still look good under different circumstances. So I would concentrate on the handle as the only thing going for it is getting an interesting reflection and/or some very gentle treatment - not the broad 'sky' that you had before.

Frustrating, isn't it - and I'm probably not helping by adding another more advice. I used to just shut the door on the world till I got what I wanted - with film, that often took weeks. So, for what it's worth, you're doing well. Anyway, good luck.

 

[robin wood]

I like them particularly the top one. I think it really shows the detail of knife and handle well. Bottom line is if I was in the market for a knife like that I think it shows me exactly what I would get which the very first images struggled with. Without knowing your camera its not easy to know if you could improve these shots without upgrading the camera.

With no tripod then best to rig something up like pile of books or anything solid, bracing yourself helps a little but it's not the same.

Last thing to try if you feel like playing it could be that the lens does not focus this close. Try moving the camera away 6" then cropping the finished image.

 

[myotis]

I like them particularly the top one. I think it really shows the detail of knife and handle well..

Yes, you are right, I was thinking too much like a photographer and not enough like a knife buyer, when saying they were a bit flat. Which they are, but in terms of seeing the knife detail, the top picture is very good.

Graham

 

[jojo]

This is a really interesting exercise for me. I haven't considered before what a good picture is or what makes a good picture that will help sell something!

I am going to get a small tripod ASAP. I propped myself and the camera, but it was not enough to prevent the slight fuzziness. The next knife handle I make, I'll have to consider giving it some curves rather than keeping it completely flat!

The camera is just a small point and shoot job which I've had for 5 or 6 years if not longer! This one I quite possibly need to upgrade and practice some more.