I can see what you (and Robin) mean Dan but oddly if you look at the pic as a whole I think it adds to it and looks good. But conversely if you just look at the knife / firesteel etc it does seem to distract.... odd huh!?
or is it just me.......
knife photography (pic heavy)
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I can see what you (and Robin) mean Dan but oddly if you look at the pic as a whole I think it adds to it and looks good. But conversely if you just look at the knife / firesteel etc it does seem to distract.... odd huh!?
or is it just me.......
equally good pics!
how long did you have to hold your breath for?
I didn't, her camera and lights shoot real fast, she didn't even need to use a tripod.
Noted. The wood looks real nice on white though, maybe we'll try a matt dark surface next. Though we also posted this on the RPS forums too and they seem to like the black acyrlic, probably more from an art perspective.
She used:
Canon 40D
Canon 100mm Macro
Elinchrom BXRi 500/500 kit with softboxes
Sekonic flashmate light meter
Diffusing tent
Black acrylic sheet for background
Blutack
She had to use photoshop to remove the dust that seams magicaly atracted to black acrylic, then cropped/resized, her name added and thats it I think.
She did get this one, that I may use for a low opacity background on my site, similar to what I have now but better.
I didn't, her camera and lights shoot real fast, she didn't even need to use a tripod.
Noted. The wood looks real nice on white though, maybe we'll try a matt dark surface next. Though we also posted this on the RPS forums too and they seem to like the black acyrlic, probably more from an art perspective.
She used:
Canon 40D
Canon 100mm Macro
Elinchrom BXRi 500/500 kit with softboxes
Sekonic flashmate light meter
Diffusing tent
Black acrylic sheet for background
Blutack
She had to use photoshop to remove the dust that seams magicaly atracted to black acrylic, then cropped/resized, her name added and thats it I think.
She did get this one, that I may use for a low opacity background on my site, similar to what I have now but better.
An excellent piece of work. I had a look at your own website - impressive.
How do you make those low opacity backgrounds? Yours is very nice indeed.
Thanks for sharing the photos so far.
The knife scales look unfinsihed and at deaths door from a lack of 'feed'.
Assuming this is not a trick of the light the pics are great if lacking a certain 'mood'?
Cheers
Assuming this is not a trick of the light the pics are great if lacking a certain 'mood'?
Cheers
I like both sets of photographs, but for differing reasons. Taking good pictures depends on your end market. (not necessary just selling) if you are looking at the photographs as art, and aiming for that market, then you take pictures one way, if you are aiming at selling the object in the picture, then you need to photograph them a different way.
The knives on a black shiny background look to me to be aimed at the art market, and the knives on the white back ground look more for selling on eBay. Somewhere in the middle is a place for selling to a knife buyer, most of whom have certain requirement as to what the images should look like so they can judge the quality and desirability of a knife.
The knives on a black shiny background look to me to be aimed at the art market, and the knives on the white back ground look more for selling on eBay. Somewhere in the middle is a place for selling to a knife buyer, most of whom have certain requirement as to what the images should look like so they can judge the quality and desirability of a knife.
Thankyou. I made them low opacity in photoshop, if you would like more specific details/instructions feel free to pm me.
Not sure I follow you
That confirms pretty much what we are discovering, over on the photography forums they like the reflective black background and Lou is coming to this from a artistic background. The knife users want to see more of the knife and less art. With the next ones we'll try some dark none reflective backgrounds and more user friendly angles.
Thanks all for your input its been very useful and much appreciated.
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Thanks for that 
Glad you like it, its getting a bit old fashioned now I'm doing a one day a week web design course at the moment with a view to updating it.
I took all the images on it (except the ones of me of course!) but mine pale in comparison to Lou's first go so I may be persuading her to take more
I posted those two knives to their new owners today so the photgraphy experiments will have to wait til I make more.
Glad you like it, its getting a bit old fashioned now I'm doing a one day a week web design course at the moment with a view to updating it.
I took all the images on it (except the ones of me of course!) but mine pale in comparison to Lou's first go so I may be persuading her to take more
I posted those two knives to their new owners today so the photgraphy experiments will have to wait til I make more.
I really like this one, the composition is just right, it think it could be made a touch better in my opinion though, with a little tweak or two in Photoshop..........
She did get this one, that I may use for a low opacity background on my site, similar to what I have now but better.
Try a little boost to the contrast level (+10) and a touch of Unsharp mask (amount 200%, Radius 0.3, Threshold 0, should do it) to make it really stand out, let me know what you think?
The black backgrounds win my vote over the white ones (but thats from a photographers point of view
) but both are very good, and your girlfriend should be very proud of what she has acheived so far. A little sharpening added in photoshop (settings above) and whatever backgrounds you decide to use...you wont go far wrong
I think i'm going to have to get a couple of animal skins, get my studio lights out and have go myself, very inspiring
Wonderful knives too!
ATB
Mike
